Xue-Min Cheng

Xue-Min Cheng is a medicinal chemist, author, and pharmaceutical executive best known for being the co-author of The Logic of Chemical Synthesis, which formalized retrosynthesis, the concept for which Elias J. Corey won the 1990 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Education and Postdoctoral research

Cheng earned her BS in chemistry from Peking University, and a doctoral degree in synthetic chemistry from Alan Kozikowski at the University of Pittsburgh. Her work studied applications of nitrile oxides, for example cycloadditions to form C-glycosides, or utilization of nitrile oxides as precursors to functionalized heterocycles. While a postdoctoral scholar at Harvard, Cheng co-authored The Logic of Chemical Synthesis with Corey, the first three chapters of which explore computational and logic-based approaches to disassemble organic molecule "targets" (TGTs) through various transforms, leading to "retrons" and "synthons", e.g. simpler molecules that could be used to access the TGT. Noteworthy here is the Preface, which indicates that all structures found in the book were drawn "by computer", that is, with the then-new ChemDraw software package adapted by Stewart Rubenstein, David A. Evans, and Sally Evans.

Research career

After Harvard, Cheng took a position at Warner-Lambert Research, later Pfizer, in Michigan. Work there included ketopiperazine-based renin inhibitors, HMG-CoA inhibitors, and molecules against multiple other cardiovascular targets. In 2006, Cheng moved to the University of Michigan as a research associate professor, while simultaneously joining a contract research firm on the former Pfizer Michigan campus called AAPharmaSyn. Cheng rose to become the eventual President of the firm, before departing in 2011.

Since 2011, Cheng and colleagues at Michigan have focused their efforts on DARPA-backed dendrimeric drug delivery systems for battlefield use.