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Biography

Richmond Sarpong FºÚÁÏÉçÇø is the Maxine J. Elliott Professor of Chemistry at the University of California Berkeley. Richmond became interested in chemistry after seeing, firsthand, the effectiveness of the drug ivermectin in combating river blindness during his childhood in Ghana, West Africa. Richmond described his influences and inspirations in a TEDxBerkeley talk in 2015 (). Richmond completed his undergraduate studies at Macalester College in St. Paul, MN, USA with Professor Rebecca Hoye and his graduate work was carried out with Professor Martin Semmelhack at Princeton, NJ, USA. He conducted postdoctoral studies at Caltech in Pasadena, CA, USA with Professor Brian Stoltz at UC Berkeley (since 2004), Richmond’s laboratory focuses on the synthesis of biologically active complex organic molecules that could form the basis for new pharmaceuticals. 

He enjoys teaching and was the recipient of the 2009, 2024, and 2025 UC Berkeley Department of Chemistry teaching awards, the 2016 Noyce Prize for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching in the Physical Sciences at Berkeley, and the 2021 ACS-DOC Edward Leete Award for teaching and research. He is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2020) and the US National Academy of Science (2025) as well as a Fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Science (2026).

I suspect that in ten years, we will be able to accomplish in an afternoon what might have taken a year.

Richmond Sarpong

Q&A

Can you tell us more about your work?

I am interested in developing creative ways to make classes of molecules called natural products. These are compounds that are produced by microbes and the vast flora and fauna on earth. They have been the basis for many medicines (such as penicillin and avermectins) and so through their chemical synthesis, they could set the stage for understanding the biological processes that are at the route of diseases but also the cures for various diseases. To make these molecules, we serve as the chemical architects, carpenters, and masons. We design the best approaches and execute our plan in the laboratory. Sometimes, we have to fashion our own tools to accomplish our goals. Many times, this exercise leads to unexpected discoveries in the laboratory and our work also provides a platform to teach and train the next generation that will forge ahead with even more spectacular discoveries.

Who or what first sparked your interest in chemistry, and how has that interest evolved over time? 

I first became interested in chemistry when I was seven years old as the child of a medical doctor in Ghana, West Africa. I learned about the power of ivermectin to rid people of the parasites that cause river blindness in West Africa and I wanted to learn all about this ‘wonder drug’. At the time, I had been interested in becoming a medical doctor. However, I thought that by becoming a chemist, I could perhaps put myself in a position to make a larger impact if I could participate in a small way in developing medicines that would help people.

What has been the most rewarding or memorable highlight of your career so far? 

Without a doubt, this has been the many students that I work with. It has been especially satisfying to watch them grow as scientists to the point where they are teaching me!

What have been the biggest challenges that you have faced over the course of your time in science, and what have you learned from those experiences? 

This might sound a little clichéd, but the biggest challenge for me is the lack of funding to support the many ideas that we would like to pursue in the laboratory. I have been blessed to work with some of the most talented people in the world that have no shortage of ideas. However, we are limited by the resources we have to pursue those ideas. I have learned to be very selective in the types of problems that we chose to pursue. We want to pursue problems that will yield solutions that will teach the chemical community something new and in the best case scenario change the way that people think about a particular transformation.

Thinking back to earlier in your career, are there any words of wisdom that you wish someone had told you? 

I wish that someone had told me early on to fully embrace physical organic chemistry and essentially tattoo the concepts and history of that field on my brain. I have found that a strong command of physical organic chemistry really allows one to cut through a lot of the noise and ask the most pertinent questions. It also allows one to have a third eye in chemistry.

What impact would you say that your work is having on your field and/or the wider world? 

I think that we have been able to introduce creative and novel ways to make various classes of natural products. We have also been involved in developing novel methods for chemical synthesis, especially those that involve cleaving strong bonds such as carbon–carbon bonds. These pursuits led us and others to advance the concept of single atom skeletal editing, which has been inspiring a lot of exciting directions in the chemical community over the last decade.

What future directions or opportunities do you see for your work? 

We are interested in advancing the concept of single-atom skeletal editing to include applications in complex molecule synthesis. For example, to achieve even more efficient syntheses of natural products. I also see a lot of potential for the application of data science and machine learning to the preparation of complex molecules – especially in accelerating the identification of the most efficient routes for synthesis.

What do you wish more people understood about your field or the chemical sciences in general? 

That it is a science, but also has many opportunities for artistic expression in the creativity that one can bring to making a molecule. At the same time, there are many variables that one has to contend with in carrying out a synthesis, which means it is still not easy to predict the outcome and efficiency of an unprecedented transformation. Therefore, you really need to go into the laboratory and try it out.

In what ways does creativity influence how you think about or carry out your work? 

I have always been very interested in creative ways of doing anything. I like to surprise and delight and not follow the tried and true. I think that this part of my personality comes through in some of the approaches that we take to chemical synthesis. We like to marry very disparate observations and draw unusual connections in our work. For example, as a student of the history of the field, I like to take something old, borrow from a different area of science, and layer that combination with something new to create a new approach. 

Are there any scientific developments, either recent or on the horizon, that you are excited about? 

I think we are just scratching the surface of this concept of single atom skeletal editing. It is getting people to think in very different ways, which will undoubtedly lead to unanticipated discoveries that will change the way we do chemistry. I also think the potential of data science and machine learning in chemistry is very much in its infancy. I suspect that in ten years, we will be able to accomplish in an afternoon what might have taken a year.

What does good research culture mean to you, and why does it matter? 

I have had the good fortune to live in many countries (Ghana, Zambia, Botswana, and the United States). What I have learned throughout my experiences is that while there is a diverse range of people out there, we have more in common than differences. So, I endeavour to always listen to the point of view of others, treat others with respect and provide a platform for others to share their perspective. This has served me very well and created a culture of respect, belonging and acceptance in my research group.

How can scientists try to improve the environmental sustainability of research? Can you give us any examples from your own experience or context? 

Finding more efficient ways to make molecules can reduce the environmental impact of chemistry. At the same time, to make a major breakthrough, one might need to pursue chemistry that is more brown than green. However, once you have a breakthrough, one can iterate to make the chemistry more sustainable. For example, years ago, we developed a cycloisomerisation reaction that required a platinum salt as a catalyst. Once we had achieved this transformation, we then pursued more sustainable conditions to effect the same outcome. Ultimately, we showed that we did not need the metal and could conduct the reaction in water. More recently, we have been interested in using light to carry out chemistry. Ultimately, we would love to use sunlight to achieve some of these goals.

How important would you say collaboration is for producing high quality science? How has collaboration influenced your work? 

I am very interested in hearing viewpoints that differ from mine. Collaboration with other scientists allows one to hear a different perspective on how to address different problems. It has been very rewarding to be a part of the NSF Center for Computer Assisted Synthesis, where collaboration is encouraged. I have learned a lot about many areas of computer and data science through this center. I have also sought collaborations with those that are more steeped in biology. This has allowed us to investigate the function of the many molecules that we are making in my laboratory.

If you had unlimited resources, what research question would you most want to explore? 

I would love to be able to design and synthesise function, especially biological function in a more efficient way. This is somewhat of a silly statement, but I have spent the last two decades designing and synthesising structures with the ultimate goal of discovering the function of these structures. It would be great if I could more directly arrive at a desired function. 

What is your favourite element and why? 

I love nitrogen. To paraphrase Michael Pollan from the Omnivore's Dilemma, carbon supplies life's quantity, whereas nitrogen supplies life's quality!