Fred McLafferty

American chemist and Purple Heart medal recipient

Fred Warren McLafferty (May 11, 1923 – December 26, 2021) was an American chemist known for his work in mass spectrometry. He was best known for the McLafferty rearrangement reaction that was observed with mass spectrometry.[2] With Roland Gohlke, he pioneered the technique of gas chromatography–mass spectrometry.[3] He is also known for electron capture dissociation, a method of fragmenting gas phase ions.[4] In 1982, he became a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

Fred McLafferty
Born
Fred Warren McLafferty

(1923-05-11)May 11, 1923
DiedDecember 26, 2021(2021-12-26) (aged 98)
NationalityUnited States
Alma materUniversity of Nebraska
Cornell University
Known forMass Spectrometry
AwardsACS Award in Chemical Instrumentation (1972 )

Fisher Award (1981)

Member of the National Academy of Sciences (1982 )
ACS Nichols Gold Medal (1984 )
Oesper Award (1985 )
Sir J.J. Thomson Gold Medal (1985 )
Field and Franklin Award (1989)
ASMS Distinguished Contribution in Mass Spectrometry Award (2003)
Lavoisier Medal (2004)[1]
Scientific career
FieldsChemist
InstitutionsPurdue University
Cornell University
Doctoral studentsI. Jonathan Amster

McLafferty died on December 26, 2021 in Ithaca, New York at the age of 98.[5]

References change

  1. "Seven Cornellians receive prestigious national and international honors". Cornell Chronicle. December 3, 2004. Retrieved 2014-08-28.
  2. F. W. McLafferty (1959). "Mass Spectrometric Analysis. Molecular Rearrangements". Analytical Chemistry. 31 (1): 82–87. doi:10.1021/ac60145a015.
  3. Gohlke, Roland S.; McLafferty, Fred W. (1993). "Early gas chromatography/mass spectrometry". Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry. 4 (5): 367–371. doi:10.1016/1044-0305(93)85001-E. PMID 24234933. S2CID 33972992.
  4. Zubarev, R. A.; Kelleher, N. L.; McLafferty, F. W. (1998). "Electron Capture Dissociation of Multiply Charged Protein Cations - a Nonergodic Process". J. Am. Chem. Soc. 120 (13): 3265–3266. doi:10.1021/ja973478k.
  5. Fred W. McLafferty