Negishi was born inXinjing (today known as Changchun), the capital ofManchukuo, in July 1935.[6][3] Following the transfer of his father who worked at theSouth Manchuria Railway in 1936, he moved toHarbin, and lived eight years there.[7] In 1943, when he was nine, the Negishi family moved toIncheon, and a year later toKyongsong Prefecture (nowSeoul), both inJapanese-occupied Korea. In November 1945, three months afterWorld War II ended, they moved to Japan.[3] Since he excelled as a student, a year ahead of what would have been his graduation from grammar school, he was admitted to an elite secondary school, Shonan High School.[8] At the age of 17, he gained admission to the University of Tokyo. After graduation from theUniversity of Tokyo in 1958, Negishi did his internship atTeijin, where he conducted research on polymer chemistry.[9] Later, he continued his studies in the United States after having won aFulbright Scholarship and obtained his Ph.D. from theUniversity of Pennsylvania in 1963, under the supervision of professorAllan R. Day.[10][3]
After obtaining his Ph.D., Negishi decided to become an academic researcher.[11] Although he was hoping to work at a Japanese university, he could not find a position.[12] In 1966 he resigned from Teijin, and became a postdoctoral associate atPurdue University, working under future Nobel laureateHerbert C. Brown. From 1968 to 1972 he was an instructor at Purdue.[13]
In 1972, he became an assistant professor atSyracuse University, where began his lifelong study of transition metal–catalyzed reactions,[14] and was promoted to associate professor in 1979.[15] He returned to Purdue University as a full professor in the same year.[16]
He discoveredNegishi coupling, a process which condenses organic zinc compounds and organic halides under apalladium ornickel catalyst to obtain a C–C bonded product. For this achievement, he was awarded theNobel Prize in Chemistry in 2010.[17] Negishi also reported thatorganoaluminum compounds and organic zirconium compounds can be used for cross-coupling. He did not seek a patent for this coupling technology and explained his reasoning as follows: "If we did not obtain a patent, we thought that everyone could use our results easily."[18]In addition, Zr(C5H5)2 obtained by reducingzirconocene dichloride is also calledNegishi reagent, which can be used in oxidative cyclisation reactions.[19][20] The technique he developed is estimated to be used in a quarter of all reactions in the pharmaceutical industry.[3]
By the time Negishi retired in 2019, he had published more than 400 academic papers.[3] He was committed to instilling rigorous practices in his lab, emphasizing the need of keeping organized and comprehensive records. Before any separations, he asked his student to evaluate crude reaction mixtures in order to minimize loss of any useful scientific information.[14]
Negishi began dating Sumire Suzuki in his freshman year and they announced their engagement to their parents in March 1958.[33] They had met at a choir of which they were both members at in university.[3] They married the next year and together they had two daughters.[34]
Negishi loved playing the piano and conducting. During the "Pacifichem" 2015 conference's closing ceremony, he conducted an orchestra.[14]
On the evening of March 12, 2018, both Negishi and his wife were reported missing by family members. Police determined that, based on a purchase made earlier in the day, the couple had left their home inWest Lafayette, Indiana, and headed north. At about 5 a.m. the next day, officers inOgle County, Illinois, received a call to check on the welfare of an elderly man who was walking on a rural road south ofRockford. When he was taken to hospital, officers identified him as Negishi and found that police in Indiana were looking for him and his wife. A short time later, Suzuki's body was found at the Orchard Hills Landfill inDavis Junction, along with the couple's car.[34]
According to a statement from the family, the couple was driving toRockford International Airport for a trip when their car became stuck in a ditch on a road near the landfill. Negishi went looking for help and was said to be suffering from an "acute state of confusion and shock". The Ogle County Sheriff Department said there was no suspicion of foul play in Suzuki's death, although the cause of her death was not immediately released. The family said Suzuki was near the end of her battle withParkinson's disease.[34]
In May 2018, an autopsy concluded that Suzuki died fromhypothermia, but Parkinson's disease andhypertension were contributing factors.[35]
Negishi died in Indianapolis, Indiana, on June 6, 2021.[3] He was 85 years old. No funeral services took place in the United States, but his family planned to lay him to rest in Japan in 2022.[21][36][37][8]
^Anthony O. King, Nobuhisa Okukado and Ei-ichi Negishi (1977). "Highly general stereo-, regio-, and chemo-selective synthesis of terminal and internal conjugated enynes by the Pd-catalysed reaction of alkynylzinc reagents with alkenyl halides".Journal of the Chemical Society, Chemical Communications (19): 683.doi:10.1039/C39770000683.
^"Penn Chemistry Alumnus wins Nobel Prize in Chemistry".www.chem.upenn.edu. Department of Chemistry, University of Pennsylvania. October 5, 2010. RetrievedJune 12, 2021.Prof. Negishi received his Ph.D. from Penn Chemistry in 1963 under the supervision of Prof. Allan R. Day.
