The Department of Chemistry at the University of Illinois

Seemon Pines was born in Portland, Maine, and educated in public schools in Maine, New York and Pennsylvania. His undergraduate studies were postponed for two years of service in the U.S. Navy from 1944 to 1946. Seemon Pines attended Lehigh University and received a B.S. degree in chemical engineering in 1948. He continued his academic career at the University of Illinois and became a member of Professor Nelson Leonard’s group. He received a Master’s Degree in 1949 and a Ph.D. in 1951 for his thesis titled "The Clemmensen Reaction cum Rearrangement of α-Aminoketones."

After graduation, Dr. Pines joined Merck and Company as a bench chemist. He devoted his entire career to Merck and ultimately achieved the position of Vice President of Process Research and Development before retiring in 1991. In 1987, he received the Director’s Scientific Award, the highest honor Merck bestows upon its researchers in recognition of outstanding scientific achievements.

Dr. Pines was honored for his leading role in the commercial development of the broad spectrum antibiotic, Primaxin. This work is considered one of the greatest synthetic challenges ever brought to commercialization and thus is a benchmark in the pharmaceutical industry. As a central figure in Merck, Dr. Pines was involved in a variety of projects, including the manufacturing process of niacin, glutamic acid, and penicillin, and other work on methyldopa, indomethacin, carbidopa and sulindac. Dr. Pines has guided the Merck Process Group to a preeminent position in synthesis and process chemistry. On October 13, 2000, Dr. Pines was honored with the 2000 LAS Alumni Achievement Award from the University of Illinois in recognition of his lifetime of outstanding accomplishments.

We are honored that Dr. Pines has chosen to allocate the monetary portion of the Director’s Scientific Award to the Organic Chemistry Department at the University of Illinois. This generous grant sponsors the Organic Area Allerton Conference each year. The conference gives chemistry researchers in the organic area the opportunity to present their accomplishments in research and opens communication among various research groups. We are grateful to Dr. Pines for supporting our department with this grant, which allows us to continue the tradition this year with the Twenty-second Organic Area Allerton Conference.