Wspomnienia o profesorze Jerzym Suszce i szkic jego dokonań naukowych

• Autorzy: Antkowiak, W.Z.

Warianty tytułu

EN

Professor Jerzy Suszko : remembering him and his scientific achievements

• Języki publikacji: PL

Abstrakty

EN

A quarter of a century has already passed since the most distinguished Polish pioneer in both natural products chemistry and stereochemistry, scientist meritorious for chemistry education, Professor Jerzy Suszko, passed away. He was born in Silesia near Teschen in 1889 and studied at the Polytechnic of Prague where he finished his PhD thesis under the auspices of Paul Rabe at the age of 24. After World War I he took on research work at the Jagielloński University in Cracow collaborating with Karol Dziewoński at the beginning. Next, after passing a habilitation examination and spending three years at the Univerity of Lvov, he moved to Poznań, where he spent the second half of his life, working as a professor and the Head of the Organic Chemistry Department of the University of Poznań. Furthermore, he was to become the Head of the Laboratory of Alkaloids of the Institute of Organic Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences. He also held some highly responsible and a Dean of the Mathematical and Natural Science Faculty for a few years. The main scientific achievements of Professor Jerzy Suszko were concerned with the chemistry of physiologically active natural products and with the spatial structure of organic molecules. From among the natural products, the alkaloids and especially those of cinchona bark were the most intensively studied mainly because of their pharmacological properties. His synthetic and structural studies analysed all the most reactive and stereochemically important fragments of the molecules of quinine and related alkaloids. This resulted analogues differing by the kind of substituent in the quinoline moiety as well as the corresponding stereoisomers. Further significant achievements in the same field comprised, among others, the elaboration of a convenient method of a reverse conversion of quinotoxine (the product of an acid treatment of quinine but also occurring as the key intermediate in the quinine synthesis) and related toxins to the natural cinchona alkaloids, the determination of the pattern of rearrangement within the vicinal amino-alcohol fragment, and the discoveries in the chemistry of derivatives with a modified vinyl side chain, especially those being intramolecular ethers. The structure and conversion studies of other alkaloids concerned those occurring in the genera Papaver (codeine and rheadine), Lupinus and Cortinarius. At the beginning of the thirties, J. Suszko, proposed a new method of determining the molecular symmetry, especially in the case of fused-ring polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. This method was next verified mainly on naphthalene molecules and was based on the binding of two identical chiral substituents to the ring system in different positions followed by an analysis of the resulting stereochemical mixture. Other stereochemical studies concerning stereocontrolled syntheses, conformation stability and configuration determination were carried out on various cyclic apliphatic hydrocarbons, including bornane derivatives. Professor Jerzy Suszko educated a great number of graduated students both in chemistry and pharmacy. From about forty people who got their PhD degrees under his scientific supervision many later reached the highest levels in their scientific careers. He was a founding member of the Polish Chemical Society and was very much engaged in its activities during his whole life. He served in some responsible offices therein, including the President of the Society. He was also a member of several foreign scientific societies, including the American Chemical Society.

Słowa kluczowe

PL

Suszko Jerzy; stereochemia; alkaloidy chininowe

EN

Suszko Jerzy; stereochemistry; alkaloids

• Czasopismo: Wiadomości Chemiczne
• Rocznik: 1998
• Tom: [Z] 52, 7-8
• Strony: 473-509
• Opis fizyczny: zawiera spis publ., bibliogr. 9 poz.

Twórcy

autor

Antkowiak, W.Z.

• Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza, ul. Grunwaldzka 6, 60-780 Poznań

• Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza, ul. Grunwaldzka 6, 60-780 Poznań

Bibliografia

• 1. Archiwalne akta personalne Profesora (Archiwum UAM, UJ).
• 2. Materiał zgromadzony w archiwach UAM, PAN Oddz. Poznań, Bibl. Gł. UAM.
• 3. Kroniki UP i UAM za lata 1930/31-1937/38, 1945-1955, 1955 56-1970 71.
• 4. Sprawozdania z posiedzeń PTCh zamieszczonych w Rocznikach Chemii.
• 5. Oryginalne publikacje Jerzego Suszki zamieszczonych w czasopismach naukowych.
• 6. 15 lat pracy Wydziału Matematyki, Fizyki i Chemii UAM 1945-1960, UAM, Seria Prac z Zakresu Dziejów Uniwersytetu Poznańskiego, Nr 1, Poznań 1961, s. 80-90.
• 7. R. S. Ludwiczak i M. Wiewiórowski, Jerzy Suszko, Nauka Polska, 1963, 6, 57-61.
• 8. Polskie Towarzystwo Chemiczne, Profesor Doktor Jerzy Suszko, Roczniki Chem., 1969, 43, 649-652.
• 9. J. K. Podlewski, Prof Dr Jerzy Suszko, 1889-1972, Farmacja Polska, 1973, XXIX, 100-102.

Uwagi

PL

Opracowane ze środków MEiN, umowa nr SONP/SP/546092/2022 w ramach programu "Społeczna odpowiedzialność nauki" - moduł: Popularyzacja nauki i promocja sportu (2022-2023).