chemistry

James C. Letton

James C. Letton is a chemistry topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand James C. Letton rather than just read about it. In short: James Carey Letton (June 9, 1933 – March 26, 2013) was an American organic chemist known for his work in pharmaceutical chemistry. He was named the first African American member of P&G's Victor Mills Society.

Key takeaways

James C. Letton belongs to chemistry; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect James C. Letton to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of James C. Letton from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

James Carey Letton (June 9, 1933 – March 26, 2013) was an American organic chemist known for his work in pharmaceutical chemistry. He was named the first African American member of P&G's Victor Mills Society. He held a number of patents, including developing the fat substitute Olestra.

Early life and education James Carey Letton was born on June 9, 1933, in Paris, Kentucky, where he was also raised. In 1955, He received his B.S. from Kentucky State University in Chemistry. In 1956, James married his wife Rosaline Stovall. In 1961, he relocated to Chicago, where he worked as a process chemist, specializing in steroids and cholesterol derivatives. In 1970, Letton pursued and earned his Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Organic Chemistry from the University of Illinois. As his career progressed, he returned to Kentucky State University, where he began teaching and conducting research and later became the chair of the Chemistry department.

Career After leaving academia in 1975, he joined Procter & Gamble. While working at P&G, he improved their laundry detergent products. After that, he joined the research group that created Olestra. Letton also served as president of Kentucky State University's alumni association from 1979 to 1984. Letton held numerous patents for innovations such as the Process for Preparing Alkyl Glycosides and the Process for the Preparation of Mono-Condensation Derivatives of Adipic Acid. His research, which spanned both medical and chemical fields, earned him the Percy L. Julian Award in 1989, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to pure and applied research in science and engineering. Along with a number of other awards, in 1989, he was also awarded the distinguished alumni citation from the National Association for Equal Opportunities in Education. In 1992, Letton was selected to P&G's Victor Mills Society, where he made history as the first African American member. Letton worked at P&G until his retirement in 1995. Letton died on March 26, 2013, in Springdale, Ohio.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with James C. Letton

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what James C. Letton claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In chemistry, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to James C. Letton before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about James C. Letton ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of James C. Letton

In research: James C. Letton appears in chemistry research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses James C. Letton in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: James C. Letton is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1933 births, 2013 deaths, 20th-century African-American scientists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for James C. Letton outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study James C. Letton in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what James C. Letton means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain James C. Letton out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is James C. Letton in simple terms?

Why does James C. Letton matter?

Because it connects several chemistry ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study James C. Letton?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on James C. Letton.