| Kendall
N. Houk |
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Born February 27, 1943, in Nashville,
Tennessee, USA.
Professor of Chemistry, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University
of California, Los Angeles, California, USA.
Email: houk@chem.ucla.edu
WWW: http://www.chem.ucla.edu/dept
/Faculty/houk.html/
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| Alfred P. Sloan Fellow (1975-1977).
Camille and Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar (1972-1977). Louisiana
State University Distinguished Research Master (1978). Alexander
von Humboldt Senior U.S. Scientist Award (1982). Akron Section,
American Chemical Society (ACS) Award (1983). Arthur C. Cope
Scholar Award (1988). Director, Chemistry Division, National
Science Foundation (1988-1990). James Flack Norris Award in
Physical Organic Chemistry (1991). Fellow of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science (1992). Schrödinger
Medal, World Association of Theoretically Oriented Chemists
(1998). Tolman Medal, Southern California Section, ACS (1999).
Doctor rerum naturalium honoris causa, University of Essen,
Germany (1999). Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences (2002). ACS Award for Computers in Chemical and Pharmaceutical
Research (2003).
Author of:
More than 500 publications; a recent selection is:
Michael Bendikov, K. N. Houk, Hieu M. Duong, Kyle Starkey,
Emily A. Carter, and Fred Wudl: "Oligoacenes: Theoretical
Prediction of Open-Shell Singlet Diradical Ground States,"
J. Am. Chem. Soc., 126, 7416-7417 (2004).
Important Contributions:
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K. N. Houk applies quantum mechanical theory
and computations to understand and predict rates and mechanisms
of chemical and biochemical reactions. Highlights: 1. Models to
explain regioselectivity in cycloadditions; 2. The origin of negative
activation energies and entropy control of carbene cycloadditions;
3. Transition structures of pericyclic reactions; 4. New general
type of stereoselectivity, named "torquoselectivity,"
and predictions of new reactions; 5. Explanations of the origins
of stereoselectivity and developing methods of computational modeling
of synthetically important reactions; 6. Origins of molecular
recognition and discoveries of the importance of gating on kinetic
stabilities of host-guest complexes; 7. Theoretical understanding
of catalysis by several antibodies and enzymes; 8. Generalizations
about conical intersections involved in photochemical reactions
of alkenes.
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