Raj Varma presented an inspiring lecture on the use of microwave heating for running synthetic organic chemistry within seconds or minutes instead of hours in the conventional way, most of the times not using any solvent. Varma, at that time active at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas, and one of the pioneers in the field of microwave chemistry. 4 Opening plenary lecturer at this meeting was Rajender S. 3Īs my research involved heterocycles I decided to attend and to present a lecture on my results at a regional conference on heterocyclic chemistry in nearby Hungary. My first independent research theme after returning from my postdoctoral stay at Emory University (Atlanta) with Albert Padwa to Graz in May of 1996 was linked to multicomponent reactions, in particular to the three-component Biginelli dihydropyrimidine synthesis. At that time I had just completed the requirements for obtaining my “Habilitation” 2 at the University of Graz and was looking out for potential new research projects and ideas. My involvement in the field of microwave chemistry started rather abruptly in the summer of 1998 and it was not a planned affair at all. 2 The Early Years: From Kitchen Microwaves to Multimode Reactors 2.1 Hungary, Rajender S. This also allows a more or less chronological and logical discussion of our research. Upon reflecting on the many different turns our research in microwave chemistry has taken over the years I thought it would be most appropriate to divide this article into different sections based on the type of reactor technology that was used at the time. In order not to disrupt the flow of the manuscript too much many of my personal comments have been placed in the reference section and technical jargon is kept to a minimum so the manuscript can be easily followed by the non-expert reader. ![]() As with most Personal Accounts of this nature, the contributions of other scientists in the field will only be mentioned where this is needed to understand the context of our own work. ![]() This somewhat nostalgic journey puts a strong emphasis on why things happened the way they did, focusing more on a political “behind the scenes” perspective, and hopefully will be of interest and an entertaining read for the many “microwave chemists” that were active during that time period. The present article is therefore not a standard scientific review but rather a very Personal Account that describes how my research group got involved in specific research topics within the general area of microwave chemistry over a time period of roughly two decades. This was perhaps motivated, at least in part, by the fact that one of my postdoc advisors, Albert Padwa, had written an inspirational Perspectives Article for The Journal of Organic Chemistry in 2009, where he most elegantly reflected on how and why his own research interests had progressed and changed quite significantly during the span of close to 50 years of research in organic synthesis. On second thoughts I found the opportunity to reflect on “my twenty years” in the field of microwave chemistry quite appealing and I ultimately accepted the invitation. Since my research activities have shifted away from microwave chemistry some time ago, my first instinct was to decline. When I received the invitation from the Editors of The Chemical Record to contribute a Personal Account to an upcoming special issue on microwave chemistry I was initially uncertain how to react.
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