Jean M.J. Fréchet (born August 1944) is a French-American chemist and professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. He is best known for his work on polymers including polymer-supported chemistry, chemically amplified photoresists, dendrimers, macroporous separation media, and polymers for therapeutics. Ranked among the top 10 chemists in 2021,[2] he has authored nearly 900 scientific paper and 200 patents including 96 US patents.[3] His research areas include organic synthesis and polymer chemistry applied to nanoscience and nanotechnology with emphasis on the design, fundamental understanding, synthesis, and applications of functional macromolecules.
Fréchet received his first university degree at the Institut de Chimie et Physique Industrielles (now CPE) in Lyon, France, before coming to the US for studies in organic and polymer chemistry under Conrad Schuerch at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, and at Syracuse University (Ph.D. 1971). He was on the Chemistry Faculty at the University of Ottawa in Canada from 1973 to 1987, when he became the IBM Professor of Polymer Chemistry at Cornell University. In 1997 Fréchet joined Chemistry faculty at the University of California, Berkeley and was named the Henry Rapoport Chair of Organic Chemistry in 2003 and Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering in 2005. From 2010 to 2019 he served as the first Vice President for Research, then Senior Vice-President for Research, Innovation, and Economic Development at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology.
Research
Fréchet’s early work focused on polymer-supported chemistry with the first approach to the solid-phase synthesis of oligosaccharides [4] and pioneering work on polymeric reagents and polymer protecting groups.[5] In 1979 Working with C.G. Willson at IBM during a sabbatical leave, he invented chemically amplified photoresists [6][7] for micro and nanofabrication. This widely used patented technology [8] which enables the extreme miniaturization of microelectronic devices is now ubiquitous for the fabrication of the very powerful computing and communication equipment in worldwide use. The addition of photogenerated bases [9] led to additional advances in chemically amplified resists. In 1990 working with Craig Hawker at Cornell, he developed the convergent synthesis of dendrimers [10] as well as approaches to hyperbranched polymers.[11] In 1992, working with F. Svec at Cornell, he reported the first preparation of macroporous polymer monoliths [12] that are now used in a variety of chemical separations. Later work at Berkeley saw the development of polymers and dendrimers as carriers for targeted therapeutics [13] and successful approaches to new organic materials for transistors and solar cells.[14]
Honors and awards
2020 National Academy of Engineering Charles Stark Draper Prize in Engineering [15]
2007 Arthur C. Cope Award (American Chemical Society award for outstanding achievement in the field of Organic Chemistry)
2006 Macro Group UK Medal (joint Royal Society for Chemistry and Society of Chemical Industry) for Outstanding Achievement in the field of Macromolecular Chemistry
2005 Esselen Award for Chemistry in the Service of the Public
2005 Chemical Communications 40th Anniversary Award
2004 Docteur de L'Université, Université d'Ottawa, Canada
2003 Henry Rapoport Chair of Organic Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley
2002 Docteur (Honoris Causa), Université de Lyon I, France
2001 American Chemical Society, Salute to Excellence Award
2001 American Chemical Society, A.C. Cope Scholar Award
^Fréchet, J.M.J.; Schuerch, C. Solid-Phase Synthesis of Oligosaccharides. III. Preparation of Some Derivatives of di- and tri- saccharides via a simple Alcoholysis Reaction. Carbohyd. Res., 1972, 22, 399–412
^Fréchet, J.M.J. Synthesis and Applications of Organic Polymers as Supports and Protecting Groups. Tetrahedron, 1981, 37, 663–83
^Fréchet, J.M.J.; Ito, H.; Willson, C.G. Sensitive Deep UV Resist Incorporating Chemical Amplification. Proceedings Microcircuit Engineering 1982, Grenoble, 260–261
^Ito, H., Willson. C.G., Fréchet, J.M.J Positive and Negative Working Resist Compositions with Acid-Generating Photoinitiator and Polymer with Acid-Labile Groups Pendant From Polymer Backbone. US Patent No. 4,491,628 issued January 1, 1985
^Frechet, J.M.J. Pure & Appl. Chem., 1992, 64, 1239–1248
^Hawker, C.J.; Fréchet, J.M.J. Preparation of Polymers with Controlled Molecular Architecture: A New Convergent Approach to Dendritic Macromolecules. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1990, 112, 7638–47
^Tomalia, D. A.; Fréchet, J.M. J. Discovery of dendrimers and dendritic polymers: a brief historical perspective. 2002, Journal of Polymer Science, Part A: Polymer Chemistry 40, 2719–2728
^Fox, M.E.; Szoka, F.C.; Fréchet, J.M.J.; Soluble polymer carriers for the treatment of cancer: the importance of molecular architecture. Accounts Chem Res. 2009. 42, 1141–1151
^Beaujuge, P.M.; Frechet, J.M.J. Molecular Design and Ordering Effects in pi-Functional Materials for Transistor and Solar Cell Applications – A Perspective. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2011, 133, 20009-20029
