"Everything I've done at the University of Michigan has focused on figuring out new ways to insert nitrogen into organic compounds, especially into ring structures," explained Pearson, who recently became vice president for research and development at the company Berry and Associates. "It turns out that [in nature] cyclic compounds containing nitrogen are standard fare, yet in most graduate schools they're not [taught] in training. So when students graduate to positions with pharmaceutical companies, they're in for a shock."
With that in mind, Pearson teaches what he describes as "three basic legs to the stool." He directs his students to build molecules in the laboratory that originate in nature, as many research groups do, but with an eye for real-world practice — including behind-the-scenes understanding of molecules as well as inventing the chemistry to build them. Ultimately his students piece together those step-by-step discoveries and synthesize actual molecules.
An example is lapidilectine B, a complex molecule that comes from Kopsia lapidilecta trees in Malaysia. Used for generations to treat high blood pressure and other ailments, lapidilectine B contains two nitrogen-bearing rings and four others all fused together in a novel fashion. Pearson and his team confirmed its theoretical structure by recreating the molecule step-by-step in the laboratory.
Along the way the chemists invented a new method to build nitrogen ring structures, he said, and "we learned this fundamental new chemistry actually works in real-world situations."
As a boy, said Pearson, "I wasn't one of those kids with a chemistry set or who always wanted to be a chemist." Then, after switching majors twice in college, he took an organic chemistry class and was struck by "the architectural beauty" of molecules and the possibilities in making them himself.
Pearson received his undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina in 1978 and his doctorate from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 1982. He is a member of the ACS divisions of organic, medicinal and carbohydrate chemistry.
The ACS Board of Directors established the Arthur C. Cope Scholar Awards in 1984 to recognize and encourage excellence in organic chemistry. Cope was a celebrated organic chemist and ACS president. Each award consists of a $5,000 prize as well as an unrestricted research grant of $40,000.