Giorgio Modena Award 2019

Former Professor of Organic Chemistry at the University of Padua

Born in Ancona on March 15th 1924 he passed away on July 13, 2011. Graduated (Liceo Classico Rinaldini of Ancona) in July 1942, he began his chemical studies in the middle of the Second World War, giving some examinations at the University of Camerino but graduating in Industrial Chemistry in Bologna, with the prof. Andrisano in 1947. He then began his scientific career as an assistant, a professor in charge and then as a free lecturer (1954) in the group of Prof. Angelo Mangini. In 1957, first of all the assistants of prof. Mangini, also through the good relations between Prof. Mangini and Prof. Christopher Ingold, he spent one year (February-December) at the University College, London, working with Dr. Vernon. In the academic year 1962-63 he was appointed Director of the Institute of Organic Chemistry of the University of Bari and, in the following academic year, he was finally appointed Professor of Chemistry Organ and Director of the Institute of Organic Chemistry of the University of Bari. In the following years he created a group of good collaborators in the field of Reaction Mechanisms, which soon got a good international visibility.

He was also actively interested in the problems of the University of Bari (he was a member of the Board of Directors) and Chemical Studies (he was a member of the Commission charged with studying the introduction of the Doctorate in Italy, the commission charged with pressuring the CNR for the recognition of studies on reaction mechanisms). He founded and directed the local section of the Italian Chemical Society (1966-67). In 1967 he was called to cover the Chair of Higher Organic Chemistry at the University of Padua where he then remained as Full Professor of Organic Chemistry until his retirement. 1999. In May 2000 he was appointed Professor Emeritus of the University of Padua.

Since his arrival in Padua there have been many invitations to spend periods of study abroad: 1969 Visiting Professor, Brown University, Provence R.I., USA; 1973 Visiting Professor, University of Jerusalem, Israel; 1978 Visiting Professor, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada; 1980 Visiting Professor, Texas Tech. University, Lubbock, Texas, USA.

In Padua he received from CNR the nomination as Director of the CNR Center on the Mechanisms of Organic Reactions that he directed from 1971 to 1996. This appointment crowned the efforts of many years and more specifically defined his field of research activity: the activity of the Center over the years has given renown to the organic group operating in the University of Padua.

Chemical and chemical promotion activities continued at national and international level: he was President (1974-77) of the Division of Organic Chemistry of the Italian Chemical Society; Vice-President of the Italian Chemical Society (1978-80); President of the Veneto Section of the SCI (1980-91); at international level he was a member of the IUPAC Division of Organic Chemistry (1975-1983 and 1985-1987), President of the Division of Organic Chemistry (1983-85) and was finally elected to the IUPAC Bureau for the period 1987- 1995. During the IUPAC office he also coordinated the Italian delegation to the IUPAC Council meetings until 1997.

In the field of publishing activities, he was a member of the editorial board of: Nouveau Journal de Chemie; Review of Chemical Intermediates; and Phosphorus, Sulfur and Silicon. He was Director of the Italian Chemical Journal from 1997 to the end of this magazine (1999). He was Editor (Italian) of the "European Journal of Organic Chemistry" (from its beginning (1998) until October 31st 2000).

He was a member of the Istituto Veneto (Venezia) and of the Academy of Sciences (Academy of XL, Rome), and of the Accademia dei Lincei (Rome), and of the Galileian Academy of Padua, and of the Pugliese Academy of Sciences, Bari, 1967.

He received the gold medal of the merits of the School, of Culture and of Art (1982) and the "Cannizzaro" Medal (1984) of the Italian Chemical Society and the "A.Mangini" Medal (1991) of the Division of Chemistry Organic. of the SCI. In 1994 he received the IUPAC Medal, in the 12th IUPAC Conference of Organic Physical Chemistry. He has been a Member of the Italian Chemical Society, of the Royal Chemical Society (London), and of the American Chemical Society. He has authored over 300 scientific notes and reviews in the field of "Organic Reaction Mechanisms" and Chemical-Organic Synthesis: nucleophilic reactions in activated halogen-ethylenes, chemistry of vinyl cations, Tiirenio and Tiiranio ions, reduction reactions sulphoxides, protonation behavior of weak bases, oxidation with peroxidic compounds, syntones for pericyclic reactions, etc. The publications were, apart from the first few years, mainly published in English and, in general, printed in English and US magazines. He died in Padua on July 13, 2011, less than three weeks after the death of his wife Franca.

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