Nobel Prize for chemistry

Iter Kolin, whose name appears on the two key papers wliich provided the impetus for the lopment of modern density functional theory, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in, jointly witli Jolin Pople. 

Fullerenes are described in detail in Chapter 2 and therefore only a brief outline of their structure is presented here to provide a comparison with the other forms of carbon. The C o molecule, Buckminsterfullerene, was discovered in the mass spectrum of laser-ablated graphite in 1985 [37] and crystals of C o were fust isolated from soot formed from graphite arc electrodes in 1990 [38]. Although these events are relatively recent, the C o molecule has become one of the most widely-recognised molecular structures in science and in 1996 the codiscoverers Curl, Kroto and Smalley were awarded the Nobel prize for chemistry. Part of the appeal of this molecule lies in its beautiful icosahedral symmetry - a truncated icosahedron, or a molecular soccer ball, Fig. 4A. 

Arrhenius, insofar as his profession could be defined at all, began as a physicist. He worked with a physics professor in Stockholm and presented a thesis on the electrical conductivities of aqueous solutions of salts. A recent biography (Crawford 1996) presents in detail the humiliating treatment of Arrhenius by his sceptical examiners in 1884, which nearly put an end to his scientific career he was not adjudged fit for a university career. He was not the last innovator to have trouble with examiners. Yet, a bare 19 years later, in 1903, he received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry. It shows the unusual attitude of this founder of physical chemistry that he was distinctly surprised not to receive the Physics Prize, because he thought of himself as a physicist. 

Carbon is really peculiar is one of the milder remarks by Harold Kroto (1997) in his splendid Nobel lecture. The 1996 Nobel Prize for chemistry was shared by Kroto... 

Stmctural drawings of carbohydrates of this type are called Haworth formulas, after the British chemist Sh Walter Nonnan Haworth (St. Andrew s University and the University of Binningham). Early in his career Haworth contributed to the discovery that car bohydrates exist as cyclic herniacetals rather than in open-chain forms. Later he collaborated on an efficient synthesis of vitanin C from cabohydrate precursors. This was the first chemical synthesis of a vitanin and provided an inexpensive route to its preparation on a cormnercial scale. Haworth was a corecipient of the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1937. 

The most exeiting reeent development in the ehemistry of earbon has been the intriguing dis-eovery of a whole new range of soluble molee-ular forms of elemental earbon, the fullerenes, of whieh C o and C70 are the most prominent members. This was reeognized by the 1996 Nobel Prize for Chemistry and has stimulated an enormous amount of researeh whieh is diseussed in Seetion 8.2.4 (p. 279). 

N2 recognized as a bridging ligand in ((NH3)5RuN2Ru(NH3)5] by D. F. Harrison, E. Weissterger, and H. Taute. (H. Taute, 1983 Nobel Prize for chemistry for his work on the mechanisms of electron transfer reactions especially in metal complexes ). 

The imaginative exploitation of these and related reactions by G. A. Olah and his group have had an enormous impact on our understanding of organic catalytic processes and on their industrial application, as recognized by the award to Olah of the 1994 Nobel Prize for Chemistry. 

Many crown ethers synthesized by C. J. Pederson (Nobel Prize for Chemistry, 1987) who also studied their use as complexing agents for alkali metal and other cations. 

F. S. Rowland and M. Molina showed that man-made chlorofluorocarbons, CFCs, could catalytically destroy ozone in the stratosphere (Nobel Prize for Chemistry, with P. Crutzen, 1995). 

M. J. Molina and F. S. Rowland, Nature 249, 810-12 (1974). (Shared 1995 Nobel Prize for Chemistry with P. Crutzen.)... 

H. Moissan isolated F2 by electrolysis of KHF2/HF (26 June) after over 70 y of unsuccessfial attempts by others (Nobel Prize for Chemistry 1906 — he died 2 months later)... 

The decrease is continuing due to global adherence to the provisions of the Montreal (1989) and London (1990) Protocols, and it is hoped that the most deleterious CFCs will eventually be phased out completely. As a result of their work, Rowland and Molina were awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for 1995 (together with P. Crutzen, who showed how NO and NO2 could similarly act as catalysts for the depletion of stratospheric ozone). Several excellent accounts giving more details of the chemistry and meteorology involved are available. 

For their work in this field. Tanbe and Marcus were awarded Nobel Prizes for Chemistry in 1983 and 1992 respectively. 

The remaining actinide elements were prepared by various bombardment techniques fairly regularly over the next 25 years (Table 31.1) though, for reasons of national security, publication of the results was sometimes delayed. The dominant figure in this field has been G. T. Seaborg, of the University of California, Berkeley, in early recognition of which, he and E. M. McMillan were awarded the 1951 Nobel Prize for Chemistry. 

For his work on chirally catalyzed oxidation reactions, representing a major contribution to the development of catalytic asymmetric synthesis, K. B. Sharpless was awarded the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 2001. ... 

Ubiquitin is a highly conserved 8.5 kDa polypeptide, which was first described in 1974. The discovery that the Ubiquitin proteasome system serves as a general mechanism to target proteins for destruction by the proteasome was awarded with the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2004. 

Alfred Werner (1866 - 1919) was awarded the Nobel prize for chemistry as a recognition of these studies in 1913. 

A typical example of the interaction between hypothesis and experiment is the story of the work that resulted in worldwide concern over the depletion of the ozone layer in the stratosphere. These studies led to the awarding of the 1995 Nobel Prize for Chemistry to Paul Crutzen, Mario Molina, and F. Sherwood Rowland. Figure FT provides a schematic view of how this prize-winning research advanced. It began in 1971 when experiments revealed that chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, had appeared in the Earth s atmosphere. At the time, these CFCs were widely used as refrigerants and as aerosol propellants. Rowland wondered what eventually would happen to these gaseous compounds. He carried out a theoretical analysis, from which he concluded that CFCs are very durable and could persist in the atmosphere for many years. 

By 1895, nearly all chemists accepted Arrhenius s views, and Arrhenius finally was awarded a professorship in Stockholm, hi 1903, the triumph of Arrhenius became complete, when he was awarded the Nobel Prize for chemistry. 

---