John Cornforth

For other people named John Cornforth, see John Cornforth (disambiguation).

Sir
John Cornforth
AC CBE FRS FAA
Cornforth in 1975
Born
John Warcup Cornforth Jr.

(1917-09-07)7 September 1917
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Died8 December 2013(2013-12-08) (aged 96)
Sussex, England
NationalityAustralian
CitizenshipAustralian
British
Alma mater
Known forStereochemistry of enzyme-catalysed reactions
Cholesterol total synthesis
Cornforth reagent
Cornforth rearrangement
SpouseRita Harradence
Awards
Scientific career
FieldsOrganic chemistry
Institutions
ThesisSynthesis of analogues of steroid hormones (1941)
Doctoral advisorRobert Robinson
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Sir John Warcup Cornforth Jr.,[3] AC, CBE, FRS, FAA (7 September 1917 – 8 December 2013) was an Australian–British chemist who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1975 for his work on the stereochemistry of enzyme-catalysed reactions,[4][5] becoming the only Nobel laureate born in New South Wales.[2][6][7]

Cornforth investigated enzymes that catalyse changes in organic compounds, the substrates, by taking the place of hydrogen atoms in a substrate's chains and rings. In his syntheses and descriptions of the structure of various terpenes, olefins, and steroids, Cornforth determined specifically which cluster of hydrogen atoms in a substrate were replaced by an enzyme to effect a given change in the substrate, allowing him to detail the biosynthesis of cholesterol.[8] For this work, he won a share of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1975, alongside co-recipient Vladimir Prelog, and was knighted in 1977.[9]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference royal was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Battersby, Sir Alan R.; Young, Douglas W. (2015). "Sir John Warcup Cornforth AC CBE. 7 September 1917 – 8 December 2013". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 62: 19–57. doi:10.1098/rsbm.2015.0016. ISSN 0080-4606.
  3. ^ "John Cornforth". NNDB. Retrieved 1 July 2017.
  4. ^ Hanson, Jim (2014). "John Cornforth (1917–2013) Nobel-prizewinning chemist who tracked how enzymes build cholesterol". Nature. 506 (7486): 35. Bibcode:2014Natur.506...35H. doi:10.1038/506035a. PMID 24499912.
  5. ^ "Sir John Cornforth". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2012.
  6. ^ Dean, Chris. "John 'Kappa' Cornforth". Vega Science Trust. Retrieved 1 July 2017.
  7. ^ Chang, Kenneth (19 December 2013). "John W. Cornforth, 96, Nobel-Winning Chemist, Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 July 2017.
  8. ^ Deaf Scientist Corner – John Warcup Cornforth, Texas Woman's University
  9. ^ "John Cornforth". Royal Institution of Australia. Archived from the original on 14 January 2014.