K. Barry Sharpless
Karl Barry Sharpless (born April 28, 1941) is a chemist renowned for his work on metal-organic chemistry.
In 2001 he won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on stereoselective oxidation reactions (Sharpless epoxidation, Sharpless bishydroxylation). This prize was shared with William S. Knowles (on stereoselective hydrogenation) and Ryoji Noyori (on the stereoselective aldol reaction). Currently he spends much of his time promoting "click" reactions which are selective, exothermic reactions which occur under mild conditions in water; the most successful variant of which is the alkyne-azide [2 + 3] cycloaddition.
Sharpless was born in Philadelphia. He began his studies in Dartmouth College and earned his PhD from Stanford University in 1963. He continued post-doctoral work at Stanford University and Harvard University.
Sharpless became professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, and the Scripps Research Institute, where currently holds the W. M. Keck professorship in chemistry.
