Since the publication of "Organic Syntheses Based on Name Reactions and Unnamed Reactions"(Volume 11 in the Tetrahedron Organic Chemistry series), there has been a proliferation of discoveries of name reactions in the field of organic chemistry. Hence, this, the second, revised, edition of the text has focused on the ongoing development in this area of research. The revised title reflects the notion whereby many new reagents and reactions are now being referred to by their names. The inclusion of over 155 new stereoselective and regioselective reagents or reactions including asymmetric syntheses, brings the total to over 540. Features that should be valuable to the reader include over 3000 references, a names index, reagent index, reaction index and a functional group transformation index. The latter of these indexes will allow the reader to search for conversions of one functional group to another and has proved a much utilized tool for the synthetic chemist, searching for pathways to perform synthetic procedures.
Alfred Hassner was born in 1930. He survived the holocaust as a young child. After WW II, he enrolled to the Technische Hochschule in Vienna (1949-1951), and then received his BSc from the University of Nebraska (1952). He obtained his PhD under Norman Cromwell at the University of Nebraska (1956) and then was a postdoc with Louis Fieser at Harvard University. He joined the University of Colorado at Boulder (1957) and became a Full Professor at the age of 36 (1966). In 1975, he moved to SUNY at Binghamton and in 1983 he joined Bar-Ilan University in Israel, where he was professor and after retirement Professor Emeritus, until his sad demise recently (2024) at the age of 94.
Hassner mentored over 50 graduate students and more than 60 postdocs, published more than 320 research articles and 14 books and monographs, and has had a major impact on chemical science for the last 7 decades.
Some of his most known contributions include the stereoselective introduction of nitrogen functionalities into organic molecules, the synthesis of steroidal heterocycles and other biologically active targets. He was one of the first to recognize the application of NMR half-widths to stereochemical structure assignments before high resolution NMR became available. Many useful reagents and concepts in organic synthesis are registered to his name. For example, he first proposed the concept of regiochemistry and regioselectivity, now universally used terminologies in organic chemistry.
As a world-renowned expert in organic synthesis, he has held visiting professorships and appointments in many universities worldwide and also served as a valuable consultant for many industrial companies around the world.
Hassner served as the president of the Israel Chemical Society - ICS (1991-1994). In 2007, he received the ICS prize for Excellence. In 2016, he received Honorary membership award for his lifetime achievement and outstanding contributions.
