Jay Kochi was a physical organic chemist whose research examined the interactions of electron donors and acceptors. He received his B. S. at the University of California in 1949 and his Ph.D. at Iowa State University, 1952. For most of his career, he was located at Indiana University and then at the University of Houston, where he was Welch Professor.

Useful reactions in organic chemistry

Organic chemistry

Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the scientific study of the structure, properties, composition, reactions, and preparation of carbon-based compounds, hydrocarbons, and their derivatives...

 were shown by Kochi to proceed via the formation of a donor-acceptor complex. One example is the nitration of benzene to give nitrobenzene

Nitrobenzene

Nitrobenzene is an organic compound with the chemical formula C6H5NO2. It is a water-insoluble pale yellow oil with an almond-like odor. It freezes to give greenish-yellow crystals. It is produced on a large scale as a precursor to aniline. Although occasionally used as a flavoring or perfume...

. Kochi's work showed that such reactions proceed via a complex between benzene

Benzene

Benzene is an organic chemical compound. It is composed of 6 carbon atoms in a ring, with 1 hydrogen atom attached to each carbon atom, with the molecular formula C6H6....

 (the donor) and nitrosonium

Nitrosonium

The nitrosonium ion is NO+, in which the nitrogen atom is bonded to an oxygen atom with a bond order of 3, and the overall diatomic species bears a positive charge. This ion is usually obtained as the following salts: NOClO4, NOSO4H , and NOBF4. The ClO and BF salts are slightly soluble in CH3CN...

 ion (the acceptor). He also contributed to many aspects of organometallic chemistry

Organometallic chemistry

Organometallic chemistry is the study of chemical compounds containing bonds between carbon and a metal. Since many compounds without such bonds are chemically similar, an alternative may be compounds containing metal-element bonds of a largely covalent character...

.

Kochi received many awards for his research, including election to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.