John Cornforth

John Cornforth (1917–2013) was an Australian-British organic chemist whose studies of enzyme-catalyzed reactions earned him the 1975 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

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Rita Cornforth: Rita Cornforth was an organic chemist who collaborated with John Cornforth on research into enzyme mechanisms and stereochemistry. She was a close scientific collaborator whose experimental work contributed to his research.
Stereochemistry: Stereochemistry is the study of the three-dimensional arrangement of atoms in molecules and its effects on chemical behavior. Cornforth’s research examined how molecular three-dimensional structure determines enzyme reactions.
Isotope labeling: Isotope labeling introduces atoms of a distinguishable isotope into a molecule to trace its transformations. Labeled substrates revealed the fate of hydrogen atoms in enzyme reactions.
University of Sydney: The University of Sydney is an Australian public research university founded in 1850. Cornforth studied chemistry there before moving to Britain for doctoral research.
Enzyme catalysis: Enzyme catalysis is the acceleration of chemical reactions by enzymes through interactions with their substrates. His work gave enzyme catalysis a precise stereochemical description.
Vladimir Prelog: Vladimir Prelog was a Swiss organic chemist who developed stereochemical nomenclature and shared the 1975 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Prelog shared Cornforth’s Nobel year for distinct work on stereochemical reactions.
Enzyme: An enzyme is a biological catalyst, usually a protein, that accelerates a chemical reaction. The reactions Cornforth studied were catalyzed by enzymes.
Terpene biosynthesis: Terpene biosynthesis is the production of terpenes from isoprenoid building blocks through enzyme-catalyzed pathways. Cornforth and Popják used mechanistic studies to clarify how organisms assemble terpenes.
University of Oxford: The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. Cornforth earned his doctorate there under Robert Robinson.
Biochemistry: Biochemistry is the study of chemical substances and processes in living organisms. Cornforth’s research connected synthetic organic methods with questions about living systems.