Rick L. Danheiser is an American

organic Organic may refer to: * Organic, of or relating to an organism, a living entity * Organic, of or relating to an anatomical organ Chemistry * Organic matter, matter that has come from a once-living organism, is capable of decay or is the product ...

chemist and is the Arthur C. Cope Professor of Chemistry at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

and Chair of the MIT Faculty. His research involves the invention of new methods for the synthesis of complex organic compounds. Danheiser is known for the

Danheiser annulation The Danheiser annulation or Danheiser TMS-cyclopentene annulation is an organic reaction of an α,β-unsaturated ketone and a trialkylsilylallene (e.g., trimethylsilyl- or triisopropylsilyl-) in the presence of a Lewis Acid to give a trialkylsil ...

and Danheiser benzannulation reactions.

Education

Danheiser was born in New York and received his B.A. in 1972 at Columbia College.Danheiser, Rick L.
Rick Lane Danheiser
A C Cope Professor of Chemistry." Chemistry Directory. MIT, Web. 23 Nov. 2014. While working as an undergraduate under the direction of

Gilbert Stork Gilbert Stork (December 31, 1921 – October 21, 2017) was an organic chemist. For a quarter of a century he was the Eugene Higgins Professor of Chemistry Emeritus at Columbia University. He is known for making significant contributions to the t ...

, Danheiser developed a method for the regiospecific alkylation of beta-diketone enol ethers (the "Stork-Danheiser Alkylation"). and employed it in a total synthesis of the spiro sesquiterpene beta-vetivone. Danheiser received his Ph.D. at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

in 1978. His doctoral research (under the direction of

E. J. Corey Elias James Corey (born July 12, 1928) is an American organic chemist. In 1990, he won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his development of the theory and methodology of organic synthesis", specifically retrosynthetic analysis. Regarded by many a ...

) involved the first total synthesis of the diterpene plant growth hormone

gibberellic acid Gibberellic acid (also called gibberellin A3, GA, and GA3) is a hormone found in plants and fungi. Its chemical formula is C19H22O6. When purified, it is a white to pale-yellow solid. Plants in their normal state produce large amounts of GA3. It ...

Research

Danheiser's research has focused on the development of new strategies for the synthesis of complex molecules and their application in the total synthesis of natural products. Synthetic methods invented in his laboratory include highly stereoselective + 1cyclopentene annulations based on oxyanion and carbanion-accelerated vinylcyclopropane rearrangements; the application of organosilanes (e.g., allenylsilanes, propargylsilanes, and allylsilanes) in a general + 2annulation strategy for the synthesis of five-membered carbocycles and heterocycles (the "Danheiser Annulation"); benzannulation strategies based on pericyclic transformations of vinylketenes (“ Danheiser benzannulation”); methods for the synthesis of aromatic and dihydroaromatic compounds based on cycloadditions of highly unsaturated conjugated molecules such as conjugated 1,3-enynes; and formal + 2 + 2cycloadditions based on propargylic ene reaction/Diels-Alder cycloaddition cascades. Natural products synthesized in his laboratory at MIT include the neurotoxic alkaloids anatoxin a and quinolizidine 217A, the immunosuppressant agent mycophenolic acid the antitumor agent ascochlorin and a number of diterpene quinones derived from the Chinese traditional medicine ''Dan Shen''.

Notable research awards

Danheiser was awarded the Cope Scholar Award of the American Chemical Society in 1995. He is a Fellow of the American Chemical Society.

Teaching and service

Danheiser has a particular interest in reproducibility in scientific research. He has been the editor-in-chief of the journal ''

Organic Syntheses ''Organic Syntheses'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal that was established in 1921. It publishes detailed and checked procedures for the synthesis of organic compounds. A unique feature of the review process is that all of the data and ex ...

'' and a member of the Board of Directors of the Organic Syntheses corporation since 2004. Organic Syntheses has the unusual feature that all data and experiments reported in articles must be confirmed in the laboratory of a member of the editorial board prior to publication. Danheiser has a longstanding interest in laboratory safety and at MIT he has served as the chair of several committees including the MIT Chemistry Department EHS Committee which was recognized in 1991 as the first recipient of the American Chemical Society Division of Chemical Safety national award for "best university safety program". Danheiser also served on the National Research Council Committee on Prudent Practices for the Handling, Storage and Disposal of Chemicals in Laboratories, chairing the Subcommittee on Assessing Chemical Hazards. At MIT, Danheiser's educational contributions have been recognized with a MacVicar Faculty Fellowship, the School of Science Prize for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, the MIT Graduate Student Council Teaching Award, and the School of Science Prize for Graduate Education.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Danheiser, Rick L. Harvard University alumni Living people 20th-century American chemists Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science faculty Columbia College (New York) alumni Organic chemists Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Academic journal editors Fellows of the American Chemical Society Sloan Research Fellows 1951 births