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Scott E. Denmark

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Scott Eric Denmark
Denmark in 2016
Born17 June 1953 (1953-06-17) (age 71)
Lynbrook, New York
Alma materMIT (Undergraduate)
ETH Zürich (Graduate)
Known forOrganocatalysis, Enantioselective synthesis, Suzuki reaction, Organometallic chemistry, Organic Reactions
AwardsArthur C. Cope Scholar Award, RSC Pedler Medal, Member of American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Member of National Academy of Sciences
Scientific career
FieldsChemistry
InstitutionsUniversity of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
Doctoral advisorAlbert Eschenmoser
Notable studentsErick M. Carreira
Websitehttp://denmark.scs.illinois.edu/

Scott Eric Denmark is an American chemist who is the Reynold C. Fuson Professor of Chemistry at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). Denmark received an S.B. degree from MIT in 1975 and the D.Sc.Tech. degree from ETH Zurich in 1980, under the supervision of Professor Albert Eschenmoser. He joined the faculty at UIUC the same year and became an associate professor in 1986, full professor in 1987, and was named the Fuson Professor of Chemistry in 1991.[1][2] He served as the president and editor-in-chief of the Organic Reactions book series between 2008 and 2018.[2] In 2017, Denmark was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2018, he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences.[3]

Early life and education

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Denmark was born in Lynbrook, New York in 1953. He attended MIT as an undergraduate and during his studies he was involved in research with both Richard H. Holm on ferredoxin analogs and Daniel S. Kemp on functionalized cyclophanes.[2] He received his S.B. degree from MIT in 1975. His graduate studies were conducted at the ETH Zürich under the supervision of Albert Eschenmoser. Denmark received the D.Tech. Sc. degree in 1980 for his thesis On the Stereochemistry of the S N’ Reaction.[4] Denmark was the third Eschenmoser lecturer[5] at the ETH Zürich in 2018, the first former Eschenmoser graduate student thus honored.[6]

Research

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Denmark began his independent academic research career in 1980 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where his laboratory's early work focused on investigation of the Nazarov cyclization reaction and Claisen rearrangement.[7][8] This work was later recognized by the Frederick Stanley Kipping Award to Denmark in 2014.[9]

Other interests in Denmark's group include nitroalkene related cycloaddition reactions, phosphorus-stabilized anions, aldol chemistry, asymmetric allylmetal chemistry, silicon-based cross-coupling reactions, phase-transfer catalysis, water-gas shift reaction, and organocatalysis.[10] His work on the palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling reaction with vinylsilanol and arylrsilanol has been recognized as the Hiyama-Denmark coupling.[11]

Significant interests of Denmark's also include asymmetric catalysis with main group elements, also known as Lewis base catalysis, which is a subclass of organocatalysis.[12] He developed the paradigm of Lewis base activation of Lewis acids and successfully applied it to the asymmetric addition of a broad range of nucleophiles to silyl ketene acetals, iodo- and bromo-functionalization of alkenes, and enantioselective thio- and seleno-functionalization of alkenes.[13] His work has yielded several Lewis base catalysts that are chiral phosphoramide derivatives. Unlike other organocatalysts, the Lewis base catalysts operate without the assistance of H-bonding, and have a broad substrate scope.

Select chiral Lewis base catalysts developed by Scott Denmark for asymmetric catalysis

An additional area of research for the Denmark group is the observation and characterization of the pre-transmetalation species of the boron-palladium adduct in Suzuki reactions using rapid-injection NMR techniques.[14] Denmark also has research interests in computational chemistry and chemoinformatics, organic chemistry, and catalysis with nanoparticles.[15]

Denmark has published over 400 peer-reviewed articles and 27 book chapters and edited several book volumes including: Topics in Stereochemistry,[16] Organic Syntheses, and Lewis Base Catalysis in Organic Synthesis.[10] He has been an editor of Organic Reactions since 1994 and the editor-in-chief and president from 2008 to 2019.[17] Denmark is known for his intensity and enthusiasm as an advisor and for his strict adherence to the 'Swiss method' of organic synthesis, compound characterization, and reporting of experimental methods. Students who worked with him early in his research career later recalled their self-description as "Denmark's Disciples" in a retrospective recognizing his contributions.[18]

Awards and honors

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References

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  1. ^ "Scott E. Denmark". University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Department of Chemistry. Retrieved April 22, 2019.
  2. ^ a b c "Scott E. Denmark". Denmark Group website. Retrieved April 22, 2019.
  3. ^ a b "May 1 2018 NAS Election". www.nasonline.org. Retrieved May 2, 2018.
  4. ^ Denmark, Scott E. (1980). On the stereochemistry of the S-N'Reaction (PhD). ETH Zürich (Promotionsarbeit Nr. 6665). doi:10.3929/ethz-a-000266394. hdl:20.500.11850/137417.
  5. ^ "Past Eschenmoser Lecturers and Their Laudations". Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences. ETH Zurich. Retrieved November 17, 2019.
  6. ^ Denmark, Scott E. (November 27, 1972). Synthetic, Mechanistic and Computational Studies on AE Inspired Chemistry: From Polyene Cyclizations to Origin of Biomolecular Homochirality. ETH Zurich (Switzerland). Retrieved November 16, 2019.
  7. ^ Denmark, S. E.; Jones, T. K. (May 1, 1982). "Silicon-directed Nazarov cyclization". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 104 (9): 2642–2645. doi:10.1021/ja00373a055. ISSN 0002-7863.
  8. ^ Denmark, S. E.; Harmata, M. A. (September 1, 1982). "Carbanion-accelerated Claisen rearrangements". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 104 (18): 4972–4974. doi:10.1021/ja00382a051. ISSN 0002-7863.
  9. ^ Scott, Alex. "Frederic Stanley Kipping Award In Silicon Chemistry | Chemical & Engineering News". cen.acs.org. Retrieved June 20, 2017.
  10. ^ a b "Publications". Denmark Group. Retrieved April 22, 2019.
  11. ^ Denmark, Scott E.; Ambrosi, Andrea (August 21, 2015). "Why You Really Should Consider Using Palladium-Catalyzed Cross-Coupling of Silanols and Silanolates". Organic Process Research & Development. 19 (8): 982–994. doi:10.1021/acs.oprd.5b00201. ISSN 1083-6160. PMC 4608042. PMID 26478695.
  12. ^ Vedejs, Edwin; E., Denmark, Scott (October 10, 2016). Lewis base catalysis in organic synthesis. Volume 1, 2 and 3. ISBN 9783527336180. OCLC 954732847.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  13. ^ Beutner, Gregory L.; Denmark, Scott E. (2012). Gooßen, Lukas J. (ed.). Inventing Reactions. Topics in Organometallic Chemistry. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. pp. 55–89. doi:10.1007/3418_2012_43. ISBN 9783642342851.
  14. ^ Thomas, Andy A.; Denmark, Scott E. (April 15, 2016). "Pre-transmetalation intermediates in the Suzuki-Miyaura reaction revealed: The missing link". Science. 352 (6283): 329–332. Bibcode:2016Sci...352..329T. doi:10.1126/science.aad6981. hdl:2142/97541. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 27081068. S2CID 1431914.
  15. ^ "Research". Denmark Group. Retrieved April 22, 2019.
  16. ^ "Topics in Stereochemistry". Wiley Online Library. Retrieved November 17, 2019.
  17. ^ Denmark, Scott E., ed. (2004). Organic Reactions. doi:10.1002/0471264180. ISBN 9780471264187.
  18. ^ "Special Issue Dedicated to Professor Scott E. Denmark - Laudation". Synthesis. 45 (13): I–II. June 19, 2013. doi:10.1055/s-0033-1338502.
  19. ^ "2009 ACS Fellows". American Chemical Society. Retrieved April 22, 2019.
  20. ^ Yoksoulian, Lois E. (April 13, 2017). "Scott E. Denmark Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences". University of Illinois. Retrieved April 22, 2019.
  21. ^ Notman, Nina (September 9, 2022). "2023 National Award winners". Chemical & Engineering News. 100 (32). Archived from the original on June 16, 2023. Retrieved June 16, 2023.
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