John E. McMurry

John E. McMurry (born July 27, 1942, in New York City) is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Cornell University. He received an A.B. from Harvard University in 1964 and his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1967 working with Gilbert Stork. Following completion of his Ph.D., he joined the faculty of the University of California, Santa Cruz in 1967 and moved to Cornell University in 1980.

John McMurry
Born (1942-07-27) July 27, 1942
New York City, United States
NationalityAmerican
Alma materHarvard University A.B. 1964
Columbia University Ph.D. 1967
Known forMcMurry reaction
Scientific career
InstitutionsUniversity of California, Santa Cruz,
Cornell University
Doctoral advisorGilbert Stork

Contributions

The author of more than 100 research papers, McMurry is best known scientifically for his development of the McMurry reaction, in which two molecules of ketone or aldehyde are coupled to give an alkene when treated with titanium(III) chloride and a reducing agent such as Zn(Cu). The reaction has been widely used by the chemical community in the laboratory synthesis of many complex organic molecules and by the pharmaceutical industry in the commercial synthesis of several drugs. McMurry was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1985 and received a Max Planck Society Research Award in 1991.

In addition to his scientific work, McMurry is the author of 45 undergraduate chemistry textbooks that have been translated into 12 languages and used throughout the world. McMurry's most popular textbook Organic Chemistry was first printed in 1984. In 2022, he sold the rights for the book to OpenStax making it free for the user.[1] Among his other texts are:

  • Organic Chemistry with Biological Applications (3rd edition)[2]
  • Chemistry (8th edition) [3]
  • General Chemistry, Atoms First (2nd edition) [4]
  • Fundamentals of General, Organic, and Biological Chemistry (8th edition) [5]
  • The Organic Chemistry of Biological Pathways (2nd edition) [6]

References
  1. Knox, Liam (August 11, 2022). "Popular chemistry textbook's new edition will be free". Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved 13 August 2022.
  2. McMurry, J. E. (2015). ISBN 9781285842912
  3. McMurry, J. E., Fay, R. C., Robinson, J. K. (2019). ISBN 9780321943170
  4. McMurry, J. E., Fay, R. C. (2014). ISBN 9780321809261
  5. McMurry, J. E., Ballantine, D. S., Hoeger, C.A., Peterson, V. E. (2017). ISBN 9780134015187
  6. McMurry, J. E., Begley, T. P. (2016). ISBN 9781936221561
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