Dr. Pitsinos obtained his B.Sc. in chemistry from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece) in 1988. Upon graduation he worked for one year as research assistant in the group of Prof. M. Papadopoulos at the University of Crete and then he joined the group of Prof. K. C. Nicolaou at the University of California, San Diego / The Scripps Research Institute (San Diego, USA) to pursue his PhD on the total synthesis of the enediyne antibiotic Calicheamicin and the synthesis / biological evaluation of related analogues. He was also involved in the synthesis of water-soluble derivatives of the anticancer agent Paclitaxel (Taxol™). After a two-year service in the Greek Army, he was actively involved, as a post-doctoral fellow in the group of Prof. E. A. Couladouros, in setting up a new activity on “Synthetic Organic & Bioorganic Chemistry” in the Institute of Physical Chemistry, NCSR “Demokritos” (Greece). In 1997, he joined as Marie Curie Fellow the group of Prof. J.-M. Lehn at the University of Strasbourg (France) where he pursued the preparation of supramolecular assemblies through hydrogen bonding. In 1999, he returned as Researcher C level to NCSR “Demokritos”. He has pursued the synthesis and study of several natural products (Bastadins, Scyphostatin, Oxazines, Laurenditerpenol) and has established a network of national and international collaborations (e.g., Prof. E. A. Couladouros, Prof. S. Haroutounian, Agricultural University of Athens; Prof. E. Fattorusso, Universita degli Studi di Napoli ‘Federico II’; Prof. A. Giannis, University of Leipzig; Prof. E.-I. Negishi, Purdue University; Prof. K. C. Nicolaou, W. M. Rice University).

He is currently Research Director (Researcher A level), responsible for the “Natural Products Synthesis & Bioorganic Chemistry” group at the Institute of Nanoscience & Nanotechnology, NCSR “Demokritos”.

Representative Publications

1. “Total synthesis of (+)-Scyphostatin featuring an enantioselective and highly efficient route to the side-chain via Zr-catalyzed asymmetric carboalumination of alkenes (ZACA)”
   E. N. Pitsinos, N. Athinaios, Z. Xu, G. Wang, E.-I. Negishi,
   Chemical Communications 2010, 46, 2200–2202.
2. “Diaryl ether formation in the synthesis of natural products”
   E. N. Pitsinos, V. P. Vidali, E. A. Couladouros,
   European Journal of Organic Chemistry 2011, 1207–1222.
3. “Enantioselective total synthesis of (–)-Laurenditerpenol”
   E. N. Pitsinos, N. Athinaios, V. P. Vidali,
   Organic Letters 2012, 14, 4666–4669.
4. “A fast entry to furanoditerpenoid-based Hedgehog signaling inhibitors: Identifying essential structural features”
   M. Chatzopoulou, A. Antoniou, E. N. Pitsinos, M. Bantzi, S. D. Koulocheri, S. A. Haroutounian, A. G. Giannis,
   Organic Letters 2014, 16, 3344−3347.
5. “Identification of Gli-mediated transcription inhibitors through synthesis and evaluation of Taepeenin D analogues”
   A. Antoniou, M. Chatzopoulou, M. Bantzi, C. M. Athanassopoulos, A. G. Giannis, E. N. Pitsinos,
   MedChemComm 2016, 7, 2328−2331.
6. “Total synthesis and full structural assignment of Namenamicin”
   K. C. Nicolaou, R. Li, Z. Lu, E. N. Pitsinos, L. B. Alemany,
   Journal of the American Chemical Society 2018, 140, 8091−8095.