Benzion Fuchs

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Benzion Fuchs
Born	(1930-09-08) September 8, 1930 Suceava, Romania
🏳️ Nationality	Israeli
💼 Occupation
👶 Children	Neora, Eden

Professor Benzion Fuchs (Hebrew: בן-ציון פוקס‎‎) (born in Suceava, Romania on September 8, 1930) is a Holocaust survivor, Professor Emeritus of Organic Chemistry at Tel Aviv University, head of the Tel Aviv University School of Chemistry and raised generations of chemists in industry and academia.. His areas of expertise were Organic chemistry, stereochemistry and photochemistry

Biography

===Childhood and youth in Romania and in the Holocaust===.

Benzion Fuchs was born in Suceava, Romania on September 8, 1930, to his parents, Mina Mindla Januvar (youngest daughter of Iași Chief Rabbi Mordechai Januvar) (1904 Iași - 1990 Tel Aviv) and Zvi Hirsch Fuchs (1900 Bukovina - 1998 Tel Aviv). Benzion had an older brother, Gil Sha'al (originally Zelig Fuchs, labor relations expert, 1926 Suceava - 2000 Tel Aviv). His childhood passed within the Jewish community of Suceava.

In early 1941, the German army arrived on the outskirts of the city of Suceava. In the fall of 1941, all Jews were ordered to report to the Bordozny train station, where the whole family was taken in cargo / cattle wagons and sent north east. The family found a hiding place in the town of Murafa near Mogilev, then in the Mogilev Ghetto, where they suffered from illness and starvation.

After the liberation, in the spring of 1944, the family remained in Murafa for several months, moved to Bucharest and from there in mid-1945 - returned to Suceava.

Aliya, building a family and living in Israel

After volunteering in orphanages and participating in Zionist activity, on June 25, 1950, Fuchs immigrated to Israel on the ship "Transylvania" arriving at the port of Haifa. Fuchs moved to kibbutz "Bamaavak" (in the area of ​​"Waldheim", former German Templar settlement). He remained in the kibbutz until the mid 1951 when the assembly decided to move to the status of a Moshav shitufi under the name "Alonei Aba".

Fuchs spent six months with his parents at the immigrant barracks in Kiryat Ono. He joined the IDF and was posted to a science corps (Hemmed) which later became the Rafael industries. In October 1952 he married Tamar (née Rappaport, a librarian and a spirit woman ) and they moved to Jerusalem.

At the end of 1953, Fuchs was discharged - after two and a half years of mandatory service, as was customary then - and began working as a chemistry technician for Prof. Felix Bergman. A few months later, he moved to the Technion and served as chief technician of the department of organic chemistry. At the time, he studied chemistry for his bachelor and then master degrees.

In 1954, his eldest daughter, Neora, was born. Upon graduation, the family moved to the Ahuza neighborhood, where their son Eden was born. At the same time, the Technion also moved most of its departments to its new office in Neve Shaanan, where Fuchs completed his PhD in chemistry.

After completing his PhD, Fuchs became a lecturer in the Faculty of Chemistry and began lecturing and conducting independent research. After three years, in the summer of 1966, he and his family left for two years, to Boston in the United States, where he was accepted for a postdoc at Brandeis University, which then had a strong chemistry department.

After two years, the family returned to Herzliya, and Fuchs was accepted to the Tel Aviv University as a senior lecturer, where he continued a rich academic career, until he retired as Professor Emeritus.

Tamar his wife, worked as a librarian at the Herzliya municipal High School. After the children left the house, they moved to Tel Aviv, and then Tamar worked first at the open university and then at the Kibbutzim College until her retirement. The couple lives in Tel Aviv, and have 4 grandchildren.

After his retirement, Fuchs, jointly with Israel Hibner, Simcha Weissbuch, Yehuda Tannenhaus, and Meir Costiner, wrote "The Jewish Book of Suceava" in two volumes, a book about the Jewish life in Suceava since their beginning, through description of the Zionist organizations, culture and sports, Zionist youth movements, religious life, customs, the history of the Jews of the region, the fate of the community between the two World Wars and during the Holocaust and also of Jewish craftsmen, first-hand testimonies, local folklore and immigration to Israel.

Studies

Fuchs graduated in 1958 with a degree in chemistry from the Technion (B. Sc.) And then, in 1960, graduated with honors in the master's degree (M.Sc. honors). In 1963, Fuchs, also at the Technion, completed his doctorate(D.Sc.) under the supervision of Prof. David Ginzburg.

Fuchs did his postdoctoral research at Brandeis University in Boston, from 1966 to 1968.

When he returned to Israel, he was accepted to Tel Aviv University, where Fuchs continued his research and teaching and rose to the rank of full professor (1968-1988) and the position of head of the university's chemistry school (1987-89).

Academic career

Fuchs served as a professor in the Department of Organic Chemistry.

Benzion Fuchs's areas of activity were:

• Organic Stereochemistry and Conformational Analysis. Stereoelectronics.
• Supramolecular Chemistry: New Hosts, Ion, Molecular and Chiral Recognition.
• Computational Chemistry: Theory vs. Experiment. QM and MM Methodologies.
• Selective Synthesis. Bromo-Organic Systems. Organic Photochemistry.

Prof. Fuchs was head of the School of Chemistry at Tel Aviv University from 1987 to 1989.

Due to his expertise, Fuchs served on the Committee on Organic Chemistry terminology in Hebrew

Fuchs taught many students and raised generations of chemists, including some 16 professors.

Appointments as Visiting Professor

• 1966-68 Brandeis Univ., Waltham, Mass., USA (Res. Assoc.)
• 1974 Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA (Visit. Prof.)
• 1975-7 Chemistry Matriculation Committee (Chairman)
• 1978-79 MPI Strahlenchemie, Muelheim, DE (MINERVA - Visit. Prof.)
• 1976-82 Israel Journal of Chemistry, Editorial Board (Member/Editor)
• 1982 Univ. of Gent, Belgium (Francqui Visit. Chair & Medal)
• 1982-83 Nat'l Research Council-US Nat'l Acad. (Sen. Visit. Assoc.)
• 1990 University of Konstanz, University of Zurich (Visit. Prof.)
• 1994 University of Bonn (spring semester) (Visit. Prof.)
• 1999 (fall) University of British Columbia,Vancouver, CA (Visit. Prof.)

Awards and grants

• Recipient Senior associateship National Research Council, 1983,
• medal Francqui Foundation, Gent, 1982.
• Chairman Chemistry Matriculation, Israel, 1975-1977.
• Member European Photochem. Association (national representative 1988-1992).

Scientific union membership

• The Israel Chemical Society
• The American Chemical Society
• The Royal Society of Chemistry (London)
• European Science Foundation, COST Working Group D31, 2005-2010

Selected publications

1. O. Reany, I. Goldberg, S. Abramson, L. Golender, B. Ganguly, B. Fuchs ,The 1,3,5,7- Tetraazadecalins : Theory vs. Experiment, J. Org. Chem., 1998, 63, 8850-8859.
2. A. Star, B. Fuchs, Mechanism of Formation and Stabilities of the New Dioxadiazadecalin Systems. Ring-Chain Tautomerism, J. Org. Chem., 1999, 64, 1166-1172.
3. F. Voegtle, W.M. Mueller, C. Kauffmann, B. Kiupel, M. Fischer, S. Weinman, S., Abramson, B. Fuchs, Photoswitchable Rotaxanes with Chiral Stoppers, Synthesis, 1999, 849-854.
4. A. Star, I. Goldberg, N. G. Lemcoff, B. Fuchs, The Stereoisomeric Dioxadiazadecalin and Diaminobutanediol Systems: Synthesis, Structure, Stereoelectronics and Conformation, Eur. J. Org. Chem., 1999, 2033-2043.
5. V. Galasso, 0. Reany, B. Ganguly, S. Abramson, D. Jones, B. Fuchs, Theoretical study of the molecular structure and spectroscopic properties of 1,7;3,5-dimethylene- cis-1,3,5,7-tetraazadecalin, J. Mol. Struct. THEOCHEM 1999, 491, 187-191.
6. B. Ganguly, B. Fuchs, Stereoelectronic Effects in Negatively and Positively (Protonated) Charged Species. Studies Ab Initio of the Gauche Effect in 1,4-Dioxa Systems, J. Org. Chem., 2000, 65, 558-561
7. F. Voegtle, D. Udelhofen, S. Abramson, B. Fuchs, Photoresponsive Lower-rim Azobenzene Substituted and Bridged Calix[4]arenes, J. Photochem. Photobiol., A 2000, 131, 41-48
8. M. Grabarnik, R. Madar, S. Abramson, S. Weinman, N. G. Lemcoff, B. Fuchs, On Five- vs. Six-Membered Diacetal Formation From Threitol. Theory vs. Experiment. J. Org. Chem., 2000, 65, 1636-1642.
9. A. Star, I. Goldberg, B. Fuchs, Dioxadiazadecalin/Salen Tautomeric Macrocycles and Complexes. Prototypal Dynamic Combinatorial Virtual Libraries' Angew. Chem., 2000, 112, 2797-2801; Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 2000, 39, 2685-2689.
10. A. Star, I. Goldberg, B. Fuchs, Novel Dioxadiazadecalin Podands and their Heavy Metal-ion Complexes, Eur. J. Org. Chem. 2001, 729-734.
11. A. Star, I. Goldberg, B. Fuchs, Diazadioxadecalin and Salen Podands and Macrocycles within Dynamic Combinatorial Virtual Libraries: Structure, Prototropy, Complexation and Enantioselective Catalysis, J. Organometal. Chem. 2001, 630, 67-77.
12. B. Ganguly, B. Fuchs, Stereoelectronic Effects on Lithium Affinity in 1,3- and 1,4-Dioxa Systems. A Computational Study, J. Phys. Org. Chem. 2001, 14,, 488-494.
13. N. G. Lemcoff, B. Fuchs, Novel Dendrimeric Pentaerythritol Diacetals by Transacetalation Techniques, Organic Letters, 2002,, 4, 731-734.
14. S. Abramson, E. Ashkenazi, K. Frische, I. Goldberg, L. Golender, M. Greenwald, N. G. Lemcoff, R. Madar, S. Weinman and B. Fuchs, Novel Podands and Macrocycles with Diacetal (Tetraoxadecalin) Cores, Chem. Eur. J. 2003,, 9, 6071-6082.
15. B. Fuchs, A. Nelson, A. Star, J. F. Stoddart, S. Vidal, Amplification of Dynamic Chiral Crown Ether Complexes During Cyclic Acetal Formation, Angew. Chem., 2003, 115, 4352-4356; Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 2003, 42, 4220-4224.
16. S. Abramson, D. Berkovich-Berger, S. Dagan, I. Goldberg, L. Golender, M. Grabarnik, N. G. Lemcoff, S. Weinman., B. Fuchs, Polythiacrown Macro- and Gigantocycles with Chiral Diacetal Cores, Eur. J. Org. Chem., 2007, 1957-1975.
17. D. Berkovich-Berger, N. G. Lemcoff, S. Abramson, M. Grabarnik, S. Weinman, B. Fuchs, Oligomerization of 1,2-Ethanedithiol. A New Expedient Approach to Oligothiaethylenethioglycols, Chem. Eur. J., 2010, 16, 6365–6373
18. E. Levin, A. Anaby, C. E. Diesendruck, D. Berkovich-Berger, B. Fuchs, N. G. Lemcoff, Oligomerisation reactions of beta substituted thiols in water, RSC Adv., 2013, 3, 1735–1738.
19. O. Reany, B. Fuchs, cis-1,3,5,7-Tetraazadecalin Podands and their Heavy Metal Ion Complexes. A New and Strong Binding Mode, Inorg. Chem., 2013, 52, 1976-1990.
20. B. Fuchs, Tetraheterodecalin Podands, Their Linkers, and Resulting Macrocycles: A Hoard of Constitutionally and Stereochemically Dynamic Systems, Israel J. Chem., 2013, 53, 45-52.
21. M. Vardi, J. Oren, S. Weinman, S., Abramson, B. Fuchs, Diastereoselective/Enantiospecific Photorearrangement of Spiro-homoconjugated Diketones. A Viable Approach to Tricyclic Systems

External links

• Benzion Fuchs's research, ResearchGate
• Benzion Fuchs - Publications, The Academic Tree
• Benzion Fuchs, Academia.edu

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