chemistry

John F. Hartwig

John F. Hartwig 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 John F. Hartwig rather than just read about it. In short: John F. Hartwig is an American organometallic chemist who holds the position of Henry Rapoport Professor of Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

John F. Hartwig is an American organometallic chemist who holds the position of Henry Rapoport Professor of Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley. His laboratory traditionally focuses on developing transition metal-catalyzed reactions. Hartwig is known for helping develop the Buchwald–Hartwig amination, a chemical reaction used in organic chemistry for the synthesis of carbon–nitrogen bonds via the palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling of amines with aryl halides.

Education and training Hartwig received his A.B. from Princeton University in 1986. With Robert G. Bergman and Richard A. Andersen as coadvisors, he earned his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1990. Thereafter he was an American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Associate at MIT, where he worked in the laboratory of Stephen J. Lippard.

Research He assumed an independent position at Yale University in 1992. Over the next 14 years, he was promoted to associate professor, full professor and finally the Irénée duPont professorship. During this period, the Buchwald–Hartwig amination was developed. Here is an example of this reaction (OTf = triflate or trifluoromethanesulfonate):

Also while at Yale, he discovered the metal-catalyzed borylation of unactivated C-H bonds.

In 2006, he assumed the Kenneth L. Reinhart Jr. professorship at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. There he published "Organotransition Metal Chemistry: From Bonding to Catalysis." In 2011 he returned to Berkeley as Henry Rapoport Professor of Chemistry as well as a member of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2012. In 2019, together with Stephen Buchwald, he was awarded the Wolf Prize.

Memberships, fellowships, and awards

References

Illustrations

John F. Hartwig: Aliphatic C–H borylation — Aliphatic C–H borylation

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with John F. Hartwig

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what John F. Hartwig 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 John F. Hartwig 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 John F. Hartwig 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 John F. Hartwig

In research: John F. Hartwig 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 John F. Hartwig 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: John F. Hartwig is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1964 births, 21st-century American chemists, American organic chemists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for John F. Hartwig 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 John F. Hartwig in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what John F. Hartwig 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 John F. Hartwig out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is John F. Hartwig in simple terms?

John F. Hartwig is an American organometallic chemist who holds the position of Henry Rapoport Professor of Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley.

Why does John F. Hartwig 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 John F. Hartwig?

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 John F. Hartwig.