University of Saigon Invites Fieser To Administer Ph.D. Examinations

Louis F. Fieser, Sheldon Emery Professor of Organic Chemistry, will fly to South Vietnam this December to examine two Ph.D. candidates in chemistry at the University of Saigon.

Although Fieser is not yet sure who is financing the trip, his invitation was extended through the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission office in Saigon. He said he would probably fly to Vietnam on a military plane and stay there about a week.

The candidates have been working on their theses for five years "under very trying conditions," Fieser said. "Their work is an admirable example of what people can do in such situations."

While at the University of Saigon, Fieser will lead a seminar on his latest research, entitled "Useful Reagents That No One Has Seen." Carbene, an example of these reagents, has never been isolated, though its presence in reactions can be demonstrated by a process known as "trapping."

A chemistry professor from Japan who has done postgraduate work under Fieser will assist him with the examinations.

Fieser has just returned from another trip-this one for the U.S. government. He went to Washington on Nov. 4 to testify that a patent on a process for producing D and L. Lysine, two varieties of an amino acid, should not exclude a separate patent on the L. Lysine process.

A Swiss chemist is seeking the patent on L. Lysine to sell to a U.S. firm. The Federal District Court of Washington, D.C., called Fieser into the case because of a comment in his Chemistry 20 textbook, Advanced Organic Chemistry. He had noted that the Swiss's process for isolating L. Lysine was "very ingenious."

Fieser does not expect the court's decision for several weeks.