瑞典皇家科学院将诺贝尔化学奖授给美国哈佛大学 Elias J.Corey 时说:“可能没有一位化学家像他那样开创了如此广泛而多样的合成方法,这些方法显示出独创性和简捷性,在有机合成实验室里已被普遍地使用”。由于 Corey 发展了合成理论和方法,因此人们可籍助他的成就,人工合成多种结构复杂、生理活性高的有机化合物。它们巳用于药物、诊断试剂及其它方面。他是自诺贝尔化学奖设立以来在合成化学方面取得卓越成绩的第八位获奖者。1945年,他在麻省理工学院学习电子工程,但他却对选修课有机化学产生浓厚兴趣,他就改变专业而主攻化学。大学毕业后,在麻省理工学院 John Sheehan 指导下,从事青霉索人工合成工作,并于1951年取得博士学位。1951年至1959年在伊利诺斯大学执教,1959年来到哈佛大学从事天然产物人工合成研究。他对天然产物的立体化学及有机反应的立体机理特别感兴趣,他早期的研究生涯中就已初露这方面的才华。那时瑞士有二个研究小组报道α-香树素(α-amyrin)的绝对构型与β-香树素相 When the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Harvard University in the United States, Elias J. Corey said: “There may not be a single chemist who has pioneered such a wide and diverse synthesis as he has done. These approaches demonstrate originality and simplicity, Has been commonly used in organic synthesis laboratories. ” As Corey develops synthetic theories and methods, one can use his achievements to synthesize a variety of complex, physiologically active organic compounds. They have been used in medicine, diagnostic reagents and others. He is the eighth winner in synthetic chemistry since the Nobel Chemistry Prize was established. In 1945 he studied electrical engineering at MIT, but he became interested in organic chemistry in electives and he changed his specialty and focused on chemistry. After graduating from university, under the guidance of John Sheehan of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he engaged in artificial synthesis of penicillium and obtained a doctorate in 1951. He coached at the University of Illinois from 1951 to 1959 and came to Harvard University in 1959 to study synthetic natural products. He was particularly interested in the stereochemistry of natural products and the stereological mechanism of organic reactions, and his early career in research had shown his talent in this area. At that time, two research groups in Switzerland reported that the absolute configuration of α-amyrin was related to β-amyloid phase