Daniel S. Kemp

For the American actor, see Dan Kemp.

Daniel Schaeffer Kemp (October 20, 1936 – May 2, 2020)[1][2] was an American organic chemist, an emeritus professor of chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Kemp's work was focused on the synthesis and conformational analysis of peptides. He developed several chemical ligation strategies and methods for templating the formation of helices and sheets. The eponymous Kemp's triacid [pl] and the Kemp elimination [de] reaction (and the Kemp decarboxylation [de] variant) are among his developments. He was the author of an organic chemistry textbook. He died from COVID-19 during the COVID-19 pandemic in Massachusetts.

Background

Kemp was born in Portland, Oregon. He received his Bachelor of Arts in chemistry from Reed College in 1958 and his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1964, where he studied under R. B. Woodward.[3] He was elected to the Harvard Society of Fellows.

Awards and honors

• 1997 — Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award of the American Chemical Society[4]
• 2000 — Ralph F. Hirschmann Award in Peptide Chemistry of the American Chemical Society[5]

Books

• Kemp, Daniel S.; Frank Vellaccio (1980). Organic Chemistry. Worth Publishers. ISBN 0-87901-123-8.

See also

• MIT Chemistry Department

References

1. Doughty, Danielle (May 8, 2020). "Daniel Kemp, professor emeritus of chemistry, dies at 83".
2. "COVID-19 claims the life of Daniel S. Kemp". Chemical & Engineering News. Retrieved 2020-05-15.
3. Wasserman, H.H.; Berson, J.A.; Hendrickson, J.B.; Kemp, D.S.; Wenkert, E. (August 1999). "R. B. Woodward the teacher, as remembered by his students". Tetrahedron. 55 (34): 10253–10269. doi:10.1016/S0040-4020(99)00404-4.
4. "Arthur C. Cope Scholar Awards". American Chemical Society.
5. "Ralph F. Hirschmann Award in Peptide Chemistry". American Chemical Society.

External links

• Profile of Prof. Kemp on the MIT Chemistry Department website