[Note: An announcement is posted in this blog on 27 January, 2008 concerning a gathering at CSU on 22 Feb., 2008.]
This morning I learned of the passing of one the great pioneers of asymmetric organic synthesis- Dr. Albert I. Meyers, University Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at Colorado State University, on mole day, October 23, 2007. I do not know the cause of death this moment, but he did suffer from heart problems for quite some time.
Professor Meyers got his PhD at New York University under Ritter in 1957 and later did a post-doc with E.J. Corey. He wrote a book on heterocyclic chemistry and got the highest synthetic chemistry honor of all- a named reaction; The Meyers Aldehyde Synthesis.
Meyers was best known for his developmental work with stereodirecting, chiral auxiliaries. The Meyers group developed asymmetric C-C bond forming reactions with oxazolines, formamidines, and bicyclic lactams. Enantiomeric carboxylic acids, amines, cyclopentenones, etc, were prepared by his group. Numerous natural products, including Maytansine, were the result of methods development from this group.
While asymmetric catalysis would eventually capture more attention later on, the early work with chiral auxiliaries helped to develop a more solid understanding of the mechanics of asymmetric induction or chiral transfer as some put it. The specialized vocabulary of stereochemistry was the norm within the group. Napkins at the local drinking establishments were often covered with scribbled drawings of diastereomeric transition states and arrow pushing over chemical structures. AIM in particular had a knack for 3-D chalk sketches of chiral alkaloids.
The Meyers group at Colorado State in Ft. Collins was typically rather large and quite international. There was a time in the 1980’s and 1990’s when a special magic permeated the department. This was the era of Jack Norton, Louis Hegedus, John Stille, and Al Meyers- heavy hitters all and located at a northern Colorado Ag school. It was a time of organometallic chemistry and asymmetric synthesis. For the student, it was an exciting time and place to be doing chemistry. I count myself as extremely fortunate to have been there.
His love for his mistress- chemistry (as he put it)- was all consuming. AIM had a sort of panache that generated enthusiam among the group. AIM loved the science and the people of chemistry. Lunch with AIM was story time. He was very convivial and would regale his audience with amusing anecdotes of his travels and brushes with some of the larger-than-life characters in our field.
The Meyers group was a colorful lot. Multiple languages and strident voices could be heard in the lab against the tapping of chalk on the blackboard. AIM loved nothing more than to be engaged in a blackboard discussion with his sharpest students trying to noodle out some mechanistic or stereochemical problem.
He was a great guy and we’ll all miss him.
Lamentations on Chemistry 
15 comments
Comments feed for this article
October 24, 2007 at 6:46 pm
around the corner and down the hall
AIM was truly one of the most under-appreciated chemists of our time. I wonder what would have happened if he had the same PR machine as KCN, SJD, or DWCM. His influence has permeated almost every aspect of synthetic organic chemistry whether we care to admit (and/or acknowledge) it or not. A fighter to the very end, we had a good laugh about the infamous ‘Meyers memos’ just last week. He will be sorely missed…
October 24, 2007 at 8:47 pm
gaussling
Well put. I’d have to agree.
October 25, 2007 at 1:43 am
ZAL
I’ve never had the opportunity to know him personally, but I’ve read many publications of him while working with formamidines and oxazolines. I’ve always had the deepest appreciation for his work and I’ve had very pleasant experiences with his chemistry – always worked very well for me!
R.I.P.
October 25, 2007 at 3:27 pm
sherry chavez
I had the pleasure of being one of the last undergraduate student in al’s lab in 1998. When i heard to day my heart broke. He was a great mentor and I will miss him dearly. My favorate memory was when I had just returned from an interview with GSK and absolutely hated it. Im a colorado girl and don’t do humid weather. He comes bouncing in the lab and asks me ” Sooooo how’d it go?” I told him ok but i realy didnt like the weather. He says “The humitity is the best part .I go out there and all my wrinkles just disappear” keep in mind he is completely serious.
needless to say he helped me find a job that i loved and when it was time to move on a few years later he helped me get into the grad school that i want even though he had been long retired. they just dont make them like they use to.
may he be happy in the big ochem lab in the sky
October 25, 2007 at 3:41 pm
gaussling
Thanks for sharing the story. He had some of that “old school” charm.
October 26, 2007 at 6:50 am
Mark Scialdone
Son of a Jewish baker from Brooklyn, Al, who was a great baseball player, was actually drafted by the Cleveland Indians farm team but his Dad shut that down. All of us who were lucky enough to be within his sphere of influence greatly benefited from his enthusiasm for chemistry and the great stories he told. His world famous memos gave many a chemist a chuckle in labs far away from Fort Collins. We will miss you Al but the legacy of your many contributions in chemistry including us will endure for years to come. May you rest in peace.
October 26, 2007 at 7:03 am
gaussling
Gosh, you’re right- I forgot to mention that. He was fond of saying that his dad would’ve disowned him if he’d continued in baseball.
January 28, 2008 at 8:59 pm
Brian
I just found out tonight of Prof. Meyer’s passing. I had emailed him back in September to wish him well, as I knew he was not doing well.
I owe a lot of my current success to Meyers. I was among the final post-docs to work in his lab. My first exposure to AIM was through one of his “memos” that made its way to me about a week after I accepted the position. I wondered “what the hell did I just agree too?”.
The chemistry world lost a great one.
February 21, 2008 at 2:23 pm
Weiser
I was THE last undergrad in the lab – 2001. I am forever indebted to AIM for the opportunities he gave me, and the avenues that were available to me because of that experience. I will always remember him giving me a hard time about wearing a baseball cap, and rushing to turn down the blaring music whenever he would pop in on the lab. Thanks for the memories AIM, we’ll miss you! Weiser
November 27, 2008 at 8:35 pm
evan snyder
Although I was not able to attend the seminar in October 2008 to honor Al Meyer’s passing (of which I was sad to hear earlier this year), I did have the privilage to attend the seminar in June 2001 to honor his retirement. Many of the same speakers, Dan Romo, Harold Meyers (AIM’s son), Dan Comins (my ex-flat mate during my last year at CSU), et. al. spoke at that event and it was certainly good to catch up with AIM and most of the Meyers Group after 23 years.
To have been part of his group was an honor and privilage, especially during the late 1970’s when so much fantastic work was being done, not only in the area of asymmetric synthesis, but on the synthesis of Maytansine, by an incredibly talented group of scientists (Dan Comins, Mike Cain, Don Williams, Graham Poindexter, Ann Hecht, Kiyoshi Tomiaka just to name a few).
We worked tireless hours in AIM’s lab (to paraphrase JFK) ‘not because it was easy, but because it was hard’. But those times were for me, and I am sure I can speak for most others who spent time in front of the fume hoods of those laboratories, some of the most rewarding of my life.
Thank you Al (I know you are keeping an eye on all of us) for allowing me to be a part of it.
Evan
(down under in New Zealand)
March 10, 2009 at 9:21 am
Joseph M. Fortunak
This was a great man. God Bless him and we miss him very much. Al, thank you for all you’ve done for me and so many other people over the years. I am so glad to have known you and my life is better for this.
March 16, 2009 at 6:45 pm
Piara Singh, Atlanta, Georgia.
I was one of Professor Meyers’s early Ph.D students at Louisiana State University in New Orleans. Freshly arrived in USA after my under graduate education at Panjab University in India, it was a truly marvelous opportunity to have been under the direction of A. I . Meyers. He was a man of undefatigable optimism. He was always bouncing like a ball full of air. His enthusiasm to explore snythetic organic chemistry was captivating to his listners. When my experiments initially were not leading to fruitful results in my dissertation field, he will come bouncing full of ideas and suggestions that will make me stay in the lab sometimes late in to the night followed by a venture out to the famous Bourbon Street in the French Quarters to wind down. He was so full of ideas that at that time I was not able to comprehend his vision.
He was a pivotal figure in the maturing of the chemistry department at the newly established LSU campus at New Orleans. I had the chance to visit his laboratory at the Wayne State University where I found that his love of synthetic organic was blossoming. Although for different reasons, I left the field of organic chemistry, I was always appreciative of his enthusiastic and optimistic influence in my life and that was the reason I happened to google him recently and came to know of his passing away. May his soul rest in peace.
April 30, 2009 at 5:05 am
Subhabrata Sen
I was the last post-doctoral researcher of Dr. Meyers. I owe my career success solely to him. When I joined his lab, he had alomst closed it down. Somehow I convinced him to give me a chance and I started working towards the synthesis of Viridenomycin. Too bad I could not complete it. I thank you Dr. Meyers from the deepest corner of my heart for showing me a new horizon in assymmetric synthesis. Thanks for everything. We will remember you always.
October 23, 2009 at 3:53 am
Subhabrata Sen
Today is Dr. Meyers’ second death anniversary. May his soul rest in peace
October 27, 2020 at 2:15 am
michael
He was a great man and a great chemist. I owe him very much. I will always remember my time at CSU in his group as the best time of my life!