# Andrei K. Yudin
**Andrei K. Yudin** is a chemist at the [University of Toronto](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-toronto) whose research in organic and medicinal chemistry centers on macrocycles, ring-shaped molecules used in drug discovery, and on amphoteric molecules that carry both electrophilic and nucleophilic reactivity.[1](https://www.chemistry.utoronto.ca/people/directories/all-faculty/andrei-yudin) • [2](https://www.rsc.org/people/andrei-yudin) He is a Tier I Canada Research Chair in Medicine by Design, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and co-founded the Toronto biotech Encycle Therapeutics, which, according to a Zealand Pharma press release, was acquired by Zealand Pharma in 2019.[3](https://yudingroup.chem.utoronto.ca/group-members/andrei) • [4](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1674988/000110465919055677/a19-20804_1ex99d1.htm)
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Field | Organic, biological, and medicinal chemistry; macrocycle synthesis[1](https://www.chemistry.utoronto.ca/people/directories/all-faculty/andrei-yudin) |
| Training | B.Sc. Moscow State University 1992; Ph.D. USC 1996 under G. K. Surya Prakash and George A. Olah; Scripps postdoc with K. Barry Sharpless[3](https://yudingroup.chem.utoronto.ca/group-members/andrei) |
| Career | University of Toronto chemistry faculty since 1998; early tenure 2002; Full Professor 2007[3](https://yudingroup.chem.utoronto.ca/group-members/andrei) |
| Signature work | "Contemporary strategies for peptide macrocyclization", Nature Chemistry, 2011[5](https://yudingroup.chem.utoronto.ca/publications) |
| Company | Co-founded Encycle Therapeutics (2012), acquired by Zealand Pharma, October 22, 2019[4](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1674988/000110465919055677/a19-20804_1ex99d1.htm) • [6](https://profiles.biocentury.com/companies/encycle_therapeutics_inc) |
| Honors | Tier I Canada Research Chair; Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada; 2022 Konrad Adenauer Research Award; 2025 Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award[3](https://yudingroup.chem.utoronto.ca/group-members/andrei) • [7](https://www.humboldt-foundation.de/en/connect/explore-the-humboldt-network/singleview/1221704/prof-dr-andrei-yudin) • [8](https://www.chemistry.utoronto.ca/news/yudin-wins-cope-scholar-award) |
## Career and training
Yudin received his bachelor's degree in chemistry from [Moscow State University](https://www.edgepedia.org/moscow-state-university) in 1992, then moved to the [University of Southern California](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-southern-california) as a doctoral student from 1992 to 1996, working under [G. K. Surya Prakash](https://www.edgepedia.org/g-k-surya-prakash) and George A. Olah; his dissertation concerned fluoroalkylation chemistry.[3](https://yudingroup.chem.utoronto.ca/group-members/andrei) • [9](https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c17-254323) He took a postdoctoral position in K. Barry Sharpless's laboratory at the Scripps Research Institute from 1996 to 1998.[2](https://www.rsc.org/people/andrei-yudin)
In 1998 he started his independent career at the University of Toronto, where he has remained on the chemistry faculty since.[3](https://yudingroup.chem.utoronto.ca/group-members/andrei) • [2](https://www.rsc.org/people/andrei-yudin) He received early tenure as an Associate Professor in 2002 and an early promotion to Full Professor in 2007.[3](https://yudingroup.chem.utoronto.ca/group-members/andrei) In December 2018 he became an Associate Editor for Chemical Science, handling organic chemistry submissions.[2](https://www.rsc.org/people/andrei-yudin)
## Macrocycles and amphoteric molecules
A macrocycle is a large ring molecule; peptide macrocycles range in application from drug discovery to nanomaterials. Their synthesis is difficult because the activated linear peptide must first adopt an entropically disfavoured pre-cyclization conformation, which traditional methods often cannot achieve.[10](https://www.nature.com/articles/nchem.1062)
Forced orthogonality is the concept his laboratory introduced based on unprotected aziridine aldehydes, now commercially available through [Sigma-Aldrich](https://www.edgepedia.org/sigma-aldrich). In 2011 the lab also discovered α-boryl aldehydes, molecules with coexisting carbon–boron bonds and aldehyde groups, likewise now sold by Sigma-Aldrich.[1](https://www.chemistry.utoronto.ca/people/directories/all-faculty/andrei-yudin) His group has developed more than 8 structurally distinct intermediates previously viewed as impossible to prepare, along with methods for making modified peptides and peptide macrocycles.[1](https://www.chemistry.utoronto.ca/people/directories/all-faculty/andrei-yudin) Since 2006 the group has studied amphoteric molecules, which show both electrophilic and nucleophilic reactivity.[8](https://www.chemistry.utoronto.ca/news/yudin-wins-cope-scholar-award) Molecules from the lab are used as tool compounds in [fragment screening](https://www.edgepedia.org/fragment-screening) with protein crystallography.[1](https://www.chemistry.utoronto.ca/people/directories/all-faculty/andrei-yudin)
## Representative work
His 2011 Nature Chemistry review ["Contemporary strategies for peptide macrocyclization"](https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.1062) surveyed how cyclic peptides can be prepared despite the entropic barrier, spanning uses from drug discovery to nanomaterials; the publisher page records 1,037 citations and 32,000 accesses.[5](https://yudingroup.chem.utoronto.ca/publications) • [10](https://www.nature.com/articles/nchem.1062)
## Encycle Therapeutics
Encycle Therapeutics, a Toronto-based biotech founded in 2012, was built on macrocycle chemistry discovered in Yudin's laboratory and developed with a medicinal chemistry group at the Université de [Sherbrooke](https://www.edgepedia.org/sherbrooke); the launch project received $1 million in seed funding largely through the Québec Consortium for Drug Discovery.[11](https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/encycle-therapeutics-launches-ground-breaking-chemistry-platform-510391611.html) • [6](https://profiles.biocentury.com/companies/encycle_therapeutics_inc) Its nacellin technology, invented by Yudin, can cyclize very small peptides not normally amenable to constraint.[12](https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/encycle-therapeutics-announces-discovery-collaboration) A CQDM-funded project with $1,000,000 over two years produced a library of more than 1,400 nacellins, which Pfizer, Merck, AstraZeneca, and GSK could screen against targets of their choice.[13](https://cqdm.org/en/achievement/funded-projects/cycloinformatics-a-platform-to-rapidly-produce-macrocyclic-new-chemical-entities-to-inhibit-protein-protein-interactions/)
In September 2015 Encycle completed a $2.85 million CAD financing led by Takeda Ventures, with Accel-Rx Health Sciences Accelerator, BDC Capital, and the MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund; its lead program targeted a non-immunogenic, orally bioavailable inhibitor of integrin alpha-4-beta-7 for inflammatory bowel disease.[14](https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/encycle-therapeutics-raises-285-million-to-advance-macrocycle-platform-and-pipeline-530069901.html) On October 22, 2019, Zealand Pharma acquired Encycle, gaining a screening library of some 5,000 peptide macrocycles in a deal worth up to US $80 million in contingent value tied to development, regulatory, and commercial milestones.[4](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1674988/000110465919055677/a19-20804_1ex99d1.htm)
## Honors
Yudin is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and holds a Tier I Canada Research Chair in Medicine by Design.[3](https://yudingroup.chem.utoronto.ca/group-members/andrei) • [2](https://www.rsc.org/people/andrei-yudin) The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation awarded him the Konrad Adenauer Research Award in 2022, with sponsorship hosted at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces.[7](https://www.humboldt-foundation.de/en/connect/explore-the-humboldt-network/singleview/1221704/prof-dr-andrei-yudin) The American Chemical Society named him a 2025 Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award recipient, recognizing organic chemistry results apparent within the preceding half decade.[8](https://www.chemistry.utoronto.ca/news/yudin-wins-cope-scholar-award)
## Recent work
The dominant rotor line continued: a 2024 [Journal of the American Chemical Society](https://www.edgepedia.org/journal-of-the-american-chemical-society) paper stabilized 310-helices in macrocycles using dominant rotor methodology, reporting that the helices retained helicity after heating to 100 °C for 72 hours and that crude atropisomeric mixtures could be thermally enriched toward 310-helical macrocycles with selectivities above 20:1.[5](https://yudingroup.chem.utoronto.ca/publications) • [15](https://discover.research.utoronto.ca/13097-andrei-yudin/publications) Other recent directions include Pinc-driven cyclization of linear peptides into conformationally rigid macrocycles, a 2025 [Angewandte Chemie](https://www.edgepedia.org/angewandte-chemie) paper on frame-shifted synthesis of oligoheterocycles, and a 2026 Nature Synthesis paper on chemical reactivity from the perspective of enthalpic coupling.[5](https://yudingroup.chem.utoronto.ca/publications) • [15](https://discover.research.utoronto.ca/13097-andrei-yudin/publications)
## References
1. [Andrei Yudin, Department of Chemistry, University of Toronto](https://www.chemistry.utoronto.ca/people/directories/all-faculty/andrei-yudin)
2. [Andrei Yudin, Royal Society of Chemistry](https://www.rsc.org/people/andrei-yudin)
3. [Andrei, Yudin Research Group](https://yudingroup.chem.utoronto.ca/group-members/andrei)
4. [Zealand Pharma: Acquisition of Encycle Therapeutics (SEC exhibit)](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1674988/000110465919055677/a19-20804_1ex99d1.htm)
5. [Publications, Yudin Research Group](https://yudingroup.chem.utoronto.ca/publications)
6. [BioCentury BCIQ: Encycle Therapeutics Inc.](https://profiles.biocentury.com/companies/encycle_therapeutics_inc)
7. [Prof. Dr. Andrei Yudin, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation](https://www.humboldt-foundation.de/en/connect/explore-the-humboldt-network/singleview/1221704/prof-dr-andrei-yudin)
8. [Yudin wins Cope Scholar Award, University of Toronto](https://www.chemistry.utoronto.ca/news/yudin-wins-cope-scholar-award)
9. [From nucleophilic fluoroalkylations to electrophilic intermediates, USC dissertation](https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c17-254323)
10. [Contemporary strategies for peptide macrocyclization, Nature Chemistry (2011)](https://www.nature.com/articles/nchem.1062)
11. [Encycle Therapeutics Launches Ground-Breaking Chemistry Platform](https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/encycle-therapeutics-launches-ground-breaking-chemistry-platform-510391611.html)
12. [Encycle Therapeutics announces discovery collaboration with Pfizer](https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/encycle-therapeutics-announces-discovery-collaboration)
13. [CQDM funded project: Cycloinformatics](https://cqdm.org/en/achievement/funded-projects/cycloinformatics-a-platform-to-rapidly-produce-macrocyclic-new-chemical-entities-to-inhibit-protein-protein-interactions/)
14. [Encycle Therapeutics raises $2.85 million (CNW, 2015)](https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/encycle-therapeutics-raises-285-million-to-advance-macrocycle-platform-and-pipeline-530069901.html)
15. [Andrei Yudin, scholarly works, University of Toronto](https://discover.research.utoronto.ca/13097-andrei-yudin/publications)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Physical world and mathematics › Physical and mathematical scientists › Chemists › Researchers in organic synthesis, organometallic, and medicinal chemistry › Medicinal chemistry and drug discovery*
*Initially written Sep 21, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 25, 2026; Sep 30, 2026 · Edited: Sep 25, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 11, 2026; Oct 15, 2026 · Last review: Sep 30, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license