News and information on IUPAC, its fellows, and member organizations. IUPAC Wire See also www.iupac.org Michael J. , Ph.D. company in Central Eastern Europe, with an expanding is Awarded the 2016 direct presence in Western Europe. Richter’s consoli- dated sales were approximately EUR 1.2 billion (US$ 1.3 IUPAC-Richter Prize billion) in 2015, while its market capitalization amount- ed to EUR 3.3 billion (US$ 3.6 billion) at the end of De- he 2016 IUPAC-Richter Prize cember 2015. The product portfolio of Richter covers in Medicinal Chemistry almost all important therapeutic areas, including gy- Thas been awarded to Dr. naecology, central nervous system, and cardiovascular Michael J. Sofia. Dr. Sofia received areas. Having the largest R&D unit in Central Eastern this award in recognition of his outstanding cre- Europe, Richter’s original research activity focuses on ative contributions to the invention, discovery, and CNS disorders. With its widely acknowledged steroid development of the novel antiviral drug sofosbuvir chemistry expertise, Richter is a significant player in the (Sovaldi™) as a treatment for the cure of hepatitis female healthcare field worldwide. Richter is also active C virus infection. It was approved in 2013. This new in biosimilar product development. drug and its combinations provide high cure rates in infected people. Green Chemistry for Life Grants The IUPAC-Richter Prize, comprising a plaque and a Awarded check for USD 10,000, will be presented at the XXIV European Federation of Medicinal Chemistry Inter- n 14 December 2015, UNESCO (the United national Symposium in Manchester, UK (28 August Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural - 1 September 2016). The plaque will be signed by OOrganisation) awarded leading chemistry Professor Natalia Tarasova, President of IUPAC, Erik researchers from around the world with grants to sup- Bogsch, Chief Executive Officer of Gedeon Richter plc port research in the field of green chemistry under a (Budapest, Hungary), and János Fischer, Chair of the joint PhosAgro/UNESCO/IUPAC Green Chemistry for IUPAC-Richter Prize selection committee. Dr. Michael Life Grant Programme. The event took place during J. Sofia will present a lecture at this Symposium and the 4th UN Secretary-General’s Scientific Advisory also at the American Chemical Society’s 34th National Board Meeting and the Congress of UNESCO Chairs in Medicinal Chemistry Symposium in Chicago, IL (26-29 . June 2016). Dr. Sofia studied chemistry at the Cornell Univer- The grant award ceremony was attended by UNESCO sity and received his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Director-General Irina Bokova, Secretary-General of the University of Illinois, working with Professor John the Commission of the Russian Federation for UNES- Katzenellenbogen. He was an NIH postdoctoral fellow CO Grigory Ordzhonikidze, President of the Russian in synthetic organic chemistry at Columbia Universi- Academy of Sciences Vladimir Frolov, St. Petersburg ty with Professor Gilbert Stork. He started his career Governor Georgy Poltavchenko, Rector of the St. Pe- in pharmaceutical research at E.R. Squibb & Co., con- tersburg National Mineral Resources University Vladi- tinued his research work at Eli Lilly & Co., Intercardia, mir Litvinenko, President of IUPAC and Director of the and Bristol-Myers Squibb, and was Sr. Vice President of Institute for Chemistry and Sustainable Development Chemistry at Pharmasset until Pharmasset’s acquisition of the D. Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology by Gilead in 2012. He pioneered the development of nu- of Russia Natalya Tarasova, Member of the Commission cleoside and nucleotide prodrugs for the treatment of of the Russian Federation for UNESCO Andrey Guryev, the hepatitis C virus. Michael J. Sofia is currently Chief UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Natural Scienc- Scientific Officer at Arbutus Biopharma and holds a es Flavia Schlegel, and IUPAC Treasurer Professor John professorship at the Baruch S. Blumberg Institute for Corish of the Trinity College Dublin School of Chemis- Hepatitis Research. try. Previous IUPAC-Richter Prizes were awarded to The Green Chemistry for Life programme was Malcolm F.G. Stevens in 2006, Jan Heeres in 2008, launched on 29 March 2013 at the UNESCO head- Arun K. Ghosh in 2010, Stephen Hanessian in 2012, and quarters in , . The goal of the partnership Helmut Buschmann in 2014. was to support talented young scientists engaged in Gedeon Richter Plc. (www.richter.hu), headquar- green chemistry projects aimed at protecting the en- tered in Budapest/Hungary, is a major pharmaceutical vironment, creating energy-efficient processes, and

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integrating environmentally-friendly technologies with fertilizers industry and the scientific community, which innovative new ideas. is supported by PhosAgro’s continued active coop- In 2015, the international scientific jury reviewed 119 eration with UNESCO and IUPAC on the international applications for grants, and awarded the six best ap- Green Chemistry for Life project.” plicants: Dr. Daniele Leonori from Italy, Dr. Alexander “This program is ‘a marriage made in heaven’”, said Bissember from Australia, Dr. Natalia Quici from Ar- the IUPAC Treasurer, Professor John Corish. “The three gentina, Dr. Svilen Simeonov from , Dr. Mehdi collaborating institutions are very well matched. Phos- Mohammadi from Iran, and Dr. Allan Prior from South Agro very generously provides the funding. UNESCO Africa. has tremendous contacts around the world in the basic “In today’s world, science and basic research need sciences and IUPAC, in which I serve, provides the es- as much support as they can get”, said Dr. Alexander sential scientific expertise.” Bissember, one of the grant recipients, from Australia. UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Natural “The fact that this programme was developed specifi- Sciences Flavia Schlegel said: “PhosAgro, well-known cally to support researchers from around the world at for its environmental and social awareness, is the first the start of their careers makes it especially useful and Russian industrial company in the history of UNESCO important. I hope that other companies follow PhosA- to have proposed and sponsored an initiative to pro- gro’s example and start to support research aimed at mote green chemistry. It is doing so through the Pho- developing ‘green’ chemical processes.” sAgro/UNESCO/IUPAC Partnership in Green Chemis- “The time for green chemistry is now” said Andrey try for Life, for which it has generously provided US$ Guryev, PhosAgro CEO, “we have the opportunity to 1,400,000 for a 5-year programme of grants to be influence the future of our planet with the help of im- awarded for promising research projects proposed by portant new scientific research. I hope that every one young scientists. The programme, led by an Interna- of the laureates will be successful at developing their tional Scientific Jury, seeks to identify the best young projects in a way that opens up new opportunities for researchers and help them to bring their excellent sci- economic growth combined with protection of the en- entific ideas to fruition. The strategy of the PhosAgro/ vironment for future generations. Finding real-world UNESCO/IUPAC Partnership in support of young scien- applications for these projects, I believe, will also sup- tists will without doubt bring substantial returns, which port global food security.” He added ”This programme are particularly called for in the implementation of the is an important sign of solidarity between the mineral 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17

Awards Presentation in the Main hall of National Mineral Resources University (Mining University). From left to right: Grigory Ordzhonikidze, Secretary-General of the Russian Commission for UNESCO; Vladimir Litvinenko, Rector of the St. Petersburg National Mineral Resources University: Mohammadi Mehdi, grantee from Iran; Svilen Simeonov, grantee from Bulgaria; Pietro Tundo, chair of the IUPAC SubCommittee on Green Chemistry; Daniele Leonori, grantee from Italy; Natalia Quici, grantee from Argentina; Irina Bokova, UNESCO Director- General; Andrei Guryev PhosAgro CEO; Alexander Bissember, grantee from Australia; Allan Prior, grantee from South Africa; John Corish, IUPAC Treasurer; Nicole Moreau, member of the ICSU Executive Committee and IUPAC past President, and Natalia Tarasova, Director of the Institute for Chemistry and Sustainable Development of the D. Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology of Russia and IUPAC President. 28 CHEMISTRY International May-August 2016 IUPAC Wire

Sustainable Development Goals.” the winner of the Fifth Polymer International – IUPAC award. For related releases and access to PhosAgro 2015 newspaper specially prepared for the event, see www.iupac.org/news/news-detail/article/ Richard Hoogenboom was born in 1978 in Rotterdam, green-chemistry-for-life-grants-awarded.html The Netherlands and studied chemical engineering at the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e, Neth- erlands). In 2005, he obtained his PhD and continued PhosAgro/UNESCO/IUPAC Green working as project leader for the Dutch Polymer In- Chemistry for Life Grant stitute. The final two years of this appointment were combined with a part-time position as senior product Programme developer at Dophys Medical BV. After postdoctoral Green training with Martin Möller at the RWTH Aachen (Hum- boldt fellowship, 2008-2009) and Roeland J. M. Nolte Chemistry at the Radboud University Nijmegen (NWO veni-grant, 2015 Special Issue for Life 2009-2010), he was appointed as Associate Professor esearch in green chemistry and allied areas at Ghent University (Belgium) in mid-2010, where he in biochemistry, geochemistry, biotechnology, currently heads a research group on Supramolecular Dear ecology and healthcare give young scientistsFriends! Chemistry (www.sc.ugent.be). His research interests Rapid growth of the world’s pop- ulation and accelerated develop- ment of technologies are the two trends that affect the growth of R natural resources operation and ample opportunity to demonstrate their inventivethe resulting aggravation of ad- - include stimuli-responsive polymers, supramolecular verse environmental effects. For this very reason, science should place a critical priority on the development of technol- ogies ensuring further progress ness and provide important input to sustainableaccompanied by the minimiza- polymers, and poly(2-oxazoline)s. tion of environmental effects. We must preserve our planet with its natural diversity for our ances- tors. The highest possible environ- development. With this in mind, the Green Chemistrymental safety level is an essen- “It is an honor to announce Richard Hoogenboom tial prerequisite for any new new production business. This pro- cess is driven by chemical indus- try. For this very reason, we have As Green combined our efforts with UNE- SCO and the International Union as the winner of the 5th Polymer International - IUPAC for Life Project was launched in 2013 by UNESCO’sof Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) in support of young sci- entists working to create envi- ronmentally safe technologies. as Grass I am certain that the Green Can chemistry be safe for nature and humans? Yes, it can. This is evidenced by Green Chemistry for Life, a Chemistry for Life will become a International Basic Sciences Programme (IBSP)successful project exemplifyingand Award for Creativity in Applied Polymer Science or joint project run by the Russian PhosAgro and UNESCO. combined efforts of science and Continued on page 2 industry in the shaping of new progress ethics, entailing high responsibility for the flourish- ing of future generations of the PhosAgro, the largest producer of phosphate-basedEarth. Polymer Technology. Professor Hoogenboom’s re- I want to express my enor- Making the World a Cleaner and Safer Place mous gratitude to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Based in Russia, PhosAgro is the largest European and one of the major global producers of phosphate- Federation and the Commission based fertilizers. On top of that, PhosAgro is a successful science and education philanthropy of the Russian Federation for fertilizer in Europe, in close cooperation withUNESCO for their supportthe for search is as beautiful as his home base of Ghent” said organization. The Company offers substantial assistance to the high school in Russia and supports our initiative. I hope that our environmental R&D projects on a global scale. joint program with UNESCO and IUPAC will render effective sup- hosAgro leads the chemical industry mineral fertilizers to over 100 countries. Despite the Russian agribusinesses last year. Over the port to young researchers and charge not only in Russia, but globally. its young age (14 years in the market), the past three years, PhosAgro has been the leading encourage scientific search to- International Union It is ofthe planet’s largestPure producer of Company hasand earned respect and recognitionApplied supplier of mineral fertilizers in the RussianChemistry wards Green Chemistry for Life. Gregory Russell, current President of the IUPAC Poly- high-grade phosphate rock with the in the international business circles. With a total market accounting for 25% of the overall PP2O5 content of no less than 39%. A holding mineral fertilizer and feed phosphate production domestic fertilizer supply. Yours respectfully, company with a flexible vertically integrated capacity of 6.5 million tonnes, PhosAgro shipped Andrei Guryev, (IUPAC). The programbusiness model, PhosAgro recently supplies 28 grades of over 1.6 million tonnes ofcompleted mineral fertilizers to Continued on pagetwo 3 sepaCEO of PhosAgro - mer Division. “His research focuses on the develop- rate calls: ment of adaptive and responsive materials inspired by •• natural self-assembly processes. This research goal is •• the 3rd Green Chemistry research grants for pursued by combining directional supramolecular in- young scientists, and teractions with well-defined polymeric building blocks •• the 1st Green Chemistry special grants for research and responsive polymer structures. He has over 275 projects on phosphogypsum. refereed publications to his name, and an h-index of over 50.” The next round of applications for both programs will “Receiving the PI-IUPAC award is a great honor” be announced in September 2016. said Hoogenboom, “and a beautiful recognition of the research of my group.” For details and update, see www..org/new/en/natural-sciences/ Professor Hoogenboom will receive this award science-technology/basic-sciences/chemistry/green-chemistry-for-life/ and give a lecture at the World Polymer Congress (http://macro2016.org/) being held 17-21 July 2016 in the incomparable city of . “His award lecture is Fifth Polymer sure to be one of the highlights of this flagship confer- International-IUPAC ence of the IUPAC Polymer Division”, added Russell. “I Award Winner goes to congratulate Richard and at the same time I would like to thank Polymer International for its generous spon- Richard Hoogenboom sorship of this award, for which the IUPAC Polymer Di- vision is indebted/ Long may the IUPAC-PI partnership he Executive Editorial Board continue!” of Polymer International and The award includes US$ 5,000 of expenses and Tthe IUPAC Polymer Division travel to the World Polymer Congress. Richard Hoogen- are pleased to announce Professor Hoogenboom as boom succeeds William Dichtel (2014), Ali Khadem-

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