Jack Halpern (19 January 1925 – 31 January 2018) was an

inorganic chemist An inorganic compound is typically a chemical compound that lacks carbon–hydrogen bonds⁠that is, a compound that is not an organic compound. The study of inorganic compounds is a subfield of chemistry known as ''inorganic chemistry''. Inorgan ...

, the Louis Block

Distinguished Service Professor Professors in the United States commonly occupy any of several positions of teaching and research within a college or university. In the U.S., the word "professor" is often used to refer to anyone who teaches at a college of university level at ...

of Chemistry at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

. Born in Poland, he moved to Canada in 1929 and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in 1962. His research focused on mechanistic

organometallic chemistry Organometallic chemistry is the study of organometallic compounds, chemical compounds containing at least one chemical bond between a carbon atom of an organic molecule and a metal, including alkali, alkaline earth, and transition metals, and so ...

, especially

homogeneous catalysis In chemistry, homogeneous catalysis is catalysis where the catalyst is in same phase as reactants, principally by a soluble catalyst in a solution. In contrast, heterogeneous catalysis describes processes where the catalysts and substrate are in d ...

, beginning with early work on the activation of hydrogen by soluble complexes. He contributed to elucidation of the mechanism of the

hydrogenation Hydrogenation is a chemical reaction between molecular hydrogen (H2) and another compound or element, usually in the presence of a catalyst such as nickel, palladium or platinum. The process is commonly employed to redox, reduce or Saturated ...

alkene In organic chemistry, an alkene, or olefin, is a hydrocarbon containing a carbon–carbon double bond. The double bond may be internal or at the terminal position. Terminal alkenes are also known as Alpha-olefin, α-olefins. The Internationa ...

s by

Wilkinson's catalyst Wilkinson's catalyst (chloridotris(triphenylphosphine)rhodium(I)) is a coordination complex of rhodium with the formula hCl(PPh3)3 where 'Ph' denotes a phenyl group. It is a red-brown colored solid that is soluble in hydrocarbon solv ...

and the stereodetermining step in certain asymmetric hydrogenation processes. Related areas of interest include the reactivity of metal-carbon bonds, ''e.g.'', in

cobalamin Vitamin B12, also known as cobalamin, is a water-soluble vitamin involved in metabolism. One of eight B vitamins, it serves as a vital cofactor (biochemistry), cofactor in DNA synthesis and both fatty acid metabolism, fatty acid and amino a ...

s and

pentacyanocobaltate In chemistry, pentacyanocobaltate is the coordination complex with the formula . When crystallized with a quaternary ammonium cation, it can be obtained as a yellow solid. Pentacyanocobaltate attracted attention as an early example of a metal com ...

derivatives. He was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

in 1974. 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 ...

he won the

Willard Gibbs Award The Willard Gibbs Award, presented by thChicago Sectionof the American Chemical Society, was established in 1910 by William A. Converse (1862–1940), a former Chairman and Secretary of the Chicago Section of the society and named for Professor Jo ...

(1986), and awards for Inorganic Chemistry, Organometallic Chemistry, and the Distinguished Service in Inorganic Chemistry, the latter in partial recognition of his editorship of the ''Journal of the American Chemical Society''.

References

1925 births 2018 deaths American chemists American people of Polish-Jewish descent Canadian emigrants to the United States Jewish Canadian scientists Canadian people of Polish-Jewish descent Fellows of the Royal Society Jewish American scientists Jewish chemists Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Polish emigrants to Canada University of Chicago faculty 20th-century Canadian chemists 20th-century American chemists 21st-century American chemists Academic staff of the University of British Columbia Scientists from British Columbia 21st-century American Jews {{US-chemist-stub