Eric V. Anslyn
{{Short description|American chemist and academic}}
{{Infobox scientist
|name = Eric Anslyn
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|birth_name = Eric Van Anslyn
|birth_date = {{birth date and age|1960|6|9}}
|birth_place = Santa Monica, California, US
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|field = Physical organic chemistry
|work_institution = The University of Texas at Austin
|alma_mater = California Institute of Technology
|thesis_title = Mechanistic, Synthetic and Theoretical Studies of High Valent Metallacycles and metal Alkylidenes
|thesis_url = https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechTHESIS:10192009-094841353
|thesis_year = 1987
|doctoral_advisor = Robert Grubbs
|doctoral_students =
|awards = Centenary Prize, Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award
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Eric V. Anslyn (born June 9, 1960, Santa Monica, California) is an American chemist, University Distinguished Teaching Professor, and Welch Regents Chair in Chemistry at the University of Texas at Austin.{{Cite web |title=Chemistry - CNS Directory |url=https://cm.utexas.edu/component/cobalt/category-items/1-directory/12-chemistry?Itemid=1252 |access-date=2022-11-28 |website=cm.utexas.edu}} He previously held the Norman Hackerman Professorship{{Citation needed|date=January 2020}}. Anslyn is co-author of Modern Physical Organic Chemistry, an introductory graduate textbook.{{Cite journal|last=Pagni|first=Richard|date=2006-03-01|title=Modern Physical Organic Chemistry (Eric V. Anslyn and Dennis A. Dougherty)|journal=Journal of Chemical Education|language=en|volume=83|issue=3|pages=387|doi=10.1021/ed083p387|bibcode=2006JChEd..83..387P|issn=0021-9584|doi-access=}}
Impact
Anslyn is notable for his work in developing designed receptors and sensor arrays by incorporating principal component analysis and discriminant analysis to mimic human taste and smell.{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.com/1998/11/meet-the-electronic-tongue/|title=Meet the Electronic Tongue|last=Philipkoski|first=Kristen|date=1998-11-03|magazine=Wired|access-date=2019-05-15|issn=1059-1028}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.spectroscopynow.com/details/ezine/sepspec24536ezine/One-for-the-vine-testing-tannins-with-absorption-measurements.html?tzcheck=1|title=One for the vine: testing tannins with absorption measurements - Ezine - spectroscopyNOW.com|website=www.spectroscopynow.com|access-date=2019-05-15}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-06/uota-nng062518.php|title=New nerve gas detector built with legos and a smartphone|website=EurekAlert!|language=en|access-date=2019-05-15}} Prof. Anslyn developed a colorimetric sensor to distinguish flavonoids (hydrolysis products of tannins) between varietals of red wines. An analogous colorimetric sensor was developed to mimic human taste by positioning polymer microbeads on a silicon chip.{{Citation needed|date=January 2020}} In related research, Prof. Anslyn designed a fluorometric chemical sensor consisting of a light-tight lego box and a smart phone to detect nerve agents such as VX and sarin.{{Cite web |last=Robards-Forbes |first=Esther |date=2018-06-27 |title=New Nerve Gas Detector Built with Legos and a Smartphone |url=https://news.utexas.edu/2018/06/27/new-nerve-gas-detector-built-with-legos-and-a-smartphone/ |access-date=2022-12-05 |website=UT News |language=en-US}}
Awards
Anslyn received one of the American Chemical Society Arthur C. Cope Scholar Awards awarded in 2006 for his research in pattern recognition and supramolecular chemistry{{Cite web|url=https://news.utexas.edu/2006/01/04/dr-eric-anslyn-named-2006-cope-scholar-by-the-american-chemical-society/|title=Dr. Eric Anslyn named 2006 Cope Scholar by the American Chemical Society|date=2006-01-04|website=UT News|language=en-US|access-date=2019-05-15}} and the Izatt-Christensen Award in Macrocyclic and Supramolecular Chemistry in 2013.{{Cite web|url=https://www.chemistryviews.org/details/ezine/4996331/Izatt-Christensen_Award_for_Eric_Anslyn.html|title=Izatt-Christensen Award for Eric Anslyn :: ChemViews Magazine :: ChemistryViews|website=www.chemistryviews.org|date=10 July 2013 |language=en|access-date=2019-05-15}} He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2024.{{Cite web |date=2025-07-01 |title=Eric V. Anslyn |url=https://www.amacad.org/person/eric-v-anslyn |access-date=2025-07-12 |website=American Academy of Arts and Sciences |language=en}}
Education
{{BLP sources section|date=January 2020}}
- Postdoctoral Work: [12/87-9/89] Columbia University, Research Advisor: Ronald Breslow
Research: Mechanistic studies of ribonuclease A mimics. Detailed kinetics analyses of imidazole catalyzed 3'→5' UpU hydrolysis and isomerization. Synthesis and kinetics studies of bis-imidazole β-cyclodextrin catalyzed phosphodiester hydrolyses.
- Ph.D., Chemistry: [11/87] California Institute of Technology, Research Advisor: Robert H. Grubbs
Research: Mechanistic and theoretical studies of olefin metathesis and ring-opening metathesis polymerizations catalyzed by group IV and VI metals.
- B.S., Chemistry: [5/82] California State University, Northridge
References
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Category:21st-century American chemists
Category:University of Texas at Austin faculty
Category:Columbia University alumni
Category:California State University, Northridge alumni
Category:California Institute of Technology alumni
Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences