Fred Warren McLafferty (May 11, 1923 − December 26, 2021) was an American chemist known for his work in

mass spectrometry Mass spectrometry (MS) is an analytical technique that is used to measure the mass-to-charge ratio of ions. The results are presented as a ''mass spectrum'', a plot of intensity as a function of the mass-to-charge ratio. Mass spectrometry is used ...

. He is best known for the McLafferty rearrangement reaction that was observed with mass spectrometry. With Roland Gohlke, he pioneered the technique of gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. He is also known for

electron-capture dissociation Electron-capture dissociation (ECD) is a method of fragmenting gas-phase ions for structure elucidation of peptides and proteins in tandem mass spectrometry. It is one of the most widely used techniques for activation and dissociation of mass s ...

, a method of fragmenting gas-phase ions.

Early life and education

Fred McLafferty was born in Evanston, Illinois in 1923, but attended grade school in

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the List of cities in Nebraska, most populous city in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It is located in the Midwestern United States along the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's List of United S ...

, graduating from Omaha North High School in 1940. The urgent requirements of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

accelerated his undergraduate studies at the

University of Nebraska A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

; he obtained his B.S. degree in 1943 and thereafter entered the US armed forces. He served in western Europe during the invasion of Germany and was awarded the

Combat Infantryman Badge The Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB) is a United States Army military decoration. The badge is awarded to infantrymen and Special Forces (United States Army), Special Forces soldiers in the rank of Colonel (United States), colonel and below, wh ...

, a

Purple Heart The Purple Heart (PH) is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the president to those wounded or killed while serving, on or after 5 April 1917, with the U.S. military. With its forerunner, the Badge of Military Merit, ...

, Five

Bronze Star The Bronze Star Medal (BSM) is a United States Armed Forces decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or meritorious service in a combat zone. Wh ...

Medals and a Presidential Unit Citation. He returned to the University of Nebraska in late 1945 and completed his M.S. degree in 1947. He went on to work under William Miller at

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 ...

where he earned his Ph.D. in 1950. He went on to a

postdoctoral researcher A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). Postdocs most commonly, but not always, have a temporary acade ...

position at the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized int ...

with R.L. Shriner.

Dow Chemical

He took a position at

Dow Chemical The Dow Chemical Company is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, United States. The company was among the three largest chemical producers in the world in 2021. It is the operating subsidiary of Dow Inc., ...

Midland, Michigan Midland is a city in Midland County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. The population was 42,547 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Midland metropolitan statistical area, part of the larger Saginaw-Midland-Bay City ...

in 1950 and was in charge of mass spectrometry and gas chromatography from 1950 to 1956. In 1953-1956, he started collecting reference mass spectra whenever the instruments were not in use. In 1956, he became the Director of Dow's Eastern Research Lab in

Framingham, Massachusetts Framingham () is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. Incorporated in 1700, it is located in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middlesex County and the MetroWest subregion of the Greater Boston ...

. During this time, he developed the first GC-MS instruments and analyzed the company's reference collection of spectra he himself founded. This allowed him to work out techniques for determining the structure of organic molecules by mass spectrometry, most notably in the discovery of what is now known as the McLafferty rearrangement.

Academic career

From 1964 to 1968, he was Professor of Chemistry at

Purdue University Purdue University is a Public university#United States, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded ...

. In 1968, he returned to his ''alma mater'', Cornell University, to become the

Peter J. W. Debye Peter Joseph William Debye ( ; born Petrus Josephus Wilhelmus Debije, ; March 24, 1884 – November 2, 1966) was a Dutch-American physicist and physical chemistry, physical chemist, and List of Nobel laureates in Chemistry, Nobel laureate in Ch ...

Professor of Chemistry. He was elected to the

United States National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, 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 Nati ...

in 1982. While at Cornell, McLafferty assembled one of the first comprehensive databases of mass spectra and pioneered artificial intelligence techniques to interpret GC-MS results. His PBM STIRS program has widespread use to save hours of time-consuming work otherwise required to manually analyze GC-MS results.

Personal life and death

McLafferty died in

Ithaca, New York Ithaca () is a city in and the county seat of Tompkins County, New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake in the Finger Lakes region of New York (state), New York, Ithaca is the largest community in the Ithaca metrop ...

, on December 26, 2021, at the age of 98.

Honors and awards

*1971 ACS Award in Chemical Instrumentation *1981 ACS Award in Analytical Chemistry *1984 William H. Nichols Medal *1985 Oesper Award *1985

J. J. Thomson Gold Medal J, or j, is the tenth letter of the English alphabet. J may also refer to: * Palatal approximant in the International Phonetic Alphabet * J, Cyrillic letter Je Astronomy * J, a provisional designation prefix for some objects discovered be ...

by International Mass Spectrometry Society *1987 Pittsburgh Analytical Chemistry Award *1989 Field and Franklin Award for Mass Spectrometry *1989 University of Naples Gold Medal *1992 Robert Boyle Gold Medal by the Royal Society of Chemistry *1996 Chemical Pioneer Award from the American Institute of Chemists *1997 Bijvoet Medal of the Bijvoet Center for Biomolecular Research. *1999 J. Heyrovsky Medal by the Czech Academy of Sciences *2000 G. Natta Gold Medal by Italian Chemical Society *2001 Torbern Bergman Medal by the Swedish Chemical Society *200
John B. Fenn Distinguished Contribution in Mass Spectrometry
by the American Society for Mass Spectrometry (ASMS) *2004 Lavoisier Medal by the French Chemical Society *2006 Pehr Edman Award by the International Association for Protein Structure *2015 Nakanishi Prize from the

American Chemical Society The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 155,000 members at all ...

*2019

designated a National Historic Chemical Landmark in Midland, MI for the demonstration of the first operating GC-MS by Fred McLafferty and Roland Gohlke.

References

Bibliography

* * * *

External links

A Conversation with Fred W. McLafferty 2006
90 minute video, for Cornell University. * * {{DEFAULTSORT:McLafferty, Fred 1923 births 2021 deaths 21st-century American chemists Mass spectrometrists Purdue University faculty Cornell University alumni Cornell University faculty Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Dow Chemical Company employees Bijvoet Medal recipients Thomson Medal recipients Omaha North High School alumni People from Evanston, Illinois United States Army personnel of World War II