Queen’s chemistry professor P. Andrew Evans has been named a recipient of the 2017 Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award by the American Chemical Society (ACS) in recognition of his contributions to the field of organic chemistry. Dr. Evans is the second Queen’s professor, and one of only a handful of chemists in Canada, to receive this distinction.

“I was delighted of course to be recognized by the ACS and by my peers in the field,” says Dr. Evans. “It was also nice that I received the mid-career award, which is at a time when our work is very exciting and blossoming into many new areas. I’m also very lucky to have such dedicated students and postdoctoral fellows that really have worked so hard over the years to make this happen.  I will be accepting this award on their behalf at the Cope Symposium at the Fall ACS meeting next year.”

Dr. Evans, who holds the Alfred R. Bader Chair in Organic Chemistry and a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Organic and Organometallic Chemistry, was nominated for the award for his fundamental contributions to synthetic organic chemistry by Gary Molander of the University of Pennsylvania. Over the course of his career he has developed new methods for synthesizing molecules that either could not be accomplished previously or were prohibitively complex or too expensive to produce. Some of his collaborations have included work on complex molecules for new medical treatments, including his research with fellow Queen’s researchers John Allingham and Andrew Craig.

Dr. Evans was one of four recipients selected in the mid-career category of the award – for those with between ten and 25 years of research experience since their terminal degree. Two other awards are given to researchers in the early career category (less than ten years) and four awards to those in the late career category (more than 25 years). Each recipient will deliver an awards address at the Arthur C. Cope Symposium – scheduled for August 2017 – and will receive a cash award of $5,000 (USD), a certificate, and a $40,000 (USD) unrestricted research grant. Dr. Evans plans to utilize his grant for a “blue sky” project.

“It’s going to be for something that we’d never get funded by a funding agency,” he explains. “It will be a tough problem and we’ll see if we can have some fun doing something interesting.”

The Arthur C. Cope Scholar Awards were established in 1984 by the American Chemical Society in recognition of, and to encourage, excellence in organic chemistry. For more information, please visit the website.