Marjorie Caserio Explained

Marjorie Constance Caserio
Birth Name:Marjorie Constance Beckett
Birth Date:26 February 1929
Birth Place:Cricklewood, London, England
Death Place:Mexico[1]
Nationality:American
Fields:Chemistry
Workplaces:University of California, Irvine, University of California, San Diego
Thesis1 Title:"The alkaline hydrolysis of ethyl p-alkybenzoates." (M.A., 1951)
Thesis2 Title:"The kinetics of bromination of naphthalene" (Ph.D., 1956)
Known For:Basic Principles of Organic Chemistry
Awards:Garvan Medal
Spouse:Fred Caserio (m. 1957)
Children:2

Marjorie Constance Caserio (née Beckett; February 26, 1929  - April 19, 2021)[2] was an English chemist. In 1975, she was awarded the Garvan Medal by the American Chemical Society.[2]

Early life and education

Caserio was born Marjorie Constance Beckett in Cricklewood, London, England. She attended the North London Collegiate School and began studying podiatry at Chelsea College, but soon developed a preference for chemistry and graduated with honors in the subject in 1950. She was awarded a Sir John Dill Fellowship by the English-Speaking Union which allowed her to study at Bryn Mawr College in the United States, she earned an M.A. in chemistry in 1951. Her thesis was entitled "The alkaline hydrolysis of ethyl p-alkybenzoates."[2]

For a year she worked at the Fulmer Research Institute in rural Stoke Poges, England, researching the effects of fluorides on titanium, but disliked the work and decided to seek a Ph.D. in chemistry. She interviewed with Nobel laureate Derek Barton and was accepted to Birkbeck College in London, but was not offered financial aid. Instead, Caserio returned to Bryn Mawr in the U.S., earning her Ph.D. in 1956 with a dissertation entitled "The kinetics of bromination of naphthalene."[2] [3]

Career

Caserio was hired by John D. Roberts for a postdoctoral position at the California Institute of Technology. She spent eight years at Caltech, working on 3- and 4-membered ring compounds,[4] [5] the reactions of alcohols with diazomethane,[6] the hydrolysis of diaryliodonium salts,[7] the deamination of nitrous acid,[8] and benzyne reaction intermediates in nucleophilic aromatic substitution reactions.[9]

She collaborated with Roberts in writing an organic chemistry textbook, Basic Principles of Organic Chemistry, first published in 1964.[10] Notable for its comprehensiveness and then-unusual emphasis on spectroscopy, it proved enormously influential in how the subject was taught. Also working with Roberts was chemist Fred Caserio.

University of California, Irvine

In 1964, Caserio was hired as the second faculty member in chemistry at the brand new University of California, Irvine. At UC Irvine she worked on addition reactions in allenes[11] [12] [13] and bonding and reactions of sulfur compounds.[14] [15] She was one of the first scientists to employ nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to study the kinetics and mechanisms of these organic reactions,[16] [17] and ion cyclotron resonance to study gas-phase reactions.[18] [19] Caserio became a full professor at UC Irvine in 1972, and chair of the chemistry department in 1987.[2]

University of California, San Diego

In 1990, she became vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of California, San Diego. She later served as interim chancellor, and retired in 1996.[20]

Personal life and death

In 1957, she married Fred Caserio; she became a US citizen the same year. They had two sons. She died in 2021, aged 92, on a trip to Mexico.[21]

Books

External links

Notes and References

  1. https://www.cucea.org/memorials/in-memoriam-marjorie-caserio Obituary
  2. Encyclopedia: Marjorie Constance Beckett Caserio . Women in Chemistry and Physics: A Biobibliographic Sourcebook . Greenwood Press . Goldwhite, Harold . Grinstein, Louise S. . Rose, Rose K.. Miriam Rafailovich . Rafailovich, Miriam H. . 1993 . 85–93.
  3. Beckett. Marjorie Constance. The Kinetics of Bromination of Napthalene. 1956. ProQuest . Ph.D..
  4. Caserio. Marjorie C.. Simmons. Howard E.. Johnson. A. Earl. Roberts. John D.. 1960-06-01. Small-Ring Compounds. XXVI. Nucleophilic Displacement Reactions of Some Halogen-substituted Phenylcyclobutenones1. Journal of the American Chemical Society. 82. 12. 3102–3106. 10.1021/ja01497a030. 0002-7863.
  5. Caserio. Marjorie C.. Graham. William H.. Roberts. John D.. 1960-01-01. Small-ring compounds—XXIX A reinvestigation of the solvolysis of cyclopropylcarbinyl chloride in aqueous ethanol. Isomerization of cyclopropylcarbinol. Tetrahedron. en. 11. 3. 171–182. 10.1016/0040-4020(60)80068-3. 0040-4020.
  6. Caserio. Marjorie C.. Roberts. John D.. Neeman. M.. Johnson. William S.. Methylation of Alcohols with Diazomethane . 1958-05-01. Journal of the American Chemical Society. 80. 10. 2584–2585. 10.1021/ja01543a056. 0002-7863.
  7. Caserio. Marjorie C.. Glusker. Donald L.. Roberts. John D.. 1959-01-01. Hydrolysis of Diaryliodonium Salts. Journal of the American Chemical Society. 81. 2. 336–342. 10.1021/ja01511a019. 0002-7863.
  8. Caserio. Marjorie C.. Levin. Robert D.. Roberts. John D.. 1965. Intermediates in the Nitrous Acid Deamination of 2-[p-(2'-Hydroxyethoxy)phenyl]ethylamine1]. Journal of the American Chemical Society. 87. 24. 5651–5655. 10.1021/ja00952a024. 0002-7863.
  9. Jenny. Erwin F.. Caserio. Marjorie C.. Roberts. John D.. 1958-10-01. Benzyn-Zwischenprodukte in der nukleophilen aromatischen Substitution. Experientia. de. 14. 10. 349–354. 10.1007/BF02159149. 10598895 . 1420-9071.
  10. Book: Roberts. John D.. Basic Principles of Organic Chemistry, second edition. Caserio. Marjorie C.. 1977-05-15. W. A. Benjamin, Inc.. 978-0-8053-8329-4. Menlo Park, CA.
  11. Waters. William L.. Linn. William S.. Caserio. Marjorie C.. 1968. Stereochemistry of additions of allenes. I. Methoxymercuration and halogenation of 1,3-dimethylallene. Journal of the American Chemical Society. 90. 24. 6741–6749. 10.1021/ja01026a032. 0002-7863.
  12. Linn. William S.. Waters. William L.. Caserio. Marjorie C.. 1970-07-01. Stereochemistry of addition reactions of allenes. II. Oxymercuration of 1,3-dimethylallene and solvolysis of the derived adducts. Journal of the American Chemical Society. 92. 13. 4018–4025. 10.1021/ja00716a032. 0002-7863.
  13. Byrd. Larry R.. Caserio. Marjorie C.. 1970-09-01. Stereochemistry of addition reactions of allenes. III. Free-radical reactions of 2,3-pentadiene and 2-pentyne with tert-butyl hypochlorite. Journal of the American Chemical Society. 92. 18. 5422–5431. 10.1021/ja00721a022. 0002-7863.
  14. Caserio. Marjorie C.. Kim. Jhong K.. 1982-06-01. Thioammonium ions. Azasulfenylation reactions. Journal of the American Chemical Society. 104. 11. 3231–3233. 10.1021/ja00375a056. 0002-7863.
  15. Kim. Jhong K.. Kline. Margaret L.. Caserio. Marjorie C.. 1978-09-01. Methylthiolation of allylic sulfides. A degenerate [2,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement]. Journal of the American Chemical Society. 100. 19. 6243–6245. 10.1021/ja00487a053. 0002-7863.
  16. Caserio. Marjorie C.. Pratt. Robert E.. Holland. Robert J.. 1966-12-01. The Nature of Sulfur Bonding in α,β-Unsaturated Sulfides and Sulfonium Salts1,2. Journal of the American Chemical Society. 88. 24. 5747–5753. 10.1021/ja00976a014. 0002-7863.
  17. Smallcombe. Stephen H.. Caserio. Marjorie C.. 1971-11-01. Kinetics of sulfur-sulfur bond cleavage in methylated methyl disulfide by nuclear magnetic resonance. Journal of the American Chemical Society. 93. 22. 5826–5833. 10.1021/ja00751a041. 0002-7863.
  18. Pau. James K.. Ruggera. Michael B.. Kim. Jhong K.. Caserio. Marjorie C.. 1978-06-01. On the electron-donating properties of oxygen vs. sulfur. A study of the gas-phase ion chemistry of methoxymethylthioalkanes. Journal of the American Chemical Society. 100. 13. 4242–4248. 10.1021/ja00481a039. 0002-7863.
  19. Web site: Marjorie Caserio & Vy Dong. 2021-06-08. Calisphere. 11 February 2016 . en.
  20. Book: Encyclopedia of world scientists, Volume 1 . InfoBase . 2007 . July 12, 2011 . Oakes, Elizabeth H. . 125. 9781438118826 .
  21. https://www.cucea.org/memorials/in-memoriam-marjorie-caserio Obituary