{{short description|British chemist}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2017}} {{Use British English|date=October 2017}} {{Infobox scientist | honorific_prefix = | name = Ralph Raphael | honorific_suffix = {{postnom|country=GBR|size=100%|CBE|FRS|FRSE}} | birth_name = Ralph Alexander Raphael | birth_date = {{birth date|1921|01|01|df=yes}} | birth_place = Croydon, London, England | death_date = {{Death date and age|1998|04|27|1921|01|01|df=yes}} |death_place = Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England |image = Ralph Raphael.jpg | fields = {{Unbulleted list|Organic Chemistry|Natural Products}} | workplaces = {{Unbulleted list|Imperial College|Glasgow University|Queen's University Belfast|Cambridge University}} | alma_mater = Imperial College | thesis_title = | thesis_url = | thesis_year = 1943 | doctoral_advisors = {{Unbulleted list|Sir Ewart Jones|Sir Ian Heilbron}} | doctoral_students = {{Unbulleted list|A. Ian Scott|Robert Ramage}} | notable_students = | known_for = Acetylene chemistry, Organic synthesis | author_abbrev_bot = | author_abbrev_zoo = | influences = | influenced = | awards = {{Unbulleted list|Meldola Medal{{small|(1948)}}|Tilden Medal {{small|(1960)}}}} | footnotes = | spouse = Prudence Maguerire Anne née Gaffikin }}
'''Ralph Alexander Raphael''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CBE|FRS|FRSE}} (1 January 1921 – 27 April 1998) was a British organic chemist, well known for his use of acteylene derivatives in the synthesis of natural products with biological activity.<ref name=frs>{{Cite journal | last1 = Crombie | first1 = Leslie |author-link=Leslie Crombie| doi = 10.1098/rsbm.1999.0096 | doi-access = free| title = Ralph Alexander Raphael, C.B.E. | journal = Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society | volume = 46 | pages = 465–481 | year = 2000 | s2cid = 57166350 }}</ref><ref name=pauson>{{cite web |url=https://www.rse.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/obits_alpha/raphael_ralph.pdf |last=Pauson |first=Peter L. |author-link=Pauson–Khand reaction|publisher=Royal Society of Edinburgh |title=Ralph Alexander Raphael}}</ref>
==Early life and education== Ralph Raphael was born in Croydon, London on New Year's Day 1921, the son of master tailor Jacob ("Jack") Raphael (1889-1978) and his wife, Lily (née Woolf; 1892-1956).<ref>{{Cite ODNB|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-69777|isbn = 978-0-19-861412-8|doi = 10.1093/ref:odnb/69777|title = The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|year = 2004}}</ref> He attended secondary school at Wesley College, Dublin and then Tottenham County School, where a chemistry master, Edgar Ware, introduced him to the subject that would become Raphael's lifetime passion. In 1939 he won scholarships to study at Imperial College, graduating BSc with a first-class degree in 1941 and winning the Hofmann Prize for practical chemistry.<ref name=frs/> During the Second World War both the undergraduate and PhD courses at Imperial College were of two year's duration and Raphael completed the latter in 1943. His doctoral work, aimed at the synthesis of vitamin A, was published in five collaborative papers on the chemistry of acetylenes and that topic became a hallmark of his subsequent research career.<ref name=frs/><ref name=frse>{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=978-0-902198-84-5|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|archive-date=4 March 2016|access-date=8 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074135/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | title=Studies in the Polyene Series. Part IX. The Condensation Product of Hex-1-yne with Crotonaldehyde and its Anionotropic Rearrangement |last1=Heilbron | first1=I.M. |last2=Jones | first2=E.R.H. |last3=Raphael | first3=R.A. | journal =J. Chem. Soc. | year =1943 | pages =264–265 |doi=10.1039/JR9430000264}}</ref><ref name=biblio>{{Cite journal | last1 = Crombie | first1 = Leslie |author-link=Leslie Crombie | title = Ralph Alexander Raphael, C.B.E., data supplement | journal = Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society | volume = 46 | pages = 465–481 | year = 2000|url=http://rsbm.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/46/465/suppl/DC1 | doi = 10.1098/rsbm.1999.0096 | doi-access = free| s2cid = 57166350 | url-access = subscription }}</ref>
==Career== As a new PhD, Raphael was allocated to the wartime effort on the antibiotic penicillin, working from 1943 to 1946 at the May & Baker laboratories.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 =Swann|first1=J.P. | title =The Search for Synthetic Penicillin during World War II. | journal =The British Journal for the History of Science |volume=16 |issue=2 | year =1983 | pages = 154–190 |doi=10.1017/S0007087400026789|pmid=11611199 |s2cid=39573126 }}</ref> After the war, he obtained an ICI fellowship (for 1946–1949) that allowed him to return to Imperial College to pursue independent research: an early highlight was his synthesises of penicillic acid, the major product of acid degradation of penicillin (although not containing its characteristic β-lactam substructure).<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 =Raphael|first1=Ralph | title =Synthesis of the Antibiotic, Penicillic Acid | journal =Nature |volume=160 |issue=4060 | year =1947 | pages = 261–262 |doi=10.1038/160261c0|pmid=20344393 |bibcode=1947Natur.160..261R |s2cid=4066740 }}</ref> Another was his collaboration with Franz Sondheimer on natural products including an insecticide extracted from ''Zanthoxylum clava-herculis'' (a diene then called herculin, now systematically named as (2E,8E)-N-isobutyl-2,8-dodecadienamide); work which led to Raphael's award of the Meldola Medal in 1948.<ref name=frs/><ref name=biblio/> In 1949, Raphael was appointed to his first permanent job, as a lecturer at Glasgow University. During this period he developed his teaching skills and his prodigious work rate can be judged by the fact that he also completed nine chapters in one volume of what would become a classic chemistry text.<ref>{{cite book | last1 =Raphael|first1=R.A. | title =Chemistry of Carbon Compounds | year =1953 |chapter=Chapters 1-9 |editor=E.H.Rodd |volume= IIA |publisher=Elsevier |asin=B000O3RYQ6}}</ref> In 1954, Raphael moved to Queen's University, Belfast as its first Professor of Organic Chemistry. There he published an important book on acetylene chemistry, building on his broad experience of these compounds.<ref>{{cite book |author=Raphael, Ralph Alexander | title =Acetylenic compounds in organic synthesis | year =1955 | publisher= Butterworths Scientific Publications |location=London |url= https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015064396958;view=1up;seq=12 |oclc=3134811}}</ref> In 1957, Raphael returned to the University of Glasgow as the Regius Professor of Chemistry,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/Edinburgh/issue/17508/page/331 |title=The Edinburgh Gazette |access-date=2018-05-01}}</ref> In 1960 he finished work on a text-book for undergraduates,<ref>{{cite book |author=Raphael, Ralph Alexander | title =Advances in organic chemistry | year =1960 | publisher= Interscience |location=New York |oclc=709439877 |isbn=978-0-598-41777-0}}</ref> which was updated and re-issued several times. In 1972 Raphael became head of the Department of Organic, Inorganic and Theoretical Chemistry at Cambridge University. This post had been made vacant by the retirement, on ill-health grounds, of Lord Todd, the previous holder of the 1702 Chair in Organic Chemistry. Raphael also became a Fellow of Christ's College. On retirement in 1988 he was granted emeritus status within his college and department, reflecting his distinguished service.<ref name=cam1702>{{Cite book|title=The 1702 chair of chemistry at Cambridge: transformation and change|editor-first1=Mary D. |editor-last1=Archer |editor-link=Mary Archer |editor-first2= Christopher D. |editor-last2=Haley |last1=Nolan |first1=Bill |last2=Williams |first2=Dudley |last3=Ramage |first3=Robert |chapter= Chapter 10. Ralph Alexander Raphael: organic synthesis - elegance, efficiency and the unexpected |pages=237–256 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-521-82873-4}}</ref>
==Teaching and research== Despite having a slight stammer,<ref name=pauson/> Professor Raphael was an inspiring lecturer who engaged his undergraduate students with up-to-date material on organic chemistry, based on his extensive knowledge of the current literature.<ref name=frs/> He had an excellent sense of humour, illustrated by Dudley Williams's report<ref>{{cite journal | last =Williams|first=Dudley | title =Ralph Alexander Raphael: A Lover of Acetylenes at 65 | journal =Aldrichimica Acta |volume=19 |issue=1 | year =1986 | pages =3–9 |url=https://www.sigmaaldrich.com/ifb/acta/v19/HTML/index.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last =Williams|first=Dudley |title=Ralph Alexander Raphael |journal=J. Chem. Soc. Perkin Trans. 1 |issue=8 |year=1999 |pages=835–838 |doi=10.1039/A901111K}}</ref> that<blockquote>"he delivered spoof lectures. One on the synthesis of catenanes began with serious chemistry and gradually — imperceptibly — became less credible; it culminated in the description of their absorption spectra in the audible region"</blockquote> The output of Raphael's own work and that of his research group of postgraduate and postdoctoral students was published in over 150 peer-reviewed articles.<ref name=biblio/><ref name=scholar>{{cite web |title=Google scholar results for R A Raphael |url=https://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?start=30&q=-canadian+author:%22R+A+Raphael%22&hl=en&as_sdt=0,5}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://academictree.org/chemistry/publications.php?pid=55569&searchstring=&showfilter=all |title=Ralph A Raphael publications |access-date=2018-05-01 |publisher=Academictree.org}}</ref> Raphael was funded by external grants,<ref name=biblio/> including those from the SERC, NRC Canada, Glaxo Smith Kline, Hoffmann-La Roche and ICI, for whom he was a retained consultant. He also consulted for Beecham Group, Chiroscience and Fisons.<ref name=frs/> His consultancy and other work led to a number of patent filings.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://worldwide.espacenet.com/searchResults?submitted=true&locale=en_EP&DB=EPODOC&ST=advanced&TI=&AB=&PN=&AP=&PR=&PD=&PA=&IN=ralph+raphael&CPC=c07&IC=&Submit=Search |title=Espace Patent Search |access-date=2018-05-01}}</ref>
===Synthesis of natural products=== Raphael studied many natural products, especially of the type that were biologically active and which would provide a challenge for synthesis but might be the realistic target of a single PhD student's thesis. He and his students published syntheses of 2-deoxyribose, aaptamine, aphidicolin, apiose, arachidonic acid, arcyriaflavin B, baikiain, bullatenone, chrysanthemic acid, clovene, cordycepose, cuparene, erythrulose, exaltolide, farnesiferol C, geiparvarin, gibberone, histamine, linoleic acid, linolenic acid, lipoic acid, pseudomonic acid, pyrenophorin, Queen bee acid, shikimic acid, staurosporinone, strigol, steganacin, steganone, trichodermin and virantmicin.<ref name=cam1702/> Raphael also investigated the composition of the wax coating of plant leaves, describing the hydrocarbons of which they are composed.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 =Eglinton |first1=G. |display-authors=etal| title =Hydrocarbon Constituents of the Wax Coatings of Plant Leaves: A Taxonomic Survey |journal =Nature |volume=193 |issue=4817 |year =1962 | pages = 739–742 |doi=10.1038/193739a0|pmid=13889451 |bibcode=1962Natur.193..739E |s2cid=4070330 }}</ref> In another intriguing publication in ''Nature'', Raphael collaborated with David Rubio to identify components used in the surface treatment of the wood of stringed instruments made by Stradivarius in Cremona and showed that a version of these substances could be used to improve the tone of modern instruments.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 =Barlow|first1=C.Y. |display-authors=etal| title =Wood Treatment used in Cremonese Instruments | journal =Nature |volume=332 |issue=6162 |year =1988 | page = 313 |doi=10.1038/332313a0|bibcode=1988Natur.332..313B |s2cid=4320685 |doi-access=free }}</ref>
===Molecules of theoretical interest=== Raphael was interested in molecules of theoretical, as well as practical, interest. In 1951, co-worked and co-authored with J. W. Cook and A. I. Scott, he published the first synthesis of the quasi-aromatic compound tropolone and the thujaplicin natural products which contained this unusual ring system.<ref name=cam1702/>{{rp|243}} His interest in acetylenes led him to study macrocyclic compounds containing this functional group, and bridged ring systems that could be derived from them.<ref name=biblio/> Before the first synthesis by Ralph Raphael, thujaplicins had been naturally isolated from ''Chamaecyparis taiwanensis'' by Tetsuo Nozoe in 1936 (the β-isomer; hinokitiol),<ref>{{cite journal |title=Tetsuo Nozoe (1902−1996) |journal=European Journal of Organic Chemistry |date=February 2004 |volume=2004 |issue=4 |pages=899–928 |doi=10.1002/ejoc.200300579}}</ref> and from ''Thuja plicata'' independently by Holger Erdtman in 1948 (all three isomers; α-, β- and γ-thujaplicins).<ref>{{cite web |title=Professor Ralph Alexander Raphael CBE FRSE |url=https://www.rse.org.uk/fellow/ralph-alexander-raphael/ |website=The Royal Society of Edinburgh |date=28 October 2016}}</ref>
==Honours, awards and service to the scientific community== In 1958 Raphael was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were John Monteath Robertson, James Norman Davidson, Robert Campbell Garry, and Guido Pontecorvo.<ref name=frse/> In 1962 he was also elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London; he was the Davy Medalist for the latter in 1981.<ref name=roysoc>{{cite web |url=https://collections.royalsociety.org/DServe.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqDb=Persons&dsqSearch=Code=='NA3617'&dsqCmd=Show.tcl |title=Fellow details |publisher=The Royal Society |access-date=2018-05-01}}</ref> He was appointed a CBE in the Honours list of June 1982.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/49008/supplement/9 |title=The London Gazette |date=1982-06-12 |access-date=2018-05-01}}</ref> Raphael received Honorary Doctorates from his ''alma mater'' Imperial College, in 1991,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.imperial.ac.uk/about/introducing-imperial/our-people/honorary-graduates-and-fellows/ |title=Honorary graduates and fellows |website=www.imperial.ac.uk |access-date=2018-05-01}}</ref> Stirling University in 1982,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.stir.ac.uk/events/graduation/honorary-graduates/archive/1978-1987/ |title=Honorary Graduates Archive 1978-1987 |website=www.stir.ac.uk |access-date=2018-05-01}}</ref> the University of East Anglia in 1986,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://portal.uea.ac.uk/documents/6207125/7409549/Honorary+Graduates+of+UEA+%28updated+29+08+17%29.pdf/a28a0862-1178-474e-b921-5f7621f6ed79 |title=Honorary Graduates of the University |website=www.uea.ac.uk |access-date=2018-05-01}}</ref> and Queen's University Belfast in 1989,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.qub.ac.uk/about/Leadership-and-structure/Registrars-Office/FileStore/Filetoupload,671298,en.pdf#search=ralph%20raphael |title=Honorary Degrees 1871-2017 |website=www.qub.ac.uk |access-date=2018-05-01}}</ref> Among his many awards and service to learned bodies were: {{colbegin}} * Meldola Medal and Prize (1948) <ref name=cam1702/>{{rp|240}} * Tilden Medal (1960) <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rsc.org/ScienceAndTechnology/Awards/TildenPrizes/PreviousWinners.asp|title=RSC Tilden Prize Previous Winners|publisher=Royal Society of Chemistry|access-date=2018-05-01}}</ref> * Vice-President of the Chemical Society, London (1967-1970) <ref name=cam1702/>{{rp|247}} * Chemistry Committee Member of SRC (1968) <ref name=cam1702/>{{rp|246}} * Pedler Award (1973) <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rsc.org/ScienceAndTechnology/Awards/PedlerAward/PreviousWinners.asp|title=Pedler Award Winners|publisher=Royal Society of Chemistry|access-date=2018-05-01}}</ref> * Ciba-Geigy Sponsored Award for Synthetic Chemistry (1975) <ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rsc.org/ScienceAndTechnology/Awards/SyntheticOrganicChemistryAward/PreviousWinners.asp |publisher=Royal Society of Chemistry |title=Synthetic Organic Chemistry Award Previous Winners |access-date=2018-05-01}}</ref> * Member of the Council of the Royal Society (1975-1977) <ref name=roysoc/> * President of the Perkin Division of the Royal Society of Chemistry (1979-1981) <ref name=cam1702/>{{rp|251}} * Visiting Professor, Hebrew University of Jerusalem (1981) <ref name=pauson/> * Honorary membership of the Royal Irish Academy (1987) <ref name=pauson/> * Visiting Professor, University of Hong Kong (1989) <ref name=pauson/> * Visiting Professor, Université of Haute Alsace (1990) <ref name=pauson/> {{colend}}
==Personal life== In 1944 Raphael married Prudence Maguerire Anne née Gaffikin, who was a professional violin and viola player. They had a son, Tony, and a daughter, Sonia. By 1998 there were two grandchildren and a great-granddaughter. Ralph Raphael was keenly interested in the visual and performing arts, becoming a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the National Gallery in 1986; his favourite pastime was contract bridge. Raphael died of ischaemic heart disease, in Cambridge on 27 April 1998.<ref name=pauson/><ref name=cam1702/>{{rp|253}}<ref>{{cite news |title=Obituary: Professor Ralph Raphael |newspaper=The Independent |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/obituary-professor-ralph-raphael-1160999.html |date=5 May 1998 |last=Williams |first=Dudley |access-date=2018-05-01}}</ref>
==Further reading== * {{cite book |editor1=Barry M. Trost |editor2=Chao-Jun Li |title=Modern Alkyne Chemistry: Catalytic and Atom-Economic Transformations |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |year=2014 |isbn=978-3-527-67791-7}} * {{cite book |author=K. C. Nicolaou |author2=Jason S. Chen |title=Classics in Total Synthesis III: Further Targets, Strategies, Methods |publisher=Springer |year=2011 |isbn=978-3-527-32957-1}} * {{cite book |author=J. Mann |title=Natural products: their chemistry and biological significance |publisher=Longman Scientific & Technical |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-582-06009-8 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780582060098 }}
==References== {{reflist}} {{s-start}} {{s-aca}} {{succession box|title=Regius Professor of Chemistry, Glasgow|years=1957 - 1972|before=J W Cook (1939-1955)<br />Sir Derek Barton (1955-1957)|after=Gordon Kirby}} {{s-end}}
{{1702 Chairs of Chemistry (University of Cambridge)}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Raphael, Ralph}} Category:1921 births Category:1998 deaths Category:British organic chemists Category:Fellows of the Royal Society Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Category:Academics of the University of Glasgow Category:Professors of chemistry (Cambridge, 1702) Category:Fellows of Christ's College, Cambridge Category:People educated at Wesley College, Dublin Category:Jewish British scientists Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Category:20th-century British chemists Category:Chemists of the University of Glasgow