| Robert E. Ireland | |
| Birth Date: | 1912 |
| Birth Place: | Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S. |
| Death Date: | February 4, 2012 |
| Death Place: | Sarasota, Florida, U.S. |
| Fields: | Organic chemistry |
| Workplaces: | University of Michigan, California Institute of Technology, University of Virginia |
| Alma Mater: | Amherst College (BA) University of Wisconsin (PhD) |
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| Thesis1 Url: | and |
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| Doctoral Advisor: | William Summer Johnson |
| Academic Advisors: | William Gould Young |
| Doctoral Students: | David A. Evans |
| Notable Students: | Peter Wipf |
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Robert E. Ireland (1929 – February 4, 2012) was an American chemist and the Thomas Jefferson Chair Professor of chemistry at the University of Virginia. He is known for his textbook Organic Synthesis[1] and his contributions to the Ireland–Claisen rearrangement chemical reaction.[2] [3]
Ireland earned his A.B. in chemistry in 1951 at Amherst College and earned his Ph.D. in chemistry in 1954 from the University of Wisconsin with William Summer Johnson, and did his postdoctoral work at UCLA with William Gould Young. In 1956, he joined the chemistry department of University of Michigan.[4] In 1965, he became a professor of organic chemistry at the California Institute of Technology. In 1985 he became the director of the Merrell Dow Research Institute in Strasbourg, France. A year later, he became the chair of the chemistry department of University of Virginia.[3] [5] [6]
Ireland was married to wife Margaret and had two sons, Mark and Robert.[3] [5]