Viresh Rawal was born in India in 1958 and immigrated with his family to the United States in 1968, settling in Connecticut.  He received his B.S. degree from the University of Connecticut (1980) and his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania (1986).  His doctoral research, carried out under professor Michael P. Cava, dealt with the development of an efficient route for the synthesis of the potent antitumor agent CC-1065.  From 1986 to 1988 he was a postdoctoral associate at Columbia University in the laboratories of Professor Gilbert Stork.  In 1988 he accepted a faculty position at the Ohio State University and was promoted to Associate Professor in 1994.  In the autumn of 1995 he moved to the University of Chicago as an Associate Professor and was subsequently promoted to the rank of Professor.

 

His research interests are in the general area of organic synthesis, with an emphasis on the development of effective methods and strategies for the synthesis of complex bioactive molecules. This effort has culminated in the synthesis of several intricate targets, including isocomene and (–)-isocomene, endo-hirsutene, modhephene, silphiperfol-6-ene, alpha-elemene, (±) and (+)-tabersonine, (+)-11-methoxytabersonine (+)-aspidospermidine, (-)-dehydroquebrachamine, (-)-quebrachamine, arborescidines A-C, geissoschizal, (+)-geissoschizine, dehydrotubifoline, akuammicine, zenkerene, elisapterosin B, elisabethin A, gamma-lycorane, (+)-methyl pederate, pederin, mycalamide A, mycalamide B, N-methylwelwitindolinone D isonitrile, and strychnine.  Methodology development has played a central role in these total synthesis exercises.  Considerable effort has been devoted to the development of transition metal-based catalysis of reactions, including enantioselective reactions.  In recent years, his group has focused on the development of effective catalysts for highly enantioselective reactions and on the use of hydrogen bonding for catalysis of reactions.  This effort has resulted in the first demonstration of simple chiral alcohols as enantioselective catalysts for a wide range of reactions.  His group has also developed new classes of asymmetric catalysts, notably chiral squaramides, that function through hydrogen bond activation.

 

Rawal's work has been recognized through awards from Eli Lilly (1993-1995), American Cyanamid (1994), Merck (1995), and Pfizer Research Laboratories (1995-1998).  He is also the recipient of the American Cancer Society Junior Faculty Award (1990-1993) the American Chemical Society’s Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award (2003) and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has served on the NIH Medicinal Chemistry Study Section (1999-2003) and the Cancer Drug Development Proposal Evaluation Committee for the American Cancer Society (2005-), presently as the chair.  He served on the editorial board of The Journal of Organic Chemistry (2004-2008) and is currently an Editorial Board Member of Organic Syntheses (2007-), Heterocycles (2007-present), Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry (2012-present), and Asian Journal of Organic Chemistry (2012-present).  He served as the Volume Editor for the Science of Synthesis volume “Compounds with All-Carbon Functions.”