Jerry Donohue
Encyclopedia
Jerry Donohue was an American theoretical and physical chemist. He is best remembered for steering James D. Watson
and Francis Crick
towards the correct structure of DNA
with some crucial information.
and studied for his first two degrees at Dartmouth College
, where he earned his A.B.
in 1941 and his M.A.
in 1943. He worked on his PhD
under Linus Pauling
at the California Institute of Technology
(Caltech), earning his doctorate in 1947. Donohue remained at Caltech until 1952.
. In 1952, Donohue was given a Guggenheim Foundation grant to study at Cambridge University
for 6 months. He shared an office with Francis Crick and James D. Watson. In his work to determine the structure of DNA, Watson had been using structure for guanine
from a monograph by James N. Davidson. Davidson had depicted these bases in the enol
configuration and Watson used this structure in an unsuccessful 'like-with-like' pairing of the bases. Donohue informed Watson that the published structure was just a guess and that the keto
structure was more likely, based on a publication of June Broomfield and quantum mechanical calculations. Within a few days, Watson and Crick were able to build their famous model for DNA.
In their famous article by Watson and Crick in Nature
that proposed the structure of DNA, the following acknowledgment to Donohue appears: "We are much indebted to Dr. Jerry Donohue for constant advice and criticism, especially on interatomic distances".
(USC) where he continued to specialize in hydrogen-bonding. He also studied sulfur-containing compounds and began to publish papers more extensively on crystallography and crystal structures. From 1963-1966, he was chairman of the USC Chemistry Department.
In 1966, Donohue joined the chemistry faculty of the University of Pennsylvania
(Penn) as the Rhodes-Thompson Professor of Chemistry. In 1974, he published his book The Structures of the Elements. He retired from his Penn position because of ill-health in 1985, and died that same year from cancer.
Donohue was married to Patricia Schreier. They had a son and a daughter. His leisure-time interests included sea shells and horticulture.
J. Donohue and K. Trueblood. The crystal structure of p-nitroaniline. Acta Cryst., 9, 960-965 (1956).
J. Donohue, A. Caron, and E. Goldish. Crystal Structure of Rhombohedral Sulphur. Nature, 182, 518 (1958).
J. Donohue. Crystal Structure of Helium Isotopes. Phys. Rev., 114, 1009 (1959).
J. Donohue. A refinement of the positional parameter in α-nitrogen. Acta Cryst., 14, 1000 (1961).
F.L. Tucker, J.F. Walper, M.D. Appleman, and J. Donohue. Complete Reduction of Tellurite to Pure Tellurium Metal by Microorganisms. J. Bacteriol., 83(6), 1313–1314 (1962).
B.D. Sharma and J. Donohue. The Crystal and Molecular Structure of Sulfur Nitride, S4N4. Acta Cryst., 16, 891 (1963).
J. Donohue, B.D. Sharma and R.E. Marsh. Conformations and hydrogen bonding in codeine and morphine salts. Acta Cryst., 17, 249-253 (1964).
H.L. Carrell and J. Donohue. Three Different Isomers in the Same Crystal. Nature, 210, 1149 (1966).
F.L. Tucker, J.W. Thomas, M.D. Appleman, S.H. Goodman, and J. Donohue. X-Ray Diffraction Studies on Metal Deposition in Group D Streptococci. J. Bacteriol., 92(5), 1311–1314 (1966).
J. Donohue, and S.H. Goodman. The Crystal Structure of Adamantane: An Example of a False Minimum in Least Squares. Acta Cryst., 22, 352 (1967).
H.L. Carrell and J. Donohue. The Crystal and Molecular Structure of Tetramethylbiphosphine-Bis(monoborane). Acta Cryst., B24, 699-707 (1968).
G.J. Palenik, J. Donohue and K.N. Trueblood. The crystal and molecular structure of 3-nitroperchlorylbenzene. Acta Cryst., B24, 1139-1146 (1968).
J. Donohue, Structure of "Polywater". Science, 166(3908), 1000-1002 (1969).
A. Caron and J. Donohue. Redetermination of thermal motion and interatomic distances in urea. Acta Cryst., B25, 404 (1969).
R. Boggs and J. Donohue. The unit cell and space group of L-tyrosine. Acta Cryst., B27, 247 (1971).
N. Mandel and J. Donohue. The Molecular and Crystal Structure of Trifluoromethylarsenie Tetramer (AsCF3)4. Acta Cryst., B27, 476-480 (1971).
J.P. Chesick and J. Donohue. The molecular and crystal structure of 2-mercaptobenzothiazole. Acta Cryst., B27, 1441-1444 (1971).
J. Donohue and H. Einspahr. The structure of β-uranium. Acta Cryst., B27, 1740-1743 (1971).
N. Mandel and J. Donohue. The refinement of the crystal structure of skutterudite, CoAs3. Acta Cryst., B27, 2288-2289 (1971).
G. Mandel and J. Donohue. The refinement of the structure of hexabromoethane. Acta Cryst., B28, 1313-1316 (1972).
H.L. Carrell and J. Donohue. The Crystal and Molecular Structure of Dodecamethylcyclohexasilane. Acta Cryst., B28, 1566 (1972).
N. Mandel and J. Donohue. The molecular and crystal structure of 16β,17β-dibromoandrostane. Acta Cryst., B28, 308-312 (1972).
K.J. Hwang, J. Donohue, and C.-C. Tsai. The Crystal and Molecular Structure of 12-Methyl-11,13-dioxo-12-aza-pentacyclo[4.4.3.0.1,602,10.05,7]trideca-3,8-diene. Acta Cryst., B28, 1727 (1972).
H. Einspahr, R.E. Marsh, and J. Donohue. The Crystal Structure of Potassium Binoxalate. Acta Cryst., B28, 2194-2198 (1972).
G. Mandel and J. Donohue. The Crystal and Molecular Structure of Octachloro-2-4-dihydropentalene. Acta Cryst., B29, 710-714 (1973).
H. Einspahr, and J. Donohue. The Crystal and Molecular Structure of Dimethyl trans, trans-2,5-Dichloromuconate. Acta Cryst., B29, 1875-1880 (1973).
R. Boggs and J. Donohue. Spermine copper(II) perchlorate. Acta Cryst., B31, 320-322 (1975).
J. Donohue and J.P. Chesick. The Crystal and Molecular Structure of Dicinnamyl Disulfide. Acta Cryst., B31, 986 (1975).
A. Robbins, G.A. Jeffrey, J.P. Chesick, J. Donohue, F.A. Cotton, B.A. Frenz and C.A. Murillo. A refinement of the crystal structure of tetraphenylmethane: three independent redeterminations. Acta Cryst., B31, 2395-2399 (1975).
J. Donohue. Structure of graphite. Nature, 255, 172 (1975).
W.C. Stallings, Jr. and J. Donohue. A refinement of the crystal structure of N,N-diglycyl-L-cystine dihydrate. Acta Cryst., B32, 1916-1917 (1976).
R. Boggs and J. Donohue. trans-4a-Acetoxy-8a-chloro-l,4,4a,5,8,8a-hexahydronaphthalene. Acta Cryst., B32, 1918-1919 (1976).
G.T. DeTitta, J.W. Edmonds, W. Stallings, and J. Donohue. Molecular structure of biotin. Results of two independent crystal structure investigations. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 98(7), 1920-1926 (1976).
J. Donohue and B.S. Hayward. Crystal structures of two local anesthetics: dibucaine·HCl·H2O and dimethisoquin·HCl·H2O. II. Revised parameters, bond distances, and bond angles. J. Chem. Crystallogr., 10(5-6), 157-161 (1980).
W.C. Stallings, Jr. and J. Donohue. Crystal and molecular structure of analgesics, I. Ciramadol hydrobromide, C15H23O2N·HBr. J. Chem. Crystallogr., 11(3-4), 59-67 (1981).
J. Donohue and W. Stallings, Jr.. Crystal and molecular structure of analgesics. II. Dezocine hydrobromide. J. Chem. Crystallogr., 11(3-4), 69-78 (1981).
J. Donohue and N. Mandel. Molecular structures of menthylS-methyl (S)p-phenyl phosphonothioate and menthyl methyl(R)p-phenylphosphonate. J. Chem. Crystallogr., 11(5-6), 189-196 (1981).
A.B. Smith III, B.H. Toder, P.J. Carroll, and J. Donohue. Andrographolide: an X-ray crystallographic analysis. J. Chem. Crystallogr., 12(4), 309-319 (1982).
H. Katz, T.E. Conturo, P.J. Nigrey and J. Donohue. Naphthaceno[5,6-cd]-1,2-dithiole, C18H10S2. J. Chem. Crystallogr., 13(3), 221-229 (1983).
J. Donohue, A.B. Smith III, and P.J. Carroll. Crystal and molecular structure of reductiomycin. J. Chem. Crystallogr., 14(1), 35-43 (1984).
J.M. Gromek and J. Donohue. Crystal and molecular structure of OC(CoC5H5)3(CF3CCCF3). J. Chem. Crystallogr., 14(3), 227-237 (1984).
J. Donohue. Revised space-group frequencies for organic compounds. Acta Cryst., A41, 203-204 (1985).
V.A. Santopietro, J. Donohue, and A.B. Smith III. Crystal and molecular structure of hydroxyjatrophone C. J. Chem. Crystallogr., 15(3), 247-255 (1985).
A.B. Smith, III, J.L. Wood, C.J. Rizzo, G.T. Furst, P.J. Carroll, J. Donohue and S. Oreurn, (+)-Hitachimycin: stereochemistry and conformational analysis. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 114, 8003-8007 (1992).
Samples of correspondence:
James D. Watson
James Dewey Watson is an American molecular biologist, geneticist, and zoologist, best known as one of the co-discoverers of the structure of DNA in 1953 with Francis Crick...
and Francis Crick
Francis Crick
Francis Harry Compton Crick OM FRS was an English molecular biologist, biophysicist, and neuroscientist, and most noted for being one of two co-discoverers of the structure of the DNA molecule in 1953, together with James D. Watson...
towards the correct structure of DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
with some crucial information.
Early career
Donohue was born in Sheboygan, WisconsinSheboygan, Wisconsin
-Airport:Sheboygan is served by the Sheboygan County Memorial Airport, which is located several miles from the city.-Roads:Interstate 43 is the primary north-south transportation route into Sheboygan, and forms the west boundary of the city. U.S...
and studied for his first two degrees at Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
, where he earned his A.B.
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
in 1941 and his M.A.
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
in 1943. He worked on his PhD
Doctorate
A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...
under Linus Pauling
Linus Pauling
Linus Carl Pauling was an American chemist, biochemist, peace activist, author, and educator. He was one of the most influential chemists in history and ranks among the most important scientists of the 20th century...
at 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...
(Caltech), earning his doctorate in 1947. Donohue remained at Caltech until 1952.
Role in determining structure of the Deoxyribonucleic Acid
Throughout his life Donohue specialized in crystal structures and analysis, specifically of molecules relating to biology and hydrogen-bondingHydrogen bond
A hydrogen bond is the attractive interaction of a hydrogen atom with an electronegative atom, such as nitrogen, oxygen or fluorine, that comes from another molecule or chemical group. The hydrogen must be covalently bonded to another electronegative atom to create the bond...
. In 1952, Donohue was given a Guggenheim Foundation grant to study at Cambridge University
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
for 6 months. He shared an office with Francis Crick and James D. Watson. In his work to determine the structure of DNA, Watson had been using structure for guanine
Guanine
Guanine is one of the four main nucleobases found in the nucleic acids DNA and RNA, the others being adenine, cytosine, and thymine . In DNA, guanine is paired with cytosine. With the formula C5H5N5O, guanine is a derivative of purine, consisting of a fused pyrimidine-imidazole ring system with...
from a monograph by James N. Davidson. Davidson had depicted these bases in the enol
Enol
Enols are alkenes with a hydroxyl group affixed to one of the carbon atoms composing the double bond. Alkenes with a hydroxyl group on both sides of the double bond are called enediols. Deprotonated anions of enols are called enolates...
configuration and Watson used this structure in an unsuccessful 'like-with-like' pairing of the bases. Donohue informed Watson that the published structure was just a guess and that the keto
Ketone
In organic chemistry, a ketone is an organic compound with the structure RCR', where R and R' can be a variety of atoms and groups of atoms. It features a carbonyl group bonded to two other carbon atoms. Many ketones are known and many are of great importance in industry and in biology...
structure was more likely, based on a publication of June Broomfield and quantum mechanical calculations. Within a few days, Watson and Crick were able to build their famous model for DNA.
In their famous article by Watson and Crick in Nature
Nature (journal)
Nature, first published on 4 November 1869, is ranked the world's most cited interdisciplinary scientific journal by the Science Edition of the 2010 Journal Citation Reports...
that proposed the structure of DNA, the following acknowledgment to Donohue appears: "We are much indebted to Dr. Jerry Donohue for constant advice and criticism, especially on interatomic distances".
Later life
After Cambridge, Donohue became Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the University of Southern CaliforniaUniversity of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
(USC) where he continued to specialize in hydrogen-bonding. He also studied sulfur-containing compounds and began to publish papers more extensively on crystallography and crystal structures. From 1963-1966, he was chairman of the USC Chemistry Department.
In 1966, Donohue joined the chemistry faculty of the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
(Penn) as the Rhodes-Thompson Professor of Chemistry. In 1974, he published his book The Structures of the Elements. He retired from his Penn position because of ill-health in 1985, and died that same year from cancer.
Donohue was married to Patricia Schreier. They had a son and a daughter. His leisure-time interests included sea shells and horticulture.
Selected publications
J. Donohue. Radial Distribution Functions of Some Structures of the Polypeptide Chain. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 40(6), 377–381 (1954).J. Donohue and K. Trueblood. The crystal structure of p-nitroaniline. Acta Cryst., 9, 960-965 (1956).
J. Donohue, A. Caron, and E. Goldish. Crystal Structure of Rhombohedral Sulphur. Nature, 182, 518 (1958).
J. Donohue. Crystal Structure of Helium Isotopes. Phys. Rev., 114, 1009 (1959).
J. Donohue. A refinement of the positional parameter in α-nitrogen. Acta Cryst., 14, 1000 (1961).
F.L. Tucker, J.F. Walper, M.D. Appleman, and J. Donohue. Complete Reduction of Tellurite to Pure Tellurium Metal by Microorganisms. J. Bacteriol., 83(6), 1313–1314 (1962).
B.D. Sharma and J. Donohue. The Crystal and Molecular Structure of Sulfur Nitride, S4N4. Acta Cryst., 16, 891 (1963).
J. Donohue, B.D. Sharma and R.E. Marsh. Conformations and hydrogen bonding in codeine and morphine salts. Acta Cryst., 17, 249-253 (1964).
H.L. Carrell and J. Donohue. Three Different Isomers in the Same Crystal. Nature, 210, 1149 (1966).
F.L. Tucker, J.W. Thomas, M.D. Appleman, S.H. Goodman, and J. Donohue. X-Ray Diffraction Studies on Metal Deposition in Group D Streptococci. J. Bacteriol., 92(5), 1311–1314 (1966).
J. Donohue, and S.H. Goodman. The Crystal Structure of Adamantane: An Example of a False Minimum in Least Squares. Acta Cryst., 22, 352 (1967).
H.L. Carrell and J. Donohue. The Crystal and Molecular Structure of Tetramethylbiphosphine-Bis(monoborane). Acta Cryst., B24, 699-707 (1968).
G.J. Palenik, J. Donohue and K.N. Trueblood. The crystal and molecular structure of 3-nitroperchlorylbenzene. Acta Cryst., B24, 1139-1146 (1968).
J. Donohue, Structure of "Polywater". Science, 166(3908), 1000-1002 (1969).
A. Caron and J. Donohue. Redetermination of thermal motion and interatomic distances in urea. Acta Cryst., B25, 404 (1969).
R. Boggs and J. Donohue. The unit cell and space group of L-tyrosine. Acta Cryst., B27, 247 (1971).
N. Mandel and J. Donohue. The Molecular and Crystal Structure of Trifluoromethylarsenie Tetramer (AsCF3)4. Acta Cryst., B27, 476-480 (1971).
J.P. Chesick and J. Donohue. The molecular and crystal structure of 2-mercaptobenzothiazole. Acta Cryst., B27, 1441-1444 (1971).
J. Donohue and H. Einspahr. The structure of β-uranium. Acta Cryst., B27, 1740-1743 (1971).
N. Mandel and J. Donohue. The refinement of the crystal structure of skutterudite, CoAs3. Acta Cryst., B27, 2288-2289 (1971).
G. Mandel and J. Donohue. The refinement of the structure of hexabromoethane. Acta Cryst., B28, 1313-1316 (1972).
H.L. Carrell and J. Donohue. The Crystal and Molecular Structure of Dodecamethylcyclohexasilane. Acta Cryst., B28, 1566 (1972).
N. Mandel and J. Donohue. The molecular and crystal structure of 16β,17β-dibromoandrostane. Acta Cryst., B28, 308-312 (1972).
K.J. Hwang, J. Donohue, and C.-C. Tsai. The Crystal and Molecular Structure of 12-Methyl-11,13-dioxo-12-aza-pentacyclo[4.4.3.0.1,602,10.05,7]trideca-3,8-diene. Acta Cryst., B28, 1727 (1972).
H. Einspahr, R.E. Marsh, and J. Donohue. The Crystal Structure of Potassium Binoxalate. Acta Cryst., B28, 2194-2198 (1972).
G. Mandel and J. Donohue. The Crystal and Molecular Structure of Octachloro-2-4-dihydropentalene. Acta Cryst., B29, 710-714 (1973).
H. Einspahr, and J. Donohue. The Crystal and Molecular Structure of Dimethyl trans, trans-2,5-Dichloromuconate. Acta Cryst., B29, 1875-1880 (1973).
R. Boggs and J. Donohue. Spermine copper(II) perchlorate. Acta Cryst., B31, 320-322 (1975).
J. Donohue and J.P. Chesick. The Crystal and Molecular Structure of Dicinnamyl Disulfide. Acta Cryst., B31, 986 (1975).
A. Robbins, G.A. Jeffrey, J.P. Chesick, J. Donohue, F.A. Cotton, B.A. Frenz and C.A. Murillo. A refinement of the crystal structure of tetraphenylmethane: three independent redeterminations. Acta Cryst., B31, 2395-2399 (1975).
J. Donohue. Structure of graphite. Nature, 255, 172 (1975).
W.C. Stallings, Jr. and J. Donohue. A refinement of the crystal structure of N,N-diglycyl-L-cystine dihydrate. Acta Cryst., B32, 1916-1917 (1976).
R. Boggs and J. Donohue. trans-4a-Acetoxy-8a-chloro-l,4,4a,5,8,8a-hexahydronaphthalene. Acta Cryst., B32, 1918-1919 (1976).
G.T. DeTitta, J.W. Edmonds, W. Stallings, and J. Donohue. Molecular structure of biotin. Results of two independent crystal structure investigations. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 98(7), 1920-1926 (1976).
J. Donohue and B.S. Hayward. Crystal structures of two local anesthetics: dibucaine·HCl·H2O and dimethisoquin·HCl·H2O. II. Revised parameters, bond distances, and bond angles. J. Chem. Crystallogr., 10(5-6), 157-161 (1980).
W.C. Stallings, Jr. and J. Donohue. Crystal and molecular structure of analgesics, I. Ciramadol hydrobromide, C15H23O2N·HBr. J. Chem. Crystallogr., 11(3-4), 59-67 (1981).
J. Donohue and W. Stallings, Jr.. Crystal and molecular structure of analgesics. II. Dezocine hydrobromide. J. Chem. Crystallogr., 11(3-4), 69-78 (1981).
J. Donohue and N. Mandel. Molecular structures of menthylS-methyl (S)p-phenyl phosphonothioate and menthyl methyl(R)p-phenylphosphonate. J. Chem. Crystallogr., 11(5-6), 189-196 (1981).
A.B. Smith III, B.H. Toder, P.J. Carroll, and J. Donohue. Andrographolide: an X-ray crystallographic analysis. J. Chem. Crystallogr., 12(4), 309-319 (1982).
H. Katz, T.E. Conturo, P.J. Nigrey and J. Donohue. Naphthaceno[5,6-cd]-1,2-dithiole, C18H10S2. J. Chem. Crystallogr., 13(3), 221-229 (1983).
J. Donohue, A.B. Smith III, and P.J. Carroll. Crystal and molecular structure of reductiomycin. J. Chem. Crystallogr., 14(1), 35-43 (1984).
J.M. Gromek and J. Donohue. Crystal and molecular structure of OC(CoC5H5)3(CF3CCCF3). J. Chem. Crystallogr., 14(3), 227-237 (1984).
J. Donohue. Revised space-group frequencies for organic compounds. Acta Cryst., A41, 203-204 (1985).
V.A. Santopietro, J. Donohue, and A.B. Smith III. Crystal and molecular structure of hydroxyjatrophone C. J. Chem. Crystallogr., 15(3), 247-255 (1985).
A.B. Smith, III, J.L. Wood, C.J. Rizzo, G.T. Furst, P.J. Carroll, J. Donohue and S. Oreurn, (+)-Hitachimycin: stereochemistry and conformational analysis. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 114, 8003-8007 (1992).
External links
- Key Participants: Jerry Donohue - Linus Pauling and the Race for DNA: A Documentary History
Samples of correspondence: