Richard and Alice Cramer Professor and Chairman of Department of Chemistry, The Scripps Research Institute (California Campus)
Dale Boger received his B.Sc. in chemistry from the University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas (1975, with highest distinction and honors in chemistry) and Ph.D. in chemistry from Harvard University (1980) under the direction of E. J. Corey. He returned to the University of Kansas as a member of the faculty in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry (1979-1985), moved to the Department of Chemistry at Purdue University (1985-1990), and joined the faculty in the newly created Department of Chemistry at The Scripps Research Institute (1990-present) as the Richard and Alice Cramer Professor of Chemistry. Since 2012, he has served as the Chairman for the Department of Chemistry. Professor Boger is internationally recognized for his work in organic synthesis, heterocyclic chemistry, natural products total synthesis and mechanistic studies on their biological activity, synthetic methodology development, and medicinal chemistry. He has made seminal contributions to the understanding of DNA-agent interactions of naturally occurring antitumor-antibiotics, protein-protein interactions, and to the discovery of new biological targets (e.g. FAAH). Most notable are his development and application of the hetero Diels-Alder reaction to the syntheses of complex natural products, his development and applications of the cycloaddition reactions of cyclopropenone ketals, methodology based on the alkene addition reactions of acyl radicals, medium and large ring macrocyclization technology, and solution phase combinatorial chemistry methodology. Beautiful applications of this may be found in his total syntheses of natural products including bleomycin A2, CC-1065, yatakemycin, streptonigrin, lavendamycin, colchicine, vancomycin, teicoplanin, ristocetin, chloropeptin, vinblastine and vincristine, vindoline and vindorosine, prodigiosin, roseophilin, chlorofusin, duocarmycin A and SA, fostriecin, cytostatin, phostriecin, fredericamycin A, streptonigrone, bouvardin, sandramycin, luzopeptins A–C, quinoxapeptins A–C, thiocoraline, HUN-7293, isochrysohermidin, mappicine, camptothecin, piericidins, ningalins, phomazarin, rubrolone, and grandirubrine. Many of the above compounds were addressed because of their biological properties. For example, Professor Boger’s group was not only the first to prepare duocarmycin SA and more recently yatakemycin, but they went on to define their DNA alkylation properties. In these studies they made the unusual observation that both enantiomers of the natural product constitute effective DNA alkylating agents, have identified a remarkable source of catalysis for the DNA alkylation reaction, and have defined subtle structural and stereoelectronic features of the agents that contribute to functional reactivity and reaction regioselectivity and their impact on the DNA alkylation and biological properties. Similarly, his group was the first to extend their total synthesis of the glycopeptides antibiotics to redesigned vancomycin structures to address vancomycin resistance.
Honors:
1975-78 NSF Predoctoral Fellowship
1981-85 Searle Scholar Recipient
1983-88 NIH Research Career Development Award
1985-87 Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship
1988 ACS A. C. Cope Scholar
1989 American Cyanamid Academic Award
1997 ISHC Katritzky Award in Heterocyclic Chemistry
1999 ACS Aldrich Award for Creativity in Organic Synthesis
2002 Paul Janssen Prize for Creativity in Organic Synthesis
2003 Royal Society of Chemistry Adrien Albert Medal
2003 Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science
2006 Elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences
2007 ACS Guenther Award in the Chemistry of Natural Products
2009 Fellow, Royal Society of Chemistry
2010 Fellow, American Chemical Society
2011 ACS Portoghese Prize Lecturer
2013 ACS Hirschmann Award in Peptide Chemistry
2014 AACR Award for Outstanding Chemistry in Cancer Research
2014 Elected to US National Academy of Sciences
2016 Elected to National Academy of Inventors
Editor: 1990-2015 Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry Letters (founding editor)