Samir Zard

Samir Zard (born 1955) is a Lebanese-French chemist and the president of the department of chemistry at the École polytechnique, Paris, where he also directs the department of organic chemistry and synthesis.

Samir Zard
Born1955
Lebanon
Alma materAmerican University of Beirut
Imperial College
Université Paris-Sud
Known forBarton–Zard synthesis
AwardsCNRS Silver medal (2007)
Légion d'honneur (2007)
Grand Prix Achille Le Bel (2012)
Scientific career
FieldsOrganic chemistry

Biography

Zard initially studied chemistry at the American University of Beirut, but in 1975 he was forced to emigrate due to the Lebanese civil war. He completed his undergraduate education at Imperial College London, receiving the highest mark among his graduating class, and followed Sir Derek Barton to Université Paris-Sud for doctoral study. He defended his thesis in 1983 and subsequently started his research career at the Institut de Chimie des Substances Naturelles at Gif-sur-Yvette, at the time also directed by Barton.

In 1986, he rejoined the organic chemistry department of the École polytechnique, where he has since worked.[1]

Work

Zard and his group have made significant advances in the chemistry of natural products, including the extraction of the alkaloids Dendrobine and γ-lycorane.[2][3]

In 1990 he assisted Barton in developing the Barton–Zard synthesis, a useful route to pyrrole derivatives:

An expert in radical chemistry, Zard and his group have notably worked on the xanthates, and contributed to the development of the reversible addition−fragmentation chain-transfer polymerization method.[4]

He currently serves on the editorial board of Tetrahedron Letters.[5]

Awards and distrinctions
  • Birch Lecturer (2015)
  • Liversidge Lecturer (2015)
  • 1st Barton Lecturer in Creativity in Organic Synthesis (2012)
  • Grand Prix Achille Le Bel (2012)
  • Grignard-Wittig Award of the German Chemical Society (2008)
  • Innovation Award - École polytechnique (2008)
  • Légion d'honneur (2007)[6]
  • President, Bürgenstock Conference (2007)
  • CNRS Silver medal (2007)
  • Dargelos prize (2006)
  • Prix Rhodia (2000)
  • Clavel-Lespiau prize of the French Academy of Sciences (1995)
  • Prize of the Société chimique de France (1992)

References
  1. http://www.enseignement.polytechnique.fr/chimie/
  2. Cassayre, Jerome (1 January 1999). Nouvelles reactions radicalaires appliquees a la synthese d'alcaloides [New radical reactions for the synthesis of alkaloids] (Thesis). INIST:199212.
  3. CNRS website : "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-07-24. Retrieved 2013-12-06.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. Site du CNRS : http://www.cnrs.fr/fr/recherche/prix/docs/ZardSZ.pdf
  5. Tetrahedron Letters : http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaleditorialboard.cws_home/233/editorialboard
  6. JO n°162 du 14 juillet 2007 sur http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do;jsessionid=085A3835A3310BF5BF801457C53E72F9.tpdjo14v_3?cidTexte=JORFTEXT000000824279&dateTexte=&oldAction=rechJO&categorieLien=id
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