School of Pharmacy professor earns national honor as Arthur C. Cope Scholar

LAWRENCE — Jeff Aubé, professor of medicinal chemistry at the University of Kansas School of Pharmacy, has won a prestigious 2012 Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award.

The award, presented by the American Chemical Society, recognizes and encourages excellence in organic chemistry. Only 10 Arthur C. Cope scholars are named each year, and the honor can be earned only once in a researcher’s lifetime.

University Distinguished Professor and Department of Medicinal Chemistry Chair Barbara Timmermann explained that the honor brings distinction not only to Aubé and his research team but to the entire KU community.

"Jeff Aubé has brought prestige to our department and university by receiving a top award from the ACS,” Timmermann said. “This award is given in recognition of excellence in organic chemistry to the best of the best, and Professor Aubé has been honored for his important contributions to human health by developing new ways of making potential therapeutic agents. This is a great achievement for medicinal chemistry at the international scale."

According to the award’s citation, Aubé received the honor in recognition of his work in “the development of nucleophilic reactions of alkyl azides, total synthesis of alkaloids, and biomedical applications of organic synthesis.”

“I’m particularly honored that the ACS cited both our basic research in fundamental chemistry and our more recent efforts in biomedical science,” said Aubé. “In both cases, what this award really recognizes are the efforts of all of the talented graduate students and postdoctoral researchers with whom I’ve been so fortunate to work.”

School of Pharmacy Dean Ken Audus said awards such as this serve as great reminders of the groundbreaking work that is done at the university year round.

“Jeff Aubé continues to bring national and international attention to the University of Kansas and to the School of Pharmacy. The important work he and his research team do improves the lives of Kansans, Americans, and the world,” Audus said. “I was happy to learn that the ACS has given him the recognition he so richly deserves.”

The 2012 Cope Scholar recipients will be honored at the ACS Arthur C. Cope Symposium, Aug. 21, 2012, at the ACS national meeting in Philadelphia.