Lemont Kier (born September 13, 1930) is an American chemist and researcher in the field of

drug design Drug design, often referred to as rational drug design or simply rational design, is the inventive process of finding new medications based on the knowledge of a biological target. The drug is most commonly an organic small molecule that acti ...

and

medicinal chemistry Medicinal or pharmaceutical chemistry is a scientific discipline at the intersection of chemistry and pharmacy involved with designing and developing pharmaceutical drugs. Medicinal chemistry involves the identification, synthesis and developm ...

. He is the recipient of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists 2008 Research Achievement Award in Drug Development and Discovery. He obtained his PhD in Medicinal Chemistry at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

in 1958 and is currently a

Professor Emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

of Medicinal Chemistry and Nurse Anesthesia at the

Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is a public research university in Richmond, Virginia. VCU was founded in 1838 as the medical department of Hampden–Sydney College, becoming the Medical College of Virginia in 1854. In 1968, the Virgini ...

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

. Kier participated in the founding of the Center for the Study of Biological Complexity at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Work

Kier built one of the first models in which

molecular orbital theory In chemistry, molecular orbital theory (MO theory or MOT) is a method for describing the electronic structure of molecules using quantum mechanics. It was proposed early in the 20th century. In molecular orbital theory, electrons in a molecule ...

was applied successfully to drug design and development. Later, he and his colleague developed what is now called the "Kier-Hall Index" to describe molecular connectivity. His particular expertise in the question “How do chemical modifications affect particular physical properties of drugs?” has been used to develop the theory of the interaction of general anesthetic gases with the body, and the theory of taste (and in particular,

sweetness Sweetness is a Taste#Basic tastes, basic taste most commonly Perception, perceived when eating foods rich in sugars. Sweet tastes are generally regarded as pleasure, pleasurable. In addition to sugars like sucrose, many other chemical compounds ...

). Professor Kier is the author or co-author of eight books: ''Molecular Orbital Theory In Drug Research;'' ''Molecular Connectivity In Chemistry and Drug Research;'' ''Molecular Connectivity in Structure Activity Analysis;'' ''Molecular Structure Description: The Electrotopological State;'' ''Medicinal Chemistry and Physics for Nurse Anesthetists;'' ''Cellular Automata Modeling of Chemical Systems;'' and ''Science and Complexity for Life Science Students.''''Science and Complexity for Life Science Students''. L. B. Kier, Kendall/Hunt, Dubuque, IO, (2007)

References

External links

Biographical/consulting profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kier, Lemont Living people University of Minnesota alumni American pharmacologists 1930 births