Addy Pross


Addy Pross is an Israeli academic and author who is Emeritus Professor of chemistry at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. His research interests lie in Theoretical chemistry, the physics-chemistry-biology relationship and the origin of life.
Born in Tel Aviv in 1945, Pross attended University of Sydney, receiving his B.A. with First Class Hons. in 1966 and then a Ph.D in Organic chemistry in 1970 under Sever Sternhell. He worked as a visiting professor at Stanford University and Lund University before being appointed professor of chemistry at the Ben Gurion University in 1986. Pross has also served as a Visiting Professor in a number of universities including Rutgers University, University of Auckland and as an ARC Professorial Fellow at Sydney University.
In 2004 Pross co-authored with Vladimir Khodorkovsky a research paper called "Extending the concept of kinetic stability: toward a paradigm for life" which was published in the Journal of Physical Organic Chemistry. With regard to the Genes-first hypothesis he argued that though unlikely, the emergence of a replicating system that then develops metabolism is more likely than the emergence of a metabolic system that becomes replicative or a replicative metabolic system.
In 2010 Pross became a member of the editorial board at Life . His 2012 book What Is Life? How Chemistry Becomes Biology was published by Oxford University Press and has been produced in nearly a dozen languages. Regarding a definition of life Pross has come to see both life and Abiogenesis as processes governed by the laws of chemistry.
In 2014 Pross started working as a visiting professor at New York University Shanghai. In 2023 the book Evolution "On Purpose": Teleonomy in Living Systems co-edited by Pross along with Peter Corning, Stuart Kauffman, Denis Noble, James A. Shapiro and Richard I. Vane-Wright stated in the introduction that "Teleonomy in living systems is not, after all, only "apparent". It is a fundamental fact of life." In 2024 Pross appeared on Sean M. Carroll's Mindscape podcast.

Publications

Books

  • Addy Pross What is Life?: How Chemistry Becomes Biology Oxford University Press
  • Addy Pross Theoretical and Physical Principles of Organic Reactivity Willey

    Journal articles

  • A Pross, R Pascal On the emergence of autonomous chemical systems through dissipation kinetics Life 13, 2171
  • R Pascal, A Pross Mind from Matter: The Chemical Connection Israel Journal of Chemistry 63, e202300038
  • R Pascal, A Pross On the chemical origin of biological cognition Life 12, 2016
  • A Pross, R Pascal Dynamic kinetic stability: Toward the physicalization of biology APS March Meeting Abstracts 2022, A14. 001
  • A Pross How was Nature able to discover its own Laws — Twice? Life 11, 679
  • A Pross COVID‐19, Globalization, De‐globalization and the Slime Mold's Lessons for Us All Israel journal of chemistry 60, 905-906
  • A Pross Seeking to uncover Biology's Chemical Roots Emerging topics in life sciences 3, 435-443
  • R Pascal, A Pross Chemistry’s kinetic dimension and the physical basis for life Journal of Systems Chemistry 7, 1–8
  • A Pross Early life on Earth: Tracing the Chemical Path from Non-living to Living Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union 14, 206-214
  • A Pross Purpose & Desire: What Makes Something “Alive” and Why Modern Darwinism Has Failed to Explain It The Quarterly Review of Biology 93, 18-19
  • A Pross, R Pascal How and why kinetics, thermodynamics, and chemistry induce the logic of biological evolution Beilstein journal of organic chemistry 13, 665-674
  • R Pascal, A Pross A roadmap toward synthetic protolife Synlett 28, 30-35
  • R Pascal, A Pross The logic of life Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres 46, 507-513
  • A Pross Physical organic chemistry and the origin of life problem: A personal perspective Israel Journal of Chemistry 56, 83-88
  • G Ashkenasy, A Pross Origin of Life: Special Issue Honoring Prof. Albert Eschenmoser on the Occasion of his 90th Birthday Israel Journal of Chemistry 55, 835-836
  • R Pascal, A Pross Stability and its manifestation in the chemical and biological worlds Chemical Communications 51, 16160-16165
  • R Pascal, A Pross The nature and mathematical basis for material stability in the chemical and biological worlds Journal of Systems Chemistry 5, 3
  • R Pascal, A Pross, JD Sutherland Towards an evolutionary theory of the origin of life based on kinetics and thermodynamics Open Biology 3, 130156
  • A Pross Dynamic kinetic stability as a conceptual bridge linking chemistry to biology Current Organic Chemistry 17, 1702-1703
  • A Pross The evolutionary origin of biological function and complexity Journal of molecular evolution 76, 185-191
  • A Pross, R Pascal The origin of life: what we know, what we can know and what we will never know Open biology 3, 120190
  • A Pross How does biology emerge from chemistry? Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres 42, 433-444
  • R Armon, U Charpa, E Davidson, U Deichmann, R Falk, J Glass, S Glick, M Laubichler, M Morange, I Nevo, A Pross, S Roth, V Shoshan-Barmatz Final Discussion: Issues and Challenges for the Future Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 55, 608-611
  • A Pross Toward a general theory of evolution: Extending Darwinian theory to inanimate matter Journal of Systems Chemistry 2, 1
  • N Wagner, A Pross The nature of stability in replicating systems Entropy 13, 518-527
  • A Pross Commentary on "life as a unity or confederacy" Origins of Life and Evolution of the Biosphere 40, 478-480
  • A Pross Commentary on "plausibility of an RNA World" Origins of Life and Evolution of the Biosphere 40, 434-437
  • N Wagner, A Pross, E Tannenbaum Selection advantage of metabolic over non-metabolic replicators: a kinetic analysis Biosystems 99, 126-129
  • A Pross Seeking the chemical roots of Darwinism: bridging between chemistry and biology Chemistry: A European Journal 15, 8374-8381
  • A Pross How can a chemical system act purposefully? Bridging between life and non‐life Journal of Physical Organic Chemistry 21, 724-730
  • A Pross How can a chemical system act purposefully Bridging between life and non-life. J
  • A Pross On the chemical nature and origin of teleonomy Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres 35, 383-394
  • A Pross On the emergence of biological complexity: life as a kinetic state of matter Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres 35, 151-166
  • A Pross Stability in chemistry and biology: Life as a kinetic state of matter Pure and Applied Chemistry 77, 1905-1921
  • A Pross Causation and the origin of life. Metabolism or replication first? Origins of Life and Evolution of the Biosphere 34, 307-321
  • A Pross, V Khodorkovsky Extending the concept of kinetic stability: toward a paradigm for life Journal of physical organic chemistry 17, 312-316
  • ML Coote, A Pross, L Radom Understanding Alkyl Substituent Effects in RO Bond Dissociation Reactions in Open-and Closed-Shell Systems Fundamental World of Quantum Chemistry: A Tribute to the Memory of Per-Olov …
  • ML Coote, A Pross, L Radom Variable Trends in R−X Bond Dissociation Energies Organic Letters 5, 4689-4692
  • A Pross The driving force for life's emergence: kinetic and thermodynamic considerations Journal of theoretical Biology 220, 393-406
  • TI Sølling, A Pross, L Radom A high-level ab initio investigation of identity and nonidentity gas-phase SN2 reactions of halide ions with halophosphines International Journal of Mass Spectrometry 210, 1-11
  • L Radom, MW Wong, A Pross Radical Addition to Alkenes: A Theoretical Perspective
  • L Radom, MW Wong, A Pross Theoretical aspects of radical reactions American Chemical Society, Polymer Preprints, Division of Polymer Chemistry …
  • L Radom, MW Wong, A Pross, JPA Heuts, RG Gilbert Theoretical aspects of free radical reactions Abstracts of Papers of the American Chemical Society 213, 260-260
  • MN Glukhovtsev, A Pross, HB Schlegel, RD Bach, L Radom Gas-Phase Identity SN2 Reactions of Halide Anions and Methyl Halides with Retention of Configuration Journal of the American Chemical Society 118, 11258-11264
  • MN Glukhovtsev, S Laiter, A Pross Thermochemical assessment of the aromatic and antiaromatic characters of the cyclopropenyl cation, cyclopropenyl anion, and cyclopropenyl radical: A high-level computational study The Journal of Physical Chemistry 100, 17801-17806
  • JPA Heuts, A Pross, L Radom Hydrogen transfer between ethyl radical and ethylene: An example where kinetics does not follow thermodynamics The Journal of Physical Chemistry 100, 17087-17089
  • MN Glukhovtsev, RD Bach, A Pross, L Radom The performance of B3-LYP density functional theory in describing SN2 reactions at saturated carbon Chemical physics letters 260, 558-564
  • MN Glukhovtsev, A Pross, L Radom Gas-Phase Non-Identity SN2 Reactions of Halide Anions with Methyl Halides:  A High-Level Computational Study Journal of the American Chemical Society 118, 6273-6284
  • MN Glukhovtsev, A Pross, MP McGrath, L Radom Erratum: Extension of Gaussian-2 theory to bromine-and iodine-containing molecules: Use of effective core potentials The Journal of Chemical Physics 104, 3407
  • MN Glukhovtsev, A Pross, L Radom Acidities, proton affinities, and other thermochemical properties of hypohalous acids HOX : A high-level computational study The Journal of Physical Chemistry 100, 3498-3503
  • A Pross, H Zipse Theoretical and Physical Principles of Organic Reactivity Angewandte Chemie-English Edition 35, 1866-1866
  • A Pross Theoretical and physical principles of organic reactivity
  • MN Glukhovtsev, A Pross, L Radom Gas-phase identity SN2 reactions of halide ions at neutral nitrogen: A high-level computational study Journal of the American Chemical Society 117, 9012-9018
  • MN Glukhovtsev, A Pross, MP McGrath, L Radom Extension of Gaussian‐2 theory to bromine‐and iodine‐containing molecules: Use of effective core potentials The Journal of chemical physics 103, 1878-1885
  • MN Glukhovtsev, S Laiter, A Pross Thermochemistry of cyclobutadiene and tetrahedrane: A high-level computational study The Journal of Physical Chemistry 99, 6828-6831
  • MN Glukhovtsev, A Pross, L Radom Gas-phase identity SN2 reactions of halide anions with methyl halides: a high-level computational study Journal of the American Chemical Society 117, 2024-2032
  • MN Glukhovtsev, A Pross, A Nicolaides, L Radom Is the most stable gas-phase isomer of the benzenium cation a face-protonated π-complex? Journal of the Chemical Society, Chemical Communications, 2347-2348
  • MN Glukhovtsev, JE Szulejko, TB McMahon, JW Gauld, AP Scott, B J Smith, A Pross, L Radom New theoretical and experimental proton affinities for methyl halides and diazomethane: A revision of the methyl cation affinity scale The Journal of Physical Chemistry 98, 13099-13101
  • MW Wong, A Pross, L Radom Addition of tert-butyl radical to substituted alkenes: a theoretical study of the reaction mechanism Journal of the American Chemical Society 116, 11938-11943
  • MW Wong, A Pross, L Radom Comparison of the addition of CH3. bul., CH2OH. bul., and CH2CN. bul. Radicals to substituted alkenes: A theoretical study of the reaction mechanism Journal of the American Chemical Society 116, 6284-6292
  • MN Glukhovtsev, A Pross, L Radom Is SN2 substitution with inversion of configuration at vinylic carbon feasible? Journal of the American Chemical Society 116, 5961-5962
  • MW Wong, A Pross, L Radom The Mechanism of Radical-Addition to Alkenes Abstracts of Papers of The American Chemical Society 207, 242-ORGN
  • A Pross, SS Shaik, HB Schlegel, S Wolfe Theoretical Aspects of Physical Organic Chemistry. The SN2 Mechanism Journal of the American Chemical Society 116, 8434-8434
  • S Shaik, A Ioffe, AC Reddy, A Pross Is the avoided crossing state a good approximation for the transition state of a chemical reaction? An analysis of Menschutkin and ionic SN2 reactions Journal of the American Chemical Society 116, 262-273
  • MW Wong, A Pross, L Radom Are polar interactions important in the addition of methyl radical to alkenes? Journal of the American Chemical Society 115, 11050-11051
  • MW Wong, A Pross, L Radom Addition of methyl radical to substituted alkenes: a theoretical study of the reaction mechanism Israel journal of chemistry 33, 415-425
  • A Pross, S Shaik What is a Good Approximation for the Transition State of an SN2 Reaction? Croatica Chemica Acta 65, 625-631
  • A Pross, H Yamataka, S Nagase Reactivity in radical abstraction reactions: Application of the curve crossing model Journal of physical organic chemistry 4, 135-140
  • A Pross, RA Moss A curve crossing approach to carbenic reactivity Tetrahedron letters 31, 4553-4556
  • SS Shaik, A Pross Nucleophilic attack on cation radicals and cations. A theoretical analysis Journal of the American Chemical Society 111, 4306-4312
  • A Pross, SS Shaik Brønsted coefficients. Do they measure transition state structure? New Journal of Chemistry 13, 427-433
  • AJ Shusterman, I Tamir, A Pross The mechanism of organometallic migration reactions. A configuration mixing approach Journal of Organometallic Chemistry 340, 203-222
  • A Pross Relationship between Nucleophilic Reactions and Single-Electron Transfer: Application to Reactions of Radical Cations Nucleophilicity Chapter 23, 331-338
  • A Pross, DM Chipman The single-electron shift as a basis of organic reactivity Free Radical Biology and Medicine 3, 55-64
  • A Pross Can nucleophiles attack radical cations directly? "Allowed" and "forbidden" polar reactions. Journal of the American Chemical Society 108, 3537-3538
  • A Pross The single electron shift as a fundamental process in organic chemistry: the relationship between polar and electron-transfer pathways. Accounts of Chemical Research 18, 212-219
  • A Pross Factors Governing the Competition Between Nucleophilic and Single-electron Transfer Processes. Abstracts of Papers of The American Chemical Society 190, 92-ORN
  • A Pross, Limitations of the Reactivity—Selectivity Principle. Application to Free Radical Addition to Alkenes and Nucleophilic Aliphatic Substitution. Israel Journal of Chemistry 26 390-394