Marjorie Constance Caserio

Marjorie Constance Caserio (née Beckett; February 26, 1929 – April 19, 2021)[1] was an English chemist. In 1975, she was awarded the Garvan Medal by the American Chemical Society.[1]

Marjorie Constance Caserio
Born
Marjorie Constance Beckett

(1929-02-26)February 26, 1929
Cricklewood, London, England
DiedApril 19, 2021(2021-04-19) (aged 92)
NationalityAmerican
Alma materChelsea College of Art and Design, Bryn Mawr College
Known forBasic Principles of Organic Chemistry
SpouseFred Caserio
AwardsGarvan Medal
Scientific career
FieldsChemistry
InstitutionsUniversity of California, Irvine, University of California, San Diego
Theses
  • "The alkaline hydrolysis of ethyl p-alkybenzoates." (M.A., 1951)
  • "The kinetics of bromination of naphthalene" (Ph.D., 1956)

Early life and education

Caserio was born Marjorie Constance Beckett in Cricklewood, London, England. She attended the North London Collegiate School and began studying podiatry at Chelsea College, but soon developed a preference for chemistry and graduated with honors in the subject in 1950. She was awarded a Sir John Dill Fellowship by the English-Speaking Union which allowed her to study at Bryn Mawr College in the United States, she earned an M.A. in chemistry in 1951. Her thesis was entitled "The alkaline hydrolysis of ethyl p-alkybenzoates."[1]

For a year she worked at the Fulmer Research Institute in rural Stoke Poges, England, researching the effects of fluorides on titanium, but disliked the work and decided to seek a Ph.D. in chemistry. She interviewed with Nobel laureate Derek Barton and was accepted to Birkbeck College in London, but was not offered financial aid. Instead, Caserio returned to Bryn Mawr in the U.S., earning her Ph.D. in 1956 with a dissertation entitled "The kinetics of bromination of naphthalene."[1][2]

Career

Caserio was hired by John D. Roberts for a postdoctoral position at the California Institute of Technology. She spent eight years at Caltech, working on 3- and 4-membered ring compounds,[3][4] the reactions of alcohols with diazomethane,[5] the hydrolysis of diaryliodonium salts,[6] the deamination of nitrous acid,[7] and benzyne reaction intermediates in nucleophilic aromatic substitution reactions.[8]

She collaborated with Roberts in writing an organic chemistry textbook, Basic Principles of Organic Chemistry, first published in 1964.[9] Notable for its comprehensiveness and then-unusual emphasis on spectroscopy, it proved enormously influential in how the subject was taught. Also working with Roberts was chemist Fred Caserio.

University of California, Irvine

In 1964, Caserio was hired as the second faculty member in chemistry at the brand new University of California, Irvine. At UC Irvine she worked on addition reactions in allenes[10][11][12] and bonding and reactions of sulfur compounds.[13][14] She was one of the first scientists to employ nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to study the kinetics and mechanisms of these organic reactions,[15][16] and ion cyclotron resonance to study gas-phase reactions.[17][18] Caserio became a full professor at UC Irvine in 1972, and chair of the chemistry department in 1987.[1]

University of California, San Diego

In 1990, she became vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of California, San Diego. She later served as interim chancellor, and retired in 1996.[19]

Personal life

In 1957, she married Fred Caserio; she became a US citizen the same year.[1]

References
  1. Goldwhite, Harold (1993). "Marjorie Constance Beckett Caserio". In Grinstein, Louise S.; Rose, Rose K.; Rafailovich, Miriam H. (eds.). Women in Chemistry and Physics: A Biobibliographic Sourcebook. Greenwood Press. pp. 85–93.
  2. Beckett, Marjorie Constance (1956). The Kinetics of Bromination of Napthalene (Ph.D. thesis) – via ProQuest.
  3. Caserio, Marjorie C.; Simmons, Howard E.; Johnson, A. Earl; Roberts, John D. (1960-06-01). "Small-Ring Compounds. XXVI. Nucleophilic Displacement Reactions of Some Halogen-substituted Phenylcyclobutenones1". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 82 (12): 3102–3106. doi:10.1021/ja01497a030. ISSN 0002-7863.
  4. Caserio, Marjorie C.; Graham, William H.; Roberts, John D. (1960-01-01). "Small-ring compounds—XXIX A reinvestigation of the solvolysis of cyclopropylcarbinyl chloride in aqueous ethanol. Isomerization of cyclopropylcarbinol". Tetrahedron. 11 (3): 171–182. doi:10.1016/0040-4020(60)80068-3. ISSN 0040-4020.
  5. Caserio, Marjorie C.; Roberts, John D.; Neeman, M.; Johnson, William S. (1958-05-01). "Methylation of Alcohols with Diazomethane". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 80 (10): 2584–2585. doi:10.1021/ja01543a056. ISSN 0002-7863.
  6. Caserio, Marjorie C.; Glusker, Donald L.; Roberts, John D. (1959-01-01). "Hydrolysis of Diaryliodonium Salts". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 81 (2): 336–342. doi:10.1021/ja01511a019. ISSN 0002-7863.
  7. Caserio, Marjorie C.; Levin, Robert D.; Roberts, John D. (1965). "Intermediates in the Nitrous Acid Deamination of 2-[p-(2'-Hydroxyethoxy)phenyl]ethylamine1". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 87 (24): 5651–5655. doi:10.1021/ja00952a024. ISSN 0002-7863.
  8. Jenny, Erwin F.; Caserio, Marjorie C.; Roberts, John D. (1958-10-01). "Benzyn-Zwischenprodukte in der nukleophilen aromatischen Substitution". Experientia (in German). 14 (10): 349–354. doi:10.1007/BF02159149. ISSN 1420-9071. S2CID 10598895.
  9. Roberts, John D.; Caserio, Marjorie C. (1977-05-15). Basic Principles of Organic Chemistry, second edition. Menlo Park, CA: W. A. Benjamin, Inc. ISBN 978-0-8053-8329-4.
  10. Waters, William L.; Linn, William S.; Caserio, Marjorie C. (1968). "Stereochemistry of additions of allenes. I. Methoxymercuration and halogenation of 1,3-dimethylallene". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 90 (24): 6741–6749. doi:10.1021/ja01026a032. ISSN 0002-7863.
  11. Linn, William S.; Waters, William L.; Caserio, Marjorie C. (1970-07-01). "Stereochemistry of addition reactions of allenes. II. Oxymercuration of 1,3-dimethylallene and solvolysis of the derived adducts". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 92 (13): 4018–4025. doi:10.1021/ja00716a032. ISSN 0002-7863.
  12. Byrd, Larry R.; Caserio, Marjorie C. (1970-09-01). "Stereochemistry of addition reactions of allenes. III. Free-radical reactions of 2,3-pentadiene and 2-pentyne with tert-butyl hypochlorite". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 92 (18): 5422–5431. doi:10.1021/ja00721a022. ISSN 0002-7863.
  13. Caserio, Marjorie C.; Kim, Jhong K. (1982-06-01). "Thioammonium ions. Azasulfenylation reactions". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 104 (11): 3231–3233. doi:10.1021/ja00375a056. ISSN 0002-7863.
  14. Kim, Jhong K.; Kline, Margaret L.; Caserio, Marjorie C. (1978-09-01). "Methylthiolation of allylic sulfides. A degenerate [2,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 100 (19): 6243–6245. doi:10.1021/ja00487a053. ISSN 0002-7863.
  15. Caserio, Marjorie C.; Pratt, Robert E.; Holland, Robert J. (1966-12-01). "The Nature of Sulfur Bonding in α,β-Unsaturated Sulfides and Sulfonium Salts1,2". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 88 (24): 5747–5753. doi:10.1021/ja00976a014. ISSN 0002-7863.
  16. Smallcombe, Stephen H.; Caserio, Marjorie C. (1971-11-01). "Kinetics of sulfur-sulfur bond cleavage in methylated methyl disulfide by nuclear magnetic resonance". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 93 (22): 5826–5833. doi:10.1021/ja00751a041. ISSN 0002-7863.
  17. Pau, James K.; Ruggera, Michael B.; Kim, Jhong K.; Caserio, Marjorie C. (1978-06-01). "On the electron-donating properties of oxygen vs. sulfur. A study of the gas-phase ion chemistry of methoxymethylthioalkanes". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 100 (13): 4242–4248. doi:10.1021/ja00481a039. ISSN 0002-7863.
  18. "Marjorie Caserio & Vy Dong". Calisphere. Retrieved 2021-06-08.
  19. Oakes, Elizabeth H. (2007). Encyclopedia of world scientists , Volume 1. InfoBase. p. 125. ISBN 9781438118826. Retrieved July 12, 2011.

Books
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