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William
S. Knowles
St Louis, Missouri, USA |
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In 1968
William S. Knowles discovered that the metal rhodium
can be used in a chiral molecule to catalyse asymmetric
hydrogenation reactions. Hydrogenation is the
addition of hydrogen atoms in H2 to the carbon
atoms in a double bond.
Knowles quickly developed an
industrial synthesis of the amino acid L-DOPA, which has
proved to be useful in the treatment of Parkinson's
disease. This was the first industrial catalytic asymmetric
synthesis. It has been followed by many others.
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