Lunch with a Laureate: Richard Schrock

Growing up in Indiana, exploring the local woods and pit where fossils were found, Richard Schrock early on became interested in the natural world. He was captivated by the way things worked. When he was eight, his older brother gave him a chemistry set and he knew that was what he wanted to do. “Like many things, you slide into what you enjoy doing.” Schrock explores his fascination with science and his own field of expertise—inorganic chemistry. While working at DuPont Central Research in the early 70s, where “you’re supposed to make discoveries,” he began working with metal compounds from Group 6 in the Period Table that ultimately led to the catalytic reaction that won him the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (2005). He remembers while at DuPont that he had no idea where his research would lead, but does remember going home one night and telling his wife that he thought he had “done something interesting.” When he moved to MIT in the mid-70s, he continued his work in this area. Organic chemistry uses many different reactions to make molecules and, because many are not catalytic reactions, they tend to be wasteful, requiring too many iterations to reach the final result. Schrock’s contribution has changed the way organic chemists can do their research—it is economically attractive and earns part of its importance by its “tremendous ongoing effect on the field.” The Olefin-Metathesis Reaction was discovered in 1956 and involves breaking carbon-carbon double bonds—incredibly strong bonds that are not easily broken. Olefins, or alkenes, are compounds that have carbon-carbon double bonds; reactions using catalysts that break those bonds create other new and useful carbon carbon double bond molecules. Schrock’s work involved breaking metal-carbon double bond—work that later transferred to organic chemistry as well. The applications of the Olefin-Metatheis Reaction—in areas such as medicine, biology, and pharmaceuticals—are continuing. New polymers are being c...

Channel: MIT World Video Length: 0s Date Found: Sun, Sep 05 2010 7:01 AM Category: Science Date Produced: Fri, Jun 04 2010 12:00 AM View Count: 0