William von Eggers Doering

William von Eggers Doering (June 22, 1917 – January 3, 2011)^[1] was a Professor Emeritus at Harvard University and the former Chair of its Chemistry Department. Prior to joining the Faculty at Harvard, he was a member of the Chemistry Faculties of Columbia University (1942–1952) and Yale (1952–1968).

He is known in the field of organic chemistry for his work on quinine total synthesis with Robert Burns Woodward.^[2] Having published his first scientific paper in 1939 and his last in 2008, he holds the rare distinction of having authored scholarly articles in eight different decades. In 1989, he received the "James Flack Norris Award in Physical Organic Chemistry" of the American Chemical Society and in 1990 the Robert A. Welch Award in Chemistry.^[3]

Some of his discoveries include the structure elucidation of the tropylium cation, the discovery of dichlorocarbene, bullvalene and fulvalene and the discovery of the mechanism of the Baeyer–Villiger oxidation.^[4]

Notes

References

• Daintith, John. Biographical encyclopedia of scientists, CRC Press, 1994. ISBN 978-0-7503-0287-6

External links

• William von Eggers Doering - Michigan State University