Karl Barry Sharpless
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| Karl Barry Sharpless | |
|---|---|
| Born | 28 April 1941 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA |
| Nationality | United States |
| Fields | Chemistry |
| Institutions | Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Scripps Research Institute |
| Alma mater | Dartmouth College Stanford University Harvard University |
| Known for | enantioselective synthesis, click chemistry |
| Notable awards | Nobel Prize in Chemistry (2001) Benjamin Franklin Medal (2001) Harvey Prize (1998) |
Karl Barry Sharpless (born 28 April 1941) is an American chemist known for his work on stereoselective reactions.
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Biography [edit]
Early years [edit]
Sharpless was born in Philadelphia. He graduated from Friends' Central School in 1959. He continued his studies at Dartmouth College (1963) and earned his Ph.D from Stanford University in 1968. He continued post-doctoral work at Stanford University and Harvard University. He holds honorary degree of Technical University of Munich.
Research [edit]
Sharpless has been a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University. He currently holds the W. M. Keck professorship in chemistry at The Scripps Research Institute.
In 2001 he won a half-share of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on stereoselective oxidation reactions (Sharpless epoxidation, Sharpless asymmetric dihydroxylation, Sharpless oxyamination). The other half of the year's Prize was shared between William S. Knowles and Ryōji Noyori (for their work on stereoselective hydrogenation). He also successfully epoxidized (using racemic tartaric acid) a C-86 Buckminster Fullerene ball, employing p-Cresol as solvent. Currently he spends much of his time promoting click chemistry, a set of highly selective, exothermic reactions which occur under mild conditions; the most successful variant of which is the azide alkyne Huisgen cycloaddition to form 1,2,3-triazoles.
Personal life [edit]
Sharpless married Jan Dueser on 28 April 1965. They have three children; Hannah (b. 1976), William (b. 1978), and Isaac (b. 1980)
External links [edit]
References [edit]
- "K. Barry Sharpless". The Notable Names Database. 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-18.
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- Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
- American chemists
- American Nobel laureates
- Dartmouth College alumni
- Harvard University alumni
- Nobel laureates in Chemistry
- Organic chemists
- People from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Stanford University alumni
- The Scripps Research Institute faculty
- Wolf Prize in Chemistry laureates
- 1941 births
- Living people
