Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, Spanish statesman and chemist at Complutense University of Madrid, Spain, passed away on May 10, 2019. He is survived by his wife, Pilar Goya, who is President of the European Chemical Society (EuChemS).
Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba was born in 1951 in Solares, Spain. He studied chemistry and obtained his Ph.D. at Complutense University of Madrid in 1978. After some time at the Universities of Konstanz, Germany, and Montpellier, France, he returned to Complutense University of Madrid as Professor of Organic Chemistry. His research focused on reaction mechanisms in organic chemistry.
Rubalcaba was a Member of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) and served as the Spanish Minister of Education from 1992 to 1993, as Minister of the Presidency from 1993 to 1996, and as Minister of the Interior from 2006 to 2011. He was Deputy Prime Minister of Spain from 2010 to 2011 and Secretary-General of the PSOE from 2012 to 2014. Rubalcaba was involved in the drive to end the violence of the Basque separatist organization ETA. In 2016, after his political career, he returned to his position at Complutense University of Madrid.
Selected Publications
- Synthesis and benzylation of (2-(1′-lithium)-ethyl-4,4,6-trimethyl-5,6-dihydro-4h-1,3-oxazine : An approach to the mechanism of the reaction,
C. Alvarez-Ibarra, M. S. Arias-Pérez, M. T. Garcia-Romo, M. T. Molina-Orden, A. Pérez-Rubalcaba, M. L. Quiroga,
Tetrahedron 1979, 35, 1767–1769.
https://doi.org/10.1016/0040-4020(79)88006-0 - The stereochemistry of condensation reactions of (±)-3-phenylbutan-2-one with phenylmetallic compounds as a function of the reagent nucleophilicity,
Odón Arjona, Rafael Pérez-Ossorio, Alfredo Pérez-Rubalcaba, María L. Quiroga,
J. Chem. Soc., Chem. Commun. 1982.
https://doi.org/10.1039/c39820000452 - Stereoselectivity in the condensation reactions of 1-phenylethyl alkyl and phenyl ketones with organometallic reagents,
Carlos Alvarez-Ibarra, Odón Arjona, Rafael Pérez-Ossorio, Alfredo Pérez-Rubalcaba, María L. Quiroga, María J. Santesmases,
J. Chem. Soc., Perkin Trans. 2 1983.
https://doi.org/10.1039/p29830001645 - Pteridine, LXXIII. Reaktionsverhalten von Lumazin-5-und -8-oxiden sowie-5,8-dioxiden (in German),
Alfredo Perez-Rubalcaba, Wolfgang Pfeiderer,
Liebigs Ann. Chem. 1983, 1983, 852–859.
https://doi.org/10.1002/jlac.198319830511 - Origin of mutarotation in some N-substituted ketimines,
Odon Arjona, Rafael Perez-Ossorio, Alfredo Perez-Rubalcaba, Joaquin Plumet, Maria J. Santesmases,
J. Org. Chem. 1984, 49, 2624–2626.
https://doi.org/10.1021/jo00188a023
