World's Best Scientists 2026 revealed!
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Chemistry
USA
2026

D-Index & Metrics

Chemistry

D-Index
145
Citations
118487
World Ranking
159
National Ranking
77

Research.com Recognitions

  • 2026 - Research.com Chemistry in United States Leader Award
  • 2025 - Research.com Chemistry in United States Leader Award
  • 1973 - Fellow of Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

Overview

K. Barry Sharpless is affiliated with the Scripps Research Institute in the United States. Their research spans multiple areas, prominently focusing on biochemistry, genetics, molecular biology, chemistry, and medicine. The scientist's work addresses a range of subfields including molecular biology, organic chemistry, radiology, nuclear medicine, imaging, oncology, and pharmaceutical science.

The research topics explored by Sharpless encompass:

  • Click Chemistry and Applications
  • Chemical Synthesis and Analysis
  • Monoclonal and Polyclonal Antibodies Research
  • Advanced Biosensing and Bioanalysis Techniques
  • Fluorine in Organic Chemistry
  • Pesticide Exposure and Toxicity
  • Peptidase Inhibition and Analysis

Sharpless has contributed to multiple publications in a variety of scientific journals. Frequent publication venues include:

  • Angewandte Chemie International Edition
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
  • Angewandte Chemie
  • bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
  • Journal of the American Chemical Society

Recent significant papers authored by Sharpless and collaborators are:

  • "Sulfur(VI) Fluoride Exchange (SuFEx)-Enabled High-Throughput Medicinal Chemistry," 2020, Journal of the American Chemical Society
  • "SuFExable polymers with helical structures derived from thionyl tetrafluoride," 2021, Nature Chemistry
  • "Using sulfuramidimidoyl fluorides that undergo sulfur(vi) fluoride exchange for inverse drug discovery," 2020, Nature Chemistry
  • "Sulfur [ 18 F]Fluoride Exchange Click Chemistry Enabled Ultrafast Late-Stage Radiosynthesis," 2021, Journal of the American Chemical Society
  • "High-performing polysulfate dielectrics for electrostatic energy storage under harsh conditions," 2023, Joule

Key frequent co-authors working with Sharpless include:

  • Seiya Kitamura
  • Gencheng Li
  • Dennis W. Wolan
  • John E. Moses
  • Jiajia Dong

Sharpless received recognition as a Fellow of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation in 1973.

Best Publications

  • Click Chemistry: Diverse Chemical Function from a Few Good Reactions.

    Hartmuth C. Kolb;M. G. Finn;K. Barry Sharpless

  • A stepwise huisgen cycloaddition process: copper(I)-catalyzed regioselective "ligation" of azides and terminal alkynes.

    Vsevolod V. Rostovtsev;Luke G. Green;Valery V. Fokin;K. Barry Sharpless

  • Catalytic Asymmetric Dihydroxylation

    Hartmuth C. Kolb;Michael S. VanNieuwenhze;K. Barry Sharpless

  • The growing impact of click chemistry on drug discovery.

    Hartmuth C Kolb;K.Barry Sharpless

  • First practical method for asymmetric epoxidation

    Tsutomu Katsuki;Karl B. Sharpless

  • Copper(I)-catalyzed synthesis of azoles. DFT study predicts unprecedented reactivity and intermediates.

    Fahmi Himo;Timothy Lovell;Robert Hilgraf;Vsevolod V Rostovtsev

  • Bioconjugation by Copper(I)-Catalyzed Azide-Alkyne [3 + 2] Cycloaddition

    Qian Wang;Timothy R Chan;Robert Hilgraf;Valery V Fokin

  • The Osmium-Catalyzed Asymmetric Dihydroxylation: A New Ligand Class and a Process Improvement

    K. Barry Sharpless;Willi Amberg;Youssef L. Bennani;Gerard A. Crispino

  • Polytriazoles as copper(I)-stabilizing ligands in catalysis.

    Timothy R Chan;Robert Hilgraf;K Barry Sharpless;Valery V Fokin

  • “On Water”: Unique Reactivity of Organic Compounds in Aqueous Suspension

    Sridhar Narayan;John Muldoon;M. G. Finn;Valery V. Fokin

  • Click-Chemie: diverse chemische Funktionalität mit einer Handvoll guter Reaktionen

    Hartmuth C. Kolb;M. G. Finn;K. Barry Sharpless

  • Catalytic asymmetric epoxidation and kinetic resolution: modified procedures including in situ derivatization

    Unknown

  • Efficiency and Fidelity in a Click-Chemistry Route to Triazole Dendrimers by the Copper(I)-Catalyzed Ligation of Azides and Alkynes

    Peng Wu;Alina K. Feldman;Anne K. Nugent;Craig J. Hawker

  • Ruthenium-catalyzed cycloaddition of alkynes and organic azides

    Valery Fokin;Guocheng Jia;K. Barry Sharpless

  • A greatly improved procedure for ruthenium tetroxide catalyzed oxidations of organic compounds

    Unknown

  • Sulfur(VI) Fluoride Exchange (SuFEx): Another Good Reaction for Click Chemistry

    Jiajia Dong;Larissa Krasnova;M. G. Finn;K. Barry Sharpless

  • Asymmetric dihydroxylation via ligand-accelerated catalysis

    E. N. Jacobsen;I. E. Markó;W. S. Mungall;G. W. Schröder

  • Click Chemistry In Situ: Acetylcholinesterase as a Reaction Vessel for the Selective Assembly of a Femtomolar Inhibitor from an Array of Building Blocks

    Warren G. Lewis;Luke G. Green;Flavio Grynszpan;Zoran Radić

  • Kinetic resolution of racemic allylic alcohols by enantioselective epoxidation. A route to substances of absolute enantiomeric purity

    Victor S. Martin;Scott S. Woodard;Tsutomu Katsuki;Yasuhiro Yamada

  • Catalytic Asymmetric Aminohydroxylation (AA) of Olefins

    Guigen Li;Han-Ting Chang;K. Barry Sharpless

  • Vicinal diol cyclic sulfates. Like epoxides only more reactive

    Yun. Gao;K. Barry. Sharpless

  • Ligand-Accelerated Catalysis

    David J. Berrisford;Carsten Bolm;K. Barry Sharpless

Frequent Co-Authors

Valery V. Fokin
Valery V. Fokin University of Southern California
M. G. Finn
M. G. Finn Georgia Institute of Technology
Palmer Taylor
Palmer Taylor University of California, San Diego
Peng Wu
Peng Wu Scripps Research Institute
Hartmuth C. Kolb
Hartmuth C. Kolb Janssen (Belgium)
John E. Moses
John E. Moses La Trobe University
Jeffery W. Kelly
Jeffery W. Kelly Scripps Research Institute
István E. Markó
István E. Markó Université Catholique de Louvain
Craig J. Hawker
Craig J. Hawker University of California, Santa Barbara
Fahmi Himo
Fahmi Himo Stockholm University

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