Award Address (ACS Award for Creative Invention, sponsored by Corporation Associates). Encomiums for zirconium

ORGN 37

Bruce Ganem, bg18@cornell.edu, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Cornell University, 330 Baker Laboratory, Ithaca, NY 14853-1301
Synthetic organic chemists have long been interested in the design and development of selective and atom-economical reactions, especially for transformations that are difficult or impossible to achieve in common laboratory practice. As part of a program to invent organometallic-based methods for the reductive deoxygenation of organic compounds, our laboratory focused on the chemistry of early transition metals, whose strong metal-oxygen bonds can provide a powerful driving force for such transformations. Our findings not only inspired a new approach to an important pharmaceutical agent, but also paved the way for more recent research we will describe on new synthetic reactions.