Thomas C. Bruice (August 25, 1925 – February 15, 2019) was a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an ...

. He was elected to the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

in 1974. He was a pioneering researcher in the area of

chemical biology Chemical biology is a scientific discipline between the fields of chemistry and biology. The discipline involves the application of chemical techniques, analysis, and often small molecules produced through synthetic chemistry, to the study and m ...

, and is one of the 50 most cited chemists.

Education

Bruice earned his B.S. at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

, and returned there after his service as a Marine medical corpsman during the World War II island campaigns in the South Pacific, and obtained his Ph.D. there. He carried out post-doctoral work at

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

. He has been a faculty member at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

, and

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

. He joined the faculty at the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1964.

Research

Papers

Bruice published more than 600 papers during his career. He saw himself as a bioorganic chemist rather than as a biochemist, and that description is very apt for his work, as most of the molecules that he studied were natural products such as thyroxine. In addition, he made important contributions to understanding enzyme catalysis, and he pioneered the use of imidazole-catalysed hydrolysis of ''p''-nitrophenyl acetate as a model system. (This system has the practical advantage that it is very convenient to follow the hydrolysis spectrophotometically.) He also stied a similar reaction catalysed by the enzyme

ribonuclease Ribonuclease (commonly abbreviated RNase) is a type of nuclease that catalyzes the degradation of RNA into smaller components. Ribonucleases can be divided into endoribonucleases and exoribonucleases, and comprise several sub-classes within th ...

. More generally, he made a study of mechanisms for

chymotrypsin Chymotrypsin (, chymotrypsins A and B, alpha-chymar ophth, avazyme, chymar, chymotest, enzeon, quimar, quimotrase, alpha-chymar, alpha-chymotrypsin A, alpha-chymotrypsin) is a digestive enzyme component of pancreatic juice acting in the duodenu ...

catalysis., and in particular the "charge-relay" system as a way of understanding the role of the

catalytic triad A catalytic triad is a set of three coordinated amino acid residues that can be found in the active site of some enzymes. Catalytic triads are most commonly found in hydrolase and transferase enzymes (e.g. proteases, amidases, esterases, aminoac ...

that exists in such enzymes. He considered that "orbital steering" was a new name for a well established observation.

Reviews

Bruice wrote reviews on a number of topics, including the use of small molecules to understand catalysis and the chemistry of flavins, and on enzyme catalysis in general.

Books

Bruice collaborated with Stephen Benkovic to write a two-volume work on Bioorganic Mechanisms that helped establish this field.

Awards and honors

*2008 -

Linus Pauling Award The Linus Pauling Award is an award recognizing outstanding achievement in chemistry. It is awarded annually by thePuget SoundOregon
an

*2005 -

NAS Award in Chemical Sciences The National Academy of Sciences Award in Chemical Sciences is awarded for innovative research in the chemical sciences that in the broadest sense contributes to a better understanding of the natural sciences and to the benefit of humanity. Recip ...

*1978 -

Tolman Award The Tolman Medal is awarded each year by the Southern California Section of the American Chemical Society (SCALACS) for outstanding contributions to chemistry which include contributions in areas of fundamental studies, chemical technology, and sign ...

References

External links

Thomas Bruice's faculty page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bruice, Thomas 1925 births 2019 deaths American biochemists Yale University faculty Johns Hopkins University faculty Cornell University faculty University of California, Santa Barbara faculty University of Southern California alumni Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences