Responsible Conduct of Science. The Development of the Woodward-Hoffman Rules

Fri, Nov 13, 2009
3:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Speaker: Professor Jeffrey I. Seeman, University of Richmond

Location: Room 0112, Marker Seminar Room, Chemistry Building (091)

Abstract 

Responsible Conduct of Science. The Development of the Woodward-Hoffmann Rules 

In 1981, Roald Hoffmann and Kenichi Fukui shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for their theories, developed independently, concerning the course of chemical reactions". Had Robert B. Woodward (1917 - 1979) lived two years longer, he would surely have received his second Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his contributions to the Woodward-Hoffmann rules. In the March 29, 2004 issue of Chemical & Engineering News, E. J. Corey wrote in his Priestley Medal Address, "On May 4, 1964, I suggested to my colleague R. B. Woodward a simple explanation involving the symmetry of the perturbed (HOMO) molecular orbitals for the stereoselective cyclobutene/1,3-butadiene and 1,3,5-hexatriene/cyclohexadiene conversions that provide the basis for the further development of these ideas into what became known as the Woodward-Hoffmann rules." Letters between Corey and Hoffmann in 1981 and other relevant information will be shown and discussed. This seminar will focus on responsible conduct of science and the practice of science in today's complex and fast moving scientific, academic, and political environments.