Mayaguez; Inter-American University, Hato Rey, Puerto Rico; University of Bari, Italy; Universidad de Concepción, Chile; University of Alberta, Canada; University of Krakow, Poland; University of Debrecen, Hungary; Polytechnical University of Valencia, Spain; Tulane University, University of New Orleans, USA; University of Miami, USA; University of Reims, France; University of Santiago, Spain; University of Bilbao, Spain; University of Ljubljana, Slovenia; and University "Mayor de San Andres" of La Paz, Bolivia.
Research Interests
Waldemar Adam is well known for his significant contributions to physical organic chemistry, photochemistry and oxidation chemistry and his achievements are well documented in 975 publications. In particular, his research interests cover mechanistic organic chemistry, with an emphasis on peroxides, singlet oxygen, photochemistry, photobiology, chemiluminescence, bioluminescence, and synthetic / biomedical applications of metal-catalyzed and enzyme- catalyzed oxidation chemistry. Considering these different research interests, it is rather difficult to fit all of these activities in an all-embracing presentation. Having realized this problem himself, Waldemar Adam divided his whole research group into smaller subunits, the so-called "mini groups", which consisted of those coworkers that were engaged in the same research area. Since this subdivision turned out to be highly productive for his group, it will be used herein also to outline briefly the research activities of the Adam group, known as the AKA (Arbeitskreis Adam).
Peroxides and Molecular Oxygen in Organic Synthesis
Presumably, most chemists tend to associate the name of Waldemar Adam with oxidation chemistry. Indeed, after a brief liaison with theoretical organic chemistry in the 1960s, he focused his attention on several aspects of synthetic oxidation chemistry. Thus, in his early years he was working on the synthesis of cyclic peroxides and he employed these highly reactive compounds for the preparation of unusual organic molecules (Review: Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. Engl., 1974, 13, 619.). In the succeeding years oxidation chemistry was always an important part of his overall research efforts, and to date he is still active in this research area. The key reagents are molecular oxygen, hydrogen peroxide, or its derivatives such as hydroperoxides, perhydrates, peroxy acids, acyl peroxides, dioxiranes, dioxetanes, etc. He has used these results to understand the mechanisms of oxidation processes, and he employed this knowledge for selective, efficient and convenient synthetic transformations.
Among the most remarkable contributions along these lines are detailed studies of the chemiluminescence of 1,2-dioxetanes (Review: Bull. Soc. Chim. Belg., 1984, 93, 605), peroxylactones (Monograph: Chemical and Biological Generation of Excited States, Adam, W.; Cilento, G., Eds.; Academic Press: New York 1982), as well as singlet-oxygen chemiluminescence (Review: Chem. Rev., 2005, 105, 3371). This work helped to lay the mechanistic foundation for understanding the details of chemiluminescence (and bioluminescence), and he provided the essential knowledge for the development of the chemi-
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