Harry B. Gray
Encyclopedia
Harry Barkus Gray is the Arnold O. Beckman Professor of Chemistry
at California Institute of Technology
. He won the Priestley Medal
in 1991, Harvey Prize
in 2000, The Benjamin Franklin Medal in Chemistry in 2004, and the Wolf Prize in Chemistry
in 2004.
from Western Kentucky University
in 1957. He began his work in inorganic chemistry
at Northwestern University
, where he earned his Ph.D. in 1960 working under Fred Basolo
and Ralph Pearson
. He was initiated into the Upsilon chapter of Alpha Chi Sigma
at Northwestern University in 1958. After that, he spent a year (1960–61) as an NSF Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Copenhagen, where, along with Dr. Walter A. Manch, he collaborated with Carl J. Ballhausen on studies of the electronic structures of metal complexes.
After completing his NSF Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Copenhagen
, he went to New York to take up a faculty appointment at Columbia University
. He became an Assistant Professor from 1961 to 1963, Associate Professor from 1963 to 1965 and Professor from 1965 to 1966.
In 1966, he moved to the California Institute of Technology
, where he is the Arnold O. Beckman Professor of Chemistry and Founding Director of the Beckman Institute.
, biochemistry
, and biophysics
. Electron transfer
(ET) chemistry is a unifying theme for much of this research.
Over the past twenty-five years the Gray group has been measuring the kinetics of long-range ET reactions in metalloproteins labeled with inorganic redox
reagents. Current research is aimed at understanding how intermediate protein radicals accelerate long-range ET. In collaboration with Jay R. Winkler
of the Beckman Institute at Caltech they have developed new techniques for measuring ET rates in crystals of Ru-, Os-, and Re-modified azurins, as well as crystals of Fe(III)-cytochrome c
doped with Zn(II)-cytochrome c. This method of integrating photosensitizers into protein crystals has provided a powerful new tool for studying biochemical reaction dynamics. The Gray/Winkler group is also using ET chemistry to probe the dynamics of protein folding
in cytochrome c
.
. He won the prize "for pioneering work in bioinorganic chemistry
, unraveling novel principles of structure and long-range electron transfer
in proteins."
Gray has made seminal contributions to the understanding of chemical bonding of metal complexes, mechanisms of inorganic reactions, spectroscopy and magneto-chemistry of inorganic compounds. His study of the first trigonal prismatic complexes is one such example. Harry Gray’s most significant work lies at the interface between chemistry
and biology
. As a pioneer of the important and thriving field of bioinorganic chemistry
, he has made many key contributions, the most important of which is the development of fundamental understanding of electron transfer in biological systems, at the atomic level.
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
at California Institute of Technology
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...
. He won the Priestley Medal
Priestley Medal
The Priestley Medal is the highest honor conferred by the American Chemical Society and is awarded for distinguished service in the field of chemistry. Established in 1922, the award is named after Joseph Priestley, the discoverer of oxygen who immigrated to the United States of America in 1794...
in 1991, Harvey Prize
Harvey Prize
The Harvey Prize is awarded by the Technion in Haifa, Israel. It is awarded in different disciplines of Science, Technology, Human Health, and Contributions to Peace in the Middle East. Two awards - each of $75,000 - are given away annually...
in 2000, The Benjamin Franklin Medal in Chemistry in 2004, and the Wolf Prize in Chemistry
Wolf Prize in Chemistry
The Wolf Prize in Chemistry is awarded once a year by the Wolf Foundation in Israel. It is one of the six Wolf Prizes established by the Foundation and awarded since 1978; the others are in Agriculture, Mathematics, Medicine, Physics and Arts.-Laureates:...
in 2004.
Career
Gray received his B.S. in ChemistryChemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
from Western Kentucky University
Western Kentucky University
Western Kentucky University is a public university in Bowling Green, Kentucky, USA. It was formally founded by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1906, though its roots reach back a quarter-century earlier....
in 1957. He began his work in inorganic chemistry
Inorganic chemistry
Inorganic chemistry is the branch of chemistry concerned with the properties and behavior of inorganic compounds. This field covers all chemical compounds except the myriad organic compounds , which are the subjects of organic chemistry...
at Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
, where he earned his Ph.D. in 1960 working under Fred Basolo
Fred Basolo
Fred Basolo was an American inorganic chemist. He received his Ph.D. at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1943 with John C. Bailar. Basolo spent his entire professional career at Northwestern University...
and Ralph Pearson
Ralph Pearson
Ralph G. Pearson is a physical inorganic chemist best known for the development of the concept of hard and soft acids and bases ....
. He was initiated into the Upsilon chapter of Alpha Chi Sigma
Alpha Chi Sigma
Alpha Chi Sigma is a professional fraternity specializing in the field of chemistry. It has both collegiate and professional chapters throughout the United States consisting of both men and women and numbering more than 63,400 members...
at Northwestern University in 1958. After that, he spent a year (1960–61) as an NSF Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Copenhagen, where, along with Dr. Walter A. Manch, he collaborated with Carl J. Ballhausen on studies of the electronic structures of metal complexes.
After completing his NSF Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Copenhagen
University of Copenhagen
The University of Copenhagen is the oldest and largest university and research institution in Denmark. Founded in 1479, it has more than 37,000 students, the majority of whom are female , and more than 7,000 employees. The university has several campuses located in and around Copenhagen, with the...
, he went to New York to take up a faculty appointment at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
. He became an Assistant Professor from 1961 to 1963, Associate Professor from 1963 to 1965 and Professor from 1965 to 1966.
In 1966, he moved to the California Institute of Technology
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...
, where he is the Arnold O. Beckman Professor of Chemistry and Founding Director of the Beckman Institute.
Research
Gray's interdisciplinary research program addresses a wide range of fundamental problems in inorganic chemistryInorganic chemistry
Inorganic chemistry is the branch of chemistry concerned with the properties and behavior of inorganic compounds. This field covers all chemical compounds except the myriad organic compounds , which are the subjects of organic chemistry...
, biochemistry
Biochemistry
Biochemistry, sometimes called biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes in living organisms, including, but not limited to, living matter. Biochemistry governs all living organisms and living processes...
, and biophysics
Biophysics
Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that uses the methods of physical science to study biological systems. Studies included under the branches of biophysics span all levels of biological organization, from the molecular scale to whole organisms and ecosystems...
. Electron transfer
Electron transfer
Electron transfer is the process by which an electron moves from an atom or a chemical species to another atom or chemical species...
(ET) chemistry is a unifying theme for much of this research.
Over the past twenty-five years the Gray group has been measuring the kinetics of long-range ET reactions in metalloproteins labeled with inorganic redox
Redox
Redox reactions describe all chemical reactions in which atoms have their oxidation state changed....
reagents. Current research is aimed at understanding how intermediate protein radicals accelerate long-range ET. In collaboration with Jay R. Winkler
Jay R. Winkler
Dr. Jay Richmond Winkler, Ph.D. is an American physical chemist, currently Director of the Beckman Institute Laser Resource Center at the California Institute of Technology...
of the Beckman Institute at Caltech they have developed new techniques for measuring ET rates in crystals of Ru-, Os-, and Re-modified azurins, as well as crystals of Fe(III)-cytochrome c
Cytochrome c
The Cytochrome complex, or cyt c is a small heme protein found loosely associated with the inner membrane of the mitochondrion. It belongs to the cytochrome c family of proteins. Cytochrome c is a highly soluble protein, unlike other cytochromes, with a solubility of about 100 g/L and is an...
doped with Zn(II)-cytochrome c. This method of integrating photosensitizers into protein crystals has provided a powerful new tool for studying biochemical reaction dynamics. The Gray/Winkler group is also using ET chemistry to probe the dynamics of protein folding
Protein folding
Protein folding is the process by which a protein structure assumes its functional shape or conformation. It is the physical process by which a polypeptide folds into its characteristic and functional three-dimensional structure from random coil....
in cytochrome c
Cytochrome c
The Cytochrome complex, or cyt c is a small heme protein found loosely associated with the inner membrane of the mitochondrion. It belongs to the cytochrome c family of proteins. Cytochrome c is a highly soluble protein, unlike other cytochromes, with a solubility of about 100 g/L and is an...
.
Wolf Prize
In 2004, Gray won the Wolf Prize in ChemistryWolf Prize in Chemistry
The Wolf Prize in Chemistry is awarded once a year by the Wolf Foundation in Israel. It is one of the six Wolf Prizes established by the Foundation and awarded since 1978; the others are in Agriculture, Mathematics, Medicine, Physics and Arts.-Laureates:...
. He won the prize "for pioneering work in bioinorganic chemistry
Bioinorganic chemistry
Bioinorganic chemistry is a field that examines the role of metals in biology. Bioinorganic chemistry includes the study of both natural phenomena such as the behavior of metalloproteins as well artificially introduced metals, including those that are non-essential, in medicine and toxicology...
, unraveling novel principles of structure and long-range electron transfer
Electron transfer
Electron transfer is the process by which an electron moves from an atom or a chemical species to another atom or chemical species...
in proteins."
Gray has made seminal contributions to the understanding of chemical bonding of metal complexes, mechanisms of inorganic reactions, spectroscopy and magneto-chemistry of inorganic compounds. His study of the first trigonal prismatic complexes is one such example. Harry Gray’s most significant work lies at the interface between chemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
and biology
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
. As a pioneer of the important and thriving field of bioinorganic chemistry
Bioinorganic chemistry
Bioinorganic chemistry is a field that examines the role of metals in biology. Bioinorganic chemistry includes the study of both natural phenomena such as the behavior of metalloproteins as well artificially introduced metals, including those that are non-essential, in medicine and toxicology...
, he has made many key contributions, the most important of which is the development of fundamental understanding of electron transfer in biological systems, at the atomic level.
Major publications
- Electron Tunneling Through Water: Oxidative Quenching of Electronically Excited Ru(tpy)22+ (tpy=2,2':6,2"-terpyridine) by Ferric Ions in Aqueous Glasses at 77 K, A. Ponce, H. B. Gray, and J. R. Winkler, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2000, 122, 8187-8191.
- Bond-Mediated Electron Tunneling in Ruthenium-Modified High-Potential Iron-Sulfur Protein, E. Babini, I. Bertini, M. Borsari, F. Capozzi, C. Luchinat, X. Y. Zhang, G. L. C. Moura, I. V. Kurnikov, D. N. Beratan, A. Ponce, A. J. Di Bilio, J. R. Winkler, and H. B. Gray, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2000, 122, 4532-4533.
- Electron Tunneling in Biological Molecules, J. R. Winkler, A. J. Di Bilio, N. A. Farrow, J. H. Richards, and H. B. Gray, Pure Appl. Chem. 1999, 71, 1753-1764.
- Optical Detection of Cytochrome P450 by Sensitizer-Linked Substrates, I. J. Dmochowski, B. R. Crane, J. J. Wilker, J. R. Winkler, and H. B. Gray, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 1999, 96, 12987-12990.
- Substrates for Rapid Delivery of Electrons and Holes to Buried Active Sites in Proteins, J. J. Wilker, I. J. Dmochowski, J. H. Dawson, J. R. Winkler, and H. B. Gray, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 1999, 38, 90-92.
- Protein Folding Triggered by Electron Transfer, J. R. Telford, P. Wittung-Stafshede, H. B. Gray, and J. R. Winkler, Acc. Chem. Res. 1998, 31, 755-763.
- Electron Transfer in Proteins, H. B. Gray and J. R. Winkler, Annu. Rev. Biochem. 1996, 65, 537-561.
- Protein Folding Triggered by Electron Transfer, T. Pascher, J. P. Chesick, J. R. Winkler, and H. B. Gray, Science 1996, 271, 1558-1560.
- Electron-Tunneling in Proteins - Coupling Through a b-Strand, R. Langen, I-J. Chang, J. P. Germanas, J. H. Richards, J. R. Winkler, and H. B. Gray, Science 1995, 268, 1733-1735.
- Mechanism of Catalytic Oxygenation of Alkanes by Halogenated Iron Porphyrins, M. W. Grinstaff, M. G. Hill, J. A. Labinger, and H. B. Gray, Science 1994, 264, 1311–1313