Stephen Hanessian holds the Ionis Pharmaceutical Research Chair at the Université de Montréal. He is also on the faculty in the Departement of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California, Irvine as the Director of the Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacology Graduate Program. His research interests are in organic, bioorganic and medicinal chemistry with nearly 550 original publications and several patents to his credit. His recent book “Design and Strategy in Organic Synthesis” Wiley-VCH, 2013 is a widely acclaimed monograph.

Professor Hanessian’s group conducts research into the total synthesis of natural products of biological importance, the design and synthesis of therapeutic products and the development of new methods of asymmetric synthesis.

Anny Jutand has studied Chemistry at the University Paris 6 (France). She obtained her PhD at the University Paris 13 in 1980. After a postdoctoral stay at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, she moved to the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris. She became Research Director at CNRS (equivalent to full Professor) in 1992 at Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris Her current research interest is transition metal catalysis (Pd, Ru, Cu, Fe, Ni), focussing on mechanistic investigation by means of electrochemical techniques. She also develops activations of organic molecules by transition metal complexes and by electron transfer (synthetic development and mechanism) She has published 173 papers. She is the author of 7 industrial patents, 19 articles or chapters in collective books, 115 conferences or seminars (H factor: 49, ISI web of Science) Honors: 2003: Award 2003 of the Organic Chemistry Division of the French Chemical Society 2008: “Grand Prix d’Etat” of the French Academy of Sciences 2013: “Grand Prix Achile Le Bel” of the French Chemical Society)

Anny Jutand has received the award jointly with Joel Moreau, for her unique and remarkable work in the elucidation of reaction mechanisms, the introduction of new concepts in organometallic and organic chemistry, and the visibility and international renown of French catalysis.

John A. Soderquist completed his PhD in 1977 from the University of Colorado under the direction of Alfred Hassner. From 1977-9, he was a postdoctoral scholar under the direction of Nobel Laureate, Herbert C. Brown at Purdue University. His independent research career began at the the University of San Francisco in 1979 where he became Associate Professor and Department Chairman before moving to the University of Puerto Rico in 1983. Since 1988, he has been a Full Professor of Chemistry, publishing nearly 140 articles, contributing over 400 research presentations to scientific meetings and universities world-wide and directing the thesis studies of nearly 30 PhD students. He has served as a technical consultant for several chemical and pharmaceutical companies.

He is interested in the invention and development of new asymmetric reagents and catalysts derived from organometallic derivatives of Main Group elements such as boron and silicon. We are also interested in the design and total synthesis of natural products and pharmaceuticals through the use of these novel reagents and catalysts. Much of our efforts in this regard have been directed toward the use of bulky silicon groups to influence the chemistry of organoborane processes in synthetically useful ways.

Dr Colacot holds a PhD in Chemistry from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (1989) and an MBA from Penn State University, USA (2004). He did post doctoral and teaching work at University of Alabama at Birmingham (1989–1992) in main group organometallics, was an Assistant Professor at Florida A&M University (1992), and a Research Associate at Southern Methodist University in the area of Ziegler-Natta Catalysis on an ATP/AMOCO program with Professor Hosmane (1992-1995). He occasionally teaches a graduate course on “Industrial Applications of Organometallic Chemistry” at Rutgers University, Camden, New Jersey, USA, where he is a visiting Faculty member. He is a coauthor of around 80 articles which include reviews, peer-reviewed publications, book chapters and patents. He has given over 250 presentations, including plenary or invited talks, at national and international conferences, universities and chemical and pharmaceutical companies. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), former Chair of the South Jersey American Chemical Society (ACS) Program, a Life Member of the Alabama Academy of Sciences, an external PhD thesis examiner to several Indian Institutes of Technologies and to the National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, India, and a regular peer reviewer for many of the major chemistry Journals. In 2012 he was awarded the RSC’s Applied Catalysis Award for exceptional contributions to the development and availability of ligands and catalysts crucial for the advancement of metal-catalysed synthetic organic chemistry.

Catalysis, Organic Chemistry, Organometallic Chemistry,CatalystSynthesis, Homogeneous Catalysis, Organic Synthesis, Crystal Structure, Catalyst Characterization Catalyst Synthesis, Porous Materials, Organometallic Synthesis, Organometallics, Green Chemistry Technology, Cross Coupling, Fine Chemicals, Catalytic Hydrogenation

Evgenii S. Stoyanov received a PhD degree at the age of 26 from Vernadsky Institute of Geochemistry & Analytical Chemistry (Academy of Sciences of USSR), Moscow, Russia, and the Doctor of Science degree in chemistry in 1991 from Mendeleyev University of Chemical Technology, Russia. Presently He is Leading Researcher at the Institute of Organic Chemistry (Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences), Novosibirsk, Russia, and leading the study of carbocations by using the solid superacids. He has published 139 papers in reputable journals.

Carbocations saturated and unsaturated (vinyl): formation, characterization and reactivity; hydrogen bonding with unsaturated hydrocarbons ranging from weak to strong; interphases solid – gas and water – organic.

Pradip K. Bhowmik is currently Professor of Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at University of Nevada Las Vegas. He obtained his Masters of Science in Physical/Organic Chemistry and Ph.D. in Organic/Polymer Chemistry from University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth and University of Massachusetts at Amherst, respectively. He received the 2014 POLY Fellow and 2014 ACS Fellow Awards for his outstanding scientific/professional accomplishments and service to the American Chemical Society. He currently serves on the editorial board of 11 technical journals and is an academic editor for Green and Sustainability Chemistry, American Chemical Science Journal and Advances in Research as well as an Advisory Board Member for InnoSense LLC, California.

Liquid crystalline polymers, Light-emitting Polymers, Fire Retardant Polymers, Viologen Polymers, Poly(pyridinium salt)s, Nanostructured Materials, Organic Synthesis, Polymer Synthesis, Green Chemistry, Ionic Liquids, Liquid-crystalline and Luminescent Organic Salts, Anticancer Drugs, and Drugs for Alzheimer’s Disease.

Chunying Duan in 1992 completed his Ph. D,Coordination Chemistry Institute, Nanjing University. In 1992 he was Lecture, Coordination Chemistry, Institute Nanjing University. In 1995 he was Visiting Scholar, Hongkong Chinese University. In 1996 he was Associate professor Coordination Chemistry Institute, Nanjing University In 1999 he was Visiting scholar, Nottingham University, UK In 2000 he was Professor, Coordination Chemistry Institute, Nanjing University From 2006 He is Professor, State Key laboratory of Fine Chemicals, Dalian University of Technology

Chemistry of Werner Type Architectures, focusing on the Biomimetic Sensing and Molecular Imaging, Asymmetric Catalysis and Enzyme-inspired Catalysis, including: 1. Self-assembly of Metal-organic Biomimetic Architectures. 2. Asymmetric Catalysis within Confined Environments. 3. Supramolecular Catalysis and Enzyme-inspire Catalysis

Rui Fausto is Full Professor at the Department of Chemistry of the University of Coimbra and is the coordinator of the Laboratory for Molecular Cryospectroscopy and Biospectroscopy (LMCB). After his post-doctoral training at the NRCCanada in the fields of infrared, Raman and resonance Raman spectroscopies of proteins, Rui Fausto returned to Coimbra and introduced in the Chemistry Department of the University of Coimbra the technique of FT-infrared spectroscopy. The first FT-IR instrument was bought under the “Ciência” -UE funded program. Later on (1994), he started the installation of the first (and unique until now) Portuguese cryospectroscopy laboratory, the LMCB, using funds from the EU-PRAXIS XXI program. This infrastructure has grown since then and it is now one of the most important infrastructures at world level dedicated to cryospectroscopy.

His research interest are on Quantum Chemistry, Density Functional Theory, Photochemistry, Computational Chemistry, Theoretical Chemistry, Matrix Isolation, Chemical Physics, DFT Calculations, Hydrogen Bonding, Ab Initio, Molecular Structure, Molecular Modeling, Cheminformatics and Computational Chemistry, Spectroscopy, Infrared Spectroscopy, Spectra, IR Spectra

In 1987 he was appointed at University of Toronto as an NSERC URF assistant professor and was promoted to professor in 1995. Since 1998 he has held the AstraZeneca Chair in organic synthesis. From 2003–2013 he has held an NSERC/Merck Frosst Industrial Research Chair on “New Medicinal Agents via Catalytic Reactions.” In 2012 he was appointed as “University Professor” the highest rank awarded at the University of Toronto. In 2013 he was appointed as J. Bryan Jones Distinguished Professor. He has been selected for various national and international awards including an A.P. Sloan Fellow, Eli Lilly Grantee, A.C. Cope Scholar, Pedler Award, Alexander von Humbolt Award, Solvias Prize, Alfred Bader Award, R.U. Lemieux Award, E.W.R. Steacie Award, BioMega Young Investigator and Merck Frosst Award. In 2001 he was elected to the Royal Society of Canada. He is an enthusiastic parent, skier, squash player and sometimes runner and fitness fan.

The Lautens group is focused on the investigation and development of novel transition-metal-mediated organic transformations. Some projects include catalyst-controlled asymmetric transformations while others focus on controlled tandem or domino processes. Of particular interest are reactions which can efficiently construct frameworks of pharmaceutical compounds or fragments of biologically-active natural products.