Zoltan Hajos

Zoltan George Hajos (born Zoltán György Hajós; 3 March 1926 – 9 October 2022) was a Hungarian-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 ).

Biography

Chemistry training

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. 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.

Second academic and pharmaceutical periods

Hajos accepted a chemistry position with the Pharmaceutical Research Institute of Hoffmann-La Roche, a pharmaceutical company, in Nutley, New Jersey, in 1960. and of the related (S)-proline-catalyzed synthesis route to the , 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: Nobel Prize laureate in Chemistry 2021 Benjamin List, a leader in the modern field of organocatalysis, describes the importance of the discovery of the Hajos–Parrish–Eder–Sauer–Wiechert reaction thus:

Personal life and death Hajos died in Budapest on 9 October 2022, at the age of 96.

Awards and recognition Hajos received a Certificate of Merit, an Iron Award, from TU Budapest in May 2013, in recognition of 65 years of professional service.

Hajos received a Certificate of Merit, a Platinum Award, from TU Budapest in 2022, in recognition of 75 years of professional service.

Selected publications