Eric N. Jacobsen (born February 22, 1960, in

New York City, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

) is the Sheldon Emery Professor of

Chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

and former Chair of the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. He is a prominent figure in the field of

organic chemistry Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain carbon atoms.Clayden, J.; ...

and is best known for the development of the

Jacobsen epoxidation The Jacobsen epoxidation, sometimes also referred to as Jacobsen-Katsuki epoxidation is a chemical reaction which allows enantioselective epoxidation of unfunctionalized alkyl- and aryl- substituted alkenes. It is complementary to the Sharpless e ...

and other work in selective catalysis.

Early life and education

Jacobsen was born on February 22, 1960, in New York City. Jacobsen attended

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

for his undergraduate studies, graduating with his B.S. in 1982. He attended the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

for graduate school, earning his Ph.D. in 1986 under the tutelage of

Robert G. Bergman Robert George Bergman is an American chemist. He is Professor of the Graduate School and Gerald E. K. Branch Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. Early life and education Born in Chicago, Robert Bergm ...

. He subsequently joined the laboratory of

Barry Sharpless Karl Barry Sharpless (born April 28, 1941) is an American chemist and a two-time Nobel laureate in Chemistry known for his work on stereoselective reactions and click chemistry. Sharpless was awarded half of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Chemistry "f ...

, then at

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the mo ...

, as an NIH Postdoctoral Fellow. He began his independent career as an assistant professor at the

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

in 1988. In 1993 he moved to

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

as a full Professor.

Notable contributions

Jacobsen has developed catalysts for asymmetric epoxidation, hydrolytic kinetic resolution and desymmetrization of epoxides, asymmetric pericyclic reactions, and asymmetric additions to imines.

Awards

* Bristol-DTC-Syngenta Award (2013) *

Remsen Award Ira Remsen (February 10, 1846 – March 4, 1927) was an American chemist who discovered the artificial sweetener saccharin along with Constantin Fahlberg. He was the second president of Johns Hopkins University. Early life Ira Remsen was born ...

(2013) * Fannie–Cox Teaching Award, Harvard University (2012) * Chirality Medal (2012) * Nagoya Gold Medal Prize (2011) * GSK Scholar Award (2011) * Kosolapoff Award, Auburn Section ACS (2011) *

The Ryoji Noyori Prize The Ryoji Noyori Prize was established by the Society of Synthetic Organic Chemistry, Japan in 2002 to commemorate Ryōji Noyori winning the 101st Nobel Prize in Chemistry as well as the 60th anniversary of the Society of Synthetic Organic Chemistr ...

(2011) *

Janssen Pharmaceutica Janssen Pharmaceuticals is a pharmaceutical company headquartered in Beerse, Belgium, and wholly-owned by Johnson & Johnson. It was founded in 1953 by Paul Janssen. In 1961, Janssen Pharmaceuticals was purchased by New Jersey-based American c ...

Prize for Creativity in Organic Synthesis (2010) * Yamada–Koga Prize * election to the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

(2008) * ACS H.C. Brown Award for Synthetic Methods (2008) * Alan R. Day Award (2007) * Mitsui Catalysis Award (2005) * election to the

American Academy of Arts & Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States of America, United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bow ...

(2004) * AIC

Chemical Pioneer Award The Chemical Pioneer Award, established in 1966, is awarded by the American Institute of Chemists to recognize chemists or chemical engineers who have made outstanding contributions to advances in chemistry or the chemical profession. Recent rec ...

(2004) *

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

Teaching Prize (2003) *

NIH MERIT Award The NIH MERIT award (Method To Extend Research in Time) Award (R37) was created by the National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary age ...

(2002) * ACS Award for Creativity in Synthetic Organic Chemistry (2001) * Baekeland Medal (1999) * Piero–Pino Prize (1999) * Van't Hoff Prize (1998) * Thieme-IUPAC Prize in Synthetic Organic Chemistry (1996) * Fluka "Reagent of the Year" Prize (1994) * ACS Cope Scholar Award (1993) * Zeneca Chemistry Award (1993) *

Pfizer Pfizer Inc. ( ) is an American multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation headquartered on 42nd Street in Manhattan, New York City. The company was established in 1849 in New York by two German entrepreneurs, Charles Pfizer ...

Young Faculty Award for Synthetic Organic Chemistry (1993) * Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship (1992) * Camille and Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award (1992) * Packard Fellowship (1991) * NSF Presidential Young Investigator Award (1990)

References

External links

Jacobsen Group at Harvard
1960 births Living people 21st-century American chemists Harvard University faculty University of California, Berkeley alumni New York University alumni American people of Cuban descent {{US-chemist-stub