August 3, 2026
Elsevier has announced that a 2027 Tetrahedron Young Investigator Award For Organic Synthesis has been awarded to Chemistry Professor Mark Levin.
Levin is recognized for his pioneering work in skeletal editing—the development of synthetic methods that enable chemists to add, remove, or exchange individual atoms within the frameworks of complex molecules.
“This award is largely a reflection of the hard work and creativity of my mentees, who have been unafraid to tackle some genuine moonshot projects,” said Levin.
About Mark Levin
Mark Levin grew up in Cleveland, OH. After obtaining B.S. from the University of Rochester in 2012, Levin completed his graduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley working with F. Dean Toste and carried out postdoctoral studies with Eric Jacobsen at Harvard University. In 2019, he started his independent career at the University of Chicago. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2022 and to Full Professor in 2025. Levin has received several early career awards, including the Sloan Fellowship, ACS Cope Scholar, Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, NSF CAREER Award, BMS Unrestricted Grant in Synthetic Organic Chemistry, Kyoto Rising-Star Award, Brown Investigator Award, and the Eli Lilly ACC Grantee Award. His group has commercialized several reagents, including an anomeric amide developed for use in nitrogen deletion. Broadly speaking, the Levin Laboratory’s research is focused on the development of synthetic methodology and study of their mechanisms, with a specific focus on single-atom skeletal editing.
About the Tetrahedron Young Investigator Award
The Tetrahedron Young Investigator Awards were created in 2005 by the Executive Board of Editors and the Publisher of Tetrahedron Publications. These awards are presented to individuals who have completed a maximum of 15 years of active research after PhD who have exhibited “exceptional creativity and dedication” in the fields of Organic Synthesis and of Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry, respectively.
–Adapted from a story that originally appeared on the ScienceDirect Tetrahedron website.