Amos B. Smith III Award

Purpose of the Amos B. Smith Award

This award will recognize individuals whose careers reflect the highest ideals of organic chemistry, namely, transformative scientific achievement, sustained mentorship, collaborative leadership, and exceptional service to the scientific community. It is designed not merely to honor excellence but to help define it for future generations.

Please Note: The Division is currently fundraising for this award and further details will be released when appropriate.

About Amos B. Smith, III (1944-2025)

Amos was born on August 26, 1944, in Lewisburg, PA, and was the only child of Mildred E. (Cornelius) Smith and Dr. Amos B. Smith, Jr. In 1966 Amos was the recipient of the first combined B.S.-M.S. degree in Chemistry from Bucknell University, where he studied under the mentorship of Harold Heine and published his first two papers. After a year of medical school at the University of Pennsylvania, Amos decided his real passion was chemistry and moved to The Rockefeller University in New York City, where in 1972 he earned a Chemistry Ph.D. under the mentorship of Bill Agosta. After graduation he accepted a joint appointment at the Monell Chemical Senses Center and the Department of Chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1981 he became a full member of the Monell Chemical Senses Center and rose to the rank of Professor of Chemistry. From 1988-1996 he served as Chair of the Chemistry Department. He held the Rhodes-Thompson Endowed Professorship of Chemistry from 1990 until his move to Emeritus status in 2024.

Smith’s research interests encompassed three diverse areas: natural product synthesis, bioorganic chemistry and materials science. More than 85 architecturally complex natural products were prepared in his Laboratory. In addition, Smith, in collaboration with Ralph Hirschmann, achieved the design and synthesis of non-peptide peptidomimetics of neuropeptideic hormone/transmitters and protease enzyme inhibitors and, also with Stephen Benkovic (Penn State), haptens for the production of catalytic antibodies capable of peptide bond formation. At Monell, in collaboration with Peter Jurs (Penn State), he pioneered the use of computerized pattern recognition techniques for the analysis of primate chemical communication. Collaborative programs at the LRSM include the chemistry and physics of novel liquid crystals and the fullerenes. More recent studies with the late Professor Robin Hochstrasser involved the development of ultrafast photochemical triggers to explore peptide/protein folding.

Amos was recognized for his contributions to science by numerous national and international awards including the Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award (1991), the ACS Ernest Guenther Award (1993), the ACS Award for Creativity in Organic Chemistry (1997), the Centenary Medal, Royal Society of Chemistry, London, (2002), the Yamada Prize (Tokyo, Japan) (2003), the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon from the Government of Japan (2004), RSC Simonsen Medal (2008), Inaugural Fellow, American Chemical Society (2009), D.Sc. (honoris causa), Queens University, Belfast, Northern Ireland (2009), the William H. Nichols Award from the New York Section of the ACS (2014), and the Gassman Award (2014).

Donate to the Award Endowment

Currently, funds are being raised to endow the Amos B. Smith III Award, which will join the Gassman and Leete Awards as Division of Organic Chemistry awards. The DOC recognizes that many who knew Amos would like the opportunity to contribute to this. Please contact the Division Treasurer (Joseph Ward) to arrange for donation/payment.  For donations of less than $5,000 or for ongoing monthly contributions please visit the award’s GiveLively page.

ACS Catalysis Lectureship Award

ACS Catalysis Lectureship Award for the Advancement of Catalytic Science honors an individual or a collaborative team for recent and significant contributions to the field, which appeared as a publication in ACS Catalysis within the last three calendar years. The lectureship recognizes a publication that provides a distinctive, creative, and impactful contribution to catalysis science. Special consideration will be given to early-career researchers as well as to the originality and impact of the article on the field of catalysis as a whole. For more information see the 2023 editorial entitled “Changes to the 2024 ACS Catalysis Lectureship Awards” by Cathleen Crudden, Editor-in-Chief of ACS Catalysis.

Sponsorship of the ACS Catalysis Lectureship:

The ACS Divisions of Organic Chemistry (starting with the 2024 award) and Catalysis Science and Technology (CATL) (since 2012) are partnering with ACS Catalysis to provide the award

Nature of the Award:

The corresponding author of the recognized article will receive 1) an award plaque (separate plaques if two corresponding authors); complimentary registration for ACS Fall meeting; 3) travel funds (US$2,500) to attend and present at the ACS Fall National Meeting. Note: If two corresponding authors are to be recognized, the honorarium and travel funds will be split between them.

Eligibility:

• Self nominations are welcome and encouraged.
• Nominated articles must have been published in ACS Catalysis within the corresponding 3 calendar years either in an issue or ASAP. (i.e. for the 2024 award the work must have appeared in 2021, 2022 or 2023).
• Nominees’ work must be in the area of homogeneous catalysis, heterogeneous catalysis, or biocatalysis/enzymology. In the nomination, select which area is the best fit for the publication being recognized. Each publication being nominated will be judged in only one of the three areas.
• Multiple articles by the same author(s) may be nominated, though separately.
• Team nominations will be limited to two principal team members, who are corresponding authors on the work being recognized.
• The following individuals are ineligible to be considered: Current ACS Publications Editors-in-Chief and Deputy Editors, Executive Editors, Associate Editors, and Topic Editors; Elected officers of the CATL and ORGN Divisions; Members of the awards’ selection committee

Nominations and Additional Info:

For nominations, visit the 2026 Award Nomination Page. The nomination deadline is December 31, 2025. See the ACS Axial article for more information.

Previous Awards:

• 2025 – Biocatalysis: Debasis Das, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore; Heterogeneous Catalysis: Lifang Jiao, Nankai University; Homogeneous Catalysis: Rui Shang, University of Tokyo.
• 2024 – Biocatalysis: Serge Ruccolo, Merck & Co., Inc.; Heterogeneous Catalysis: Christina W. Li, Purdue University; Homogeneous Catalysis: Christo S. Sevov, The Ohio State University.
• 2023 – Molecular/homogeneous catalysis: Mary Watson, University of Delaware
• 2022 – Heterogeneous Catalysis: Eranda Nikolla, Wayne State University
• 2021 – Biocatalysis or enzymology: Thomas Ward, University of Basel
• 2020 – Homogeneous or Molecular catalysis: Shannon Stahl, University of Wisconsin-Madison
• 2019 – Heterogeneous catalysis: Maria Flytzani-Stephanopoulos and E. Charles H. Sykes, Tufts University
• 2018 – Biocatalysis: Nicholas Turner, The University of Manchester
• 2017 – Paul Chirik
• 2016 – Matthias Beller
• 2015 – Morris Bullock and Daniel Dubois
• 2014 – Suljo Linic
• 2013 – John Hartwig
• 2012 – Alan Goldman

Organic Process Research & Development Outstanding Publication of the Year Lectureship Award

The Organic Process Research & Development Chemistry Outstanding Publication of the Year Lectureship Award will be awarded to the research team behind an outstanding article published in an issue of OPR&D in that demonstrates creativity and impact in the field of process chemistry and related disciplines associated with reaction scale-up. Special consideration will be given to early-career researchers as well as to the originality and impact of the article. For more information, see the Editorial for the Inaugural OPR&D Lectureship Award

Sponsorship of the Organic Process Research & Development Publication Award:

The award is sponsored by Organic Process Research & Development and the ACS Division of Organic Chemistry.

Nature of the Award:

The corresponding author of the recognized article will receive an 1) an award plaque, 2) an honorarium of US $2,000, 3) Registration and funding for travel and accommodations to attend and present at the upcoming ACS Symposium.

Eligibility:

• Nominated articles must have been published in Organic Process Research & Development within the corresponding calendar year either in an issue or ASAP.
• Self-nominations are welcome.
• For the purpose of this award, “early career researcher” is defined as anyone no more than 10 years from the start of an independent academic, industry, or other research position. Anyone who has taken an official leave of absence may subtract that time from the limit.
• Current ACS Publications Editors-in-Chief, Deputy Editors, Executive Editors, Senior Editors, Associate Editors, and Topic Editors, and any serving selection committee member for this award are ineligible

Nominations and Additional Info:

See the 2026 Award Page (for publications in 2025). The nomination deadline is December 31, 2025. Visit the ACS Axial article for more information.

Recent Recipients:

• 2025 Hsiao-Wu Hsieh and colleagues from Amgen Inc. for “A Continuous Process for Manufacturing Apremilast. Part I: Process Development and Intensification by Utilizing Flow Chemistry Principles”. See also the ACS Axial interview with the winners.
• 2024 David Cantillo and C. Oliver Kappe from the University of Queensland and the University of Graz for “Scaling-up Electroorganic Synthesis Using a Spinning Electrode Electrochemical Reactor in Batch and Flow Mode”
• 2023 – Jason Stevens and Colleagues at Bristol Myers Squibb for “Leveraging High-Throughput Experimentation to Drive Pharmaceutical Route Invention: A Four-Step Commercial Synthesis of Branebrutinib (BMS-986195)“

2023 Finalists:

(These individuals were recognized at the 2023 NOS)

• Cecilia Bottecchia, Dan Lehnherr, and colleagues at Merck & Co. for “Kilo-Scale Electrochemical Oxidation of a Thioether to a Sulfone: A Workflow for Scaling up Electrosynthesis”
• Andrew Parsons and colleagues at Amgen for “Development of a Commercial Manufacturing Process for Sotorasib, a First-in-Class KRASG12C Inhibitor”
• James I. Murray, Liang Zhang, and colleagues at Amgen for “Kinetic and Mechanistic Investigations to Enable a Key Suzuki Coupling for Sotorasib Manufacture─What a Difference a Base Makes”
• Jennifer M. Elward at GlaxoSmithKline and colleagues for “Impact of Phosphine Featurization Methods in Process Development”