Donald James Cram
Donald James Cram
Born	April 22, 1919 Chester, Vermont
Died	June 17, 2001
Nationality	American
Fields	chemist
Notable awards	1987 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Donald James Cram (April 22, 1919 – June 17, 2001) was an American chemist who shared the 1987 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for “synthesizing three-dimensional molecules that could mimic the functioning of natural molecules. Events 1500 - Portuguese Navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral becomes the first European to sight Brazil. Year 1919 ( MCMXIX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Chester is a town in Windsor County, Vermont, United States. The population was 3044 at the 2000 census Events 1462 - Vlad III the Impaler attempts to assassinate Mehmed II ( The Night Attack) forcing him to retreat Year 2001 ( MMI) was a Common year starting on Monday according to the Gregorian calendar. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Chemistry (from Egyptian kēme (chem meaning "earth") is the Science concerned with the composition structure and properties Year 1987 ( MCMLXXXVII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link displays 1987 Gregorian calendar) The Nobel Prize in Chemistry (Nobelpriset i kemi is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of Chemistry. Events 1500 - Portuguese Navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral becomes the first European to sight Brazil. Year 1919 ( MCMXIX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Events 1462 - Vlad III the Impaler attempts to assassinate Mehmed II ( The Night Attack) forcing him to retreat Year 2001 ( MMI) was a Common year starting on Monday according to the Gregorian calendar. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Chemistry (from Egyptian kēme (chem meaning "earth") is the Science concerned with the composition structure and properties Year 1987 ( MCMLXXXVII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link displays 1987 Gregorian calendar) The Nobel Prize (Nobelpriset (Nobelprisen is a Swedish prize established in the 1895 will of Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel; it was first awarded in Peace, Literature Chemistry (from Egyptian kēme (chem meaning "earth") is the Science concerned with the composition structure and properties ” He also won the National Academy of Science Award in the Chemical Sciences and was member of the International Academy of Science. The International Academy of Science (IAS is an inter- and transnational academy of science

Crystal structure of a nitrobenzene bound within a hemicarcerand reported by Cram and coworkers in Chem. A carcerand is a host molecule that completely entraps it guest so that it will not escape even at high temperatures Commun. , 1997, 1303-1304.

Cram was born in Chester, Vermont, [1] and died in Palm Desert, California. [2]

Education

Cram was educated at Rollins College, Florida, and at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln, and he received his doctorate in organic chemistry from Harvard University in 1947. Rollins College is a liberal arts college located in Winter Park Florida, United States, a suburb of Orlando Florida. Florida ( is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the He joined the faculty of the University of California, Los Angeles in 1947 and became a full professor there in 1956. The University of California Los Angeles (generally known as UCLA) is a public research university located in Westwood Los Angeles, California, United

Field of study

Cram expanded upon Charles Pedersen's ground-breaking synthesis of crown ethers, basically two-dimensional organic compounds that are able to recognize and selectively combine with the ions of certain metal elements. Charles John Pedersen ( October 3, 1904 &ndash October 26, 1989) was an American organic chemist best known for describing Crown ethers are heterocyclic Chemical compounds that consist of a ring containing several Ether groups Cram synthesized molecules that took this chemistry into three dimensions, creating an array of differently shaped molecules that could interact selectively with other chemicals because of their complementary three-dimensional structures. Chemistry (from Egyptian kēme (chem meaning "earth") is the Science concerned with the composition structure and properties His work represented a large step toward the synthesis of functional laboratory-made mimics of enzymes and other natural molecules whose special chemical behavior is due to their characteristic structure. Enzymes are Biomolecules that catalyze ( ie increase the rates of Chemical reactions Almost all enzymes are Proteins He also did work in stereochemistry and Cram's rule of asymmetric induction is named after him. Stereochemistry, a subdiscipline of Chemistry, involves the study of the relative spatial arrangement of Atoms within Molecules An important branch Asymmetric induction in Stereochemistry describes the preferential formation in a Chemical reaction of one Enantiomer or Diastereoisomer over

As a teacher

Not only was he a researcher, but he was a popular teacher as well, having instructed some 8,000 undergraduates in his career and guided the academic output of 200 graduate students. He entertained his classes by strumming his guitar and singing folk songs. (UCLA news release of June 19, 2001, at [3]. ) He showed a self-deprecating style, being quoted as saying: "An investigator starts research in a new field with faith, a foggy idea, and a few wild experiments. Eventually the interplay of negative and positive results guides the work. By the time the research is completed, he or she knows how it should have been started and conducted. "

References

External links

• http://www.nobel.se/chemistry/laureates/1987/cram-autobio.html
• http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/d/donaldcram193831.html