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Duilio Arigoni | |
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| Born | (1928-12-06)6 December 1928 Lugano, Switzerland |
| Died | 10 June 2020(2020-06-10) (aged 91) |
| Alma mater | ETH Zurich |
| Awards | Wolf Prize in Chemistry (1989) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Chemistry |
| Institutions | ETH Zurich |
| Thesis | Über konfigurative BeziehungenSteroid- und Terpenverbindungen (1955) |
| Doctoral advisor | Oskar Jeger &Leopold Ružička |
| Notable students | Orlando D. Schärer |
Duilio Arigoni (6 December 1928 – 10 June 2020) was a Swisschemist and Emeritus Professor atETH Zurich. He worked on the biosynthetic pathways of many organic natural substances.[1]
Born inLugano, Switzerland, Arigoni completed his undergraduate studies in chemistry at theETH Zürich in 1951. He completed his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the ETH Zurich in 1955. His doctoral thesis was “Über konfigurative Beziehungen Steroid- und Terpenverbindungen”.
After completing his PhD, he became a professor at the ETH Zurich. He was also a visiting professor atHarvard University andCambridge University. He worked as a professor at ETH Zurich for over fifty years.
Arigoni is known for his research in bio-organic stereochemistry. His major contributions are in the stereochemistry of enzyme-catalyzed reactions and in the biosynthesis of terpenes, alkaloids, and enzyme cofactors. He has explored the detailed stereochemical pathways by which enzymes convert their substrates into products.[2] His strategy of penetrating into the structure of enzyme-substrate interactions by concentrating on the detailed stereochemical fate of isotopic substrate labels, led him to make basic contributions to the mechanism of enzymic reactions requiring coenzyme B12, one of the 'pigments of life'.
Arigoni received numerous awards. In 1989, he was awarded theWolf Prize in Chemistry along withAlan R. Battersby of theUniversity of Cambridge "for their fundamental contributions to the elucidation of the mechanism of enzymic reactions and of the biosynthesis of natural products, in particular the pigments of life".[3] He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1988.[4]
Some other awards he has received are:
