Alfred Burger

Alfred Burger was a prominent chemist and a pioneer in medical chemistry.

Burger was born in Vienna, the capitol of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in 1905. He was the son of S. L. Burger (a civil servant) and Clariss Burger. He received a Ph.D. degree from the University of Vienna in 1928. He worked as a research chemist in Switzerland before emigrating to the United States in 1929. He then became a Research Associate at the Drug Addiction Laboratory of the National Research Council at the University of Virginia where he conducted research on the chemistry of opium alkaloids and the synthesis of morphine substitutes. In 1938, he joined the faculty of University of Virginia where he remained until 1970. He reached the rank of full professor in 1952.

His research activities with a staff of 40 graduate and 33 postdoctoral students included studies on the design and synthesis of analgesic, chemotherapeutic, and antidepressant drugs. One of his synthetic compounds was developed as a widely used clinical antidepressant under the name of tanylcypromine (Parnale).

In the 1950s, Burger defined the principles of medicinal chemistry when he wrote its first-ever textbook, Burger's Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Discovery, which has had at least six editions. Burger also became the first editor of the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry.

Burger received the Louis Pasteur Medal of the French Pasteur Institute, the Smissman Award of the American Chemical Society, and the Award in Medicinal Chemistry from the American Pharmaceutical Association. The ACS award in Medicinal Chemistry is named for him. He founded the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry in 1958 and served as its editor for 14 years. He also served as editor of Medicinal Chemistry Research and as Chairman of the ACS Division of Medicinal Chemistry.

Since 1980, the American Chemical Society has awarded the Alfred Burger Award in Medicinal Chemistry to recognize outstanding contributions to research in medicinal chemistry.

Burger authored over 200 papers and numerous books. His other books include Understanding Medications; Searching, Teaching & Writing-What Fun; Drugs & People; Drugs Affecting the Peripheral Nervous System; and Drugs Affecting the Central Nervous System.

Burger died on December 30, 2000, at the age of 95.

References[]

• American Chemical Society division of Medicinal Chemistry entry
• [1] which cites American Chemistry Society. Virginia News & membership. February, 2001.