User:ChemGuyAKT/sandbox

Iwao Ojima (Born on June 5, 1945 in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan) is a Japanese-American Distinguished Professor of chemistry at the State University of New York at Stony Brook (Stony Brook University). Ojima's interest now lie at the interface of medicinal chemistry and chemical biology. Currently, his lab focuses on the development of new anti-cancer therapeutics, tumor targeted delivery, anti-fungal agents, anti-bacterial agents, and anti-inflammatory/nociceptive agents. Although based on modern methods of organic synthesis, the integration of many relevant techniques are realized (biological assays and computational methods) and have aided in the discovery of these next generation therapeutics.

Life/Career
Ojima earned his B.S. (1968), M.S. (1970), and Ph.D. (1973) from the University of Tokyo, Japan. He then joined the Sagami Chemical Research Institute with an appointment as a Senior Research Fellow until 1983 where he joined the faculty at Stony Brook University as Associate Professor. Quickly climbing the ranks, he was promoted to Professor in 1984, Leading Professor in 1991, and Distinguished Professor in 1995. He served as Department Chair from 1997 to 2003 and is the founding director of the Institute of Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery (ICB&DD) since 2003. He has been a Visiting Professor at several institutions such as the Université Claude Bernard Lyon I, Lyon, France (1989), The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan (1996), The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA (1997), and Université de Paris XI, BIOCIS, Châtenay-Malabry, France (1997). He has published over 350 original research papers, and more than 150 patent applications in addition to editing six books, and giving over 80 plenary and invited lectures in international meetings. Google Scholar profile shows over 900 publications.

During his time as a graduate student at the University of Tokyo, Ojima was trained as a synthetic organic chemist focusing on developing methods of homogenous organometallic catalysis and asymmetric syntheses. He published over 25 research papers during his time as a graduate student. After joining the Sagami Research Institute, he continued his work on asymmetric syntheses and homogenous organometallic catalysis. At this time he began his work in fluorine chemistry which led to some major findings: (1) the effects of fluoro-substituents on regioselective tendencies in the hydrocarbonylations of fluoro-olefins and the application of the highly regioselective hydroformylation to the synthesis of fluoro-amino acids, (2) a novel ureidocarbonylation process that gives 5-(trifluoromethy1)dihydrouracils in one step, and (3) the hydroformylation–amidocarbonylation of fluoro-olefins catalyzed by Co–Rh mixed-metal systems. These efficient synthetic incorperations of fluorine were then used for the design of a potent angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor. His book, "Fluorine in Medicinal Chemistry and Chemical Biology", was a big hit (1200 citations) and goes in detail about the challenges, advantages, and incorporation of fluorine in biologically relevant systems. In 2013, he was awarded the ACS award for Creative Work in Fluorine Chemistry. Outstanding in his research achievements and to the field is the development of the beta-lactam synthon method, which is used industrially for the production of the Ojima lactam, a commerically valuable material for the synthesis of paclitaxel (Taxol), the anti-cancer therapeutic. Consequently in 2019, Ojima was named the recipient of the Earnest Guenther Award, an ACS national award for exemplary work in the chemistry of natural products.