Corey, Elias James (1928-…), an American chemist, won the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1990 for his achievements in systematizing the way chemists build the complicated molecules of life in the laboratory. He taught new generations of chemists how to extend chemical knowledge efficiently, and he established the structure of many chemical compounds.
Corey was born in Methuen, Massachusetts. He entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) at the age of 17 and became fascinated by chemistry. He was especially interested in organic chemistry (the chemistry of carbon-containing substances). The substances produced by living things are carbon-containing and can be of enormous complexity. Corey took his Ph.D. at M.I.T. at the age of 22, on the subject of synthetic penicillin–that is, penicillin artificially made from simpler substances. He then went on to the University of Illinois, where he studied the three-dimensional forms of molecules, and how these forms influenced the molecules’ reactions. He was only 27 when he became professor of chemistry there.
In 1957, during a year partly spent visiting Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Corey had several of the ideas that were to underpin his most important work. In 1959, he became a professor at Harvard.
Chemists learn about the structure of a chemical compound by studying its reactions with other substances, and by analysis–taking the molecules apart and studying the pieces. But they do not regard the structure as definitely known until they have succeeded in synthesizing the molecule–building it from simpler substances–and confirming that what they obtain matches the natural version exactly. Corey developed systematic ways of tackling synthesis by what he called retrosynthetic analysis. Beginning with the final intended structure, the chemist imagines the molecule broken up into simpler molecules, and breaks these down further. Then, he or she maps out the possible ways of preparing these and combining them to form the target molecule. This method reveals the quickest and cheapest path leading to the target molecule, and the synthesis can begin.
Corey applied these ideas in his work at Harvard. He was the first to synthesize prostaglandins, hormones that have a wide range of biological effects. For example, they can cause birth contractions, blood clotting, or blood vessel dilation; and they are involved in immune responses (see Prostaglandin ). Over the years, Corey and his research students have synthesized scores of naturally occurring products, often of medical value.
