53
to leading international periodicals in his field,
and in prestigious first class international
conference proceedings. He also added that he
holds more than 60 Patents.
Kyriacos C. Nicolaou’s speciality is in the total
synthesis of natural products with a complex
structure.
“As for Professor Kyriacos Nicolaou’s most
representative research successes in Synthetic
Chemistry, I will restrict myself, due to a lack
of time alone, to two: the total synthesis of anti-
cancer drugs Taxol and Calicheamicin”, stated
Mavronicolas, who made specific reference to
Taxol.
“It was first extracted in 1971 from coniferous
trees of the Taxus family, but its introduction
as a drug in the pharmaceutical industry was
delayed due to the low concentration of its
natural raw material; that is to say, the drug.
Because of the observed potency against
cancer, Taxol quickly became a promising anti-
cancer agent and thus turned into the ‘Apple of
Discord’, with many research teams around the
world competing to achieve its total synthesis
in the laboratory. The breakthrough was made
by the research team of Professor Nicolaou,
who succeded in publishing the total synthesis
of Taxol for the first time in 1994”.
Professor Kyriacos C. Nicolaou expressed his
heartfelt thanks, and began his speech with a
reminder of his childhood years in Karavas.
“Both my grandfathers were farmers,
cultivating their fields to feed their families and
to make a living. My father could only make
a career out of building, having only attended
school up to the third grade of elementary
school. He wanted me to become an architect,
but I was more enchanted by the stars and the
universe,” Dr Nicolaou said.
Referring to Taxol, he emphasised that this is
probably the most widely used anti-cancer drug
today. “Due to its very promising action as an
effective anti-cancer agent, Taxol has become
famous, with many scientific teams of chemists
all over the world involved in the battle to
complete the total synthesis in the laboratory.
Finally, the successful total synthesis of Taxol
was published for the first time by our team in
1994,” said the Professor, who movingly stated
that he would not exchange this honour from
his home country for anything.
Takis Nemitsas, the Chairman of the Foundation,
Kyriacos C. Nicolaou
