Woodward, Robert organic synthesis

Robert Burns Woodward achievements in the art of organic synthesis... 

M. E. Bowden and T. Benfey, Robert Bums Woodward and the Art of Organic Synthesis, Beckman Center for the History of Chemistry, Philadelphia, PA, 1992. 

Robert Burns Woodward (1917-1979) was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He entered MIT at age 16, was expelled, reentered, obtained a B.S. degree at age 19, and received a Ph.D. at age 20. He then moved to Harvard University, where he joined the (acuity at age 23. His vast scientific contributions included determining the structure of penicillin and turning the field of synthetic organic chemistry into an art form. He received the 1965 Nobel Prize for his work in organic synthesis. 

Woodward, Robert B. 1956. "Synthesis." In A.R. Todd, ed. Perspectives in Organic Chemistry (pp. 155-184). New York Interscience Publishers. 

Woodward, R. B. Proc. Robert A. Welch Foundation Conference on Chemical Research, XII Organic Synthesis, 1969, p. 3. 

American chemist Robert Woodward, recipient of the 1965 Nobel Prize in chemistry, for his outstanding achievements in the art of organic synthesis. ... 

Woodward, Robert Burns (1963). Art and Science in the Synthesis of Organic Compounds Retrospect and Prospect. In Pointers and Pathways in Research, ed. Maeve O Connor. Bombay CIBA of India. 

It is striking that Diels and Alder finally received the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1950, more than two decades after their initial publication. The science of total synthesis of natural products was slow to advance and was hindered by World War II. These factors perhaps explain the delay in fuUy appreciating the impact of the Diels-Alder reaction. The modem era of total organic synthesis is generally considered to have started during the 1940s. In 1952, Robert Bums ( R. B. ) Woodward (1917-79) at Harvard would employ the Diels-Alder reaction to brilliant effect en route to total syntheses of the steroids cortisone and cholesterol. 

Woodward, Robert Burns, 1917-1979 (Plate 50). Born in Boston in 1917, he entered Massachusetts Instutute of Technology in 1933 and graduated as Ph.D. in 1937. Postdoctoral fellow at Harvard(1937-40). Instructor in Chemistry (1941-1944). Assistant Professor (1944-46), Associate Professor (1946-50X Professor from 1950 until his death in 1979. Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1965, for his outstanding achievements in the art of organic synthesis . Woodwards reagent (p. 90), synthesis of cephalosporin C (p. 200), poly-a-amino-acids (p. 37). 

Robert Burns Woodward (1917-1979) received the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1965 for his many contributions to the art of organic synthesis. He is regarded by many organic chemists to have been perhaps the greatest practitioner of this art. 

Woodward, Robert Bums (1956) Synthesis in A. Todd (ed.) Perspectives in Organic Chemistry, New York, Interscience Pubhshers, pp. 155—184. 

Robert Chenevert is Professor of Organic Chemistry at Universite Laval, Quebec, Canada. He studied chemistry (B.Sc. and M.Sc.) at the Universite de Montreal. After receiving his Ph.D. in organic chemistry in 1975 at the Universite de Sherbrooke under the supervision of Professor Pierre Deslongchamps, he spent a postdoctoral year at Harvard (R. B. Woodward s group). His main research interest is the application of biocatalysts in asymmetric synthesis. He is also interested in the design of inhibitors of enzymes involved in the aminoacylation of tRNA (aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases and aminoacyl-tRNA amidotransferases). 

Vitamin B12, with its remarkable array of functionality and chirality, is one of the most complex molecules ever to have been created in an organic laboratory. Its synthesis was completed in 1973 by Robert Woodward and Albert Eschenmoser and their students. 

It is noteworthy to mention that the synthesis of strychnine by Robert B. Woodward is one of the most famous syntheses in the history of organic chemistry. The structure of strychnine was first determined in 1946 by Sir Robert Robinson. Both chemists won the Nobel Prize (Robinson in 1947 and Woodward in 1965) [123]. Both brucine and strychnine are commonly used as agents for chiral resolu-tirai. Strychnine has developed to become a standard reference to NMR spectroscopy in organic chemistry as in this compound many typical structural features are present which cause spectrum to spread over entire chemical (Table 20.3). 

Strychinine was the first alkaloid isolated by Pierre Joseph Pelletier and Joseph Bienaime Caventou in 1818, from the plants of the Strychnos genus. The structure was first determined in 1946 by Sir Robert Robinson, and in 1954 it was synthesized by Robert B. Woodward [9]. This is one of the most famous synthesis in the history of organic chemistry. Strychnine is a very well known compound, due to its powerful poisonous activity. Moreover, one of the most famous non-natural indole alkaloid derivatives is lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), which was synthesized in 1938 by Albert Hofmann. LSD was a popular psychedelic drug in the 1960s and 1970s. 

The total synthesis of Vitamin B12 led by Robert Woodward of Harvard University in the 1960s and 70s involved hundreds of graduate students and took over a decade. This amazing accomplishment ushered in the modem era of synthetic organic chemistry and convinced many that synthesis of any target was possible given enough time and resources. 

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