Eric Block, Carla Rizzo Delray Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at the University at Albany, State University of New York, received a B.S. in chemistry from Queens College of the City University of New York and an M.S. and Ph.D. in chemistry from Harvard University with 1990 Nobel Laureate E.J. Corey. Prior to coming to Albany he was Professor of Chemistry at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and he has been a Visiting Professor at Harvard University, the Universities of Illinois-Urbana, Frankfurt, and Bologna, the Weizmann Institute of Science and Visiting Fellow at Wolfson College, Cambridge University. Recipient of a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship (1984), the ACS Award for Advancement of Application of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (1987), the International Council on Main Group Chemistry Award for Excellence in Main Group Chemistry Research (1994) and the Kenneth C. Spencer Award of the Kansas City Section of the ACS (2003), Block is the author of more than 220 papers, 5 patents, 4 books, and is a member of the editorial advisory board of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. He is known for his discoveries elucidating the natural products chemistry of Allium species (garlic, onion, etc.) accomplished over a period of 35 years including: determination of the structure of the lachrymatory factor of the onion and its dimer; identification and synthesis of "ajoene" and vinyldithiins, anticoagulants from garlic, and bis-sulfine, cepaenes, and zwiebelanes, biologically active onion flavorants; identification of organoselenium compounds in Allium volatiles and in human garlic breath; identification of trace level Allium selenoamino acids; development of analytical methods for identification of Allium organosulfur flavor components. He co-authored a clinical trial of the effectiveness of garlic and garlic supplements as lipid-lowering agents and is researching applications of garlic-derived compounds as environmentally benign pesticides.
