Mikael Bols (born July 28, 1961) is a synthetic organic chemist who is mainly known for his work on

carbohydrates In organic chemistry, a carbohydrate () is a biomolecule consisting of carbon (C), hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O) atoms, usually with a hydrogen–oxygen atom ratio of 2:1 (as in water) and thus with the empirical formula (where ''m'' may or may ...

and artificial enzymes.

Early life

Mikael Bols was born and grew up in Copenhagen, Denmark. He attended high school (Gentofte Statskole) from 1977 to 1980, and took a degree as chemical engineer at the

Technical University of Denmark The Technical University of Denmark ( da, Danmarks Tekniske Universitet), often simply referred to as DTU, is a polytechnic university and school of engineering. It was founded in 1829 at the initiative of Hans Christian Ørsted as Denmark's fi ...

from 1980 to 1985.

Professional career

From 1985 to 1988, Bols did PhD with Professor Inge Lundt at the

. From 1988 to 1989, he did a post doc with professor Walter Szarek at

Queen's University Queen's or Queens University may refer to: *Queen's University at Kingston, Ontario, Canada *Queen's University Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK **Queen's University of Belfast (UK Parliament constituency) (1918–1950) **Queen's University of Belfast ...

before joining Leo Pharmaceuticals in 1989. From 1991 to 1995, he was Ass. Prof. at DTU only interrupted by a visit in the last 6 month of 1994 Gilbert Stork's group at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. From 1995 to 2000, he was Assoc. Prof. (Lektor) at University of Aarhus during which period he became Dr. Scient. (1997). From 1998 to 2000 and from 2004 to 2006, he was Head of the chemistry department at university of Aarhus. From 2000 to 2005, he became Lundbeckfondsprofessor and subsequently (2005-2007) ordinary professor. In 2007, he became professor and Head of department of the Department of Chemistry at

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen ( da, Københavns Universitet, KU) is a prestigious public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in ...

Achievements

The discovery of

isofagomine Afegostat (International Nonproprietary Name, INN; also known as isofagomine; planned trade name Plicera) was an experimental drug for the treatment of certain forms of Gaucher's disease that was being developed by Amicus Therapeutics and Shire pl ...

and related glycosidase inhibitors, the discovery of stereoelectronic substituent effects and superarmed

glycosyl donor A glycosyl donor is a carbohydrate mono- or oligosaccharide that will react with a suitable glycosyl acceptor to form a new glycosidic bond. By convention, the donor is the member of this pair that contains the resulting anomeric carbon of the new g ...

s, the creation of artificial enzymes that cause large rate increases., and writing the book "Carbohydrate Building Blocks" about using carbohydrates as a chirality source in synthesis.Bols, M. "Carbohydrate Building Blocks." John Wiley Science Publishers, New York 1996

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bols, Mikael Organic chemists 1961 births Living people