David MacMillan

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David W. C. MacMillan FRS FRSE
Born	(1968-03-16)16 March 1968 Bellshill, North Lanarkshire, Scotland
Alma mater	University of Glasgow (BSc) University of California, Irvine (PhD, 1996)
Awards	Corday-Morgan medal Member of the National Academy of Sciences (2018) Nobel Prize in Chemistry (2021)
Scientific career
Institutions	Princeton University California Institute of Technology University of California, Berkeley Harvard University
Thesis	Stereocontrolled formation of bicyclic tetrahydrofurans and Enantioselective total synthesis of eunicellin diterpenes (1996)
Doctoral advisor	Larry E. Overman
Other academic advisors	Ernest W. Colvin David A. Evans
Doctoral students	Vy Dong, Tehshik Yoon, Tristan Lambert
Website	chemlabs.princeton.edu/macmillan

David William Cross MacMillan FRS FRSE (born March 16, 1968) is a Scottish-born chemist and the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor of Chemistry at Princeton University, where he was also the Chair of the Department of Chemistry from 2010 to 2015. In 2021, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry together with Benjamin List "for the development of asymmetric organocatalysis".

Education and early life

MacMillan was born in Bellshill, Scotland in 1968. He received his undergraduate degree in chemistry at the University of Glasgow, where he worked with Ernie Colvin.

In 1990, he left the UK to begin his doctoral studies under the direction of Professor Larry Overman at the University of California, Irvine. During this time, he focused on the development of new reaction methodology directed toward the stereocontrolled formation of bicyclic tetrahydrofurans. MacMillan's graduate studies culminated in the total synthesis of 7-(−)-deacetoxyalcyonin acetate, a eunicellin diterpenoid isolated from the soft coral Eunicella stricta. He earned his Ph.D. in 1996.

Career and research

Upon receiving his Ph.D., MacMillan accepted a position with Professor David Evans at Harvard University. His postdoctoral studies centered on enantioselective catalysis, in particular, the design and development of Sn(II)-derived bisoxazoline complexes (Sn(II)box).

MacMillan began his independent research career as a member of the chemistry faculty at the University of California, Berkeley in July 1998. He joined the department of chemistry at Caltech in June 2000, where his group's research interests centered on new approaches to enantioselective catalysis. In 2004, he was appointed as the Earle C. Anthony Professor of Chemistry. For personal reasons, he moved to Princeton University in September 2006.

MacMillan's research group has made many advances in the field of asymmetric organocatalysis, and they have applied these new methods to the synthesis of a range of complex natural products.

Between 2010 and 2014, Professor MacMillan was the founding Editor-in-Chief of the journal Chemical Science, the flagship general chemistry journal published by the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Honours and awards

• 2004 Corday-Morgan medal of Royal Institute of Chemistry
• 2012 Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS)
• 2012 Elected as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• 2013 Elected a Corresponding Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE)
• 2015 Harrison Howe Award
• 2017 Ryoji Noyori Prize
• 2018 Elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences
• 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

External links

• David MacMillan on Nobelprize.org