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10/03/07
Pomona College Professor Named to Chemistry Hall of Fame |
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In August at the American Chemical Society (ACS) National
meeting in Boston, Pomona College Professor Emeritus Corwin
Hansch, recognized as the father of
modern drug design, was inducted into the ACS Medicinal
Chemistry Division, Hall of Fame, which recognizes inductees
for their overall outstanding contributions to medicinal
chemistry through a combination of research, teaching and
service.
Established in 2006, the Medicinal Chemistry Hall of Fame
now has 52 members, which include winners of the Division’s
major awards. Hansch was the only
inductee from a liberal arts college. The other recipients
are from pharmaceutical companies, research institutes and
universities.
Hansch pioneered the ground-breaking field of quantitative
structure-activity relationships (QSAR), which
revolutionized computer-assisted molecular drug
design. His work on the interactions between chemical
compounds and living systems extends from pharmaceuticals to
the environmental toxicity of chemicals. His seminal work on
the experimental quantification and computation of the
lipophilicity (similar to fat solubility) of a molecule has
helped in the understanding of how this property governs the
transport and distribution of chemical compounds in
biological systems including membrane penetration, crossing
of the blood-brain barrier, uptake in the intestines, and
central nervous system activity.
Hansch taught organic chemistry at Pomona from 1946 until
1988. During that time, numerous well-established
scientists, postdoctoral associates and undergraduate
students interned in his laboratory and later contributed
greatly to the advancement of the use of computers in
rational drug design.
Hansch is still an active researcher based at Pomona
College, developing and organizing QSAR correlation
equations based on data collected from the global
literature. His electronic database, CQSAR, contains more
than 20,000 QSAR mathematical models. With this system
biological QSAR equations are compared with
chemical QSAR equations so as to yield insight as to how
chemicals react with each other and how they interact with
biological systems.
In 1975, Hansch received the Medicinal Chemistry Division’s
first Smissman Award, which is given to a living scientist
“whose research, teaching or service has had a substantial
impact on the intellectual and theoretical development of
the field of medicinal chemistry.”
Pomona College, founded in 1887, is one of the nation’s
premier liberal arts colleges. Pomona’s hallmarks include
small classes, close relationships between
students and faculty, and a range of opportunities for
student research. Pomona College is one of only a handful of
schools that has need-blind admissions
and meets the full financial need of each accepted student.
Visit Pomona College on the web at www.pomona.edu |
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