Nina D. Berova is a Professor of Chemistry 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 ...

. She is recognised as a world leader in stereochemistry and chiroptical spectroscopy. Her contributions include the development of porphyrin tweezers. She was the 2007 winner of the

Società Chimica Italiana The Italian Chemical Society ( it, Società Chimica Italiana) is the national association in Italy representing the chemical sciences. Its main aim is to promote and support the development of chemistry and scientific research, spreading the knowle ...

Chirality Medal The Chirality Medal, instituted by the Società Chimica Italiana in 1991 to honor internationally recognized scientists who have made a distinguished contribution to all aspects of chirality, is awarded each year by a Chirality Medal Honor Committ ...

Early life and education

Berova earned her PhD at the

University of Sofia Sofia University, "St. Kliment Ohridski" at the University of Sofia, ( bg, Софийски университет „Св. Климент Охридски“, ''Sofijski universitet „Sv. Kliment Ohridski“'') is the oldest higher education i ...

in 1972. She stayed working for the

Bulgarian Academy of Sciences The Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (abbreviated BAS; bg, Българска академия на науките, ''Balgarska akademiya na naukite'', abbreviated ''БАН'') is the National Academy of Bulgaria, established in 1869. The Academy ...

for her early career. During this time she worked on chiroptical spectroscopy at

Ruhr University Bochum The Ruhr University Bochum (, ) is a public research university located in the southern hills of the central Ruhr area, Bochum, Germany. It was founded in 1962 as the first new public university in Germany after World War II. Instruction began in ...

, where she worked under the supervision of Günther Snatzke.

Research and career

She was made an Associate Professor in Organic Chemistry at

Sofia University Sofia University, "St. Kliment Ohridski" at the University of Sofia, ( bg, Софийски университет „Св. Климент Охридски“, ''Sofijski universitet „Sv. Kliment Ohridski“'') is the oldest higher education i ...

in 1982, and made a visiting professor at

in 1988. Soon after she became a Research Professor at

, working with

Koji Nakanishi was a Japanese chemist who studied bioorganic chemistry and natural products. He served as Centennial Professor of Chemistry and chair of the Chemistry Department at Columbia University. Early life Nakanishi was born in Hong Kong on May 11, 192 ...

on chiroptical spectroscopy of natural products. Their work started with the examination of biopolymers using exciton chirality, including

pectin Pectin ( grc, πηκτικός ': "congealed" and "curdled") is a heteropolysaccharide, a structural acid contained in the primary lamella, in the middle lamella, and in the cell walls of terrestrial plants. The principal, chemical component of ...

classification and the determination of

glycosidic bond A glycosidic bond or glycosidic linkage is a type of covalent bond that joins a carbohydrate (sugar) molecule to another group, which may or may not be another carbohydrate. A glycosidic bond is formed between the hemiacetal or hemiketal group ...

s. Berova was the first and only woman to win the

. Berova's citation reads ''"in recognition of her outstanding achievements in the field of chiroptical spectroscopy and the elucidation of a wide range of important chemical and biological problems related to molecular and supramolecular chirality".'' She has delivered short courses on chrioptical spectroscopies included

Optical Rotatory Dispersion Optical rotatory dispersion is the variation in the optical rotation of a substance with a change in the wavelength of light. Optical rotatory dispersion can be used to find the absolute configuration of metal complexes. For example, when plane-pol ...

, Circular Dichroism and

Raman Optical Activity Raman optical activity (ROA) is a vibrational spectroscopic technique that is reliant on the difference in intensity of Raman scattered right and left circularly polarised light due to molecular chirality. History of Raman optical activity ...

. She was elected an honorary member of the

Italian Chemical Society The Italian Chemical Society ( it, Società Chimica Italiana) is the national association in Italy representing the chemical sciences. Its main aim is to promote and support the development of chemistry and scientific research, spreading the knowle ...

at the

Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa The Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa (commonly known in Italy as "la Normale") is a public university in Pisa and Florence, Tuscany, Italy, currently attended by about 600 undergraduate and postgraduate (PhD) students. It was founded in 1810 wi ...

in 2012.

Selected publications

Her publications include; * * * * Berova has been Editor of the journal

Chirality Chirality is a property of asymmetry important in several branches of science. The word ''chirality'' is derived from the Greek (''kheir''), "hand", a familiar chiral object. An object or a system is ''chiral'' if it is distinguishable from ...

since 1998.

Awards and honours

Her awards and honours include; * 2003

Piero Pino Gold Medal * 2005

American Chemical Society The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 155,000 members at all d ...

Editor Award * 2007

* 2008 Honoured with Special Issue in

* 2009

University of Vigo The University of Vigo ( gl, Universidade de Vigo) is a public university located in the city of Vigo in the Province of Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain. There are three campuses: * Campus of Vigo in Lagoas-Marcosende, between the municipalities of ...

Lifetime Recognition Award * 2011 Honorary member of the

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berova, Nina Living people Bulgarian women scientists Bulgarian chemists Sofia University alumni Columbia University faculty Year of birth missing (living people)