William L. Jorgensen (born October 5, 1949,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

) is a

Sterling Professor Sterling Professor, the highest academic rank at Yale University, is awarded to a tenured faculty member considered the best in his or her field. It is akin to the rank of university professor at other universities. The appointment, made by the ...

of Chemistry at

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

. He is considered a pioneer in the field of

computational chemistry Computational chemistry is a branch of chemistry that uses computer simulation to assist in solving chemical problems. It uses methods of theoretical chemistry, incorporated into computer programs, to calculate the structures and properties of m ...

. Some of his contributions include the TIP3P, TIP4P, and TIP5P

water model In computational chemistry, a water model is used to simulate and thermodynamically calculate water clusters, liquid water, and aqueous solutions with explicit solvent. The models are determined from quantum mechanics, molecular mechanics, experime ...

s, the

OPLS The OPLS (Optimized Potentials for Liquid Simulations) force field was developed by Prof. William L. Jorgensen at Purdue University and later at Yale University. Functional form The functional form of the OPLS force field is very similar to tha ...

force field, and his work on free-energy perturbation theory for modeling reactions in solution, protein-ligand binding, and drug design; he has over 400 publications in the field. Jorgensen has been the Editor of the ACS Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation since its founding in 2005.

Background and achievements

Jorgensen earned a bachelor's degree from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

in 1970 and a Ph.D. from

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 1975 in Chemical Physics while studying under

Elias 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 ...

. Jorgensen then worked at

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

from 1975 to 1990 first as an assistant professor and then later as a Professor. He joined the Yale faculty in 1990 and has remained there since. Jorgensen's work has been recognized by many awards including election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, and the International Academy of Quantum and Molecular Sciences. He has also received the ACS Award for Computers in Chemical and Pharmaceutical Research, the ACS Hildebrand Award, the

Tetrahedron Prize The Tetrahedron Prize for Creativity in Organic Chemistry or Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry is awarded annually by Elsevier, the publisher of Tetrahedron Publications. It was established in 1980 and named in honour of the founding co-chairmen o ...

, and

Arthur C. Cope Award The Arthur C. Cope Award is a prize awarded for achievement in the field of organic chemistry research. It is sponsored by the Arthur C. Cope Fund, and has been awarded annually since 1973 by the American Chemical Society. It consists of $25,000, ...

Research interests

Jorgensen's research interests are broad and include the calculation of free energy of reactions using

quantum mechanics Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics that provides a description of the physical properties of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles. It is the foundation of all quantum physics including quantum chemistry, ...

molecular mechanics Molecular mechanics uses classical mechanics to model molecular systems. The Born–Oppenheimer approximation is assumed valid and the potential energy of all systems is calculated as a function of the nuclear coordinates using force fields. Mo ...

, and

Metropolis Monte Carlo A metropolis () is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural center for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications. A big c ...

methods, with application to the calculation of protein-ligand binding affinities, which have pharmaceutical applications. Most generally, the research goals include the development of theoretical and computational methods in an attempt to gain a deeper understanding of the structure and reactivity for organic and biomolecular systems. Another relevant research topic of his is in the development of improved

NNRTI Reverse-transcriptase inhibitors (RTIs) are a class of antiretroviral drugs used to treat HIV infection or AIDS, and in some cases hepatitis B. RTIs inhibit activity of reverse transcriptase, a viral DNA polymerase that is required for replication ...

's, which are used for the treatment of

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...

Sources

External links

* http://zarbi.chem.yale.edu/index.html * http://zarbi.chem.yale.edu/~bill/vita.html * http://www.rib-x.com/corporate_overview/sab/jorgensen.shtml * http://www.chem.yale.edu/faculty/jorgensen.html * http://pubs.acs.org/journals/jcisd8/profiles.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Jorgensen, William L. 21st-century American chemists Living people 1949 births Yale University faculty Harvard University alumni Princeton University alumni Yale Sterling Professors Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Computational chemists

Background and achievements

Research interests

See also

Sources

External links