Rafael Shapiro, Phd. Chemist
It was in my second year of university (Hofstra) that I took organic chemistry and
decided not to continue majoring in mathematics, as a I became fascinated with the
theoretical, analytical, and especially the experimental aspects of the science, and so
became a chemistry major. I conducted undergraduate research at Rice University,
where I had transferred after my sophomore year, in Prof. George Schroepfer’s
laboratory under the guidance of Dr. F. F. Knapp, conducting research on the synthesis of
steroid metabolites, then spent the summer after graduation working in Prof. Ernest
Eliel’s laboratories at the University of North Carolina under the guidance of Dr. F.
Vierhapper. In graduate school (M.I.T), I specialized in natural products synthesis, and
carried out a formal total synthesis of betalamic acid in the laboratories of Professor
George Buechi, receiving my Ph.D. in 1978, and spent two years thereafter conducting
postdoctoral research on the synthesis of vitamin B-12 with Prof. R. V. Stevens. I then
spent 11 years at DuPont, primarily in the Agricultural Chemicals Discovery group, with a
short stint working on catalyst synthesis for the Central Research and Nylon divisions.
In 1991, I was honored to have been selected by my peers as one of three recipients of
the newly established DuPont Agrichemicals Scientific Leadership Award, which allowed
me to spend a six-month sabbatical in the laboratories of Prof. D. A. Evans at Harvard
University, where I invented a novel synthesis of oxazole-4-carboxylic esters in support
of his synthesis of the natural product caliculin A, and published the results in the
Journal of Organic Chemistry. On my return to DuPont Agrichemicals in 1992, I entered
their Process group, since practical organic synthesis had always been my passion, even
as a graduate student, and was able to focus on that aspect of my profession, designing
and developing practical routes to azafenidin, famoxate, indoxacarb, and sulfentrazone.
When the new product pipeline temporarily collapsed in 2000-2003, I spent those years
in DuPont Pharma, working on Factor Xa candidates, and designed and developed a
practical process for manufacturing the drug apixaban. Soon after that business was
acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb and moved from Delaware to New Jersey, I returned
to DuPont Agrichemicals and resumed process design and development for new
agricultural products, most notably chlorantraniloprol, cyantraniloprole,
aminocyclopyrachlor, oxathiapiprolin, triflumezopyrim, fluazaindolizine, and
tetflupyrolimet, and developed expertise in managing process development at contract
research organizations in China and India. After retiring in 2015, I began my consulting
career and have been working with various clients ever since.
It was in my second year of university (Hofstra) that I took organic chemistry and
decided not to continue majoring in mathematics, as a I became fascinated with the
theoretical, analytical, and especially the experimental aspects of the science, and so
became a chemistry major. I conducted undergraduate research at Rice University,
where I had transferred after my sophomore year, in Prof. George Schroepfer’s
laboratory under the guidance of Dr. F. F. Knapp, conducting research on the synthesis of
steroid metabolites, then spent the summer after graduation working in Prof. Ernest
Eliel’s laboratories at the University of North Carolina under the guidance of Dr. F.
Vierhapper. In graduate school (M.I.T), I specialized in natural products synthesis, and
carried out a formal total synthesis of betalamic acid in the laboratories of Professor
George Buechi, receiving my Ph.D. in 1978, and spent two years thereafter conducting
postdoctoral research on the synthesis of vitamin B-12 with Prof. R. V. Stevens. I then
spent 11 years at DuPont, primarily in the Agricultural Chemicals Discovery group, with a
short stint working on catalyst synthesis for the Central Research and Nylon divisions.
In 1991, I was honored to have been selected by my peers as one of three recipients of
the newly established DuPont Agrichemicals Scientific Leadership Award, which allowed
me to spend a six-month sabbatical in the laboratories of Prof. D. A. Evans at Harvard
University, where I invented a novel synthesis of oxazole-4-carboxylic esters in support
of his synthesis of the natural product caliculin A, and published the results in the
Journal of Organic Chemistry. On my return to DuPont Agrichemicals in 1992, I entered
their Process group, since practical organic synthesis had always been my passion, even
as a graduate student, and was able to focus on that aspect of my profession, designing
and developing practical routes to azafenidin, famoxate, indoxacarb, and sulfentrazone.
When the new product pipeline temporarily collapsed in 2000-2003, I spent those years
in DuPont Pharma, working on Factor Xa candidates, and designed and developed a
practical process for manufacturing the drug apixaban. Soon after that business was
acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb and moved from Delaware to New Jersey, I returned
to DuPont Agrichemicals and resumed process design and development for new
agricultural products, most notably chlorantraniloprol, cyantraniloprole,
aminocyclopyrachlor, oxathiapiprolin, triflumezopyrim, fluazaindolizine, and
tetflupyrolimet, and developed expertise in managing process development at contract
research organizations in China and India. After retiring in 2015, I began my consulting
career and have been working with various clients ever since.