Makhluf Haddadin

Makhluf Haddadin is a Jordanian chemistry professor at the American University of Beirut.

Makhluf J. Haddadin was born in Ma'in, Jordan. He won a full scholarship from the Jordanian Ministry of Education, to study chemistry at the American University of Beirut from which he graduated with a B.Sc. and an M.Sc. under the direction of Costas H. Issidorides/ He then left for the University of Colorado Boulder, Colorado, USA where he received a Ph.D. degree in organic chemistry under the direction ofAlfred Hassner . After two years of postdoctoral work underLouis Fieser at Harvard University, he joined the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at the American University of Beirut where he is now a Professor of Chemistry.

He served the American University of Beirut as Vice President for Academic Affairs (12 years), Acting Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences (3.5 years), Chairman of the Chemistry Department (10 years), occasional Acting Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Acting DeputyPresident and Acting President.

Haddadin is a heterocyclic chemist whose contributions are marked by his co-invention, withCostas H. Issidorides , of amethod of making hundreds if not thousands of heterocyclic compounds, in what is currently known in the chemical literature as “The Beirut Reaction”.

Some of the compounds made by this methodhave antibacterial activities and anticancer properties. The latter are exemplified by the trade names of Carbadox and Mecadox which were marketed bythe drug company: Chas. Pfizer. One compoundTPZ (3-amino-1,2,4-benzotriazene 1,4-dioxide)is currently in the third stage of clinical testing as an anticancer drug.In addition, Haddadinhas done original work in the areas of Isobenzofuran, Isoindoles, tetrazines, quinolines, furans, pyrroles, cinnolines and indazoles. He has ninety publications in refereed journals, and42 patents in 25 countries.

Haddadin co-discovered the Davis-Beirut chemical reaction withMark Kurth and first published about it around 2005. In their seventh paper on the subject, Kurth and Haddadin named it after the universities where they work, University of California, Davis and American University of Beirut. The paper has been cited36 times in Google Scholar.