Moore, Stanford (1913–1982)

US biochemist who shared the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1972 with his colleague William Stein for their determination of the base sequence of RNA in 1958, and the probable location of the active site on the molecule, and for the development of the column chromatographic method for separating and identifying amino acids.

The chromatographic column apparatus consisted of a 1.5-m/5-ft column filled with resin. The sample was washed through the resin with solutions of various acidity, and the amino acids separated out according to their affinity for the resin and the solution.

By careful manipulation, the amino acids could be tapped from the base of the column, one at a time. They were detected using the reagent ninhydrin, which turns blue in the presence of amino acids and heat. A continuous plot of the intensity of the blue colour shows a series of peaks, each corresponding to a certain amino acid. By measuring the area under the peak, the amount of each amino acid can be found.

Moore and Stein also recorded the first example of convergent evolution, involving a bacterial protease (an enzyme capable of breaking down proteins) and a plant protease, which have similar enzymatic activity but different molecular structures.

Born in Chicago, Illinois, Moore was educated at Vanderbilt University and the University of Wisconsin. He spent all of his working life at the Rockefeller Institute, where, from 1952, he was professor of biochemistry.