Suzuki, Akira
Suzuki, Akira,
1930–, Japanese chemist, Ph.D. Hokkaido Univ., Sapporo, 1959. He was a professor at Hokkaido from 1963 until his retirement in 1994. Since then, he has taught for short periods at Okayama Univ. of Science and Kurashiki Univ. of Science and the Arts. Suzuki was the recipient, with Richard HeckHeck, Richard Fred,1931–2015, American chemist, b. Springfield, Mass., Ph.D. Univ. of California, Los Angeles, 1954. Heck was a researcher at the Hercules Corporation in Wilmington, Del., from 1957 to 1971, when he joined the faculty at the Univ. of Delaware.
..... Click the link for more information. and Ei-ichi NegishiNegishi, Ei-ichi,
1935–, Japanese chemist, Ph.D. Univ. of Pennsylvania, 1963. In 1966 he joined the faculty at Purdue Univ., and he spent most of his career there; from 1972 to 1979 he was a professor at Syracuse Univ.
..... Click the link for more information. for their research during the 1960s and 70s on palladium-catalyzed coupling reactions in organic synthesis. Their work, carried out independently, laid the foundation for the synthesis of chemicals for uses in such areas as pharmaceuticals, agricultural products, and advanced technological materials. Palladium-catalyzed cross coupling also led to breakthroughs in DNA sequencing. Suzuki made improvements in 1979 to Negishi's method, which had been published in 1977 and built on Heck's work.