ACADEMIA ROMÂNĂ Rev. Roum. Chim., Revue Roumaine de Chimie 2020, 65(1), 5-22 DOI:10.33224/rrch.2020.65.1.01 http://web.icf.ro/rrch/ Motto: “ Cyclobutadiene, (CH)4, is the Mona Lisa of organic chemistry…” D. Cram (1991, Nobel Price 1987). MARGARETA AVRAM (1920–1984): A LIFE DEDICATED TO ORGANIC CHEMISTRY * Mircea D. GHEORGHIU Department of Chemistry, One Washington Square, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA 95192-0101, USA Received June 1, 2019 The objective of the present paper is to outline the contribution of Prof. Avram to Organic Chemistry, to point out that her pioneering work in the field of cyclobutadiene, benzocyclobutadiene, Friedel-Crafts reactions, polycyclic hydrocarbons and derivatives and Pd(II) organochemistry are, together with contributions of a few international chemists, chemical seeds that proved over time (+50 years) to deliver an abundant intellectual crop that enlarged the area of research and provided a better definition of the scope. Starting a high stake professional life in the aftermath of the devastating second World War (WWII) was an improbable event. In 1940’ in all aspects of life, everything was in scarcity. In chemistry, shortages of chemical documentation (journals, books), unavailability of chemicals, poor equipped and limited lab 1 space associated with instrumentation shortage was common condition. * Corresponding author:
[email protected]; Prof. Margareta Avram supervised both the author’s undergraduate Diploma Work and the PhD thesis, Polytechnic Institute, Bucharest, Romania. 6 Mircea D. Gheorghiu Astoundingly, although these shortages, the Laboratory of Organic Chemistry of Polytechnic Institute of Bucharest, founded by Prof. Costin D. Nenitzescu, a German-educated chemist, was an island of delivering highly competitive chemistry.