Richard Schrock shared the 2005 chemistry prize with fellow American Robert Grubbs and Yves Chauvin of France for ‘the development of the metathesis method in organic synthesis’. Metathesis (lit. ‘change-places’) is one of organic chemistry’s most important reactions. In metathesis reactions, bonds are broken and made between the carbon atoms that are the basis of all organic life, allowing atom groups to change places. This happens with the assistance of special catalyst molecules. In 1971 Yves Chauvin was able to explain in detail how metathesis reactions function and what types of metal compound act as catalysts in the reactions. Schrock was the first to produce, in 1990, an efficient metal-compound catalyst for metathesis. Two years later Grubbs developed a better, more stable, catalyst. Metathesis was already used, mainly for pharmaceuticals and plastics, but the trio’s work has made the process simpler, more efficient and more environmentally friendly. Their discoveries suggest fantastic opportunities for producing new molecules artificially through organic synthesis.
Richard Royce Schrock was born in Berne, Indiana, in 1945, but the family moved to San Diego, California, in 1959. He attended Mission Bay high school and went on to the University of California, Riverside to study chemistry, gaining a BA in 1967, and gained his PhD at Harvard in 1971. He then went to England for postdoctoral studies at the University of Cambridge with Lord Jack Lewis, and in 1972 he was hired by Du Pont Experimental Station in Wilmington, Delaware. At Du Pont, Schrock fi rst came across olefin metathesis, and began to consider the possibilities of a catalyst.
In 1975 he joined the faculty of the MIT, rising to full professor in 1980 and Frederick G Keyes Professor of Chemistry in 1989. With funding to build up a lab team, he had by 1980 shown what type of tungsten would metathesize olefis. By the mid 1980s he had developed catalysts for both the olefin and acetylene metathesis reactions. Supported by the National Institutes of Health, in 2003 he achieved the catalytic reduction of dinitrogen with protons and electrons at room temperature and pressure – a goal of many researchers for 40 years. Schrock is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences. He has published more than 400 papers and trained over 140 graduate and postdoctoral students. When he is not working he indulges in his lifelong hobby of woodworking. He married teacher and librarian Nancy Carlson in 1971 and they have two sons.
This text and the picture of the Nobel Laureate were taken from the book: "NOBELS. Nobel Laureates photographed by Peter Badge" (WILEY-VCH, 2008).
Picture: © Peter Badge/ Foundation Lindau Nobelprizewinners Meetings at Lake Constance |