Wilkinson, Nobel prize

Structure of ferrocene elucidated organometallic chemistry burgeons Nobel Prize awarded jointly to E. O. Fischer and G. Wilkinson 1973,... 

The widely studied [RhCl(PPh3)3] complex, usually known as Wilkinson s catalyst, was discovered independently in 1965 by Wilkinson (a recipient of the Nobel Prize in 1973) and other groups [14]. This compound catalyzes the chemo-specific hydrogenation of alkenes in the presence of other easily reduced groups such as N02 or CHO, and terminal alkenes in the presence of internal alkenes [16]. The rate of hydrogenation parallels their coordination ability (Scheme 1.4), but tetrasubstituted alkenes are not reduced. 

FISCHER, ERNST OTTO (I9I8-). A German inorganic chemist who won the Nobel prize lor chemistry in 1973 with Geoffrey Wilkinson for their independent work on the chemistry of organomctallic "sandwich compounds. He was the contributor to many publications on organiimeiallic ehemislry. His education and work were primarily in Munich. 

WILKINSON, GEOFFREY (1921-1996). A British organic chemist who won the Nobel prize for chemistry in 1973 with F,rnst Otto Fischer, for their pioneering work, performed independently, on the chemistry of the org an o metal lie. so called sandwich compounds. He was a professor at the University of California and Harvard before returning as professor of inorganic chemistry at the University of London. 

Wilkinson s catalyst after its discoverer, G. Wilkinson. In 1973, the Nobel Prize in chemistry was awarded jointly to Wilkinson and E. O. H. Fischer for their respective contributions to the field of organometallic chemistry. As you will see in this and later chapters, compounds with carbon-metal bonds (organometallic compounds) are extremely useful reagents, reactive intermediates, or catalysts in organic reactions. To a very large extent, the work of Fischer and Wilkinson created the current interest and developments in the field of transition-metal organic chemistry, which will be discussed in Chapter 31. 

A breakthrough occurred in the mid-seventies when Union Carbide and Celanese introduced Rh/phosphine catalysts in commercial processes. This catalyst is based on the work by Wilkinson s group he received the Nobel prize for his work in 1973. Rhodium-based catalysts are much more active than cobalt catalysts and, under certain conditions, at least for 1-alkenes, they are also more selective. The processes for the hydroformylation of higher alkenes (detergent alcohols) still rely on cobalt catalysis. A new development is the use of water-soluble complexes obtained through sulphonation of the Ligands (Ruhrchemie). 

On the occasion of a visit to England to participate in the first post-war conference on nuclear and radiation chemistry, he was offered a research fellowship by Paneth which he eventually declined. Briscoe advised him that there might not be much future in this kind of nuclear chemistry since he would always be dependent on the physicists running the cyclotron. Wilkinson therefore accepted an offer from MIT to work as a research associate in 1950-1951 thereby returning to coordination chemistry. He prepared some unusual zer-ovalent nickel complexes, such as Ni(PCl3)4 and Ni(PF3)4, and also published a note on an intriguing haemoglobin-PF3 adduct. In September 1951, he was appointed Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Harvard, where he started his seminal work on sandwich complexes that laid the cornerstone of the Nobel Prize. 

Fig. 5.16 Geoffrey Wilkinson at the time when he received the Nobel Prize (photo reproduced with permission of The Royal Society)...

In 1980, at age 35, Schrock (Fig. 8.6) was promoted to full professor at MIT and named the Frederick G. Keyes Professor of Chemistry in 1989. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Science and the National Academy of Science. Apart from the Nobel Prize, he received inter alia the ACS Award in Organometallic Chemistry, the ACS Award in Inorganic Chemistry, an ACS Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award, and the Sir Geoffrey Wilkinson Medal. In the concluding remarks of his Nobel Lecture [78], he emphasized that he and others have come an enormous distance in the last 30 years, from... 

Fischer and Wilkinson were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in 1973. 

Ernst Otto Fischer and Geoffrey Wilkinson Nobel Chemistry Prize for their pioneering work, performed independently, on the chemistry of the organometallic so-called sandwich compounds... 

Wilkinson, G. Rosenblum. M. Whiting. M. C. Woodward. R. B. J. Ain. Oiein. Soi. tSlS2. 74, ZI22-2I26. E. O. Fischer and G. Wilkinson received the Nobel prize in 1973 for work done independently on meialloccncs For a personal account of Wilkinson s early work, see J. Orgaromci. Chem. 1975. 100. 273-27B... 

Both groups noted the unexpectedly great stability of this compound to heat and to air. They both proposed the a-bonded structure shown in Fig. 1. The actual structure was first proposed by Wilkinson et al. 280) and confirmed by Fischer and Pfab 90), who also reported the existence of (C5Hg)aCo . X-Ray diffraction studies on ferrocene were also done by Dunitz and Orgel (79) and Eiland and Pepinsky 82). These three papers were received by the respective journals on June 20, July 5, and August 12, 1952 For their work in this area, Fischer and Wilkinson shared the 1973 Nobel Prize in chemistry 239a). 

Ernst Otto Fischer (bom 1918) was a student of Walter Hieber at Technische Hochschule Miinchen where he received his Ph.D. degree in 1948. He elucidated the molecular stmcture of ferrocene shortly after this compound was discovered. Further highlights in his life s work were the synthesis of dibenzene-chromium (C6H5)2Cr in 1955, the discoveries of the first metal carbene (1967), and the first me-tal-carbyne complex (1971). In 1964 he succeeded Walter Hieber to the chair of inorganic chemistry at Technische Hochschule Miinchen from which he retired in 1985. He received the Nobel prize for chemistry jointly with Geoffrey Wilkinson (Imperial College London) in 1973. 

G. Wilkinson, The Iron Sandwich. A Recollection of the First Four Months, . 1. Organomet. Chem., 1975,100, 273. This article is a nice account of the history of the discovery of ferrocene. Wilkinson, along with E. O. Fischer, won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his pioneering work on sandwich compounds. 

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