Howard E. Zimmerman was a native of Connecticut.[7] During World War II he served in the U.S. Armored Corps in Europe where he was a tank gunner. His final rank was technical sergeant.[8] He obtained a B. S. in Chemistry in 1950 and a Ph.D. in 1953 both from Yale University.[8] He was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with a National Research Council fellowship from 1953 to 1954 working with R. B. Woodward (Harvard).[8] From 1954 to 1960 he was Assistant Professor at Northwestern University.[8] Beginning in 1960 he was Associate Professor and then Professor at the University of Wisconsin,[8] and from 1990 he was Hilldale and A. C. Cope Professor of Chemistry. His publications number over 285 (including 11 chapters). He also contributed to Wikipedia under the name 'Hezimmerman'.
Zimmerman gave ACS Short Courses on organic quantum chemistry and molecular orbital theory. He authored a 1975 textbook entitled Quantum Mechanics for Organic Chemists.[9] Zimmerman was the organizer of the 1972 IUPACPhotochemistry Symposium (Baden-Baden) and of five Pacifichem Symposia – the last being Pacifichem 2010.
1990 Hilldale Award in the Physical Sciences from the University of Wisconsin[8][14]
1991 Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award of the ACS[8][12]
2006 IUPAC Porter Medal for Photochemical Research[8][14]
Selected bibliography
"The Stereochemistry of the Ketonization Reaction of Enols," Zimmerman, H. E. J. Org. Chem., 1955, 20, 549-557. ISSN0022-3263
"The Stereochemistry of the Ivanov and Reformatsky Reactions. I," Zimmerman, H. E.; Traxler, M. D. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1957, 79, 1920-1923. ISSN0002-7863
"The Photochemical Rearrangement of 4,4-Diphenylcyclohexadienone. Paper I on a General Theory of Photochemical Reactions," Zimmerman, H. E.; Schuster, D. I. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1961, 83, 4486-4487. ISSN0002-7863
"On Molecular Orbital Correlation Diagrams, the Occurrence of Möbius Systems in Cyclization Reactions, and Factors Controlling Ground and Excited State Reactions. I," Zimmerman, H. E. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1966, 88, 1564-1565. ISSN0002-7863
"Photochemical Migratory Aptitudes in Cyclohexenones. Mechanistic and Exploratory Organic Photochemistry. XXIII," Zimmerman, H. E.; Rieke, R. D.; Scheffer, J. R. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1967, 89, 2033-2047. ISSN0002-7863
"The Di-π-Methane Rearrangement. Interaction of Electronically Excited Vinyl Chromophores. Zimmerman, H. E.; Mariano, P. S. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1969, 91, 1718-1727. ISSN0002-7863
"The Barrelene to Semibullvalene Transformation. Correlation of Excited State Potential Energy Surfaces With Reactivity. Mechanistic and Exploratory Organic Photochemistry. XLIV," Zimmerman, H. E.; Binkley, R. W.; Givens, R. S.; Sherwin, M. A.; Grunewald, G. L.; J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1969, 91, 3316-3323. ISSN0002-7863 .
"The Möbius-Hückel Concept in Organic Chemistry. Application to Organic Molecules and Reactions," Zimmerman, H. E. Acc. Chem. Res., 1971, 4, 272-280. ISSN0001-4842
"Quantum Mechanics for Organic Chemists," Zimmerman, H. E. Academic Press, New York, 1975. ISBN0-12-781650-X
"Some Theoretical Aspects of Organic Photochemistry," Zimmerman, H. E. Accts. of Chem. Research, 1982, 10, 312-317. ISSN0001-4842
"Kinetic Protonation of Enols, Enolates and Analogs; The Stereochemistry of Ketonization," Zimmerman, H. E.. Accounts of Chem. Res.', 1987, 20, 263-268. ISSN0001-4842
"Regioselectivity of the Birch Reduction", Zimmerman, H. E.; Wang, P. A., J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1993, 115, 2205-2216. ISSN0002-7863
"The Meta Effect in Organic Photochemistry; Mechanistic and Exploratory Organic Photochemistry", Zimmerman, H. E., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1995, 117, 8988-8991. ISSN0002-7863
"Synthetic Aspects of the Di-π-methane Rearrangement", Zimmerman, H. E.; Armesto, D. Chem. Revs, 1996, 96, 3065-3112. ISSN0009-2665
"Energy Distribution and Redistribution and Chemical Reactivity. The Generalized Delta Overlap-Density Method for Ground State and Electron Transfer Reactions; A new Quantitative Counterpart of Electron Pushing”, Zimmerman, H. E.; Alabugin, I. V. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2001, 121, 2265-2270 ISSN0002-7863
“Inter and Intramolecular Stereoselective Protonation of Enols”, Zimmerman, H. E.; Wang, P., J. Org. Chem. 2002, 69, 9216-9226. ISSN0022-3263
"Triplet Photochemistry of Vinyl Cyclopropenes; Mechanistic and Exploratory Organic Photochemistry", Zimmerman, H. E., J Org. Chem. 2009, 73, 1247-1251. ISSN0022-3263.
^ abAwards by Topic, American Chemical Society, retrieved 2010-04-08
^Anthony Trozzolo (2006), Pat Green (ed.), "A transient lifetime in photochemistry"(PDF), The Spectrum, 19 (3), Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio: Center for Photochemical Sciences, ISSN1044-5536, archived from the original(PDF) on 2010-03-07, retrieved 2010-04-08((citation)): Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^ abcdAwards, UW Madison - Department of Chemistry, archived from the original on 2010-03-10, retrieved 2010-04-08((citation)): Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)