Charles J. Pedersen

Encyclopedia : C : CH : CHA : Charles J. Pedersen

-->Charles John Pedersen (October 3, 1904 – October 26, 1989) was an American organic chemist best known for describing methods of synthesizing crown ethers. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1987. His Japanese first name was Yoshio (良男).

In 1927, Pedersen began working at du Pont where he would remain for the next 42 years, retiring at the age of 65. At du Pont, his work resulted in 25 papers and 65 patents. In 1967 he published two works that are now considered classics; they describe the methods of synthesizing crown ethers (cyclic polyethers). The donut-shaped molecules were the first in a series of extraordinary compounds that form stable structures with alkali metal ions. In 1987 he shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Donald Cram and Jean-Marie Lehn for his work in this area; Cram and Lehn expanded upon his original discoveries.

Pedersen was diagnosed with myeloma in 1983, and though he was becoming increasingly frail, he traveled to Stockholm to accept the Nobel Prize in late 1987. Shortly thereafter, he was awarded a medal for excellence by the du Pont Research Fellows.

External links

• [Nobel autobiography]
• [Charles J. Pedersen's Family Website]
• [Our Trip to Sweden]
• [Official Website of Charles J. Pedersen]

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.