BULLETIN FOR THE HISTORY OF CHEMISTRY
Volume 49, 2024
Engelhard, Martin, “Review of Inventing Synthetic Methods to Discover How Enzymes Work,” by Stephen B. H. Kent, Bull. Hist. Chem., 2024, 49, 167-169.
Abstract/Description: Stephen B. H. Kent joined the lab of Bruce Merrifield at the Rockefeller University as a postdoc and entered the quest for the chemical synthesis of proteins. It was a logical step in his scientific career, which was driven early on by his aspiration to understand the nature of enzymatic catalysis on a molecular level. As he writes in his vividly written autobiography, he became acutely aware of the problems of Solid Phase Peptide Synthesis (SPPS) and decided and set out in youthful energy to fix the method, which took him more than a decade. Kent's outstanding scientific accomplishments, his path from New Zealand to the University of Chicago, his life with his family, and interactions with colleagues and friends, which he describes in his autobiography, are interesting and compelling to read. His innate pleasure of finding things out (cf. Richard Feynman) is a quintessential driving force for him to tackle the nature of enzyme catalysis.