Negishi, Ei-ichi, 1935–2021, Japanese chemist, b. Changchum, China, Univ. of Tokyo (B.Eng., 1958), Univ. of Pennsylvania (Ph.D., 1963). In 1966 he joined the faculty at Purdue Univ., and he spent most of his career there, retiring in 2019; from 1972-79 he was a professor at Syracuse Univ. Negishi was awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Richard Heck and Akira Suzuki for their research during the 1960s and '70s on palladium-catalyzed coupling reactions in organic synthesis. Their work, carried out independently, laid the foundation for the synthesis of chemicals for applications in such diverse areas as pharmaceuticals, agricultural products, and advanced technological materials. Palladium-catalyzed cross coupling also led to breakthroughs in DNA sequencing. Negishi developed a modification of Heck's technique in 1977. Negishi received the Order of Culture from Emperor Akihito (2010) and was elected to the National Academy of Sciences (2014).
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