Joseph Bunnett 

Professor Emeritus of Chemistry 

B.A. Reed College 

 Ph.D., University of Rochester 

 

Joseph Bunnett's research interests are in the kinetics, equilibria and mechanisms of organic reactions. Among reactions he and his students have studied are several involving electron transfer steps. These include aromatic "nucleophilic" substitution by the S_RN1 mechanism, cleavage reactions utilizing sodium in liquid ammonia, and radical reactions that effect dehalogenation of aryl halides by reagents such as sodium methoxide in methanol.

During the 1990's, Bunnett gave much attention to destruction of chemical weapons. He chaired the IUPAC Committee on Chemical Weapons Destruction Technologies. He served on committees of the National Research Council, Department of Defense, and Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. He participated in several NATO Advanced Research Workshops concerned with chemical weapons problems, and was co-chairman of a NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Chemical Problems Associated with Old Arsenical and 'Mustard' Munitions, held in Lodz, Poland in April 1996. He co-chaired the Peer Review Committee of the Russian-American Joint Evaluation Program (of assistance to Russia in destroying its chemical munitions).

Bunnett was twice a Fulbright fellow, once a Guggenheim fellow, and once a Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. He has served as a visiting lecturer at universities in Asia, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, South and North America. He is an honorary member of the Italian Chemical Society, the Pharmaceutical Society of Japan, the Sociedad Argentina de Investigaciones en Quimica Organica, and Accademia Gioenia di Catania, Italy. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and was Founding Editor of Accounts of Chemical Research. In 1992, he received the American Chemical Society James Flack Norris Award in Physical Organic Chemistry, and in 1995 the University of Rochester Distinguished Scholar Medal. 

12th Annual Joseph F. Bunnett Research Organic Chemistry Lecture:

“Synthesis at the Interface of Chemistry and Biology: From Stem Cells to the Genetic Code”

Peter G. Schultz-The Scripps Research Institute-Professor of Chemistry

Peter G. Schultz is the author of 500 scientific publications, has trained over 300 coworkers and has received numerous national and international awards.  Especially noteworthy is that he is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. He is currently at The Scripps Research Institute where he holds the rank of Professor of Chemistry. Additional elements of his academic CV include graduating from Caltech (Summa cum Laude) and continuing there for his Ph.D. degree.  He did his postdoctoral training for a year at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and then began his independent career at U.C. California, Berkeley where he rose to full Professor of Chemistry and was an Investigator in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.  Professor Schultz subsequently departed from UCB to establish the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation in La Jolla and served as its Director for ten years. His contributions to science include (1) the discovery of catalytic antibodies, and their use to study fundamental mechanisms of biological catalysis and the evolution of binding and catalytic function; (2) the development and application of methods to add new

building blocks (beyond the common twenty amino acids) to the genetic codes of prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms; and (3) the exploration of molecular diversity technologies to problems in chemistry, biology and medicine, including the generation of combinatorial materials libraries and the use of chemical, genomic and protein libraries to identify and characterize molecules and genes related to regenerative medicine and orphan and neglected diseases.

Click here to register

May 4, 2012

4:00 pm Registration at Physical Sciences Building Atrium

5:00 pm Lecture & Awards at Baskin Engineering Auditorium

6:00 - 8:30 pm Gala Reception & Greek Themed Strolling Dinner at The Jack Baskin Courtyards

DRIVING DIRECTIONS and PARKING INFORMATION

Please pick up your parking permit from the Information and Parking Kiosk at the entrance to campus. They will provide directions to the Core West Parking Structure, where you will park on the third level or higher.

For additional information about this lecture & registration, please call 831.459.3154.