Academic background and career
Jan-Erling Bäckvall was born in Malung, Sweden, in 1947. He received his Ph.D. from the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, in 1975 under the guidance of Prof. B. Åkermark. After postdoctoral work (1975-76) with Prof. K. B. Sharpless at Massachusetts Institute of Technology he joined the faculty at the Royal Institute of Technology in 1976. He was appointed Professor of Organic Chemistry at Uppsala University in 1986. In 1997 he moved to Stockholm University where he is currently Professor of Organic Chemistry.
He is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters. He is chairman of the Editorial Board of Chemistry – A European Journal and a member of the editorial advisory board of the Journal of American Chemical Society. He has been visiting Professor in Lyon (France), Rennes (France), Utrecht (the Netherlands), Strasbourg (France), Alicante (Spain), Paris (France), Müllheim (Germany) and Pasadena (USA). In 2003 he was the President for the Bürgenstock Conference. He has published more than 400 papers and presented as invited plenary and main lecturer at more than 140 international conferences. Recently he has edited the book “Modern Oxidation Methods”, Wiley-VCH (2010).
Awards, Honours, etc.
1985 Teacher of the year of the Chemistry Section, Royal Institute of Technology
1986 Arrhenius medal
1987 Organic Synthesis inc. Distinguished Lecturer
1990 Upper Rhine Lecturer
1993 Weissberger‑William Lecturer, Eastman Kodak
1996 The Sandoz Lectureship Award
1997 Senior Individual Grant Award to Outstanding Senior Scientists
2001 Grant Award for Excellent Research Environments from the Swedish Research Council (VR)
2002 Pfizer Pharmaceutical Lecturer, USA
2002 Oppolzer Lecturer, University of Geneva
2002 Celsius Medal in Gold
2003 Frontiers in Chemical Research Distinguished Lecturer at Texas A&M, USA
2003 The “August-Wilhelm-von-Hofmann Lectureship Award”
2003 The “Björkén Prize” (Björkénska priset)
2003 Grant Award for Excellent Research Environments from the Swedish Research Council (VR)
2004 Reilly Lecturer at University of Notre Dame , Indiana , USA
2005 Ulla and Stig Holmquist’s Prize in Organic Chemistry
2006 The Lilly Lecture 2005/2006, University of Karlsruhe, Germany
2006 Herbert C. Brown Lecturer at Purdue University, Indiana, USA
2008 Organic Syntheses Lectureship Award, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaigne, USA
2008 Jeremiah P. Freeman Organic Synthesis Lectureship, University of Notre Dame, Indiana, USA
2009 2009 Groningen Stereochemistry Lecturer, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
2010 Obtained an ERC Advanced Grant
2013 John Osborn Lecturer, University of Strasbourg, France
2014 Honorary Doctor at “Åbo Academy” (Åbo Akademi University)
2014 Yoshida Lectureship Award, Japan
2015 Criegee Lectureship, Karlsruhe, Germany
2016 George A. Olah Lectureship Award in Chemistry, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA
2016 Prelog Medal in Gold and Prelog Lecture, ETH, Zürich, Switzerland
2017 Yamada-Koga Prize, Japan
2018 Bristol-Meyer Squibb Lecturer, Scripps Research Insitute, La Holla, California, USA
2018 Bristol-Meyer Squibb Lecturer, Univ. of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, Illinois, USA
2018 Wang Yu Lectureship Award, SIOC, Shanghai, China
2018 Nankai-AsymChem Lectureship, Tianjin, China
2019 Tsinghua Forum on Industrial Biocatalysis, Beijing, China
2019 Xuetang LectureShip, Tsinhua University, Beijing, China
Journal Editorial/ Advisory Boards
Honorary Advisory Board of Synlett, 1991-2008
International Advisory Board of J. Chem. Soc. Perkin Transactions 1, 1992-2002
Editorial Board of Chemistry – A European Journal, 1995-
Member, Editorial Board of Catalysis Letters, 1995-
Member, Editorial Board of Topics in Catalysis, 1995-
Member, Editorial Board, Acta Chemica Scandinavica, 1994-
Member, Board of Consulting Editors, Tetrahedron Publications (includes Tetrahedron and Tetrahedron Lett.), 1996-
Member, Editorial Advisory Board, Organometallics, 1996-1998
Member, International Advisory Editorial Board, New Journal of Chemistry, 1997-2000
Member, Editorial Board, Chemical Society Reviews, 1999-2002
Member, International Advisory Board Advanced Synthesis and Catalysis, 2000-
Member, Editorial Board Journal of Organometallic Chemistry, 2005-2010
Member, Advisory Editorial Board, Beilstein Journal of Organic Chemistry, 2005-
Member, Editorial Board, Chemistry Central Journal, 2006-
Member, Editorial Board, Catalysis Communications, 2008-
Member, International Advisory Board ChemCatChem 2009-
Member, Editorial Advisory Board, Journal of the American Chemical Society 2011-