1st Edition

Synthetic Organic Chemistry and the Nobel Prize Volume 1

By John G. D'Angelo Copyright 2023
    108 Pages 6 Color & 32 B/W Illustrations
    by CRC Press

    108 Pages 6 Color & 32 B/W Illustrations
    by CRC Press

    The Nobel Prize is science’s highest award, as is the case with non-science fields too, and it is therefore arguably the most internationally recognized award in the world. This unique set of volumes focuses on summarizing the Nobel Prize within organic chemistry, as well as the specializations within this specialty. Any reader researching the history of the field of organic chemistry will be interested in this work. Furthermore, it serves as an outstanding resource for providing a better understanding of the circumstances that led to these amazing discoveries and what has happened as a result, in the years since.

  • An outstanding resource which enables readers to better understand the conditions that led to these Nobel Prize amazing discoveries
  • To an extent the roots of organic chemistry have been forgotten or lost and this set of volumes bridges the gap
  • Unique set of volumes, no other book publication in the field competes and only press releases announcing the prizes from recent years exist
  • "More than any other branch of chemistry, organic chemists look to history, so the readers will certainly enjoy this compilation "
  • Appeals to a diverse audience including upcoming as well as modern practicing chemists, and provides the historical context of these discoveries
  • Introduction

    1. 1902 - Fischer
    2. 1910 - Wallach
    3. 1912 - Sabatier and Grignard
    4. 1950 - Diels and Alder
    5. 1965 - Woodward

    Biography

    Dr. D’Angelo earned his B.S. in Chemistry from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 2000. While at Stony Brook, he worked in Prof. Peter Tonge’s lab on research towards elucidating the mechanism of action of FAS-II inhibitors for anti-mycobacterium tuberculosis drugs. While there, he was an active member of the chemistry club, serving as its treasurer for a year. After graduating, he worked as a summer research associate at Stony Brook in Prof. Nancy Goroff’s lab, working towards the synthesis of molecular belts. He then earned his Ph.D. from the University of Connecticut in 2005 working in the laboratories of Michael B. Smith. There, Dr. D’Angelo worked on the synthesis of 2-nucleobase, 5-hydroxymethyl lactams as putative anti-HIV agents while also investigating the usefulness of the conducting polymer poly-(3,4-ethylinedioxy thiophene) as a chemical reagent. He served as a teaching assistant during most of his 4 years at UCONN and was awarded the Outstanding TA award during one of these years.

    After completing his Ph.D., he took a position as a postdoctoral research associate at The Johns Hopkins University in Prof. Gary H. Posner’s lab. There, Dr. D’Angelo worked on the development of artemisinin derivatives as anti-malarial and anti-toxoplasma gondii derivatives. In 2007, Dr. D’Angelo accepted a position at Alfred University at the rank of Assistant Professor and in 2013, he was awarded tenure and promotion to the rank of Associate Professor at Alfred and awarded promotion to Professor in July 2021. Dr. D’Angelo’s research has continued to focus on the chemical reactivity of conducting polymers and has been expanded to pedagogical research and scientific ethics. He served as the local ACS section (Corning) chair in 2014 and in 2021, and as the Faculty Senate president during for two consecutive terms, serving in this capacity from 2014-2018 and became Chair of the Chemistry Division at Alfred in 2021.

    He is also the author of four books. One, on scientific misconduct is in its 2nd edition and a second book on scientific misconduct intended to be a workbook with hypothetical cases that students can work through. A third book, written with his Ph.D. advisor outlines a process for using the chemical search engine Reaxsys to teach reactions and the fourth book is an organic chemistry textbook published through the web-based publisher Top Hat. He is also an author of 13 peer-reviewed publications (three in his independent career) and two patents. This four-volume series on organic chemistry and the Nobel Prize is his latest authoring endeavor.