William Standish Knowles

Infobox_Scientist
name = William Standish Knowles

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image_size = 180px
birth_date = birth date and age|1917|6|1
birth_place = Taunton, Massachusetts, USA
nationality = United States
field = Chemistry
work_institution = Thomas and Hochwalt Laboratories]
Monsanto
alma_mater = Columbia University
doctoral_advisor = Robert Elderfield
doctoral_students =
known_for = Chiral phosphine ligands that proved effective in the enantioselective synthesis of L-DOPA
prizes = Nobel Prize in Chemistry (2001)

William S. Knowles (born June 1, 1917) is an American chemist. He was born in Taunton, Massachusetts.

He shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2001 with Ryoji Noyori and K. Barry Sharpless for the development of catalytic asymmetric synthesis, which is a technology relevant to the preparation of many pharmaceuticals. Knowles led a team of researchers that developed chiral phosphine ligands that proved effective in the enantioselective synthesis of L-DOPA. [cite journal | author = Vineyard, B. D.; Knowles, W. S.; Sabacky, M. J.; Bachman, G. L.; Weinkauff, D. J. | title = Asymmetric Hydrogenation. Rhodium Chiral Bisphosphine Catalyst | journal = Journal of the American Chemical Society | year = 1977 | volume = 99 | issue = 18 | pages = 5946–5952 | doi = 10.1021/ja00460a018] [cite journal | author = Knowles, W. S. | title = Asymmetric Hydrogenations (Nobel Lecture) | journal = Angewandte Chemie International Edition | year = 2002 | pages = 1998–2007 | doi = 10.1002/1521-3773(20020617)41:12<1998::AID-ANIE1998>3.0.CO;2-8 | volume = 41] Knowles conducted this prize-winning research at Monsanto.

He currently resides in St. Louis, Missouri.

References

External links

* Knowles's [http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2001/knowles-autobio.html Nobel Foundation biography]
* Knowles's Nobel Lecture [http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2001/knowles-lecture.pdf Asymmetric Hydrogenations]