Name Lewis Sarett | Role Chemist | |
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Spouse(s) Mary Adams Barrie (m. March 1, 1944 - div.June 28, 1969)Pamela Thorp Children Mary Nicole and Katharine Wendy (1st wife)Will H. and Renee M. (2nd wife) Awards Perkin Medal, National Medal of Science for Physical Science | ||
Lewis Hastings Sarett (December 22, 1917 – November 29, 1999) was an American organic chemist. While serving as a research scientist at Merck & Co., Inc., synthesized cortisone.
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Biography
He was born in Champaign, Illinois. His father was renowned poet and professor Lew Sarett, and he was also an uncle of former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. He lived in Laona, Wisconsin for a time and then attended high school in Highland Park, Illinois . He received a Bachelor of Science from Northwestern University in 1939 (Phi Beta Kappa) and his doctorate from Princeton University.
He worked for Merck & Co. for 38 years retiring in 1982. He invented a Process of Treating Pregnene Compounds Cortisone, Patent Number 2,462,133.
Named after him is the Sarett Oxidation which is the oxidation of an alcohol to a ketone or an aldehyde using chromic oxide and pyridine. Primary alcohols will be oxidised to aldehydes and not carboxylic acids.