Jack Baldwin (1938–2020)

Obituary Jack Baldwin (1938–2020)

Organic chemist whose rules aided the synthesis of natural products.

hemistry,” Jack Baldwin once said in his direct way, “is about making forms of matter that “ have never existed.” Baldwin was best known for formulating a setC of rules that predict how likely it is that atoms (mostly carbon) in a synthesis will link into rings, a structural feature of many biological molecules and drugs. Published in just three pages (with a one-sentence abstract) in 1976 (J. E. Baldwin J. Chem. Soc. Chem. Com- mun. 734–736; 1976), Baldwin’s rules have been fundamental to organic synthesis in the pharmaceutical and agrochemical industries, and to understanding biology from a chemical perspective. He died on 4 January, aged 81. His passions also encompassed finding out how nature makes chemicals that researchers cannot. This led him to ‘biomimetic’ synthe-

sis: using the principles of nature to improve LANE ANDY the generation of biomolecules in the labo- during organic reactions, he combined efficient process by which microbes produce ratory. He particularly relished the challenge theoretical and geometric considerations with the molecule — even now, most penicillin of ‘molecules from Mars’, his term for natural structural information. His team obtained this antibiotics continue to be produced through products whose biosynthesis was baffling. using techniques such as nuclear magnetic fermentation — led him further into the field of Baldwin’s interest in rings led him to study resonance and X-ray crystallography. At MIT, biomimetic synthesis. His favoured approach antibiotics that contain a β-lactam ring, the he created a class of biomimetic molecule for building complex multi-ring structures best known of which is penicillin. He worked that reversibly binds oxygen when com- was to try to mimic nature’s strategy of mak- initially with Edward Abraham, who had been plexed with iron, just as haemoglobin does in ing a relatively simple linear framework that part of the team that developed penicillin the blood, and formulated his rules for ring is predisposed to react to give multiple rings and who went on to reveal the activity of formation. It was also where he met his future in a single step. The ‘molecules from Mars’ he broad-spectrum antibiotics known as cepha- wife, Christine Franchi, who built a career in made using this approach included unusual losporins. Baldwin uncovered the mechanistic academic publishing. alkaloids derived from marine sponges and basis of the enzyme action that catalyses the In 1978, Baldwin was recruited to head the rare rainforest plants. formation of the two rings at the heart of the Dyson Perrins Laboratory at the University Baldwin had little time for the academic penicillin molecule. Others have since found of Oxford, UK. As only the fourth person to conventions of Oxford: he spoke his mind, that related enzymes are involved in many bio- hold the chair in organic chemistry since the and could seem pugnacious in scientific logical processes, including how the human laboratory opened in 1916, he transformed his debate. But his forceful leadership style body responds to low levels of oxygen. discipline at Oxford, in terms of both scientific belied a generosity in his treatment of junior Baldwin was born in London, and studied ambition and equipment. Baldwin brought colleagues. Wholly committed to research, chemistry at Imperial College London, where with him researchers from his internationally he never sought seats on prestigious commit- he also did a PhD. He was supervised by Derek diverse lab at MIT, and continued to recruit tees, although his distinction brought many Barton, a pioneer of conformational analy- people with a wide range of backgrounds. honours, including a knighthood in 1997. He sis — the idea that the reactivity of a molecule Many of his students, who knew him as developed links with the chemical industry could predict its preferred 3D shape — who ‘J.E.B.’, went on to lead research all over the and championed its role in society, encourag- later won a Nobel prize. Barton had a major world. The output of his lab was prodigious: ing his students to pursue industrial careers. impact on Baldwin’s career. he is an author on at least 700 papers. In Aside from science, he enjoyed good food, fine After four years on the staff at Imperial 1988, he became the founding director of the wine, powerful motorbikes, fast cars and his College, Baldwin spent more than a decade Oxford Centre for Molecular Sciences, which dogs. After he retired in 2005, he continued in the United States, working first at Pennsyl- he headed for 10 years. The centre helped to to co-author publications until just months vania State University in State College and then link physical and biological sciences in Oxford. before his death. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology The pioneering role of Oxford scientists in (MIT) in Cambridge. With an able young team the extraction, testing and structural analysis Georgina Ferry is a science writer based in and the latest instruments, his MIT period was of penicillin during the 1940s inspired Bald- Oxford, UK. Her books include biographies of particularly productive. To develop a detailed win’s extensive work on trying to make the drug Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin, Max Perutz and picture of how atoms arrange themselves from scratch. His respect for the optimally John Sulston.