Julius Rebek, Jr.

First published: 29 June 2012

https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201203994

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“If I won the lottery, I would keep doing chemistry. My favorite place on earth is the VIth district of Paris …︁” This and more about Julius Rebek, Jr. can be found on page 10698.

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1“Mechanistic studies using solid supports: the three-phase test”: J. Rebek, Tetrahedron 1979, 35, 723–731. This got me a reputation for swimming outside the mainstream (and made my lifeguards quite nervous at the time). We detected species of current interest then and showed the technique was complementary to kinetic and spectroscopic methods. It is still used today, but only in a desultory way.
10.1016/0040-4020(79)80087-3
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2“Allosteric Effects: Binding Cooperativity in a Subunit Model”: J. Rebek, Jr., R. V. Wattley, T. Costello, R. Gadwood, L. Marshall, Angew. Chem. 1981, 93, 584–585;
10.1002/ange.19810930617
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Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 1981, 20, 605–606. In this work, we introduced biaryl rotors as models for allosteric behavior. In these systems, a binding event that occurs at one site transmits information to a remote site through the fulcrum of the biaryl bond. These early molecular machines are present in most of the nanodevices pursued elsewhere today.
10.1002/anie.198106051
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3“Convergent Functional Groups: Synthetic and Structural Studies”: J. Rebek, Jr., L. Marshall, R. Wolak, K. Parris, M. Killoran, B. Askew, D. Nemeth, N. Islam, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1985, 107, 7476–7481. In this work we introduced cleftlike synthetic receptors for recognition of neutral molecular targets. At the time, most people were using macrocycles to bind ions. The clefts allowed complementary functional groups to converge on the smaller targets in a useful way.
10.1021/ja00311a042
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4“A Self-Replicating System”: T. Tjivikua, P. Ballester, J. Rebek, Jr., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1990, 112, 1249–1250. This publication showed that a synthetic molecule can show a primitive sign of life—self-replication. No one doubted the ability of DNA to do this, but this work indicated that many structures could do so; all that is needed is self-complementarity. This key feature has since been incorporated in self-replicating systems synthesized in many other research groups.
10.1021/ja00159a057
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5“A Synthetic Cavity Assembles Through Self-Complementary Hydrogen Bonds”: R. Wyler; J. de Mendoza, J. Rebek, Jr., Angew. Chem. 1993, 105, 1820–1821;
10.1002/ange.19931051229
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J. de Mendoza, J. Rebek, Jr., Angew. Chem. 1993, 105, 1820–1821;
10.1002/ange.19931051229
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Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 1993, 32, 1699–1701. In this publication, a result of collaboration with Javier de Mendoza, we introduced self-assembling capsules. Subsequent work showed that molecular behavior in small spaces is generally quite different from that observed in dilute solution. Reversible encapsulation complexes revealed new phenomena: helically coiled hydrocarbons, amplified intermolecular forces, large rate enhancements for reactions, and new forms of stereochemistry.
10.1002/anie.199316991
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Volume51, Issue43

October 22, 2012

Pages 10698-10699

Julius Rebek, Jr.

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