Unilever Research Prize for Daan Bunt

Daan Bunt (Master student in the group of Adri Minnaard) is among the laureates of the 2019 Unilever Research Prize, that is awarded to students who have done excellent work on topics that are relevant to one or more Sustainable Development Goals.

Daan’s work focused on the total synthesis of two natural products: Dissectol A and Serratumin A, that were isolated from plants used in traditional Chinese medicine. They consist of a C3-oxidized glucose- and monoterpenoid unit that form a unique 5-membered ring, fused to the 6-membered ring of glucose. The total synthesis of these compounds, when finalized, will allow the determination of their absolute stereochemistry. This is important to understand their mechanism of action, and is a key step towards getting access to these structures synthetically.

Daan received his prize from Richard Slater (Chief Unilever R&D Officer) and Carla Hilhorst (EVP R&D Foods & Refreshment).