Professor K. Peter C. Vollhardt, University of California, Berkeley, USA, celebrates his 75th birthday on March 7, 2021.
Professor Vollhardt’s research focuses on organic chemistry, in particular, on the application of transition metals to organic synthesis. His interests include total synthesis, the use of cobalt, palladium, and nickel in the construction of complex organic molecules, exploring the scope of the cobalt-mediated cycloadditions, and strained hydrocarbons and molecules with electronically destabilizing features. Professor Vollhardt also is well known for his organic chemistry textbook.
K. Peter C. Vollhardt was born on March 7, 1946, in Madrid, Spain. He studied chemistry at the University of Munich, Germany, and at University College London, UK, where he received his Ph.D. in 1972 under the supervision of Peter J. Garratt. After postdoctoral research with Robert G. Bergman at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Pasadena, USA, he was appointed Assistant Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, USA. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 1978 and to Full Professor of Chemistry in 1982.
Among many other honors, Vollhardt has received the ACS Award in Organometallic Chemistry from the American Chemical Society (ACS) in 1987, the Otto Bayer Award from Bayer AG, Leverkusen, Germany, in 1990, the ACS Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award in 1991, the Japan Society for Promotion of Science Award in 1995, and an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy, in 2004.
Selected Publications
- Inter- and Intramolecular [2+2+2] Cycloaddition of Alkyne Triple Bonds to the Carbonyl Function of Aldehydes and Ketones Enabled by η5-Cyclopentadienylcobalt(L)(L′),
K. Peter C. Vollhardt, Véronique Colovray-Gotteland, Daniel F. Harvey, Barry M. Johnson, Christopher S. Ung,
Synthesis 2020, 53, 699–712.
https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0040-1707322 - Oligoether-Substituted Derivatives of Carbon-Rich 1,4,7,10,13,16-Hexaethynyltribenzo[a,e,i]cyclododeca-5,11,17-triyne (C36H12) and 1,4,9,12-Tetrakis(ethynyl)dibenzo[a,g]cyclododeca-5,7,13,15-tetrayne (C28H8): Potential Precursors to the Circular [6]Phenylene (‘Antikekulene’) Frame,
Uwe Dahlmann, K. Peter C. Vollhardt,
Synthesis 2020, 52, 1287–1300.
https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0039-1690050 - Stoichiometric and Catalytic (η5-Cyclopentadienyl)cobalt-Mediated Cycloisomerizations of Ene-Yne-Ene Type Allyl Propargyl Ethers,
Chu-An Chang, Stefan Gürtzgen, Erik P. Johnson, K. Peter C. Vollhardt,
Synthesis 2019, 52, 399–416.
https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0039-1690727 - Organic Chemistry: Structure and Function,
K. Peter C. Vollhardt, Neil E. Schore,
W. H. Freeman, 2018.
ISBN: 978-1319079451 - Organische Chemie (in German),
K. Peter C. Vollhardt, Neil E. Schore,
Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, 2020.
ISBN: 978-3-527-34584-7 - Transition-metal-catalyzed acetylene cyclizations in organic synthesis,
K. Peter C. Vollhardt,
Acc. Chem. Res. 2002, 10, 1–8.
https://doi.org/10.1021/ar50109a001 - 3.0.CO;2-V”>On the Nature of Nonplanarity in the [N]Phenylenes,
Daniel Holmes, Sriram Kumaraswamy, Adam J. Matzger, K. Peter C. Vollhardt,
Chem. Eur. J. 1999, 5, 3399–3412.
3.0.CO;2-V”>https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1521-3765(19991105)5:11<3399::AID-CHEM3399>3.0.CO;2-V - Cobalt-Mediated [2+2+2]-Cycloadditions: A Maturing Synthetic Strategy,
K. Peter C. Vollhardt,
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 1984, 23, 539–556.
https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.198405393
