TSRI chemist Jin-Quan Yu wins 2016 MacArthur Fellowship

Chemist Jin-Quan Yu of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) has won a 2016 MacArthur Fellowship, sometimes called a “genius grant.”

Jin-Quan Yu is a chemist at The Scripps Research Institute

Yu, who is the Frank and Bertha Hupp Professor of Chemistry at TSRI, will receive a $625,000 fellowship over five years from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The grant comes with no specific obligations or reporting requirements.

“Jin is an extraordinarily creative chemist,” said TSRI CEO Peter Schultz. "This is a well deserved honor and, following the MacArthur Fellowship awarded to TSRI’s Phil Baran in 2013, is a wonderful recognition of the remarkable science being conducted here at The Scripps Research Institute. I offer my heartiest congratulations to Jin—I always knew he was a genius, but this confirms it!”

MacArthur Fellowships are awarded to individuals who have shown extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits and a marked capacity for self-direction. Individuals cannot apply for the award; they must be nominated. Typically, 20 to 30 fellows from a wide variety of fields are selected each year.          

Yu’s work in the field of organic synthesis focuses on the development of new strategies and tools to accelerate catalytic C-H activation reactions.

“At a time when the science and concepts were on the wish list of dream reactions not yet feasible, Jin-Quan Yu systematically and single-handedly transformed the field, developing powerful new synthetic methods for selective C–H activation,” said Dale Boger, who is the Richard and Alice Cramer Professor and chair of the Department of Chemistry at TSRI. “He pioneered many of the first practical and robust carbon-hydrogen (C–H) bond-activation reactions now used in nearly every sector of chemical science.

“His methods have transformed how we think about making molecules, how we conduct medicinal chemistry and how tools are created for chemical biology,” Boger continued. “He is, simply, a brilliant scientist.”

Yu, a graduate of East China Normal University (1987) and University of Cambridge (1999), joined the TSRI faculty in 2007 after an appointment at Brandeis University and a Royal Society fellowship at the University of Cambridge (United Kingdom). A fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Royal Society of Chemistry, Yu is the recipient of many awards and honors.