Brian M. Hoffman

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Brian M. Hoffman (born August 7, 1941 in Chicago) is an American bioinorganic and physical chemist.

Contents

Career

Hoffman is a graduate of Lane Tech High School in Chicago. He studied chemistry at the University of Chicago receiving a bachelor's degree in 1962 and at Caltech with a PhD in chemistry in 1966 under the direction of Harden M. McConnell. Hoffman was briefly a postdoctoral scholar with Alexander Rich at MIT. In 1967 he started his appointment at Northwestern University, where he has remained throughout his career.

Hoffman was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 2006. [1] In 2022, he won the American Institute of Chemists's Gold Medal. [2] [ non-primary source needed ]

Research

In early work, Hoffman demonstrated the reconstitution of myoglobin with cobalt in place of iron. [3] Over the course of his research career, he also contributed to the study of cytochrome P450, nitric oxide synthase, nickel-iron hydrogenase, and nitrogenase. [4]

Hoffman contributed to the use of electron-nuclear double-resonance (ENDOR) spectroscopy, usually to study enzyme mechanisms. [5]

He has demonstrated that radical SAM enzymes, which are pervasive, operate via the transient formation of an Fe-carbon bond. [6]

References

  1. Hoffman, Brian M. "Brian M. Hoffman". The National Academy of Sciences . Retrieved 7 October 2025.
  2. "Gold Medal Award Winners (2020 - 2029)". American Institute of Chemists . Retrieved 7 October 2025.
  3. Hoffman, B. M.; Petering, D. H. (1970). "Coboglobins: Oxygen-Carrying Cobalt-Reconstituted Hemoglobin and Myoglobin". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 67 (2): 637–643. Bibcode:1970PNAS...67..637H. doi: 10.1073/pnas.67.2.637 . PMC   283253 . PMID   4331717.
  4. Hoffman BM, Lukoyanov D, Dean DR, Seefeldt LC (2013). "Nitrogenase: A Draft Mechanism". Accounts of Chemical Research. 46 (2): 587–595. doi:10.1021/ar300267m. PMC   3578145 . PMID   23289741.
  5. Hoffman BM (2003). "ENDOR of Metalloenzymes". Accounts of Chemical Research. 36 (7): 522–529. doi:10.1021/ar0202565. PMID   12859213.
  6. Hoffman BM, Broderick WE, Broderick JB (June 2023). "Mechanism of Radical Initiation in the Radical SAM Enzyme Superfamily". Annual Review of Biochemistry. 92 (1): 333–349. doi: 10.1146/annurev-biochem-052621-090638 . PMC   10759928 . PMID   37018846. S2CID   257983715.