John F. Hartwig, Henry Rapoport Chair in Organic Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, USA, is the recipient of the Emanuel Merck Lectureship 2022. The lectureship was jointly established by Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, and the Technical University of Darmstadt (TU Darmstadt) in 1992. It recognizes globally renowned scientists who have made outstanding contributions to chemical and pharmaceutical research. The award comes with EUR 30,000 and was presented on May 23, 2022, during a public lecture at TU Darmstadt.
Hartwig is being recognized for his outstanding work in transition-metal catalysis. Hartwig is a co-discoverer of the Buchwald–Hartwig amination, a widely used palladium-catalyzed coupling reaction for the formation of C–N bonds from amines and aryl halides.
John F. Hartwig was born near Chicago, IL, USA, in 1964. He received a B.A. from Princeton University, NJ, USA, in 1986 and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1990 under the supervision of Robert Bergman and Richard Andersen. After postdoctoral research with Stephen J. Lippard at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, USA, he started his independent career at Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA, in 1992. He moved to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA, in 2006, and became Henry Rapoport Chair in Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley in 2011.
Among many other awards, John F. Hartwig has received the 2006 ACS Award in Organometallic Chemistry from the American Chemical Society (ACS), the 2008 Mukaiyama Award from the Society of Synthetic Organic Chemistry of Japan, the 2014 Nagoya Gold Medal, the 2018 Tetrahedron Prize for Creativity in Organic Chemistry, and the 2019 Wolf Prize in Chemistry. He is a Member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.
Selected Publications
- Assembly and Evolution of Artificial Metalloenzymes within E. coli Nissle 1917 for Enantioselective and Site-Selective Functionalization of C─H and C═C Bonds,
Zhennan Liu, Jing Huang, Yang Gu, Douglas S. Clark, Aindrila Mukhopadhyay, Jay D. Keasling, John F. Hartwig,
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2022, 144, 883–890.
https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.1c10975 - Contra-thermodynamic Olefin Isomerization by Chain-Walking Hydroboration and Dehydroboration,
Steven Hanna, Brandon Bloomer, Nicodemo R. Ciccia, Trevor W. Butcher, Richard J. Conk, John F. Hartwig,
Org. Lett. 2022, 24, 1005–1010.
https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.orglett.1c03124 - Enantioselective hydroamination of unactivated terminal alkenes,
Senjie Ma, Yumeng Xi, Haoyu Fan, Sven Roediger, John F. Hartwig,
Chem 2022, 8, 532–542.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chempr.2021.12.005 - On the Interpretation of Deuterium Kinetic Isotope Effects in C–H Bond Functionalizations by Transition-Metal Complexes,
Eric M. Simmons, John F. Hartwig,
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2012, 51, 3066–3072.
https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201107334 - C−H Activation for the Construction of C−B Bonds,
Ibraheem A. I. Mkhalid, Jonathan H. Barnard, Todd B. Marder, Jaclyn M. Murphy, John F. Hartwig,
Chem. Rev. 2009, 110, 890–931.
https://doi.org/10.1021/cr900206p - Evolution of a Fourth Generation Catalyst for the Amination and Thioetherification of Aryl Halides,
John F. Hartwig,
Acc. Chem. Res. 2008, 41, 1534–1544.
https://doi.org/10.1021/ar800098p - Palladium-catalyzed formation of carbon-nitrogen bonds. Reaction intermediates and catalyst improvements in the hetero cross-coupling of aryl halides and tin amides,
Frederic Paul, Joe Patt, John F. Hartwig,
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2002, 116, 5969–5970.
https://doi.org/10.1021/ja00092a058 - Carbon–heteroatom bond formation catalysed by organometallic complexes,
John F. Hartwig,
Nature 2008, 455, 314–322.
https://doi.org/10.1038/nature07369
