Jin-Quan Yu

Jin-Quan Yu, PhD is the Frank and Bertha Hupp Professor in the Department of Chemistry at The Scripps Research Institute. Among many honors, in 2016 he was selected as a MacArthur Fellow for his pioneering new techniques for the functionalization of carbon-hydrogen bonds. Dr. Yu’s unconventional approach to C–H functionalization is creating a paradigm shift in the logic of organic synthetic chemistry and breaking down barriers to the development of versatile compounds with enormous benefits to academic, industrial, and pharmaceutical research. Additionally, Dr. Yu was awarded the ACS Elias J. Corey Award for Outstanding Original Contribution in Organic Synthesis by a Young Investigator in 2014.

He received a B.Sc. (1987) from East China Normal University, an M.Sc. (1990) from Guangzhou Institute of Chemistry, and a Ph.D. (1999) from the University of Cambridge. He was a research fellow (1998–2002) and junior faculty member (2003–2004) at the University of Cambridge, postdoctoral fellow (2001–2002) at Harvard University, and assistant professor of chemistry (2004–2007) at Brandeis University prior to his current affiliation with The Scripps Research Institute. His scientific articles have been published in Nature, Science, Journal of the American Chemical Society, Angewandte Chemie International Edition, and Nature Chemistry.