Emeritus Professor, Dietmar Seyferth, has been elected to the 2009 inaugural class of Fellows of the American Chemical Society.

When it meets next month in Washington, D.C., the society will honor its first class of ACS Fellows. These 162 members "share a common set of accomplishments, namely true excellence in their contributions to the chemical enterprise coupled with distinctive service to ACS or to the broader world of chemistry," says Immediate Past-President Bruce E. Bursten, who championed creation of the program and shepherded it through board approval last year.The 2009 ACS Fellows will be honored at a special ceremony during the ACS National Meeting in Washington, D.C. in August 2009.

Meiliana Tjandra and Dr. Jun Qi in the Movassaghi group have completed the
first total synthesis of (–)-himandrine.

Their synthesis features a diastereoselective Diels-Alder reaction in the rapid synthesis of the tricycle ABC-ring system in enantiomerically enriched form, the use of a formal [3+3] annulation strategy to secure the CDE-ring system with complete diastereoselection, and successful implementation of their biogenetically inspired oxidative spirocyclization of an advanced intermediate. The successful and direct late-stage formation of the spirofused BF-rings in the hexacyclic core of himandrine drew on the power of biogenetic considerations and fully utilized the inherent chemistry of a plausible biosynthetic intermediate.