Texas Tech University

Henry J. Shine Endowed Lectures

Henry J. Shine

Dr. Henry J. Shine, Paul Whitfield Horn Professor

This annual lecture series was endowed by students, colleagues and friends of Professor Shine and supplemented by a grant from the Plum Foundation.


Dr. Shine was born in 1923 in London, England. He received the B. Sc. in chemistry with first class honors from University College, London University in 1944, and his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Bedford College, London University in 1947. After postdoctoral studies at Iowa State College and the California Institute of Technology, he worked as a research chemist for United States Rubber Company. He joined the faculty of the Department of Chemistry at Texas Tech University in 1954, where he soon became one of the outstanding researchers at the University. In 1968, he was designated as the first Paul Whitfield Horn Professor of Chemistry, an honor that recognized his international research reputation. He was Chairman of the department during 1969-1975.

One of Professor Shine's research interests in physical organic chemistry has been the use of heavy atom kinetic isotope effects to help answer difficult mechanistic questions. His studies of the Claisen rearrangement in both aromatic and vinylic allyl ethers played an important role in defining these reactions as concerted. His investigations of the benzidine rearrangement likewise solved the longstanding question of mechanism. His most recent research was focused on the chemistry of organic cation radicals, concentrating on reactions that are induced by single-electron transfer (SET) to stable cation radicals. This research has led to the discovery of the oxidative decomposition of azoalkanes, which occurs when they react by SET with cation radicals, and leads principally to carbocationic chemistry of these traditional sources of free radicals. Related work has documented the chemistry of radicals formed by SET from Grignard reagents and organomercurials to the thianthrene cation radical. His research in this area has demonstrated the ways in which organosulfur cation radicals add to alkenes and alkynes, and how the adducts lead to further interesting reactions.

Shine Lecturers

2023

Professor Michel Gagné, Mary Ann Smith Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, UNC at Chapel Hill,
Public Lecture: How Do We Squeeze Valuable Chemicals from Trees
Technical Lecture: Inverting Metal-Ligand Polarization to Invent New Reactivity

2022 (Fall)

Professor Marisa Kozlowski, Department of Chemistry, University of Pennsylvania,
Public Lecture: Challenges in Plastic Recycling
Technical Lecture: Oxygen Driven Fragment Coupling for the Synthesis of Natural Products and Antibacterials

2022 (Spring)

Professor Scott Miller, Department of Chemistry, Yale University,
Public Lecture: Basic Chemistry and One Interface with Medicine, Pharma and Biotech
Technical Lecture: Searching for Selective Catalytic Reactions in Complex Molecular Environments

2019

Professor Craig Hawker, Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, University of California, Santa Barbara
Public Lecture: Entrepreneurial Lessons in Chemistry
Technical Lecture: The Power of Organic Chemistry in Functional Polymer Synthesis

2018

Professor Richard R. Schrock, Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Public Lecture: My Path to a Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Technical Lecture: Recent Advances in Olefin Metathesis Chemistry

2017

Professor David W. C. MacMillan, Department of Chemistry, Princeton University
Public Lecture: Why is Chemistry and Catalysis Important to Society?
Technical Lecture: New Photoredox Reactions

2016

Professor K. C. Nicolaou, Department of Chemistry, Rice University
Public Lecture: The Art and Science of Organic Synthesis and its Impact on Science and Society
Technical Lecture: Total Synthesis of Natural and Designed Molecules of Biological and Medical Importance

2015

Professor M. Christina White, Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois
Public Lecture: Taming the Force of Oxidation
Technical Lecture: The Functionalization of C-H Bonds

2014

Professor Melanie S. Sanford, Department of Chemistry, University of Michigan
"Tackling Problems in Sustainable Energy Using Transition Metal Catalysis"

2013

Professor Stephen L. Buchwald, Camille Dreyfus Professor of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Public Lecture: Palladium-Catalyzed Carbon-Nitrogen and Carbon-Carbon Bond-Formation Reactions: Progress, Applications and Mechanistic Studies
Scientific Lecture: Flow Chemistry: Opportunities for the Development of New and Useful Synthetic Methodology

2012

Professor Robert M. Williams, Department of Chemistry, Colorado State University
"Quinine! A Story of Chemistry, History, Personalities and Ethics"

2011

Professor Peter J. Stang, Department of Chemistry, University of Utah
"Chemical Publishing in the 21st Century: Perspectives of a JACS Editor"

2010

Professor Aaron Ciechanover, Tumor and Vascular Biology Research Center, The Rappaport Faculty of Medicine and Research Institute, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology
"Why Our Proteins Have to Die So We Shall Live"

2009

Professor Iwao Ojima, Department of Chemistry, State University of New York at Stony Brook
"Tumor-Targeting Cancer Chemotherapy"

2008

Professor Robert H. Grubbs, Division of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology
"From Fundamental Research to Applications: The Olefin Metathesis Reaction"

2007

Professor Jacqueline K. Barton, Division of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology
"Travels Along the DNA Helix: A Different Perspective"

2004

Professor Amos B. Smith, III, University of Pennsylvania
"Evolution of a Gram Scale Total Synthesis of (+)-Spongistatin 1: Challenges, Excitement, and Frustrations"

2003

Professor Dennis P. Curran, University of Pittsburgh
"An Introduction to Fluorous Synthesis: From Separating Mixtures to Making Mixtures"

2002

Professor Barry M. Trost, Stanford University
"On Inventing Reactions for Atom Economy"

2001

Professor Julius Rebek, Jr., The Scripps Research Institute
"Molecular Assembly and Encapsulation"

2000

Professor Peter B. Dervan, California Institute of Technology
"Regulation of Gene Expression by Synthetic DNA Binding Ligands"

1999

Professor Clayton H. Heathcock, University of California, Berkeley
"Total Synthesis of Spongistatin, a Marine Natural Product with Unprecedented Cytotoxicity"

Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry

  • Address

    1204 Boston Avenue, Lubbock, TX 79409-1061
  • Phone

    806.742.3067