Biographical Memoirs Volume 80 (2001) / Chapter Skim
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Robert Burns Woodward
Robert Burns Woodward
Pages 366-387
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From page 367... ...
In 1933 at the age of 16, Bob Woodward enrolled in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to study chemistry, although he also had Interests at that hme in mathematics, literature, and architecture. His unusual talents were soon apparent to the MIT faculty, and his needs for individual study and intensive effort were met and encouraged.
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From page 368... ...
in the Royal Society memoir by Lorc! Tocicl en cl Sir John Cornforth.i What kincl of a person was Bob, en cl how clo we remember him?
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From page 369... ...
coworkers. In preparing this review I was assisted by written communications relating to Bob's work by Derek Barton, Albert Eschenmoser, en c!
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From page 370... ...
for the betalactam formula for penicillin, in contrast to the incorrect oxazoline formula acivocatecl by Sir Robert Robinson en cl others. The problem of the structure of strychnine hacl been a challenge to organic chemists for more than a century.
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It was a problem of great inclustrial importance, en cl hence many able chemists hacl performed an enormous amount of work trying to determine the structure. There seemec!
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for the Nobel Prize ceremony in
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work until his cleath. This account of Woo c~warcl's earlier scientific life reflects his unique intellectual superiority in his own generation.
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From page 374... ...
The reaction was the cycTization of a hexatriene to a cyclohexacliene. It is clear that one of Wooc~warcl's main interests in his latter years was the rationalization of organic synthesis through the use of orbital symmetry in preclictions of conformations.
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From page 375... ...
Within two years, in a floocl of beautiful experimental work, the fantastic insight into the workings of nature achiever! by the orbital symmetry rules lay clear.
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With the completion of this synthesis, Woodward stood at the summit of recognition: He hacl mastered chlorophyll, the material that gives the continents their primary color en c! the heart of photosynthesis in all green plants on Earth.
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execution, appears tociay as the apotheosis of all that constituted the Wooc~warclian art en cl science in natural products total synthesis. Forever in the history of chemistry it will also remain connected with that creative insight of Wooc~warcl that eventually grew into the message of the Wooc~warcIHoffmann rules, changing the way organic chemists think about the reactivity of organic molecules.
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From page 378... ...
As a result of this initial experience he invites! me to join an embryonic poker game that met in the basement of Harvarcl's Converse Laboratory on some late evenings each month.
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From page 379... ...
of years. As a result of Bob's input, when I left Harvard temporarily to join Polaroicl as its chief chemist in 1960, Bob en cl I spent a lot of time together while he was a consultant to the company cluring the critical phases of the clevelopment of the Polaroicl instant photographic color process.
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From page 380... ...
In addition, in his later years he had a well-Ioved blue Mercedes sedan that occupied this parking space during the days and nights when he was doing science in Converse. 1 can teshty that he also liked adventure in areas other · ~ .
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From page 381... ...
maybe such symptoms were not important to him. SOME PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS In aciclition to the personal relationships inclicatecl above, Bob hacl at least two corporate relationships that he specially valuccI.
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From page 382... ...
hours became proverbial, and his eager disciples acquired the habit in increasing droves, so the midnight solitude was no more. He had the courage to work on a series of more and more complex and difficult natural products during his career, and the intelligence, imagination, energy, and skill to succeed.
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From page 383... ...
He showed me that one could attack difficult problems without a clear idea of their outcome, but with confidence that intelligence and effort would solve them. He showed me the beauty of modern organic chemistry, and the relevance to the field of detailed careful reasoning.
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3. In 1981 Roald Hoffmann and Kenichi Fukui received the Nobel Prize in chemistry for discovering the rules governing the course of chemical reaction.
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ROBERT BURNS WOODWARD 385 5. When Konrad Bloch and I were raising money for a Woodward professorship at Harvard, many of the organizations cited above indicated their strong and positive feelings about Bob by contributing generously to this professorship.
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From page 386... ...
63:2727-29. 1942 Structure and absorption spectra.
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From page 387... ...
Orbital symmetries and endo-exo relationships in concerted cycloaddition reactions.7.
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