John E. McMurry (born July 27, 1942, in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

) is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

. He received an A.B. 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 high ...

in 1964 and his Ph.D. from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in 1967 working with

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 ...

. Following completion of his Ph.D., he joined the faculty of the

University of California, Santa Cruz The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of California system. Located on Monterey Bay, on the edge of ...

in 1967 and moved to

in 1980.

Contributions

The author of more than 100 research papers, McMurry is best known scientifically for his development of the

McMurry reaction The McMurry reaction is an organic reaction in which two ketone or aldehyde groups are coupled to form an alkene using a titanium chloride compound such as titanium(III) chloride and a reducing agent. The reaction is named after its co-discoverer, ...

, in which two molecules of ketone or aldehyde are coupled to give an alkene when treated with

titanium(III) chloride Titanium(III) chloride is the inorganic compound with the formula TiCl3. At least four distinct species have this formula; additionally hydrated derivatives are known. TiCl3 is one of the most common halides of titanium and is an important cataly ...

and a

reducing agent In chemistry, a reducing agent (also known as a reductant, reducer, or electron donor) is a chemical species that "donates" an electron to an (called the , , , or ). Examples of substances that are commonly reducing agents include the Earth me ...

such as Zn(Cu). The reaction has been widely used by the chemical community in the laboratory synthesis of many complex organic molecules and by the pharmaceutical industry in the commercial synthesis of several drugs. McMurry was elected a

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1985 and received a Max Planck Society Research Award in 1991. In addition to his scientific work, McMurry is the author of 45 undergraduate chemistry textbooks that have been translated into 12 languages and used throughout the world. McMurry's most popular textbook ''Organic Chemistry'' was first printed in 1984. In 2022, he sold the rights for the book to

OpenStax OpenStax (formerly OpenStax College) is a nonprofit educational technology initiative based at Rice University. Since 2012, OpenStax has created peer-reviewed, openly-licensed textbooks, which are available in free digital formats and for a low c ...

making it free for the user. Among his other texts are: * ''Organic Chemistry with Biological Applications (3rd edition)'' * ''Chemistry (8th edition)'' * ''General Chemistry, Atoms First (2nd edition)'' * ''Fundamentals of General, Organic, and Biological Chemistry (8th edition)'' * ''The Organic Chemistry of Biological Pathways'' (2nd edition) McMurry, J. E., Begley, T. P. (2016).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McMurry, John E. 1942 births Living people Cornell University faculty University of California, Santa Cruz faculty 21st-century American chemists Harvard University alumni Columbia University alumni American textbook writers American male non-fiction writers