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Chemistry
USA
2026

D-Index & Metrics

Chemistry

D-Index
160
Citations
106256
World Ranking
94
National Ranking
49

Research.com Recognitions

  • 2026 - Research.com Chemistry in United States Leader Award
  • 2025 - Research.com Chemistry in United States Leader Award
  • 2016 - Wolf Prize in Chemistry, Wolf Foundation for advancing the field of chemical synthesis to the extremes of molecular complexity, linking structure and function and expanding our dominion over the interface of chemistry, biology and medicine.
  • 2015 - Fellow, National Academy of Inventors
  • 2013 - Fellow of the Royal Society, United Kingdom
  • 2011 - Benjamin Franklin Medal, Franklin Institute
  • 2009 - German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina - Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina – Nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften Chemistry
  • 2005 - Arthur C. Cope Award, American Chemical Society (ACS)
  • 2002 - Tetrahedron Prize for Creativity in Organic Chemistry or Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry, Elsevier
  • 2001 - Centenary Prize, Royal Society of Chemistry (UK)
  • 2000 - Paul Karrer Gold Medal, University of Zurich
  • 1999 - Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
  • 1996 - Member of the National Academy of Sciences
  • 1996 - William H. Nichols Medal, American Chemical Society (ACS)
  • 1996 - Linus Pauling Award, American Chemical Society (ACS)
  • 1996 - Ernest Guenther Award, American Chemical Society (ACS)
  • 1993 - Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
  • 1983 - Fellow of John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
  • 1979 - Fellow of Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

Overview

K. C. Nicolaou is affiliated with Rice University in the United States and has contributed extensively to the fields of Chemistry, Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology, and Materials Science. Their research spans subfields including Organic Chemistry, Materials Chemistry, Molecular Biology, Pharmacology, and Oncology.

The main topics of their work cover Synthetic Organic Chemistry Methods, Crystallization and Solubility Studies, X-ray Diffraction in Crystallography, Chemical Synthesis and Analysis, Microbial Natural Products and Biosynthesis, Cyclization and Aryne Chemistry, and Traditional and Medicinal Uses of Annonaceae.

Frequent coauthors collaborating with Nicolaou include Joseph Sandoval, Monette Aujay, Julia Gavrilyuk, Christine Gu, and Mikhail Hammond.

Nicolaou's publications have appeared notably in venues such as:

  • Journal of the American Chemical Society
  • The Cambridge Structural Database
  • The Journal of Organic Chemistry
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
  • Natural Product Reports

Selected recent papers authored by Nicolaou include:

  • "Perspectives from nearly five decades of total synthesis of natural products and their analogues for biology and medicine," 2020, Natural Product Reports
  • "Total Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Tiancimycins A and B, Yangpumicin A, and Related Anthraquinone-Fused Enediyne Antitumor Antibiotics," 2020, Journal of the American Chemical Society
  • "Uncialamycin-based antibody-drug conjugates: Unique enediyne ADCs exhibiting bystander killing effect," 2021, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
  • "A Reverse Approach to the Total Synthesis of Halichondrin B," 2021, Journal of the American Chemical Society
  • "Total Synthesis of the Monomeric Unit of Lomaiviticin A," 2020, Journal of the American Chemical Society

Among the awards received by Nicolaou are the Wolf Prize in Chemistry from the Wolf Foundation in 2016 for advancing chemical synthesis at the interface of chemistry, biology, and medicine, fellowships with the National Academy of Inventors (2015), Royal Society of the United Kingdom (2013), and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1999), as well as multiple American Chemical Society honors such as the Arthur C. Cope Award (2005), Ernest Guenther Award (1996), Linus Pauling Award (1996), and William H. Nichols Medal (1996).

Additional recognition includes the Benjamin Franklin Medal from the Franklin Institute (2011), membership in the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (2009), fellowship with the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1993), and early career fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (1983) and Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (1979).

Best Publications

  • Palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions in total synthesis.

    K. C. Nicolaou;Paul G. Bulger;Paul G. Bulger;David Sarlah;David Sarlah

  • The Diels--Alder reaction in total synthesis.

    K. C. Nicolaou;Scott A. Snyder;Tamsyn Montagnon;Georgios Vassilikogiannakis

  • Cascade reactions in total synthesis.

    K. C. Nicolaou;David J. Edmonds;David J. Edmonds;Paul G. Bulger;Paul G. Bulger

  • Classics in total synthesis : targets, strategies, methods

    K. C. Nicolaou;E. J. Sorensen;E. J. Corey;Scott A. Snyder

  • Total synthesis of taxol

    K. C. Nicolaou;K. C. Nicolaou;Z. Yang;J. J. Liu;H. Ueno

  • Metathesis Reactions in Total Synthesis

    K. C. Nicolaou;K. C. Nicolaou;Paul G. Bulger;Paul G. Bulger;David Sarlah;David Sarlah

  • Chemistry and Biology of the Enediyne Anticancer Antibiotics

    KC Nicolaou;Wei Min Dai

  • Chemistry, Biology, and Medicine of the Glycopeptide Antibiotics.

    K. C. Nicolaou;Christopher N. C. Boddy;Stefan Bräse;Nicolas Charles Winssinger

  • Natural Product-like Combinatorial Libraries Based on Privileged Structures. 1. General Principles and Solid-Phase Synthesis of Benzopyrans

    K. C. Nicolaou;J. A. Pfefferkorn;A. J. Roecker;G.-Q. Cao

  • The Art and Science of Total Synthesis at the Dawn of the Twenty-First Century

    K. C. Nicolaou;Dionisios Vourloumis;Nicolas Charles Winssinger;Phil S. Baran

  • Chemistry and Biology of Taxol

    Kyriacos Costa Nicolaou;Kyriacos Costa Nicolaou;Wei-Min Dai;Rodney Kiplin Guy

  • Palladiumkatalysierte Kreuzkupplungen in der Totalsynthese

    K. C. Nicolaou;K. C. Nicolaou;Paul G. Bulger;Paul G. Bulger;David Sarlah;David Sarlah

  • The art of total synthesis through cascade reactions.

    K. C. Nicolaou;Jason S. Chen

  • The Chemistry and Biology of Alkannin, Shikonin, and Related Naphthazarin Natural Products.

    Vassilios P. Papageorgiou;Andreana N. Assimopoulou;Elias A. Couladouros;David Hepworth

  • Kaskadenreaktionen in der Totalsynthese

    K. C. Nicolaou;K. C. Nicolaou;David J. Edmonds;David J. Edmonds;Paul G. Bulger;Paul G. Bulger

  • Efficient and mild lactonization method for the synthesis of macrolides

    E. J. Corey;Kyriacos C. Nicolaou

  • Chasing molecules that were never there: misassigned natural products and the role of chemical synthesis in modern structure elucidation.

    K. C. Nicolaou;K. C. Nicolaou;Scott A. Snyder;Scott A. Snyder

  • Iodine(V) Reagents in Organic Synthesis. Part 4. o-Iodoxybenzoic Acid as a Chemospecific Tool for Single Electron Transfer-Based Oxidation Processes

    Nicolaou Kc;Montagnon T;Baran Ps;Zhong Yl

  • Classics in total synthesis

    K. C. Nicolaou

  • Aldehyde Dehydrogenase Inhibitors: a Comprehensive Review of the Pharmacology, Mechanism of Action, Substrate Specificity, and Clinical Application

    Vindhya Koppaka;David C. Thompson;Ying Chen;Manuel Ellermann

  • A common pharmacophore for epothilone and taxanes: Molecular basis for drug resistance conferred by tubulin mutations in human cancer cells

    Paraskevi Giannakakou;Rick Gussio;Eva Nogales;Kenneth H. Downing

Frequent Co-Authors

Dionisios Vourloumis
Dionisios Vourloumis Demokritos National Centre for Scientific Research
Phil S. Baran
Phil S. Baran Scripps (United States)
Yun He
Yun He Chongqing University
Zhen Yang
Zhen Yang Peking University
Scott A. Snyder
Scott A. Snyder University of Chicago
Nicolas Winssinger
Nicolas Winssinger University of Geneva
Jeffrey A. Pfefferkorn
Jeffrey A. Pfefferkorn Pfizer (United States)
Takashi Ohshima
Takashi Ohshima Kyushu University
E. J. Corey
E. J. Corey Harvard University
Allan M. Lefer
Allan M. Lefer Thomas Jefferson University

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