Edwin Vedejs
{{Short description|Latvian-American professor of chemistry}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Edwin Vedejs
| native_name = Edvīns Vedējs
| native_name_lang = latvian
| image = Edwin_Vedejs from PA-V.jpg
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| birth_date = January 31, 1941
| birth_place = Riga, Latvia
| death_date = {{death date and age |2017|12|02 |1941|01|31}}
| death_place = Madison, Wisconsin, US
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| fields = Organic Chemistry
| workplaces = University of Wisconsin, University of Michigan
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| alma_mater = University of Michigan (B.S.)
University of Wisconsin (Ph.D.)
| doctoral_advisor = {{Interlanguage link|Hans Muxfeldt|de}}
| academic_advisors =
| doctoral_students = Olafs Daugulis
| notable_students = Anthony Czarnik
| known_for = mechanistic study of the Wittig reaction, MoOPH, sulfur mediated ring expansions, chiral Lewis bases
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Edwin Vedejs ({{IPAc-en|v|ɛ|'|d|eɪ|z}}) ({{langx|lv|Edvīns Vedējs}}; January 31, 1941 – December 2, 2017) was a Latvian-American professor of chemistry. In 1967, he joined the organic chemistry faculty at University of Wisconsin. He rose through the ranks during his 32 years at Wisconsin being named Helfaer Professor (1991–1996) and Robert M. Bock Professor (1997–1998). In 1999, he moved to the University of Michigan and served as the Moses Gomberg Collegiate Professor of Chemistry for the final 13 years of his tenure. He was elected a fellow of the American Chemical Society in 2011.{{Cite web |title=2011 ACS Fellows – American Chemical Society |author= |work=American Chemical Society |date= |access-date=9 May 2020 |url= https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/funding-and-awards/fellows/list-of-2011-acs-fellows.html|archivedate=22 April 2019|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20190422082952/https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/funding-and-awards/fellows/list-of-2011-acs-fellows.html}} After his retirement in 2011, the University of Michigan established the Edwin Vedejs Collegiate Professor of Chemistry Chair. Vedejs died on December 2, 2017, in Madison, Wisconsin.{{Cite web|url=http://www.orgsyn.org/content/pdfs/bios/evedejs.pdf|title=Edwin Vedejs 1941–2017|work=Organic Syntheses|accessdate=9 May 2020|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20200509230337/http://www.orgsyn.org/content/pdfs/bios/evedejs.pdf|archivedate=9 May 2020}}
Early life and education
Edwin "Ed" Vedejs was born in Riga, Latvia to Velta (nee Robežnieks) and Nikolajs Vedējs. Not long after his birth, the German occupation of Latvia during World War II occurred followed by the Soviet re-occupation of Latvia in 1944. These events forced his family to settle in the Fischbach Displaced Persons camp{{Cite web|url=http://www.archiv.org.lv/baltic_dp_germany/?id=12&lang=en|title=Camps in Germany for refugees from Baltic|website=www.archiv.org.lv}} in Germany for six years. In 1950, they emigrated to the United States and first settled in Fort Atkinson, WI. They eventually moved to Grand Rapids, MI.{{cite journal|author=Pēteris Trapencieris|title=Edwin Vedejs (1941–2017)|journal=Chemistry of Heterocyclic Compounds|volume=53|issue=12|year=2018|pages=1373–1374|issn=0009-3122|doi=10.1007/s10593-018-2221-2|s2cid=189842530}}
He attended Grand Rapids Junior College for a few years before transferring to the University of Michigan where he received a BS degree in 1962.{{cite book|title=Michiganensian|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N9bmAAAAMAAJ|year=1962|publisher=UM Libraries|page=470|id=UOM:39015033397756}} He moved to the University of Wisconsin and joined the group of Professor {{Interlanguage link|Hans Muxfeldt|de}} for his Ph.D. studies (Progress toward the total synthesis of terramycin),{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z3jVAAAAMAAJ|title=Progress Toward the Total Synthesis of Terramycin|first=Edwin|last=Vedejs|date=May 7, 1966|publisher=University of Wisconsin—Madison|via=Google Books}} which he completed in 1966. From 1966–67, he did post-doctoral research on the total synthesis of prostaglandins{{cite journal | vauthors = Corey EJ, Andersen NH, Carlson RM, Paust J, Vedejs E, Vlattas I, Winter RE | date = 1968 | title = Total Synthesis of Prostaglandins. Synthesis of the Pure dl-E1, -F1α, -F1β, -A1, and -B1 Hormones | journal = Journal of the American Chemical Society | volume = 90 | issue = 12 | pages = 3245–3247| doi = 10.1021/ja01014a053| pmid = 5649181 }} at Harvard University in the laboratory of Nobel Laureate Professor E. J. Corey.{{Cite web| url=https://kb.wisconsin.edu/images/group222/shared/2018-02-05FacultySenate/2719VedejsMR.pdf |title=Memorial Resolution of the Faculty of the University of Wisconsin-Madison|work=University of Wisconsin-Madison|accessdate=9 May 2020|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20200509230713/https://kb.wisconsin.edu/images/group222/shared/2018-02-05FacultySenate/2719VedejsMR.pdf|archivedate=9 May 2020}}
Research
File:Wittig_example.jpg to give an olefin through an oxaphosphetane intermediate ]]
Vedejs' main areas of research focus included organic synthesis methodologies and reaction mechanisms. His group targeted the synthesis of several natural products, such as retronecine, mitomycin, and cytochalasin, but the completion of a total synthesis was always secondary to the main goal of exploring new methodologies. His mechanistic research of the Wittig reaction revealed the importance of the oxaphosphetane. The application of heteroatoms such as nitrogen, sulfur, phosphorus, boron, silicon and tin were often prominently featured, which has been summarized in his self-penned account of his work.{{cite journal | title = Studies in Heteroelement-Based Synthesis | vauthors = Vedejs E | journal = The Journal of Organic Chemistry | volume = 69 | issue = 16 | pages = 5159–5167 | date = 30 July 2004 | doi = 10.1021/jo049360l| pmid = 15287757 }} Vedejs also tackled a wide range of methodologies aimed at stereoselective synthesis including protonation of carbanions, acylation and alkylation of achiral and prochiral nucleophiles, parallel kinetic resolution,{{cite journal | title = Parallel Kinetic Resolution | vauthors = Vedejs E, Chen X |journal = Journal of the American Chemical Society | volume = 119 | issue = 10 | pages = 2584–2585 | date = 12 March 1997 | doi = 10.1021/ja963666v| bibcode = 1997JAChS.119.2584V }} and control of configuration by crystallization-induced asymmetric transformation.
Over the course of his career, Vedejs published over 230 peer-reviewed articles. He served as an associate editor of the Journal of the American Chemical Society from 1994 to 1999, as chair of the NIH Medicinal Chemistry Study Section from 1990 to 1991, as chair of the Organic Division of the American Chemical Society in 2003, and as a member of the Organic Syntheses Board of Editors from 1980 to 1988. He served as editor (along with Scott E. Denmark) of the three volume series Lewis Base Catalysis in Organic Synthesis.{{cite book | title=Lewis Base Catalysis in Organic Synthesis | year=2016| doi=10.1002/9783527675142| isbn=9783527675142| editor1-last=Vedejs| editor1-first=Edwin| editor2-last=Denmark| editor2-first=Scott E}} Over the course of his 45 years in academia, he mentored over 80 doctoral students, and numerous post-doctoral fellows and undergraduates.
Awards and honors
- Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, 1971–1973
- Alexander von Humboldt Senior Scientist Award, 1984
- Member of the Latvian Academy of Sciences, 1992{{cite web | title=Member of the Latvian Academy of Sciences | url=http://www.lza.lv/images/stories/YearBook_2010-2011.pdf | pages=82 | access-date=2020-03-28 | archive-date=2015-07-17 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150717172910/http://www.lza.lv/images/stories/YearBook_2010-2011.pdf | url-status=dead }}
- Paul Walden Medal, 1997
- Herbert C. Brown Award for Creative Research in Synthetic Methods, 2004
- Grand Medal of the Latvian Academy of Sciences, 2005
- Order of the Three Stars, Republic of Latvia, 2006{{cite web | title=Order of Three Stars | url=https://www.president.lv/storage/kcfinder/files/tzo_2019.pdf | pages=99 | access-date=2020-03-14 | archive-date=2020-05-09 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200509233206/https://www.president.lv/storage/kcfinder/files/tzo_2019.pdf | url-status=dead }}
- Elected fellow of the American Chemical Society, 2011
Selected publications
- {{cite book | vauthors = Vedejs E, Peterson, MJ | title = Topics in Stereochemistry | date = 1994 | volume = 21 | pages = 1–157 | chapter = Stereochemistry and Mechanism in the Wittig Reaction | doi = 10.1002/9780470147306.ch1| isbn = 9780470147306 }}
- {{cite journal | title = Tributylphosphine: a remarkable acylation catalyst | vauthors = Vedejs E, Diver ST | volume = 115 | issue = 8 | pages = 3358–3359 | date = 1 April 1993 | doi = 10.1021/ja00061a056 |journal = Journal of the American Chemical Society| bibcode = 1993JAChS.115.3358V }}
- {{cite journal | title = Enantioselective Acylations Catalyzed by Chiral Phosphines | vauthors = Vedejs E, Daugulis O, Diver ST| journal = The Journal of Organic Chemistry | volume = 61 | issue = 2 | pages = 430–431 | date = 26 January 1996 | doi = 10.1021/jo951661v| pmid = 11666951}}
- {{cite journal | vauthors = Vedejs E, Jure M | date = 2005 | title = Efficiency in Nonenzymatic Kinetic Resolution |journal = Angewandte Chemie International Edition | volume = 44 | issue = 26 | pages = 3974–4001 | doi = 10.1002/anie.200460842| pmid = 15942973 }}
- {{cite journal | journal = The Journal of Organic Chemistry | date = 1995 | volume = 60 | pages = 3020–3027 | title = Conversion of Arylboronic Acids into Potassium Aryltrifluoroborates: Convenient Precursors of Arylboron Difluoride Lewis Acids | vauthors = Vedejs E, Chapman RW, Fields SC, Lin S, Schrimpf MR | issue = 10 | doi = 10.1021/jo00115a016}}
References
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External links
- [http://www.scripps.edu/chem/baran/images/grpmtgpdf/Newhouse_Nov_07.pdf Edwin Vedejs biography from Scripps Research]
- [https://organicchemistrydata.org/hansreich/resources/syntheses/?page=zygosporin-e-vedejs%2FTotal Synthesis of Zygosporin E (Vedejs) from University of Wisconsin, Prof. Reich, Total Syntheses]
- [https://organicchemistrydata.org/hansreich/resources/syntheses/?page=retronecine-vedejs%2FTotal Synthesis of Retronecine (Vedejs) from University of Wisconsin, Prof. Reich, Total Syntheses]
- [https://regents.umich.edu/files/meetings/05-11/2011-05-VI-1-Vedejs.pdf Report of Faculty Retirement, Edwin Vedejs, Ph.D. from University of Michigan]
- [http://faculty-history.dc.umich.edu/faculty/edwin-vedejs/memoir Edwin Vedejs from the University of Michigan Faculty History Project]
{{Authority control}}
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Category:Latvian emigrants to the United States
Category:Fellows of the American Chemical Society
Category:University of Michigan alumni
Category:University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni
Category:University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty