The Scripps Research Institute

About Baran:
Phil S. Baran is Professor of Chemistry at The Scripps Research Institute and Member of the Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology. He was born in Denville, New Jersey in 1977 and received his B. S. in chemistry from NYU while conducting research in physical organic chemistry. In 1997, he joined the lab of Professor K. C. Nicolaou at The Scripps Research Institute and earned his Ph.D. four years later. From 2001-2003 he was an NIH postdoctoral fellow at Harvard in the laboratory of Professor E. J. Corey. His independent career began in the summer of 2003 and is focused on the invention of useful chemistry by designing practical and efficient total syntheses of complex natural products. Phil has published over 80 scientific articles and received the 2003 Nobel Laureate Signature, 2007 Fresenius, and 2010 Pure Chemistry Awards from the ACS, a Searle Scholarship in 2005, the Hirata Gold Medal in 2007, Alfred P. Sloan and Beckman Foundation Fellowships, young investigator awards from Bristol-Myers Squibb, AstraZeneca, Amgen, Roche, GlaxoSmithKline, and Pfizer, an NSF Career award, and the 2009 Raymond and Beverly Sackler Prize.


Baran's lecture at the Johnson Symposium:
"Aiming for the Ideal Synthesis"

Our laboratory is focused on the practical total synthesis of complex natural products such as alkaloids and terpenes by aiming to achieve the “ideal synthesis”. Hendrickson defined such a synthesis in 1975, stating: ”The ideal synthesis creates a complex molecule . . . . . in a sequence of only construction reactions involving no intermediary refunctionalizations, leading directly to the target, not only its skeleton but also its correctly placed functionality.” (JACS 1975, 97, 5784).

In order to achieve this level of efficiency one must minimize superfluous refunctionalization steps such as protecting group and non-strategic redox chemistry. Such considerations require exquisite control of chemoselectivity by the invention of chemistry and logical frameworks to aid in the planning of such routes.

This invention-oriented approach to total synthesis will be illustrated with several case studies from our laboratory.

Questions:
If you have questions or need additional information please conteact Patricia Dwyer at 650-723-4770