2025 Chemistry News Archive

Price made of glass with star on blue background

We are excited to report that Professor Tehshik P. Yoon from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA, joins the Science of Synthesis Editorial Board as a new member with effect of October 1st, 2025.

Tehshik was born in Montréal (Canada) and grew up in Blacksburg, VA (USA). He earned his AB in chemistry in 1996 from Harvard University where he worked in lab of late Prof. Dave Evans. He then moved to Caltech at the West coast for his Master’s degree studying under the guidance of Prof. Erick Carreira (1996–1998). Following that, he studied methods to control the stereochemistry of pericyclic reactions as the first PhD student of Prof. David MacMillan, first at UC Berkeley and later back at Caltech. After obtaining his PhD in 2002 he returned to Harvard University as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the group of Eric Jacobsen with a focus on the use of hydrogen bonding urea catalysts in asymmetric synthesis.

In 2005, Tehshik joined the faculty of the University of Wisconsin-Madison (USA) as Assistant Professor to start his independent research career. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2011 and is Full Professor of Chemistry since 2013. Photochemistry is currently the focus in Tehshik’s research group, covering topics such as enantioselective catalysis of photochemical reactions, the development of strategies for photochemically enabled synthesis, and mechanistic investigations of photochemical reactions.

Tehshik has been recognized for both his contributions to research and pedagogy with numerous awards, among them the Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award (2010) and very recently the 2026 David A. Evans Award for the Advancement and Education of Organic Synthesis by the ACS.

Detailed Profile & Publications

Tehshik has already delivered content to Science of Synthesis Reference Library projects in the past as an author, namely for “Photocatalysis in Organic Synthesis” and “Free Radicals: Fundamentals and Applications in Organic Synthesis.” We welcome Professor Tehshik Yoon on the Science of Synthesis Editorial Board and look forward to a successful and inspiring collaboration with him!

We are thrilled to announce that Professor David Sarlah from Rice University, USA, becomes a member of the Science of Synthesis Editorial Board with effect of October 1st, 2025.

David obtained his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of Ljubljana in his home country Slovenia before moving to the USA for undergraduate research in the labs of Prof. K. C. Nicolaou (Scripps) and Prof. Samuel Danishefsky (Columbia University). During his PhD in the Nicolaou group (finished in 2011) he worked on the total synthesis of complex natural products. David then returned to Europe to join Prof. Erick Carreira’s group at the ETH Zurich (Switzerland) as a postdoctoral fellow entering the field of asymmetric catalysis.

In late-2014, David moved to the USA again, starting his independent career at the faculty of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign as Assistant Professor and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2021. In 2024 he joined Rice University as Professor of Chemistry. The research in the Sarlah group spans from the synthesis of complex, biologically active natural products and the related chemical biology to methodology development. Very recently, David has been honored by the ACS with the 2026 Elias J. Corey Award for Outstanding Original Contributions in Organic Synthesis by a Young Investigator.

Detailed Profile & Publications

David has already gained experience in working on Science of Synthesis as responsible editor for the Reference Library project on “Dearomatizations” to be published at the end of 2025.We welcome Professor David Sarlah on the Science of Synthesis Editorial Board and look forward to a continued successful and inspiring collaboration with him!

Anna Miller receives Thieme Award for her oral presentation at the 26th Lakeland Symposium (Grasmere) 2025.

Thieme Chemistry is pleased to announce the winner of the award for the successful oral presentation at the 26th Lakeland Symposium (Grasmere) 2025, which took place in Grasmere, United Kingdom, from May 11 at 17:00 to May 15 at 13:00. As a prize, we are pleased to offer a one-year subscription to our Thieme journal SYNFACTS. Congratulations Anna Miller!

We are excited to announce that Professor Xin-Yuan Liu from the Southern University of Science and Technology, China, has joined the SYNTHESIS Editorial Board as an Associate Editor, effective January 1, 2025.

Prof. Xin-Yuan Liu is the Chair Professor and Head of the Department of Chemistry at Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) in Shenzhen, China. He earned his B.S. from Anhui Normal University in 2001, followed by an M.S. from the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry (SIOC), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in 2004, and a Ph.D. from The University of Hong Kong (HKU) in 2010. After completing postdoctoral research at HKU and The Scripps Research Institute, Prof. Liu joined SUSTech, where he advanced from Tenure-Track Associate Professor to his current role as Chair Professor.

Prof. Liu’s research centers on radical asymmetric chemistry, particularly in the development of copper-based catalysts, which have significantly advanced the fields of asymmetric organic synthesis and catalysis. His work has been recognized with numerous prestigious awards, including the 2023 XPLORER PRIZE and the 2024 CCS-BASF Innovation Prize. Prof. Liu has published extensively in top-tier journals such as Nature and Nature Chemistry, making substantial contributions to the development of catalytic enantioselective radical reactions and their applications in complex molecular synthesis.

Detailed Profile & Publications

We welcome Professor Xin-Yuan Liu on the SYNTHESIS Editorial Board and look forward to a successful and inspiring collaboration with him! Take this opportunity to submit your papers and benefit from the expertise of our new Associate Editor!

About SYNTHESIS

SYNTHESIS is an international full-paper journal devoted to the advancement of the science of chemical synthesis. It covers all fields of organic chemistry involving synthesis, including catalysis, organometallic, medicinal, biological, and photochemistry, but also related disciplines.

We are thrilled to announce that Professor Chris Vanderwal from the University of California, Irvine, USA, has joined the SYNTHESIS Editorial Board as Associate Editor with effect of January 1st, 2025.

Chris Vanderwal received a B.Sc. degree in Biochemistry (1995) and an M.Sc. degree in Chemistry (1998) from the University of Ottawa. He then moved to the Scripps Research Institute for doctoral studies in the group of Professor Erik Sorensen. After obtaining his Ph.D. in 2003, Chris joined the group of Professor Eric Jacobsen at Harvard University as a Jane Coffin Childs postdoctoral associate. In 2005, Chris began his independent academic career at the University of California, Irvine. In 2011, Chris was promoted with tenure to Associate Professor and was named a UCI Chancellor’s Faculty Fellow, and in 2013, he was promoted to Professor of Chemistry, and he was recently appointed Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Chris’s group focuses on the synthesis of complex natural products, including alkaloids, terpenoids, and polyhalogenated secondary metabolites. They develop target-specific but potentially broadly applicable methods en route to the natural product goals, and frequently engage in post-synthesis collaborative experiments to investigate biological activity of the target and synthetic analogues.

Detailed Profile & Publications

We welcome Professor Chris Vanderwal on the SYNTHESIS Editorial Board and look forward to a successful and inspiring collaboration with him! Take advantage of this opportunity to have your work reviewed by our esteemed new Associate Editor — submit your papers today!

About SYNTHESIS

2025 Chemistry News Archive

Welcome to Tehshik Yoon as New Editorial Board Member of SOS

Science of Synthesis Welcomes David Sarlah as New Editorial Board Member

Best Oral Presentation Prize at Lakeland Symposium 2025

International Conference on Sustainable Chemistry for Net Zero

New Poster Prize Winners announced at the RRB 2025 in Turku

Poster prize winners announced at the MATSUS25 Conference in Seville

SOS poster prizes at the 2025 JCF Spring Symposium (GDCh-JCF)

Sustainability & Circularity NOW Flash Presentation Prize awarded at the Green Chemistry Synthesis for Circular Economy Winter School (GCS4CE)

Synthesis Poster Prize awarded at the 1st Meeting of Organic Chemistry of the Catalan Chemical Society (1RQO-SQC)

Sustainability & Circularity NOW Flash Presentation Prize awarded at the Green Chemistry Synthesis for Circular Economy Winter School (GCS4CE)

Best Poster Presentation Prize awarded at the 1st Meeting of Organic Chemistry of the Catalan Chemical Society (1RQO-SQC)

Three Thieme Poster Prizes awarded at the 51tst Symposium on Main Group Element Chemistry (MGEC-51)

SYNTHESIS Welcomes New Editorial Board Member Professor Xin-Yuan Liu

SYNTHESIS Welcomes New Editorial Board Member Professor Chris Vanderwal