1. Baumann, W. Helv. Chim. Acta 1955, 38, 594-603. (b) Grob, C. A.
2. Schiess, P. W. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 1967, 6, 1-15. Cyril A. Grob (1917-2003) was born in London (UK) to Swiss parents, studied chemistry at ETH Zürich and completed his PhD in 1943 under the guidance of Leopold Ruzicka (Nobel laureate) on artificial steroidal antigens. He then moved to Basel to work with Taddeus Reichstein (another Nobel laureate) first at the pharmaceutical institute and from 1947 at the organic chemistry institute of the university, where he moved up the academic career ladder to become the director of the institute and holder of the chair there as Reichstein's successor in 1960. An investigation of the reductive elimination of bromine from 1,4- dibromides in the presence of zinc led in 1955 to the recognition of heterolytic fragmentation as a general reaction principle. The heterolytic fragmentation has now entered textbooks under his name. Experimental evidence for vinyl cations as discrete reactive intermediates was also first provided by Grob. Cyril Grob never acted impulsively, but always calmly and deliberately. He never sought attention in public, but fulfilled his social duties efficiently, reliably, and without a fuss. He died in his home in Basel (Switzerland) on December 15, 2003 at the age of 86. (Schiess, P. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2004, 43, 4392.) A recent review11 revealed that Grob was not even the first to investigate such reactions!
3. (a) Grob, C. A.; Baumann, W. Helv. Chim. Acta 1955, 38, 594-603.
4. (b) Grob, C. A.; Schiess, P. W. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 1967, 6, 1-15. Cyril A. Grob (1917-2003) was born in London
5. (UK) to Swiss parents, studied chemistry at ETH Zürich and completed his PhD in 1943 under the guidance of Leopold Ruzicka (Nobel laureate) on artificial steroidal antigens. He then moved to Basel to work with Taddeus Reichstein (another Nobel laureate) first at the pharmaceutical institute and from 1947 at the organic chemistry institute of the university, where he moved up the academic career ladder to become the director of the institute and holder of the chair there as Reichstein's successor in 1960. An investigation of the reductive elimination of bromine from 1,4- dibromides in the presence of zinc led in 1955 to the recognition of heterolytic fragmentation as a general reaction principle. The heterolytic fragmentation has now entered textbooks under his name. Experimental evidence for vinyl cations as discrete reactive intermediates was also first provided by Grob. Cyril Grob never acted impulsively, but always calmly and deliberately. He never sought attention in public, but fulfilled his social duties efficiently, reliably, and without a fuss. He died in his home in Basel (Switzerland) on December 15, 2003 at the age of 86. (Schiess, P. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2004, 43, 4392.) A recent review11 revealed that Grob was not even the first to investigate such reactions!