Gary H. Posner (June 2, 1943 – February 26, 2018) was Scowe Professor of Chemistry at

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

.Jean and Norman Scowe Professorship in Chemistry
/ref> Posner is known for his pioneering research in

organocopper Organocopper compounds is the chemistry of organometallic compounds containing a carbon to copper chemical bond. Organocopper chemistry is the study of organocopper compounds describing their physical properties, synthesis and reactions. They a ...

chemistry, including his involvement in the development of the Corey–House–Posner–Whitesides reaction.

Career

Posner was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and completed his undergraduate studies at

Brandeis University , mottoeng = "Truth even unto its innermost parts" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = NECHE , president = Ronald D. Liebowitz , pro ...

. He received his PhD 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 1968 where his adviser was

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 ...

. He did a post-doctoral fellowship at the

University of California Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant univ ...

. He was at Johns Hopkins University from 1969 to 2016, where he held the Scowe Professorship in Chemistry from 1989 onwards.

Research

Posner was first known for his pioneering research in

organocopper chemistry Organocopper compounds is the chemistry of organometallic compounds containing a carbon to copper chemical bond. Organocopper chemistry is the study of organocopper compounds describing their physical properties, synthesis and reactions. They a ...

in which he developed novel methods for

organic synthesis Organic synthesis is a special branch of chemical synthesis and is concerned with the intentional construction of organic compounds. Organic molecules are often more complex than inorganic compounds, and their synthesis has developed into one o ...

involving organocopper

reagent In chemistry, a reagent ( ) or analytical reagent is a substance or compound added to a system to cause a chemical reaction, or test if one occurs. The terms ''reactant'' and ''reagent'' are often used interchangeably, but reactant specifies a ...

s. He is the author of the textbook ''An Introduction to Synthesis Using Organocopper Reagents''. Posner has also contributed numerous other developments in synthetic organic chemistry including asymmetric synthesis and multicomponent organic reactions. Posner's recent research has been focused on applying organic synthesis to the preparation of novel medicinal agents including

isothiocyanate In organic chemistry, isothiocyanate is the functional group , formed by substituting the oxygen in the isocyanate group with a sulfur. Many natural isothiocyanates from plants are produced by enzymatic conversion of metabolites called glucosinol ...

s with anticancer properties, new

vitamin D Vitamin D is a group of fat-soluble secosteroids responsible for increasing intestinal absorption of calcium, magnesium, and phosphate, and many other biological effects. In humans, the most important compounds in this group are vitamin D3 (c ...

analogs for the treatment of psoriasis, and new antimalarial

peroxide In chemistry, peroxides are a group of compounds with the structure , where R = any element. The group in a peroxide is called the peroxide group or peroxo group. The nomenclature is somewhat variable. The most common peroxide is hydrogen p ...

Awards

In 1987, Posner was named Maryland Chemist of the Year and in 1994 he received the Distinguished Teaching Award at Johns Hopkins. He was also a 2004 recipient of a Cope Senior Scholar Award from the

American Chemical Society The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 155,000 members at all d ...

.Arthur C. Cope Scholar Awards
,

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Posner, Gary H 1943 births 2018 deaths American chemists Harvard University alumni Johns Hopkins University faculty Scientists from New York City