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Ben L. Feringa University of Groningen

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Ben L. Feringa University of Groningen In November 1941, while paging through a botany text, he saw a promising picture of dioscorea, a type of wild The Marker Lectures honor yam that grew in the Mexican state of Vera Cruz near Professor Russell Marker, a Orizaba. Marker went to Mexico, collected two big University of Maryland Hall of roots of dioscorea, loaded them into bags, and put them Fame alumnus and on the top of a bus. When he got to Orizaba, the bags extraordinarily inventive were gone, but he recovered the larger, 50-lb root by organic chemist. Marker, who bribing a policeman. The tubar, which he ended up was born on his father’s farm smuggling out of the country, yielded a good quantity near Hagerstown, MD, in 1902, of diosgenin—a convenient and cheap starting material received a bachelor’s degree that he believed could yield progesterone by the ton. from the University of Marker’s discovery was about to change progesterone Maryland in 1923 and a from a costly rarity to the cheapest of all steroid hormones. In a 1979 interview with Stanford master’s degree. in physical University chemist Carl Djerassi, another pioneer of the chemistry in 1924. He then steroid hormone industry, Marker recalled that he could started doctoral research with Morris Kharasch at not convince Parke-Davis to support the Maryland. Within a year, Marker had completed enough commercialization of his synthesis. So Marker work for his thesis but still needed to take some physical withdrew all of his savings from the bank, went down chemistry courses. Marker considered this physical to Vera Cruz, and collected 9 or 10 tons of the roots, chemistry requirement a waste of time and refused to extracted the root with alcohol and evaporated it down take them because he had taken the courses as an to syrup that he took back to the U.S. Marker made 3 undergraduate. Kharasch warned that Marker would end kg of the hormone, the largest lot that had ever been Ben L. Feringa up a “urine analyst” if he didn’t complete the produced; progesterone was then selling at $80 per requirements. Marker accepted this challenge and left gram. Marker started Syntex in1944. University of Groningen the University in 1925. After several years of working at Ethyl Corporation, where he invented the gasoline After his retirement, Professor Marker endowed the “octane number” rating system, Marker began research Marker Lectureship at the University of Maryland. with P.A. Levene at Rockefeller Institute. Over the next Dynamic Molecular Systems, six years, Marker published 32 papers on optical rotation from Switches to Motors and molecular configuration. Then he decided to change his focus to steroid research and began work at Pennsylvania State College in a position funded by Parke-Davis. In 1938, Marker proposed a new molecular 3:00 – 4 :00 PM structure for sarsasapogenin, a plant steroid isolated from sarsaparilla. In Marker’s proposed structure, the side Friday, May 3, 2013 chain of the molecule is chemically reactive and with Marker Seminar Room (0112) degradation could be converted to progesterone. But sarsasapogenin was also extraordinarily expensive, so Marker began a search for a plant steroid of the sapogenin class, starting in the southwestern U.S and ending in Mexico. Feringa’s research has been recognized with Russell Marker Lecture a number of awards that include the Koerber European Science Award (2003) which honors outstanding and excellent scientists working in Europe, the Spinoza Award (2004) which is the highest Dutch Professor Ben L. Feringa award in science, the Prelog gold medal from the ETH (Zurich, Switzerland, 2005), the James Flack Norrish Award for Physical Organic Chemistry of the ACS (2007), the Paracelsus medal (2008), the Chirality Professor Ben L. Feringa medal (2009), the RSC Organic Dynamic Molecular Ben L. Feringa obtained his PhD degree at Stereochemistry Award (2011), the the University of Groningen in the Humboldt Award (2012) and the Grand Prix Systems, from Netherlands under the guidance of Professor Scientifique Cino del Duca (French Switches to Motors Hans Wynberg. After working as a research Academy 2012). The research program of scientist at Shell in the Netherlands and at the the Feringa group is focussed on synthetic Shell Biosciences Centre in the UK, he was organic chemistry. Over the years a unique appointed lecturer and in 1988 full professor expertise in stereochemistry has been at the University of Groningen and named acquired. Inspired by nature’s principles of 3:00 – 4:00 PM the Jacobus H. van’t Hoff Distinguished molecular assembly, recognition, transport, Professor of Molecular Sciences in 2004. He motion and catalysis, the goal is to exploit was elected Foreign Honorary member of the the full potential of synthetic chemistry to Marker Seminar Room 0112 American Academy of Arts and Sciences and create new structures and functions. A is member and vice-president of the Royal major part of the research is directed Netherlands Academy of Sciences. In 2008 towards nanotechnology and novel he was appointed Academy Professor and functional materials, such as molecular was knighted by Her Majesty the Queen of switches and motors. A second part of the Reception Following the Netherlands. He is cofounder of the program deals with the development (and (Blue Hallway) contract research company SELACT, the application in chemical biology) of novel founding Scientific Editor of the RSC journal stereoselective synthesis methods and Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry, and he asymmetric catalysis. Control of chirality is 4:00 – 5:00 PM serves on the editorial advisory boards of the guiding principle in both programs. other journals. .
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