Kendall Houk

Kendall Newcomb Houk ( born February 27, 1943 in Nashville, Tennessee) is an American chemist.

Life and work

Kendall Houk was born the son of Charles H. and Janet Houk. He studied at Harvard University, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in 1964, 1966 Master of Science, and in 1968 the Ph.D. acquired. In his supervised by Robert B. Woodward thesis he tested experimentally selection rules for the ( 6 4 ) cycloaddition. He then went to Louisiana State University and was there from 1968 to 1972 Assistant Professor, 1972-1975 Associate Professor 1975-1980 and Professor of Chemistry. From 1980 to 1985 he worked as a professor of chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh and since 1986 at the University of California, Los Angeles. There he stood from 1991 to 1994 before the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Since 2009 he is the owner of Saul Winstein Chair in Organic Chemistry. He was also from 1988 to 1990 director of the chemistry division of the National Science Foundation.

Houk works in the field of theoretical chemistry and organic chemistry computer. His research group modeled complex organic reactions on the computer and test the theoretical predictions experimentally. His research interests include the design of artificial enzymes as catalysts of chemical reactions, the quantitative modeling of stereoselective reactions and the dynamics of pericyclic reactions.

He is married and has one child. His hobbies include running, cycling, swimming, art and music.

Awards

Memberships

Works

In addition to more than 900 journal articles, he published:

  • Kendall Newcomb Houk: The 6 4 cycloaddition reaction. Thesis ( Ph. D. ), Harvard University, 1968
  • Kendall N. Houk, and Leo A. Paquette: Organic Chemistry ( = Topics in Current Chemistry, Volume 79). Springer -Verlag, Berlin [u a ] 1979, ISBN 3-540-09301- X
  • Kendall Houk and Pierre Vogel: Advanced organic chemistry. Taylor & Francis, 2009, ISBN 9780815341673
Robert Burns Woodward Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Humboldt Prize Technion – Israel Institute of Technology Glenn T. Seaborg Medal Leo Paquette Science (journal)
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