Abstract
Had Robert Burns Woodward lived to see his 100th birthday this week—on April 10—one wonders what the famed organic chemist would have thought of 2017. Renowned for his elegant and bold total syntheses of natural products, Woodward was also legendary for his collection of blue neckties, his chain-smoking, and his riveting three-hour lectures. But in an era where practitioners of total synthesis often face funding challenges, casual is the de rigueur dress code, smoking is verboten, and popular communication is frequently done in 140 characters or less, the Woodwardian way seems all but lost. Even if Woodward is an anachronism in today’s world, it’s clear he had a profound impact on organic chemistry, particularly in the field of natural product synthesis. In celebration of Woodward’s centennial, C&EN wanted to introduce, or perhaps reintroduce, readers to this giant of 20th-century organic chemistry and explore how his work has influenced the practice
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