Richard F. Heck, one of the 2010 Nobel Laureates in Chemistry, has passed away on October 9, 2015.
Heck received the Nobel Prize together with Ei-ichi Negishi and Akira Suzuki “for palladium-catalyzed cross couplings in organic synthesis”. The eponymous Heck reaction allows the formation of carbon-carbon bonds, and is one of the most widely used catalytic reactions in organic synthesis.
Richard F. Heck was born in Springfield, MA, USA, on August 15, 1931. He studied chemistry at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), USA, where he received his Ph.D. in physical organic chemistry in 1954 under the supervision of Saul Winstein. After postdoctoral work at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, he returned to UCLA in 1955. Heck then went to on to work as a researcher at Hercules Powder Co., Wilmington, DE, USA. In 1971, Richard F. Heck joined the faculty of the University of Delaware, Newark, USA. He remained in Delaware and retired as Willis F. Harrington Professor in 1989.
Among other honors, Professor Heck received the Wallace Carothers Award from the American Chemical Society (ACS) in 2005, the Herbert C. Brown Award from the ACS in 2006, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2010, the Glenn T. Seaborg Medal from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 2011, and several honorary doctorates.
Selected Publications by Richard F. Heck
- Cobalt and Palladium Reagents in Organic Synthesis: The Beginning,
Richard Heck,
Synlett 2006, 2006, 2855–2860.
DOI: 10.1055/s-2006-951536 - Palladium-Catalyzed Vinylation of Organic Halides,
Richard F. Heck,
in Organic Reactions, John Wiley & Sons, 2004.
DOI: 10.1002/0471264180.or027.02 - Palladium-catalyzed reactions of organic halides with olefins,
Richard F. Heck,
Acc. Chem. Res. 1979, 12, 146–151.
DOI: 10.1021/ar50136a006 - Palladium-catalyzed carboalkoxylation of aryl, benzyl, and vinylic halides,
A. Schoenberg, I. Bartoletti, R. F. Heck,
J. Org. Chem. 1974, 39, 3318–3326.
DOI: 10.1021/jo00937a003 - Palladium-catalyzed vinylic hydrogen substitution reactions with aryl, benzyl, and styryl halides,
R. F. Heck, J. P. Nolley,
J. Org. Chem. 1972, 37, 2320–2322.
DOI: 10.1021/jo00979a024 - Acylation, methylation, and carboxyalkylation of olefins by Group VIII metal derivatives,
Richard F. Heck,
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1968, 90, 5518–5526.
DOI: 10.1021/ja01022a034
Also of Interest
- Palladium-Catalyzed Cross-Coupling: A Historical Contextual Perspective to the 2010 Nobel Prize,
Carin C. C. Johansson Seechurn, Matthew O. Kitching, Thomas J. Colacot, Victor Snieckus,
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2012, 51, 5062–5085.
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201107017 - Nobel Prize in Chemistry,
ChemistryViews.org 2010.
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2010 was awarded to Wiley author Prof. Ei-ichi Negishi along with Richard Heck and Akira Suzuki - Fine Feathers Make Fine Birds: The Heck Reaction in Modern Garb,
Armin de Meijere, Frank E. Meyer,
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 1995, 33, 2379–2411.
DOI: 10.1002/anie.199423791
