Honoring Carlos Barbas

Carlos F. Barbas III, a synthetic chemistry professor at Scripps, passed away just over a month ago. I remember first reading about his proline-catalyzed aldol reactions early in my graduate career; I assumed he'd one day share a Nobel Prize for organocatalysis.

In Angewandte Chemie, Phil Baran eulogizes Prof. Barbas well. I hadn't known, for example, that he had earned almost 60 patents (!), had founded three companies (Prolifaron, CovX, Zyngenia), and had mentored hundreds of students, all before the age of 50. Unbelievable.

To close, I'll use Prof. Baran's words:

"He had so much to live for and lived life to the fullest when he could.  

He would want all of you to do the same."