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Chemistry Hosts Nobel Laureate Lecture

On Thursday, April 27th the Department of Chemistry will host the East Tennessee chapter of the American Chemical Society’s S.C. Lind Lecture Series. This lecture series is designed to bring exceptional scientists and researchers to East Tennessee and will feature Nobel Laureate Richard R. Schrock. 

Richard Schrock received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2005 for his work on “the development of the metathesis method in organic synthesis.”  Metathesis is an important chemical reaction to assembling or synthesizing organic substances. In 1990 Schrock successfully produced a metallic compound that aids in metathesis, a process that has contributed to more effective and environmentally sound practices in industry. Schrock shared this award with Yves Chauvin and Robert H. Grubbs.

In his lecture entitled “How Molybdenum and Tungsten-Based Olefin Metathesis Catalysts are formed from Olefins,” Schrock will address how heterogeneous and homogeneous alkylidene complexes are formed from olefins. The lecture will take place Thursday, April 27th at 10:30am in room 272B of the Student Union. Light refreshments will be served at 10am.

Schrock earned his Ph.D. from Harvard University, followed by a postdoctoral appointment at the University of Cambridge. In 1975 he joined the faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and became a full professor in 1980. Schrock was named the Frederick G. Keyes Professor of Chemistry at MIT in 1989 and is now Professor Emeritus. In 2019, he joined the faculty of his alma mater, the University of California, Riverside, where he is now the Distinguished Professor and George K. Helmkamp Founder’s Chair of Chemistry.