Zoltan Hajos
| Zoltan Hajos | |
|---|---|
| Born |
3 March 1926 Budapest, Hungary |
| Nationality | Hungarian-American |
| Alma mater | Technical University of Budapest |
| Known for | Organocatalysis, total synthesis of steroids |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Organic chemistry |
| Institutions | Hoffmann-La Roche, Johnson & Johnson |
| Doctoral advisor | Zoltan Csuros |
Zoltan George Hajos (born 3 March 1926) is a Hungarian-born and trained American organic chemist. Originally an academic in his native Budapest, then an industrial chemist in the pharmaceutical industry, he is known for the Hajos–Parrish–Eder–Sauer–Wiechert reaction (originally named Hajos-Parrish reaction by Claude Agami in 1985).
Hajos studied chemistry at the Technical University of Budapest (TU Budapest), in Hungary, completing an M.Sc. in 1947, and his doctoral work under Zoltan Csuros of the Institute of Organic Chemical Technology in 1950.
Hajos remained there until accepting a position as assistant professor in organic chemistry at the TU Budapest in 1948, where he stayed until 1952, then as Lecturer at the University of Veszprem (1952-1953), returning as a Research Associate at the Institute of Organic Chemistry at TU Budapest in 1953. With backlash following the 1956 Revolution in October, 1956, Hajos left TU Budapest and communist Hungary for the United States, where he took a position as a research associate in organic chemistry, a senior postdoctoral-level position, in the Department of Chemistry at Princeton University, beginning in 1957.
Hajos accepted a chemistry position with the Pharmaceutical Research Institute of Hoffmann-La Roche, a pharmaceutical company, in Nutley, New Jersey, in 1960. He remained in that position until beginning a second phase of an academic career in 1970, first in the Chemistry Department of the University of Vermont (1972-1973), and thereafter on the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Toronto (1973 -1974). Hajos returned to the pharmaceutical industry in 1975, proceeding through a series of positions at the Research Institute of Johnson & Johnson, until retiring in 1990.
Hajos is noted for the Hajos–Parrish–Eder–Sauer–Wiechert reaction, and of the related (S)-proline-catalyzed synthesis route to the Hajos-Wiechert ketone, and is considered a pioneer in the research area of organocatalysis. In a recent review of the Hajos–Parrish–Eder–Sauer–Wiechert reaction as a name reaction, Daniel Zerong Wang describes it, and its synonyms, thus:
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