John E. McMurry

John McMurry
Born July 27, 1942
New York City, United States
Nationality American
Institutions University of California, Santa Cruz,
Cornell University
Alma mater Harvard University A.B. 1964
Columbia University Ph.D. 1967
Doctoral advisor Gilbert Stork
Known for McMurry reaction

John McMurry, born July 27, 1942, in New York City, is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology [1] at Cornell University. He received his Ph.D. working with Gilbert Stork. Following completion of his Ph.D., he joined the faculty of the University of California, Santa Cruz in 1967 and moved to Cornell University in 1980.

Contributions

The author of more than 100 research papers, Professor McMurry is best known scientifically for his development of the McMurry reaction, in which two molecules of ketone or aldehyde are coupled to give an alkene when treated with titanium(III) chloride and a reducing agent such as Zn(Cu). The reaction has been widely used by the chemical community in the laboratory synthesis of many complex organic molecules and by the pharmaceutical industry in the commercial synthesis of several drugs. McMurry was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1985 and received a Max Planck Society Research Award in 1991.

In addition to his scientific work, McMurry is the author of numerous undergraduate chemistry textbooks. More than 3 million copies of his books in 12 languages have been used throughout the world. Among his current texts are:

References

  1. ↑ McMurry faculty website at Cornell
  2. ↑ McMurry, J. (2012). Organic Chemistry, 8th edition. Cengage Learning. ISBN 978-0-8400-5444-9
  3. ↑ McMurry, J. (2011). Organic Chemistry with Biological Applications, 2nd edition. Cengage Learning. ISBN 978-0-495-39144-9
  4. ↑ McMurry, J. (2011). Fundamentals of Organic Chemistry, 7th edition. Cengage Learning. ISBN 978-1-4390-4971-6
  5. ↑ McMurry, J. E., Fay, R. C. (2012). Chemistry, 6th edition. Pearson. ISBN 978-0-321-70495-5
  6. ↑ McMurry, J. E., Fay, R. C. (2010). General Chemistry, Atoms First. Pearson. ISBN 978-0-321-57163-2
  7. ↑ McMurry, J., Ballantine, D. S., Hoeger, C.A., Peterson, V. E., Castellion, M. E. (2010). General, Organic, and Biological Chemistry, 6th Edition. Pearson. ISBN 978-0-13-605450-4
  8. ↑ McMurry, J., Begley, T. (2005). The Organic Chemistry of Biological Pathways. Roberts and Company. ISBN 0-9747077-1-6