Alfred Hassner was born in 1930. He survived the holocaust as a young child. After WW II, he enrolled to the Technische Hochschule in Vienna (1949-1951), and then received his BSc from the University of Nebraska (1952). He obtained his PhD under Norman Cromwell at the University of Nebraska (1956) and then was a postdoc with Louis Fieser at Harvard University. He joined the University of Colorado at Boulder (1957) and became a Full Professor at the age of 36 (1966). In 1975, he moved to SUNY at Binghamton and in 1983 he joined Bar-Ilan University in Israel, where he was professor and after retirement Professor Emeritus, until his sad demise recently (2024) at the age of 94.
Hassner mentored over 50 graduate students and more than 60 postdocs, published more than 320 research articles and 14 books and monographs, and has had a major impact on chemical science for the last 7 decades.
Some of his most known contributions include the stereoselective introduction of nitrogen functionalities into organic molecules, the synthesis of steroidal heterocycles and other biologically active targets. He was one of the first to recognize the application of NMR half-widths to stereochemical structure assignments before high resolution NMR became available. Many useful reagents and concepts in organic synthesis are registered to his name. For example, he first proposed the concept of regiochemistry and regioselectivity, now universally used terminologies in organic chemistry.
As a world-renowned expert in organic synthesis, he has held visiting professorships and appointments in many universities worldwide and also served as a valuable consultant for many industrial companies around the world.
Hassner served as the president of the Israel Chemical Society - ICS (1991-1994). In 2007, he received the ICS prize for Excellence. In 2016, he received Honorary membership award for his lifetime achievement and outstanding contributions.
Irishi N N Namboothiri was born in the southern Indian state Kerala in 1964. He received his MSc from Mangalore University (1988) and PhD from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (1994). He carried out postdoctoral research at Bar-Ilan University, Israel (1995-96), University of North Texas (1997-98) and Columbia University, USA (1999). After a brief stint as Senior Research Scientist at Sabinsa Corporation, New Jersey (2000), he joined the Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, Mumbai (2001) where he is currently a senior professor. His research interests include organic synthesis, development of new synthetic methodologies, asymmetric catalysis, mechanistic studies and materials chemistry. He is elected fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Sciences India. He is also a recipient of the Jean D'Alembert Senior Fellowship, Paris-Saclay University, France, Chemical Research Society of India Medal and Excellence in Teaching Award at IIT Bombay. He has supervised over 25 PhDs and co-authored nearly 200 publications (h-index 49) including four chapters and two books and is also a co-inventor of 6 patents. One of the books he co-authored is the third edition of “Organic Synthesis Based on Name Reactions” with Alfred Hassner.
Namboothiri has been a visiting professor at Alternative Energy and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), Saclay, France and Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil. He has delivered over 240 invited lectures at various symposia/conferences and special seminars in India and abroad. Currently, he is an Associate Editor of Journal of Chemical Sciences, Bangalore and is on the editorial board of Journal of Heterocyclic Chemistry. He also serves on several academic and research advisory committees in India.
Meir was born in Israel in 1990. In 2008, he was recruited to the IDF and he served as a technological officer in ordnance units. After 5 years of service, he started his academic career in chemistry at Bar-Ilan University, Israel. He completed BSc in chemistry in 2018 and then continued to master degree course in chemistry in Prof David Zitoun lab in the Institute of Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials (Bar-Ilan University) where he specialized in the chemistry of Li-ion rechargeable batteries. Meir successfully graduated with his MSc degree in 2019. In the same year (at the start of the corona pandemic), he decided to shift his career to industry and worked as an organic chemist in Sigma-Aldrich (Merck) in Jerusalem where he was responsible for the synthesis of many challenging small organic compounds including steroids, dye materials, and drugs. Later he moved to work in an Israeli pharma company which focused on smart delivery of drugs to target organs using a unique technology. Subsequently (2022), he joined as a senior R&D chemist at My Polymer Ltd (Israel), a world leading manufacturer of low refractive index polymers and adhesives for the electro-optics and microelectronic Industry. Currently (2024), he works as a chemistry & biology account manager at Merck Israel. He visits hundreds of Israeli customers from academia and governmental research labs on a daily basis, and advise them on products and technologies for the benefit of their research and applications.
