Jerrold Meinwald

Jerrold Meinwald (January 16, 1927 – April 23,

2018) was an American chemist known for his work on Jerrold Meinwald
chemical ecology, a field he co-founded with his
colleague and friend Thomas Eisner. He was a
Goldwin Smith Professor Emeritus of Chemistry at
Cornell University. He was author or co-author of well
over 400 scientific articles. His interest in chemistry
was sparked by fireworks done with his friend Michael
Cava when they were still in junior high school.
Meinwald was also a music aficionado and studied
flute with Marcel Moyse – the world's greatest flutist
of his time.

Career
Jerrold Meinwald was born in 1927 in New York
City.[1] He studied chemistry at the University of Meinwald in 2010
Chicago where he earned his Bachelor of Science Born January 16, 1927
degree in 1948. He then went on to Harvard University New York City, U.S.
where he obtained his Ph.D. with R.B. Woodward in Died April 23, 2018 (aged 91)
1952. A DuPont Fellowship brought him to Cornell, Ithaca, New York, U.S.
where he has spent most of his subsequent career.
Alma mater Harvard University
Since the early 1960s, he has worked, often in University of Chicago
collaboration with Thomas Eisner, on chemical Awards Benjamin Franklin Medal in
signalling in animals, particularly insects and Chemistry (2013)
arthropods; he is regarded as one of the founders of the Nakanishi Prize (2013)
field of chemical ecology. A particular field of interest National Medal of Science
was the ways in which insects either use chemicals (2012)
synthesised by the plants that they feed on, or use those
Roger Adams Award (2005)
plant chemicals as substrates from which to synthesize
Tyler Prize for Environmental
their own. A species on which he and Eisner published
Achievement (1990)
several times over decades is the moth Utetheisa
Ernest Guenther Award (1984)
ornatrix, which collects pyrrolizidine alkaloids from its
food source[2] and uses them as a deterrent to Scientific career
predators; the male also uses them as a pheromone[3] Fields Chemistry
and passes them on in its semen to the female who uses Institutions Cornell University
them to make her eggs unpalatable.[2][4][5]
Doctoral George Wiley
students
 In analysing the constituents of plant signalling, he developed a
number of retrosynthetic techniques, including the Meinwald
Rearrangement where an epoxide is converted to a carbonyl in
the presence of a Lewis acid; he has also performed substantial
research over forty years in NMR spectroscopy.[6] and in reactions
for producing chiral derivatives in order to determine absolute
configurations of chiral molecules.[7][8]

In 1981, Meinwald became a founding member of the World

Cultural Council.[9] He died in Ithaca on April 23, 2018, at the age
of 91.[10][11]

Series from a study by Meinwald

and Eisner investigating defensive
spray in Chlaenius beetles with
paper that turns dark in response to
chemicals.

Awards
He won the National Medal of Science in 2012.[12][13][14] He was a member of the National Academy of
Sciences since 1969, Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 1970, and member of
the American Philosophical Society since 1987. Other notable honours:

Distinguished Leadership Award, American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2016)[15]

Grand Prix de la Fondation de la Maison de la Chimie, Paris, France (2006)
Nakanishi Prize, American Chemical Society (2014)
Roger Adams Award in Organic Chemistry, American Chemical Society (2005)
Chemical Pioneer Award, American Institute of Chemists (1997)
Silver Medal of the International Society of Chemical Ecology (1991)
Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement (1990)
A. C. Cope Scholar Award, American Chemical Society (1989)
Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1970)

Publications
Eisner, T, & Meinwald, J, Eds. (1995) Chemical Ecology: The Chemistry of Biotic Interaction.
National Academy Press.

References
 1. "2009 Cava Lecturer (Meinwald) (https://web.archive.org/web/20131104140704/http://chemi
stry.ua.edu/department/seminars-and-lectures/2009-cava-lecturer-meinwald/)", University of
Alabama (October, 2009).
2. Dussourd DE, Ubik K, Harvis C, Resch J, Meinwald J, Eisner T (1988). "Biparental
defensive endowment of eggs with acquired plant alkaloid in the moth Utetheisa ornatrix" (ht
tps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC281891). Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 85 (16):
5992–6. Bibcode:1988PNAS...85.5992D (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1988PNAS...85.
5992D). doi:10.1073/pnas.85.16.5992 (https://doi.org/10.1073%2Fpnas.85.16.5992).
PMC 281891 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC281891). PMID 3413071 (http
s://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3413071).
3. Conner WE, Eisner T, Vander Meer RK, Guerrero A, Meinwald J (1981). "Precopulatory
sexual interaction in an arctiid moth (Utetheisa ornatrix): Role of a pheromone derived from
dietary alkaloids". Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. 9 (3): 227–235.
doi:10.1007/BF00302942 (https://doi.org/10.1007%2FBF00302942). S2CID 22839356 (http
s://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:22839356).
4. Eisner T, Meinwald J (1995). "The chemistry of sexual selection" (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.g
ov/pmc/articles/PMC42815). Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 92 (1): 50–5.
Bibcode:1995PNAS...92...50E (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1995PNAS...92...50E).
doi:10.1073/pnas.92.1.50 (https://doi.org/10.1073%2Fpnas.92.1.50). PMC 42815 (https://w
ww.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC42815). PMID 7816847 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.
gov/7816847).
5. Dussourd DE, Harvis CA, Meinwald J, Eisner T (1991). "Pheromonal advertisement of a
nuptial gift by a male moth (Utetheisa ornatrix)" (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P
MC52686). Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 88 (20): 9224–7. Bibcode:1991PNAS...88.9224D
(https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1991PNAS...88.9224D). doi:10.1073/pnas.88.20.9224 (ht
tps://doi.org/10.1073%2Fpnas.88.20.9224). PMC 52686 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/
articles/PMC52686). PMID 1924385 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1924385).
6. Meinwald J, Lewis A (1961). "Long-range spin-spin couplings in the nuclear magnetic
resonance spectra of bicyclo[2.1.1]hexanes". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 83
(12): 2769–2770. doi:10.1021/ja01473a039 (https://doi.org/10.1021%2Fja01473a039).
7. Weibel DB, Walker TR, Schroeder FC, Meinwald J (2000). "Chiral Silylation Reagents for
the Determination of Absolute Configuration by NMR Spectroscopy". Org. Lett. 2 (15):
2381–3. doi:10.1021/ol006162h (https://doi.org/10.1021%2Fol006162h). PMID 10930289 (h
ttps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10930289).
8. "Chiral Silylation Reagents for the Determination of Absolute Configuration Using NMR
Spectroscopy" (http://www.nightvzn.net/portfolio/web/meinwald_group/research_projects_ch
iral_silylation.html). The Meinwald Group. Cornell University.
9. "About Us" (http://www.consejoculturalmundial.org/about-us/). World Cultural Council.
Retrieved November 8, 2016.
10. Fleischman T (April 25, 2018). "Jerrold Meinwald, 2014 National Medal of Science winner,
dies at 91" (http://news.cornell.edu/stories/2018/04/jerrold-meinwald-2014-national-medal-sc
ience-winner-dies-91). Cornell Chronicle. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
11. Chang, Kenneth (May 14, 2018). "Jerrold Meinwald, 91, Dies; Studied Creatures' Chemical
Signals" (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/14/obituaries/jerrold-meinwald-91-dies-studied-c
reatures-chemical-signals.html). The New York Times.
12. "Jerrold Meinwald wins National Medal of Science" (http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/201
4/10/jerrold-meinwald-wins-national-medal-science). Cornell Chronicle. October 6, 2014.
13. "President Obama Honors Nation's Top Scientists and Innovators" (https://obamawhitehous
e.archives.gov/the-press-office/2014/10/03/president-obama-honors-nation-s-top-scientists-
and-innovators). whitehouse.gov. October 3, 2014 – via National Archives.
14. "Gerrold Meinwald, 2012, National Medal of Science Chemistry" (http://nationalmedals.org/l
aureates/jerrold-meinwald). National Science & Technology Medal Foundation.
15. "Recipients of the Distinguished Leadership Award - American Academy of Arts & Sciences"
(https://web.archive.org/web/20170921125824/http://www.amacad.org/content/about/about.
aspx?d=22210&t=4&s=0). September 21, 2017. Archived from the original (http://www.amac
ad.org/content/about/about.aspx?d=22210&t=4&s=0) on September 21, 2017.

External links
Faculty page at Cornell University (http://chemistry.cornell.edu/faculty/detail.cfm?netid=jm6
3)
A conversation with Jerrold Meinwald (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FCNsIDU_jA).
Video on YouTube
Plenary Lecture (2014), Annual Meeting of the International Society of Chemical Ecology (ht
tps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAun0GguzF8). Video on YouTube

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