Vladimir Prelog

Vladimir Prelog was a Croatian-Swiss organic chemist whose research clarified the stereochemistry of organic molecules and reactions. He shared the 1975 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Robert C. Cornforth: An Australian-British organic chemist who shared the 1975 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for work on enzyme-catalyzed reactions. Cornforth shared Prelog’s Nobel Prize for distinct research on stereochemistry and enzymatic reactions.
Cahn–Ingold–Prelog priority rules: Rules that rank substituents around a stereocenter to assign R or S configuration. Prelog helped develop these rules for describing molecular configurations consistently.
Prelog’s rule: An empirical rule predicting the preferred face of attack in certain nucleophilic additions to carbonyl compounds. This named rule connects his stereochemical studies to predictions about product configuration.
Organic chemistry: The branch of chemistry concerned primarily with carbon-containing compounds, their structures, properties, and reactions. Prelog’s contributions changed how organic chemists describe and interpret molecular structure.
Leopold Ružička: A Croatian-Swiss chemist who won the 1939 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for work on polymethylenes and higher terpenes. Ružička recruited Prelog to the Zurich laboratory where his career in Switzerland took shape.
Stereochemistry: The study of the three-dimensional arrangement of atoms in molecules and its effects on chemical behavior. This field encompasses the molecular structures and reactions central to Prelog’s research.
Asymmetric synthesis: A chemical synthesis that produces unequal amounts of stereoisomeric products. Prelog’s research helped establish principles for controlling stereochemical outcomes in synthesis.
Stereochemical nomenclature: The system of conventions used to name and specify the spatial arrangement of atoms in molecules. The rules associated with Prelog brought greater consistency to stereochemical descriptions.
ETH Zurich: A public research university in Zurich, Switzerland, known for science, engineering, and mathematics. Prelog spent much of his research career at ETH Zurich and helped establish its organic chemistry program.
Chirality: The property of an object or molecule that makes it distinguishable from its mirror image. Prelog’s stereochemical work examined how molecular handedness affects reactions and properties.

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