NEUCHÂTEL, Switzerland, June 27, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

Elsevier Properties SA announces the winners of the Reaxys PhD Prize, a competition for candidates currently studying for a PhD or having completed a PhD within the last 12 months. The Prize recognizes research and publication excellence in the fields of organic, organometallic and inorganic chemistry.

Once again the prize attracted high quality applicants from around 300 brilliant young chemists from many of the leading chemistry schools in the world. Submissions consisted of a representative peer-reviewed piece of published research, a PhD Supervisor letter of recommendation and a CV. All entries were closely scrutinized by a review board of over 50 renowned international chemists from academia and industry chaired by Professors Anthony Barrett, Barry Trost and Henry Wong. The review board judged the entries for originality, innovation, importance to the field, applicability, rigor of approach and publication quality.

From the initial submissions, 45 finalists were selected (see http://prize.reaxys.com/ for details of all the finalists). A further review, carried out personally by the Chairs of the Review Board, then identified the final three out of these 45.  As a result, the winners of the 2011 Reaxys PhD Prize can now be announced as:

• Vikram Bhat, University of Chicago, USA:

Total Synthesis of N-Methylwelwitindolinone D Isonitrile (JACS 2011)

• Steven Malcolmson, Boston College, USA:

Highly Efficient Molybdenum-Based Catalysts for Enantioselective Alkene Metathesis (Nature 2008)

• Dixit Parmar, University of Manchester, UK:

Reductive cyclisation cascades of lactones using SmI2-H2O (JACS 2011)

Professor Trost said, "For my co-chairs and me, making a final choice of just three winners out of these 45 truly world-class young chemists was extraordinarily difficult. The quality and dedication apparent in these candidates makes me extremely optimistic that the future of our discipline will be in safe hands."

David Evans PhD, Scientific Affairs Director at Elsevier Properties SA added, "It is a great privilege and honour to be involved with the Reaxys PhD Prize as it is fast becoming the most prestigious and hotly contested competition of the year for young chemists. To win the prize or to be selected as a finalist is indeed recognition of excellence, creativity and commitment. I am greatly looking forward to our Prize Symposium in Bangkok and to the opportunity to get to know these successful candidates who, I am sure, have very bright futures ahead of them."

The three winners and 42 other finalists have each been invited to attend the Reaxys PhD Prize Symposium at the 14th Asian Chemical Congress in Bangkok, Thailand on Wednesday 7 September 2011, with travel bursaries and free conference registration provided by Reaxys®. The winners are invited to give a short oral presentation of their research, and the finalists will participate in a special poster session and reception. The symposium will also feature presentations from Professors Henry Wong and Anthony Barrett.

About Elsevier Properties SA
Elsevier Properties SA is a center of excellence within Reed Elsevier for the management of intellectual property. Elsevier Properties SA owns the PharmaPendium and Reaxys databases. Trademarks including Reaxys®, PharmaPendium™ and The Lancet® are owned and protected by Elsevier Properties SA and used under license.
About Elsevier
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Media contact
Harald Boersma
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Elsevier
+31-20-485-27-36
H.boersma@elsevier.com

SOURCE Elsevier