Emanuel Gil-Av

Emanuel Gil-Av (Zimkin) (7 August 1916 – 24 March 1996) was an Israeli chemist. The main emphasis of his work constituted chiral chromatography for the analytical separation of enantiomers.

Emanuel Gil-Av (Zimkin)
Born(1916-08-07)7 August 1916
Pensa, Russia
Died24 March 1996(1996-03-24) (aged 79)
Rehovot, Israel
CitizenshipIsraeli
Alma materUniversity of Strasbourg
Known forChromatographic separation of enantiomers
AwardsChirality Medal
Scientific career
FieldsAnalytical chemistry
InstitutionsWeizmann Institute of Science
Doctoral advisorErnst David Bergmann

Life and Work

Emanuel Gil-Av was born 1916 in Pensa of Tzarist Russia. After the death of his father, a physician, the family moved first to Central Europe and in 1928 to Tel-Aviv, Israel, where Gil-Av attended High School.[1] Gil-Av studied petroleum chemistry at the University of Strasbourg. In 1940 he escaped the German occupation to England where he worked at first in the chemical laboratory of Chaim Weizmann, followed by the Petrochemical Ltd. in Manchester. After World War II, he moved to Palestine and he joined the Daniel Sieff Institute in Rehovot which was later on to become the Weizmann Institute of Science.[1] In 1951 he earned his PhD under the supervision of Ernst David Bergmann.[1]

In his study of oil shale deposits, Gil-Av developed complex-forming stationary phases employing silver(I) ions for selective olefin separations by gas chromatography (GC).[2] In co-operation with the centre of peptide chemistry at the Weizmann Institute of Science, he developed methods of the gas-chromatographic resolution of racemic α-amino acids. By coating a glass capillary column with the chiral stationary phase (CSP) N-trifluoroacetyl-L-isoleucine lauryl ester, Gil-Av et al. carried out in 1966 the first gas-chromatographic enantioseparation of racemic amino acids as N-trifluoroacetyl-O-alkyl derivatives.[3] Many racemic compounds, amenable for enantioselective interaction via hydrogen bonding with the CSP, could be analytically enantioseparated by GC.[4]

Further contributions of Gil-Av and associates are concerned with the use of chiral mobile phase additives (CMPAs) in liquid chromatography (LC),[5] enantiomeric separation of helicenes by supramolecular LC,[6] the temperature-dependent reversal of enantioselectivity by enthalpy-entropy compensation[7] and non-linear effects leading to enantiomeric enrichment during chromatography on achiral stationary phases.[8]

Literature
  • Emanuel Gil-Av, Present status of enantiomeric analysis by gas chromatography, J. Mol. Evol. 6 (1975) 131–144.
  • Nelu Grinberg: Emanuel Gil-Av (1916-1996): A man with a legacy, In: Chirality, 1998;10(5):372.
  • Volker Schurig: In Memoriam – Emanuel Gil-Av. In: Journal of High Resolution Chromatography 19 (1996) 462.
  • Volker Schurig: On the Centenary of Emanuel Gil-Av, Former Professor of the Weizmann Institute of Science and Pioneer of Enantioselective Chromatography, Isr. J. Chem. 56 (2016) 890–906.

References
  1. Volker Schurig: On the Centenary of Emanuel Gil-Av, Former Professor of the Weizmann Institute of Science and Pioneer of Enantioselective Chromatography, Isr. J. Chem. 56 (2016) 890–906.
  2. E. Gil-Av, J. Herling: Determination of the Stability Constants of Complexes by Gas Chromatography, J. Phys. Chem. 66 (1962) 1208–1209.
  3. E. Gil-Av, B. Feibush, R. Charles-Sigler: Separation of Enantiomers by Gas Liquid Chromatography With an Optically Active Stationary Phase, Tetrahedron Lett. 7 (1966) 1009–1015.
  4. E. Gil-Av: Present Status of Enantiomeric Analysis by Gas Chromatography, J. Mol. Evol. 6 (1975) 131–144.
  5. P. E. Hare, E. Gil-Av: Separation of D and L Amino Acids by Liquid Chromatography: Use of Chiral Eluants, Science 204 (1979) 1226–1228.
  6. Y. H. Kim, A. Tishbee, E. Gil-Av: Chiral Recognition by Small Biological Molecules. Resolution of Helicenes on Silica Gel Coated with Riboflavin, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 102 (1980) 5915–5917.
  7. K. Watabe, R. Charles, E. Gil-Av: Temperature Dependent Inversion of Elution Sequence in the Resolution of α-Amino Acid Enantiomers on Chiral Diamide Selectors, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 28 (1989) 192–194.
  8. R. Charles, E. Gil-Av: Self-Amplification of Optical Activity by Chromatography on an Achiral Adsorbent, J. Chromatogr. A 298 (1984) 516–520.
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