| RefNo | EC/1978/01 |
| Previous numbers | Cert XX, 90 |
| Level | Item |
| Title | Baldwin, Sir Jack Edward: certificate of election to the Royal Society |
| Date | 1975 |
| Description | Citation typed |
| Citation | Professor J.E. Baldwin is a prolific innovator and virtually all his researches bring a new understanding to some significant area of chemistry.
He was one of the leaders in a major, productive study of a class of rearrangements which were shown to be 2,3 -sigmantropic reactions. Baldwin advanced from this basic work to use the rearrangements for a range of syntheses, of terpenes, of allenes, to the involvement of carbenoid intermediates for the synthesis of quaternary centres and for the discovery of the Reformatsky-Claisen reaction. The latter provides a very neat synthesis of gamma theta-unsaturated acids. The mechanistic and stereochemical aspects of the foregoing researches were also worked out in a most impressive way.
Recent work also deserves special mention. The discovery of 7-alpha-methoxy-beeta-lactam antibiotics led Baldwin to devise an elegant partial synthesis of such compounds. His neat synthesis of chirally labelled valine further allowed important biosynthetic studies on both penicillin and cephalosporin. Another striking research is on the synthesis of 'cavity' molecules containing co-ordinated iron which reversibly bind oxygen in solution. These researches on oxygen binding illustrate well Baldwin's wide grasp and flexibility. |
| AccessStatus | Closed |
Fellows associated with this archive
| Code | PersonName | Dates |
| NA5071 | Baldwin; Sir; Jack Edward (1938 - 2020) | 1938 - 2020 |