Professor Ryoji Noyori, Nagoya University, Japan, celebrates his 75th birthday on September 3rd. Noyori won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2001 for the study of chirally catalyzed hydrogenations. He shared half of the prize with William S. Knowles; the second half of the prize went to K. Barry Sharpless for his study on chirally catalyzed oxidation reactions (Sharpless epoxidation).
Noyori was born in 1938 in a suburb of Kobe, Japan. His choice of career was influenced by his father, a research director of a chemical company. In fact, it was after his father took him to a conference on nylon that his interest in chemistry really grew and he began to dream of becoming a leading chemist.
Noyori went on to study chemistry at Kyoto University, Japan, and received his Master Degree in 1963. He completed his Ph.D. at the same university in 1967, under the supervision of Hitoshi Nozaki. In 1968, he became an Associate Professor at Nagoya University. From 1969–1970 he worked as a postdoctoral researcher for Elias J. Corey at Havard University, Cambridge, USA, and then he returned to Nagoya University, in 1972, where he was promoted to Professor.
He is still based at Nagoya but in 2001 he was also made President of RIKEN, Nagoya, Japan.
- Hydration of Terminal Alkynes Catalyzed by Water-Soluble Cobalt Porphyrin Complexes,
Tadashi Tachinami, Takuho Nishimura, Richiro Ushimaru, Ryoji Noyori, Hiroshi Naka,
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2013, 135, 50−53.
DOI: 10.1021/ja310282t - Facts are the Enemy of Truth—Reflections on Serendipitous Discovery and Unforeseen Developments in Asymmetric Catalysis,
Ryoji Noyori,
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2013, 52, 79–92.
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201205537 - One-Pot Nitrile Aldolization/Hydration Operation Giving β-Hydroxy Carboxamides,
Akihiro Goto, Hiroshi Naka, Ryoji Noyori, Susumu Saito,
Chem. Asian J. 2011, 6, 1740–1743.
DOI: 10.1002/asia.201000921 - An Efficient Diphosphine/Hybrid-Amine Combination for Ruthenium(II)-Catalyzed Asymmetric Hydrogenation of Aryl Ketones,
Yuehui Li, Yougui Zhou, Qixun Shi, Kuiling Ding, Ryoji Noyori, Christian A. Sandoval,
Adv. Synth. Catal. 2011, 353, 495–500.
DOI: 10.1002/adsc.201000577
See also:
- Video: Angewandte Symposium Asia, 2011
- This is also the answer to Guess the Chemist (21).
