Scott E. Denmark
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{{Short description|American chemist}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Scott Eric Denmark
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| image = Scott Denmark.jpg
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| caption = Denmark in 2016
| birth_date = {{birth-date and age|17 June 1953}}
| birth_place = Lynbrook, New York
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| fields = Chemistry
| workplaces = University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
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| alma_mater = MIT (Undergraduate)
ETH Zürich (Graduate)
| doctoral_advisor = Albert Eschenmoser
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| notable_students = Erick M. Carreira
| known_for = Organocatalysis, Enantioselective synthesis, Suzuki reaction, Organometallic chemistry, Organic Reactions
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| awards = Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award, RSC Pedler Medal, Member of American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Member of National Academy of Sciences
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| website = http://denmark.scs.illinois.edu/
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Scott Eric Denmark is an American chemist who is the Reynold C. Fuson Professor of Chemistry at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). Denmark received an S.B. degree from MIT in 1975 and the D.Sc.Tech. degree from ETH Zurich in 1980, under the supervision of Professor Albert Eschenmoser. He joined the faculty at UIUC the same year and became an associate professor in 1986, full professor in 1987, and was named the Fuson Professor of Chemistry in 1991.{{cite web |title=Scott E. Denmark |url=https://chemistry.illinois.edu/sdenmark |website=University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Department of Chemistry |accessdate=22 April 2019}}{{cite web |title=Scott E. Denmark |url=http://faculty.scs.illinois.edu/denmark/?page_id=2021 |website=Denmark Group website |accessdate=22 April 2019}} He served as the president and editor-in-chief of the Organic Reactions book series between 2008 and 2018. In 2017, Denmark was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2018, he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences.{{Cite web|url=http://www.nasonline.org/news-and-multimedia/news/May-1-2018-NAS-Election.html|title=May 1 2018 NAS Election|website=www.nasonline.org|access-date=2018-05-02}}
Early life and education
Denmark was born in Lynbrook, New York in 1953. He attended MIT as an undergraduate and during his studies he was involved in research with both Richard H. Holm on ferredoxin analogs and Daniel S. Kemp on functionalized cyclophanes. He received his S.B. degree from MIT in 1975. His graduate studies were conducted at the ETH Zürich under the supervision of Albert Eschenmoser. Denmark received the D.Tech. Sc. degree in 1980 for his thesis On the Stereochemistry of the S N’ Reaction.{{cite thesis|type=PhD|title=On the stereochemistry of the S-N'Reaction|last1=Denmark|first1=Scott E.|year=1980 |hdl=20.500.11850/137417|publisher=ETH Zürich (Promotionsarbeit Nr. 6665)|doi=10.3929/ethz-a-000266394}} Denmark was the third Eschenmoser lecturer{{cite web|url=https://chab.ethz.ch/en/research/institutes/LOC/eschenmoser-lecture/Past%20Eschenmoser%20Lecturers%20and%20Their%20Laudations.html|title=Past Eschenmoser Lecturers and Their Laudations|website=Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences|publisher=ETH Zurich|access-date=2019-11-17}} at the ETH Zürich in 2018, the first former Eschenmoser graduate student thus honored.{{cite AV media|last=Denmark|first=Scott E.|date=November 27, 1972|title= Synthetic, Mechanistic and Computational Studies on AE Inspired Chemistry: From Polyene Cyclizations to Origin of Biomolecular Homochirality|language=English|url=https://video.ethz.ch/events/2018/eschenmoser/1d4562e0-5eac-48de-ad2c-8af18e87118b.html|access-date=2019-11-16|location=ETH Zurich (Switzerland)}}
Research
Denmark began his independent academic research career in 1980 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where his laboratory's early work focused on investigation of the Nazarov cyclization reaction and Claisen rearrangement.{{Cite journal|last1=Denmark|first1=S. E.|last2=Jones|first2=T. K.|date=1982-05-01|title=Silicon-directed Nazarov cyclization|journal=Journal of the American Chemical Society|volume=104|issue=9|pages=2642–2645|doi=10.1021/ja00373a055|bibcode=1982JAChS.104.2642D |issn=0002-7863}}{{Cite journal|last1=Denmark|first1=S. E.|last2=Harmata|first2=M. A.|date=1982-09-01|title=Carbanion-accelerated Claisen rearrangements|journal=Journal of the American Chemical Society|volume=104|issue=18|pages=4972–4974|doi=10.1021/ja00382a051|bibcode=1982JAChS.104.4972D |issn=0002-7863}} This work was later recognized by the Frederick Stanley Kipping Award to Denmark in 2014.{{Cite web|url=http://cen.acs.org/articles/92/i6/Frederic-Stanley-Kipping-Award-Silicon.html?type=paidArticleContent|title=Frederic Stanley Kipping Award In Silicon Chemistry {{!}} Chemical & Engineering News|last=Scott|first=Alex|website=cen.acs.org|access-date=2017-06-20}}
Other interests in Denmark's group include nitroalkene related cycloaddition reactions, phosphorus-stabilized anions, aldol chemistry, asymmetric allylmetal chemistry, silicon-based cross-coupling reactions, phase-transfer catalysis, water-gas shift reaction, and organocatalysis.{{cite web |title=Publications |url=http://faculty.scs.illinois.edu/denmark/?page_id=1944 |website=Denmark Group |accessdate=22 April 2019}} His work on the palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling reaction with vinylsilanol and arylrsilanol has been recognized as the Hiyama-Denmark coupling.{{Cite journal|last1=Denmark|first1=Scott E.|last2=Ambrosi|first2=Andrea|date=2015-08-21|title=Why You Really Should Consider Using Palladium-Catalyzed Cross-Coupling of Silanols and Silanolates|journal=Organic Process Research & Development|volume=19|issue=8|pages=982–994|doi=10.1021/acs.oprd.5b00201|issn=1083-6160|pmc=4608042|pmid=26478695}}
Significant interests of Denmark's also include asymmetric catalysis with main group elements, also known as Lewis base catalysis, which is a subclass of organocatalysis.{{Cite book|title=Lewis base catalysis in organic synthesis. Volume 1, 2 and 3|author1=Vedejs, Edwin|last2=E.|first2=Denmark, Scott|isbn=9783527336180|oclc=954732847|date = 2016-10-10}} He developed the paradigm of Lewis base activation of Lewis acids and successfully applied it to the asymmetric addition of a broad range of nucleophiles to silyl ketene acetals, iodo- and bromo-functionalization of alkenes, and enantioselective thio- and seleno-functionalization of alkenes.{{Cite book|title=Inventing Reactions|last1=Beutner|first1=Gregory L.|last2=Denmark|first2=Scott E.|date=2012|publisher=Springer Berlin Heidelberg|isbn=9783642342851|editor-last=Gooßen|editor-first=Lukas J.|series=Topics in Organometallic Chemistry|pages=55–89|doi=10.1007/3418_2012_43}} His work has yielded several Lewis base catalysts that are chiral phosphoramide derivatives. Unlike other organocatalysts, the Lewis base catalysts operate without the assistance of H-bonding, and have a broad substrate scope.
File:Chiral_Lewis_base_catalysts.png
An additional area of research for the Denmark group is the observation and characterization of the pre-transmetalation species of the boron-palladium adduct in Suzuki reactions using rapid-injection NMR techniques.{{Cite journal|last1=Thomas|first1=Andy A.|last2=Denmark|first2=Scott E.|date=2016-04-15|title=Pre-transmetalation intermediates in the Suzuki-Miyaura reaction revealed: The missing link|journal=Science|volume=352|issue=6283|pages=329–332|doi=10.1126/science.aad6981|issn=0036-8075|pmid=27081068|bibcode=2016Sci...352..329T|hdl=2142/97541 |s2cid=1431914|doi-access=free|hdl-access=free}} Denmark also has research interests in computational chemistry and chemoinformatics, organic chemistry, and catalysis with nanoparticles.{{cite web |title=Research |url=http://faculty.scs.illinois.edu/denmark/?page_id=2015 |website=Denmark Group |accessdate=22 April 2019}}
Denmark has published over 400 peer-reviewed articles and 27 book chapters and edited several book volumes including: Topics in Stereochemistry,{{cite web|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/series/2297|title=Topics in Stereochemistry|website=Wiley Online Library|access-date=2019-11-17}} Organic Syntheses, and Lewis Base Catalysis in Organic Synthesis. He has been an editor of Organic Reactions since 1994 and the editor-in-chief and president from 2008 to 2019.{{Cite book|url=http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/book/10.1002/0471264180;jsessionid=6A321360F58BFEC17905D3E0A810A41E.f02t04|title=Organic Reactions|isbn=9780471264187|doi=10.1002/0471264180|year=2004 |editor-last1=Denmark |editor-first1=Scott E. }} Denmark is known for his intensity and enthusiasm as an advisor and for his strict adherence to the 'Swiss method' of organic synthesis, compound characterization, and reporting of experimental methods. Students who worked with him early in his research career later recalled their self-description as "Denmark's Disciples" in a retrospective recognizing his contributions.{{cite journal |title=Special Issue Dedicated to Professor Scott E. Denmark - Laudation |journal=Synthesis |date=19 June 2013 |volume=45 |issue=13 |pages=I–II |doi=10.1055/s-0033-1338502|doi-access=free}}
Awards and honors
- Elected fellow of the American Chemical Society, 2009{{cite web |title=2009 ACS Fellows |url=https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/funding-and-awards/fellows/list-of-2009-acs-fellows.html |website=American Chemical Society |accessdate=22 April 2019}}
- Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2017{{cite web |last1=Yoksoulian |first1=Lois E. |title=Scott E. Denmark Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences |url=https://chemistry.illinois.edu/scott-e-denmark-elected-american-academy-arts-and-sciences |website=University of Illinois |accessdate=22 April 2019 |date=13 April 2017}}
- Elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences, 2018
- Recipient of the Arthur C.Cope Award, 2023{{cite journal |last1=Notman |first1=Nina |title=2023 National Award winners |url=https://cen.acs.org/people/awards/ACS-2023-National-Award-winners/100/i32 |volume=100 |number=32 |journal=Chemical & Engineering News |access-date=16 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230616050115/https://cen.acs.org/people/awards/ACS-2023-National-Award-winners/100/i32 |archive-date=2023-06-16 |language=en |date=September 9, 2022 |url-status=live}}
References
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Category:University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty
Category:21st-century American chemists
Category:American organic chemists
Category:Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Chemistry
Category:Fellows of the American Chemical Society
Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences