Nobel Laureate

Karl Barry Sharpless (born April 28, 1941) is a chemist renowned for his work on organometallic chemistry. In 2001 he won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on stereoselective oxidation reactions (Sharpless epoxidation, Sharpless bishydroxylation, Sharpless aminohydroxylation). This prize was shared with William S. Knowles and Ryoji Noyori (for their work on stereoselective hydrogenation). Currently he spends much of his time promoting click chemistry which are selective, exothermic reactions which occur under mild conditions in water; the most successful variant of which is the alkyne-azide (3 + 2) cycloaddition to form 1,2,3-triazoles.

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.