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Ryoji Noyori (野依良治)
(born
September 3,
1938) won the
Nobel Prize in Chemistry in
2001.
Noyori shared half of the prize
with
William S. Knowles for the
study of chirally catalyzed
hydrogenations; the second half of
the Prize went to
K. Barry Sharpless for his
study in chirally catalyzed
oxidation reactions (Sharpless
epoxidation).
Ryoji Noyori was born in
Kobe, Japan. He became
fascinated with chemistry at the
age of 12, after hearing a
presentation on
nylon. He saw the power of
chemistry as being the ability to
"make high values from almost
nothing". He became a student at
Kyoto University, working as
an instructor in the research
group of
Hotosi Nozaki before being
appointed associate professor at
Nagoya University. After
postdoctoral work with
Elias J. Corey at
Harvard he returned to Nagoya,
becoming a full professor in 1972.
He is still based at Nagoya,
though he is also now president of
Riken, a multi-site national
research initiative with an annual
budget of $800 million.
Noyori believes strongly in the
power of
catalysis and of
green chemistry; in a recent
article he argues for the pursuit
of "practical elegance in
synthesis".[1] In this
article he states that "our
ability to devise straightforward
and practical chemical syntheses
is indispensable to the survival
of our species." Elsewhere he
has said that "Research is for
nations and mankind, not for
researchers themselves." He
encourages scientists to be
politically active- "Researchers
must spur public opinions and
government policies toward
constructing the
sustainable society in the
21st century."[2]
Chemistry
Noyori is most famous for
asymmetric hydrogenation using
as
catalysts
complexes of
rhodium and
ruthenium, particularly those
based on the
BINAP
ligand. Asymmetric
hydrogenation of an
alkene in the presence of ((S)-BINAP)Ru(OAc)2
is used for the commercial
production of enantiomerically
pure (97%
ee)
naproxen, used as an
anti-inflammatory drug. The
anti-bacterial agent
levofloxacin is manufactured
by asymmetric
hydrogenation of
ketones in the presence of a
Ru(II) BINAP halide complex.
He has also worked on other
asymmetric processes. Each year
400 000
tonnes of
menthol are produced (in 94%
ee) by
Takasago International Co.,
using Noyori's method for
isomerisation of
allylic
amines.
More recently he and
Jessop have developed an
industrial process for the
manufacture of N,N-dimethylformamide
from
hydrogen,
dimethylamine and
supercritical
carbon dioxide in the presence
of
RuCl2(PMe3)4
as catalyst.[3]
External links
References
- R. Noyori, Pursuing
practical elegance in chemical
synthesis, Chemical
Communications, 2005, (14), 1807
- 1811.
Abstract
- Keynote address,
June 23,
2005, at the Second
International Conference on
Green and Sustainable Chemistry,
Washington DC.
- P. G. Jessop; W. Leitner
(Eds.), Chemical Synthesis
using Supercritical Fluids,
VCH/Wiley, Weinheim, 1999.
