User:Hezimmerman

HOWARD E. ZIMMERMAN

''Professor in the Chemistry Department of the University of Wisconsin  General Background'' - Howard E. Zimmerman is a native of Connecticut. During World War II he served in the U.S. Armored Corps in Europe where he was a tank gunner. His final rank was technical sergeant.

Education: Undergraduate Institution: Yale University, Chemistry (Math, German minors) B.S 1950 Graduate Institution: Yale University, Chemistry, Ph.D., 1953. Postdoctoral Research: Lilly National Research Council Postdoc, 1953-54 with R. B. Woodward

Appointments: 1990-Present, Hilldale and A. C. Cope Professor of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin 1971-1989, A. C. Cope Professor of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin 1961-1970, Professor, University of Wisconsin 1960-1961, Associate Professor, University of Wisconsin 1954-1960, Assistant Professor, Northwestern University

Educational:

(1) The P.I has had 87 of his research students enter academia as professors, and all obtained tenure except for a few not at that point yet. This includes graduate students, postdocs and (seven) undergraduate researchers. Many are particularly outstanding [e.g. Laren Tolbert (Georgia Tech), Patrick Mariano (U. New Mexico), John R. Scheffer (U.B.C. Vancouver), R. Daniel Little (Santa Barbara), Gary Keck (Utah), Diego Armesto (Madrid), Richard S. Givens (Univ. Kansas), Reuben D. Rieke (Univ. Nebraska), Dietrich Döpp (Duisburg), Wolfgang Eberbach (Freiburg), Heinz Dürr (Saarbrucken), David Schuster (NYU), Al Padwa (Emory), Harry Morrison (Purdue), Andrei Kutateladze (Denver), Marty Semmelhack (Princeton)] and many more. A larger number are in industry. (2) ACS Short Courses on Organic Quantum Mechanics and MO Theory; 1975 textbook entitled “Quantum Mechanics for Organic Chemists”. The text continues its impact. Numerous lectures internationally. Organizer of the 1972 IUPAC Photochemistry Symposium (Baden-Baden). Organizer of five Pacifichem Symposia – the next is Pacifichem 2010..

(3) He has over 285 publications (including 11 chapters).

Honors: Junior Year Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi, The Chittenden Award given to the top B.S. graduate in the Yale class of 1950. The first Northeast ACS Award for Photochemistry (1971). The ACS James Flack Norris Award in Physical Organic Chemistry (1976). The Halpern Award of the New York Academy of Sciences (1980). Election to the National Academy of Sciences in 1980. Recipient of the 1985 American Institute of Chemists Pioneering Award. A Senior Alexander von Humboldt Award (1988). The (1990) Hilldale Award in the Physical Sciences from the University of Wisconsin and in 1991 the Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award of the ACS. The 2006 Porter Medal (IUPAC) for Photochemical Research Photochemistry (from the InterAmerican Photochem. Society, the Japanese Photochem. Society, the European Photochem. Association).

Research Accomplishments; I - Theory, Mechanisms and Analyses Currently Utilized:

Note: Research Paradigms - Howard E. Zimmerman, for details and references

(1) First introduction of QM theory relating photoreactivity to excited state structure (1961) (2) Elucidation of the stereochemistry of ketonization of enols and kinetic protonation (3) The commonly accepted chair transition state ("Zimmerman-Traxler") for aldolization (4) Meta electron transmission in excited states (5) The Möbius-Hückel Concept for reaction allowedness and forbiddeness (6) The first correlation diagram for an organic reaction and its relation to reactivity (1961) (7) Introduction of mechanistic treatment of organic photochemistry (based on excited states) (8) MO Following – a qualitative MO Counterpart of Electron Pushing (9) The current definitions of and distinction between stereoselectivity and stereospecificity (10) The correct mechanism of the Birch Reduction accounting for its regioselectivity (11) The free-rotor effect for energy dissipation of electronic excitation (12) Polarizability predictions of organic reactions (13) Development of quantitative theories of solid-state reactivity (14) Evidence on the relative roles of conical intersections and energy barriers in photochemistry (15) Determination of the mechanism of crystal lattice disorder changing chemical reactivity (16) That crystal lattice reactivity proceeds in discrete stages with unique reactions in each stage (17) Dissection of triplet-singlet SOC into hybrid pair contributions, (18) The Mechanism of The Tri-Methane Rearrangement (19) Mechanisms in Solid-State photochemistry (the “Quantitative Cavity”) (20) Development of Crystal Lattice Kinetics (21) The Delta-Density Matrix method of predicting both excited and ground state reactivity - (A still more powerful Computational Equivalent of “Electron Pushing”). This includes prediction of the primary photochemical step (one of three controlling factors).

Research Accomplishments, II; New Organic Reactions and Syntheses:

(1) The 1,2-carbanion rearrangement (the "Grovenstein-Zimmerman Rearrangement") (2) The discovery of semibullvalene and its very facile valence tautomerism and several subsequent syntheses (3) The original synthesis of barrelene (4) The Di--Methane Rearrangement (discovery & mechanism) (5) The rearrangement of 4-Arylcyclohexenones to bicyclo[3.1.0]hexanones [The “Type-B” Rearrangement] (6) The -epoxyketone rearrangement to -diketones and mechanism (7) The rearrangement of bicyclo[3.1.0]hexanones via a six-ring zwitterion to phenolic product [Type B Bicyclic]. (8) The triplet rearrangement of vinylcyclopropenes to cyclopentadienes (9) Discovery of the Tri- -Methane Rearrangement (10) The photochemical cyclohexenone to vinylcyclobutanone rearrangement