Rate My Professor Fraser Fleming

Fraser Fleming, PhD, is a Professor of Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry at Drexel University. He earned his BS (Hons.) in Chemistry from Massey University in New Zealand in 1986 and his PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of British Columbia in Canada in 1990 under the direction of Edward Piers. He conducted postdoctoral research at Oregon State University from 1990 to 1992. Fleming began his academic career at Duquesne University as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry in 1992, was promoted to Associate Professor in 1999, and to full Professor in 2007. During this period, he served as a Visiting Professor at Ludwig-Maximilians-University in 2003, 2006, and 2010, and at Goteborg University in 2010. From 2013 to 2015, he held a temporary position as Program Director at the National Science Foundation, leading the Chemical Synthesis program and managing the Chemical Catalysis program. In 2015, he joined Drexel University as Professor and Head of the Department of Chemistry, a role he held until 2020, during which he reorganized departmental operations, facilitated program reviews, and led various committees including Graduate Curriculum, Ethics, Strategic Planning, and Faculty Search. He continues as Professor of Chemistry at Drexel.

Fleming's research specializes in stereochemistry and organometallics, particularly the reactions of nitriles and isonitriles to construct biologically relevant scaffolds as potential pharmaceutical leads, metalated nitriles for hindered bond formation, and metalated isocyanides as precursors to peptide mimics. He has authored over 100 peer-reviewed publications and two patents on isonitriles. Key recent publications include 'Heterocycles via SiCl4-Promoted Isocyanide Additions to Oxonitriles' (J. Org. Chem., 2023), 'Polar-Radical Cyclization Cascades with Magnesiated Nitriles' (Org. Lett., 2023), 'Dearomatization of Aromatic Asmic Isocyanides to Complex Cyclohexadienes' (Nat. Commun., 2022), and 'Synthesis of the Isocyanide Building Block Asmic' (Org. Synth., 2021). He has received major grants as principal investigator from the NSF and NIH totaling over $2.5 million, including 'Expanding the Fundamental Reactivity of Isocyanides' ($490,000, NSF, 2020-2024). Awards include Fellow of the American Scientific Affiliation (2020), President's Award for Excellence in Scholarship (2010), Bayer School Award for Excellence in Scholarship (2010, 1999), and Hunkele Creative Teaching Award (1995). Fleming also authored the book 'The Truth about Science and Religion: From the Big Bang to Neuroscience' (2016).