Professor Emeritus Zvi Rappoport, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Professor Emeritus Reshef Tenne, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, both Israel, have been awarded the 2015 Israel Chemical Society (ICS) Gold Medal, which is the highest honor of the ICS. The medal was presented at an award ceremony during the 81st ICS Annual Meeting on February 9, 2016.
Zvi Rappoport (pictured left) is honored for elucidating the mechanisms of important chemical reactions and for characterizing reactive intermediates. He has also advanced the Israeli chemical community by establishing an influential school of physical organic chemistry. Reshef Tenne (pictured right) is awarded for his discoveries of inorganic fullerene-like nanospheres and nanotubes, for investigating their unique properties, and for employing them in a broad range of useful applications.
Zvi Rappoport studied chemistry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, where he received his Ph.D. in 1962 for work under the supervision of Saul Patai. After postdoctoral research with Saul Winstein at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), USA, he returned to Hebrew University in 1965 and remained there for his entire career. His research focuses on physical and mechanistic organic chemistry, especially vinyl cations, vinylic nucleophilic substitution, selectivity-reactivity relationships, and stable enols. Professor Rappoport edited about 50 volumes of the renowned book series Patai’s Chemistry of Functional Groups.
Reshef Tenne studied chemistry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, and received his Ph.D. in 1976. After a postdoctoral stay at the Battelle Memorial Institute, Geneva, Switzerland, he joined the Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel, in 1979. There, Professor Tenne was the Head of the Department of Materials and Interfaces, and Director of the Gerhard M. J. Schmidt Minerva Center for Supramolecular Architecture from 2001 to 2007. Until his retirement in October 2014, he was the Director of the Helen and Martin Kimmel Center for Nanoscale Science. His research concerns the synthesis, characterization, and application of novel inorganic nanomaterials with fullerene-like structures. These materials have a broad spectrum of possible applications, including nano-sized superconductors, components for reinforcing polymer nanocomposites, and sensors for aerospace technologies as well as for tissue engineering.
Selected Publications by Zvi Rappoport
- Chaim Weizmann as a Scientist – From Berlin to the End of His Manchester Period,
Zvi Rappoport,
Isr. J. Chem. 2015, 55, 770–780.
DOI: 10.1002/ijch.201510005 - Thermal motion of tert-butyl groups III. tert-Butyl substituents in aromatic hydrocarbons, the view from the bottom of the well,
Joseph Frey, Saeed I. Khan, Carolyn B. Knobler, David A. Lightner, Emily F. Maverick, Daniel J. Phillips, Zvi Rappoport, Kenneth N. Trueblood,
Acta Crystallogr. Sect. B 2010, 66, 622–638.
DOI: 10.1107/S0108768110040024 - A comprehensive picture of the one-electron oxidation chemistry of enols, enolates and α-carbonyl radicals: oxidation potentials and characterization of radical intermediates,
Michael Schmittel, Mukul Lal, Rupali Lal, Maik Röck, Anja Langels, Zvi Rappoport, Ahmad Basheer, Jens Schlirf, Hans-Jörg Deiseroth, Ulrich Flörke, Georg Gescheidt,
Tetrahedron 2009, 65, 10842–10855.
DOI: 10.1016/j.tet.2009.10.039 - Enols of 2-nitro- and related 2-substituted malonamides,
Ahmad Basheer, Masaaki Mishima, Zvi Rappoport,
J. Phys. Org. Chem. 2009.
DOI: 10.1002/poc.1611 - Nucleophilic vinylic substitution. A single- or a multi-step process?,
Zvi Rappoport,
Acc. Chem. Res. 1981, 14, 7–15.
DOI: 10.1021/ar00061a002 - Allylic Oxidation of Olefins by Palladium Acetate,
William Kitching, Zvi Rappoport, S. Winstein, W. G. Young,
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1966, 88, 2054–2055.
DOI: 10.1021/ja00961a043
Selected Publications by Reshef Tenne
- Advanced AZ31 Mg alloy composites reinforced by WS2 nanotubes,
Song-Jeng Huang, Chia-Han Ho, Yishay Feldman, Reshef Tenne,
J. Alloys Compd. 2016, 654, 15–22.
DOI: 10.1016/j.jallcom.2015.09.066 - Direct Synthesis of Palladium Catalyst on Supporting WS2 Nanotubes and its Reactivity in Cross-Coupling Reactions,
Bojana Višić, Hagai Cohen, Ronit Popovitz-Biro, Reshef Tenne, Viacheslav I. Sokolov, Natalya V. Abramova, Anastasiya G. Buyanovskaya, Sergei L. Dzvonkovskii, Olga L. Lependina,
Chem. Asian J. 2015, 10, 2234–2239.
DOI: 10.1002/asia.201500271 - On the Mechanical Properties of WS2 and MoS2 Nanotubes and Fullerene-Like Nanoparticles: In Situ Electron Microscopy Measurements,
Ifat Kaplan-Ashiri, Reshef Tenne,
JOM 2015, 68, 151–167.
DOI: 10.1007/s11837-015-1659-2 - Stress-induced fragmentation of multiwall carbon nanotubes in a polymer matrix,
H. D. Wagner, O. Lourie, Y. Feldman, R. Tenne,
Appl. Phys. Lett. 1998, 72, 188.
DOI: 10.1063/1.120680 - High-Rate, Gas-Phase Growth of MoS2 Nested Inorganic Fullerenes and Nanotubes,
Y. Feldman, E. Wasserman, D. J. Srolovitz, R. Tenne,
Science 1995, 267, 222–225.
DOI: 10.1126/science.267.5195.222 - Polyhedral and cylindrical structures of tungsten disulphide,
R. Tenne, L. Margulis, M. Genut, G. Hodes,
Nature 1992, 360, 444–446.
DOI: 10.1038/360444a0
Also of Interest
- Chemistry at Hebrew University of Jerusalem,
Brian Johnson,
ChemistryViews.org 2015.
The Institute of Chemistry at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem was the first of its kind in the country - Gold Medal for Levitt and Warshel,
ChemViews Mag. 2014.
Michael Levitt and Arieh Warshel, both USA, receive the highest recognition of the Israel Chemical Society - ICS Gold Medal for R. D. Levine,
ChemViews Mag. 2013.
The highest award of the Israel Chemical Society (ICS) is presented to Professor Raphael David Levine, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
