Irving Goldman

	Instrumentation: A Major Force in the Progress of Chemistry Irving Goldman Pfizer Central Research (Retired)

Irving Goldman was born in Washington DC in 1931. He spent one year at the University of Maryland ­ an intolerable Jim Crow institution ­ and transferred to Cornell from which he graduated with a BA in 1953. He married a fellow student, Sheila Lefcourt, in 1952. (Yes, that¹s 55+ years to date!) He then earned his PhD in 1957 under George Buchi on the Structure of Carvone Camphor, spent an abortive year at P&G doing work for which he had not been hired, and came back to MIT as a Research Associate ¹58-¹60 working on applications of mass spectrometry to the structure of coffee volatiles with Klaus Biemann.

Goldman joined Pfizer Central Research, Groton CT, where his career spanned 36 years until retirement in 1997. His career included sojourns in drug discovery, exploratory chemistry, process research, specialty chemicals research, process development, and FDA/EPA regulatory affairs.

Accomplishments at Pfizer included pioneering work on adrenergic mechanisms (beta-agonists and ­blockers) and one of the earliest publications speculating on the structure of an enzyme/substrate interaction, illustrated by the interaction between adenyl cyclase and isoproterenol; development of one of the first enzyme assays in the drug industry using soluble beef heart phosphodiesterase as the basis for the development of inhibitors thereof as possible smooth muscle relaxants; discovery of a process for the manufacture of Geopen and Geocillin using the results of a key reaction run overnight in an NMR tube.

Goldman was responsible for the purchase of Pfizer¹s first mass spectrometer; was manager of the first process research group in Central Research which led to the development of several new processes for new and established Pfizer products; published a novel imine dimerization reaction; achieved FDA approval for the environmental assessment for the first genetically-engineered food additive (calf chymosin produced in E. Coli K-12); developed a process for facile and reproducible azeotropic activation of manganese dioxide; was coauthor of a paper with Exxon Production Research on the use of formaldehyde as a persistent subterranean biocide used in enhanced oil recovery; and published the first use of a GC preheater as a pyrolysis chamber with separation of the products so formed in the gas chromatograph.

He was one of the first Pfizer lunch-time runners, a member of the East Lyme School Board, the president of the Thames Science Center, a member of the Thames Ski Club, an avid hiker of the Presidentials in New Hampshire; the father of two children (one a pediatrician and the other a dermatology surgeon); and grandfather of five grandchildren.

His wife Sheila was a middle-school math teacher for 15 years and was one of the first to introduce the use of computers into a school curriculum using our Apple II-Plus.

Dr. Goldman is presenting in the NERM2008 Chemistry Enthusiasts Program