Derek Barton

Derek Barton (1918–1998) was a British organic chemist whose use of conformational analysis transformed the study of molecular structure and reactivity. He shared the 1969 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Conformational analysis: The study of how molecular shape and rotation about bonds affect a molecule’s properties and reactions. Barton used conformational analysis to connect molecular shape with chemical reactivity.
Barton reaction: A radical decarboxylation reaction that converts a carboxylic acid derivative into a carbon-centered radical. This named reaction grew from Barton’s work on radical chemistry.
Odd Hassel: A Norwegian chemist whose studies of molecular structure and conformation earned him the 1969 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Hassel shared the Nobel Prize with Barton for work on conformational analysis.
Natural product synthesis: The chemical construction of compounds produced by living organisms, often through multistep reactions. Barton applied structural reasoning and new reactions to the synthesis of complex natural products.
1969 Nobel Prize in Chemistry: The Nobel Prize awarded jointly to Derek Barton and Odd Hassel for contributions to conformational analysis. The award recognized the structural framework Barton helped establish.
Stereochemistry: The study of the three-dimensional arrangements of atoms in molecules and their effects. His work made three-dimensional structure central to predicting organic reactions.
Barton–McCombie deoxygenation: A radical-chain reaction that replaces an alcohol-derived oxygen substituent with hydrogen. Barton and Stuart McCombie developed this method for removing oxygen from organic molecules.
Stuart McCombie: A British chemist known for developing a radical deoxygenation method with Derek Barton. Their collaboration produced the Barton–McCombie deoxygenation.
Steroid synthesis: The chemical preparation of steroid molecules, whose fused rings create demanding stereochemical problems. Steroid structures supplied prominent cases for analyzing conformation and stereoselective reactions.
Modern organic synthesis: The planned construction of organic molecules using selective, mechanistically informed chemical reactions. Barton’s methods and structural insights became part of the toolkit of synthetic chemistry.

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