Dear ICS members,
It is my great pleasure to announce the 2022 ICS Gold Medal winners, Prof. Ron Naaman of the Department of
Chemical Physics at the Weizmann Institute of Science, for discovering the Chiral Induced Spin Selectivity (CISS) effect
and explaining why nature preserved chirality persistently through evolution; and Prof. Zeev Gross of the Schulich
Faculty of Chemistry, Technion, for pioneering the corrole chemistry, and impacting bio-inorganic chemistry, metal-based
drug candidates and catalysis.
Zeev Gross was born in Kibbutz Ein Hanatziv in 1954. He received his B.Sc. (1979), M.Sc. (1982), and Ph.D. under Prof.
Shmaryahu Hoz (1987), all from Bar Ilan University. Following a postdoc at Princeton University with Prof. John T. Groves,
he joined the Technion in 1990. In 2002 he became a Full Professor, and currently, he is the Reba May & Robert D. Blum
Professor of Chemistry. Gross has served two terms as Dean of Continuing & External Studies and has chaired multiple
youth outreach activities in Chemistry for 13 years. Although the corrole molecule, part of Vitamin B12, attracted interest
since the 1960s, its synthesis was challenging. The situation changed when Gross reported a seminal one-pot synthesis in
1999, transforming corrole chemistry into a flourishing field. He published the first high-resolution X-ray structure of a metalfree
corrole, the first chiral corrole, and the first terminal metal-oxo complexes as catalysts and anticancer agents. His group
has led the field, reporting on numerous transition and post-transition metal corroles for multiple functions, illuminating their
fundamental chemical and physical properties. The “Periodic Table of metals chelated by triarylcorroles” has now reached
45 elements. Gross demonstrated the role of corroles in medicine as theranostic agents: detection by advanced imaging
methodologies (2-photon, fluorescence lifetime, MRI) combined with either spontaneous or induced (first by light, later by
sonication) cytotoxicity, both inherent and aided by targeting vehicles. Modifications to the corrole skeleton resulted in water
solubility and selective binding to proteins, cells, and organs. They showed that manganese and iron corroles are enzymelike
catalysts for safely decomposing reactive oxygen species and applied them as drug candidates for treating diabetes,
several neurodegeneration diseases, and ALS. They also pioneered their use for electro-, photo- and organo-catalysis for
hydrogen generation, CO2 reduction, water oxidation, fuel cells, Li-air battery redox mediators, and other energy-relevant
processes. Zeev received the Ray and Miriam Klein Award (1999), Mitchel Award (2000), Hershel Rich Innovation Award
(2000, 2013), Henry Taub Prize for Excellence (2003), the ICS Prize of Excellence (2014), and Hans Fischer Career Award
in Porphyrin Chemistry (2018). He published more than 250 scientific papers.
The award ceremony will take place on February 20, 2024, during the 87th ICS Annual Meeting.
Congratulations to Ron and Zeev for their achievements!