Michael E. Jung is a Professor of Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the

University of California at Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...

. Michael Jung was born May 14, 1947 in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

Early life and education

Jung received a B.A. from

Rice University William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranke ...

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

in 1969 and a Ph.D. from

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 ...

New York City 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 ...

in 1973 where he did research with Gilbert Stork.

Career

Jung then obtained a NATO Postdoctoral Fellowship to work with Albert Eschenmoser at the

Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (colloquially) , former_name = eidgenössische polytechnische Schule , image = ETHZ.JPG , image_size = , established = , type = Public , budget = CHF 1.896 billion (2021) , rector = Günther Dissertori , president = Joël Mesot , ac ...

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. In 1974, he joined the faculty at UCLA, where he has spent his career. In 1979 Jung was awarded a Sloan research fellowship. Jung's research is focused on the development of new reactions for

organic synthesis Organic synthesis is a special branch of chemical synthesis and is concerned with the intentional construction of organic compounds. Organic molecules are often more complex than inorganic compounds, and their synthesis has developed into one o ...

, including the Jung "non-aldol aldol" protocol, an alternate method for obtaining

aldol In organic chemistry, an aldol describes a structural motif consisting of a 3-hydroxy ketone or 3-hydroxyaldehyde. Aldols are usually the product of aldol addition. When used alone, the term "aldol" may refer to 3-hydroxybutanal. Stereochemistr ...

products without using the classical

aldol reaction The aldol reaction is a means of forming carbon–carbon bonds in organic chemistry. Discovered independently by the Russian chemist Alexander Borodin in 1869 and by the French chemist Charles-Adolphe Wurtz in 1872, the reaction combines two carb ...

. He has also developed chemical syntheses for a variety of

natural product A natural product is a natural compound or substance produced by a living organism—that is, found in nature. In the broadest sense, natural products include any substance produced by life. Natural products can also be prepared by chemical syn ...

s with

antitumor Cancer can be treated by surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, hormonal therapy, targeted therapy (including immunotherapy such as monoclonal antibody therapy) and synthetic lethality, most commonly as a series of separate treatments (e.g. ...

and

antiviral Antiviral drugs are a class of medication used for treating viral infections. Most antivirals target specific viruses, while a broad-spectrum antiviral is effective against a wide range of viruses. Unlike most antibiotics, antiviral drugs do no ...

properties including tedanolides, oxetanocin,

halomon Halomon is a polyhalogenated monoterpene first isolated from the marine red algae '' Portieria hornemannii''. Halomon has attracted research interest because of its promising profile of selective cytotoxicity that suggests its potential use as ...

s, and xestobergsterol. Other research interests include the bridged Robinson annulation and the mixed

Lewis acid A Lewis acid (named for the American physical chemist Gilbert N. Lewis) is a chemical species that contains an empty orbital which is capable of accepting an electron pair from a Lewis base to form a Lewis adduct. A Lewis base, then, is any sp ...

Diels-Alder process. Apalutamide

Jung's research group developed an

antagonist An antagonist is a character in a story who is presented as the chief foe of the protagonist. Etymology The English word antagonist comes from the Greek ἀνταγωνιστής – ''antagonistēs'', "opponent, competitor, villain, enemy, riv ...

of the

androgen receptor The androgen receptor (AR), also known as NR3C4 (nuclear receptor subfamily 3, group C, member 4), is a type of nuclear receptor that is activated by binding any of the androgenic hormones, including testosterone and dihydrotestosterone in th ...

enzalutamide Enzalutamide, sold under the brand name Xtandi, is a nonsteroidal antiandrogen (NSAA) medication which is used in the treatment of prostate cancer. It is indicated for use in conjunction with castration in the treatment of metastatic castrat ...

, which is a pharmaceutical drug used for the treatment of hormone refractory

prostate cancer Prostate cancer is cancer of the prostate. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancerous tumor worldwide and is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related mortality among men. The prostate is a gland in the male reproductive system that sur ...

. An analog of enzalutamide,

apalutamide Apalutamide, sold under the brand name Erleada among others, is a nonsteroidal antiandrogen (NSAA) medication which is used in the treatment of prostate cancer. It is specifically indicated for use in conjunction with castration in the treatme ...

, was also FDA approved.

Awards

* 2022 IUPAC-Richter Prize * 2016

Glenn T. Seaborg Medal The Glenn T. Seaborg Medal was first awarded in 1987 by the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry to Nobel Prize–winning chemist Glenn T. Seaborg, a UCLA alumnus. The purpose of the award is to hono ...

, UCLA * 2016 Richard C.

Tolman Award The Tolman Medal is awarded each year by the Southern California Section of the American Chemical Society (SCALACS) for outstanding contributions to chemistry which include contributions in areas of fundamental studies, chemical technology, and sign ...

, Southern California Section of the American Chemical Society * 2015 American Association for Cancer Research

AACR Awards The American Association for Cancer Research gives several annual awards for significant contributions to the field of cancer research. AACR Award for Lifetime Achievement in Cancer Research This award recognizes prodigious scientists that have ...

Team Science Award * 1995 American Chemical Society

Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award The List of American Chemical Society national awards attempts to include national awards, medals and prized offered by the American Chemical Society (ACS). The ACS national awards program began in 1922 with the establishment of the Priestley Med ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jung, Michael E. University of California, Los Angeles faculty 21st-century American chemists Living people Rice University alumni Columbia University alumni 1947 births