Icons of Boron Chemistry by Narayan S. Hosmane William Sweet (1910–2001) his article is an effort to salute and revive the William Sweet graduated from the Harvard Medical memory of 20 of the most-iconic figures in the School in 1936. After finishing his residency in neu- Tfield of boron chemistry. It is almost impos- rosurgery/neurology at Billings Hospital, Chicago, sible to put a biographical sketch of each person in a he returned to Harvard and the Massachusetts paragraph or two. Therefore, by avoiding the detailed General Hospital, where his descriptions, the key features of their work are high- career spanned almost 60 lighted here, while maintaining a chronological order years. During this time, Sweet in accordance with their date of birth. made major contributions to the field of academic neurosur- Anton Burg (1904–2003) gery. Although he was able to concentrate on both basic and Anton Burg was the first American- clinical research, his primary born, American-educated boron interests were focused on boron chemist. He is our link to the distin- neutron capture theory, treat- guished past, to Herman I. Schlesinger, ment syndromes of facial pain, and through him to Alfred Stock, the treatment of persistent pain in pioneer of research on the boron general, diagnosis and treat- hydrides. He is considered to be one ment craniopharygiomas, and diagnosis and treat- of the pioneers of boron chemistry ment of optic gliomas. The founder of one of the first and is also credited as being the brain scan research laboratories, he performed one of “father of chemistry at the University of Southern the first successful carotid bifurcation reconstructions. California.” He joined USC as an assistant professor in 1939 and within a year became the chairman of the Herbert C. Brown department. It was his relentless effort that helped the (1912–2004) department of chemistry to succeed in acquiring major research grants and flourish within a few years. Burg Herbert C. Brown was born was a major architect of many boron compounds that in London in 1912, received eventually became building blocks for more complex his doctoral degree in 1938 molecules. He was an athlete by nature and nationally under the supervision of ranked high jumper during his undergraduate studies. Herman I. Schlesinger from A bicyclist, who never drove a car, he passed away on the University of Chicago, 18 November 2003. and worked briefly as a post-doctoral researcher Boris M. Mikhailov (1906–1984) under M.S. Kharasch in Chicago. He wrote in his autobiography that his failure Born in a village in Siberia in 1906, Boris Mikhailov to secure an industrial job led him to choose a career received his Doctor of Science in Chemistry in 1948. path that turned out to be the most beneficial for him, He started as a head of laboratory at Zelinsky Institute but also to the scientific community. After a short stay of Organic Chemistry of the Russian Academy of in Chicago as an instructor and at Wayne University Sciences in 1954 and remained there until his death. as an assistant/associate professor, he joined Purdue He was considered to be a pioneer of modern University as a professor. He retired as a professor in organoboron chemistry along with Herbert C. Brown 1978, but he was an active researcher until his death in of the USA and Roland Köster of Germany. His group 2004. The 1979 Nobel laureate won so many awards studied the bonding properties of various three- and in his lifetime that to list them would require a whole four-coordinated compounds and it made several article. Brown’s tremendous scientific achievements discoveries, including allylboratoin, rearrangements included his earlier work involving synthesis of dibo- involving 1,3-boron shift, reduction of aromatic alde- ranes and sodium borohydride to the more recent hydes with trialkylboranes, and allylboron-alkyne- and development of quantitative methods to determine allylboron-allene condensation. steric strains and the examination of the chemical effects of steric strains. 14 CHEMISTRY International July-August 2012 Robert W. Parry (1917–2006) the year it was founded. His initial research was on the Born in Ogden, Utah, on 10 October 1917, Robert Parry chemistry of flavor substances and the telomerization graduated from the University of Illinois in 1946. After of dienes. Later, Zakharkin took a leading role in the working for 23 years at the University of Michigan he field of organoaluminium compounds in the USSR moved to the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, and and became one of the pioneers of the chemistry of served there through the rest of his life. Along with carborane. He received several awards recognizing his research distinctions, he was an accomplished his talent, including the USSR State Prize in Science educator with a life-long devotion to the profession and Technology in 1986, followed by the Russian of chemistry. He co-authored high school chemistry Federation State Prize for “Chemistry of Carboranes text books and won numerous awards, including the and Polyhedral Boranes” in 1996. He was also a suc- Priestly Medal in 1993, the highest honor from the cessful supervisor of many boron chemists including American Chemical Society. He was the founding edi- Vladimir Bregadze, Igor Chizhevsky, Valeriy Kalinin, tor of the ACS journal Inorganic Chemistry and served and others who are prominent in their respective as the president of the American Chemical Society. fields. William N. Lipscomb Jr. (1919–2011) F. Gordon A. Stone (1925–2011) Nobel Prize winner of 1976 in Chemistry, William Francis Gordon Albert Stone was born in Exeter, Lipscomb Jr. began graduate school as a phys- England, on 19 May 1925. After receiving his Ph.D. from ics major. He changed Cambridge University in 1951 he worked with Anton his major under the influ- Burg as a post-doctoral researcher at the University of ence of Linus Pauling and Southern California. He later joined Harvard University graduated in 1945 from as an instructor and became an assistant professor the California Institute of in 1957. In 1963 he took a position as professor and Technology. He began his chair of inorganic chemistry at Bristol University academic career at the and remained there until his mandatory retirement University of Minnesota in 1990. He then became the Welch Professor at and then moved to Baylor University in Texas until his retirement in Harvard University in 1959 2010, just a year prior to his death. Besides being an where he remained until accomplished scientist, Stone was also inaugural co- retirement in 1990. But editor of the series titled Advances in Organometallic Lipscomb, also popularly Chemistry with Robert West. He was also a co-editor known as “the Colonel,” never retired from Chemistry. of Comprehensive Organometallic Chemistry, an ency- His major involvement in boron chemistry was with clopedia of organometallic chemistry. In 1990, he was the nature of the chemical bonds in boranes and car- honored with the Civilian of the British Empire title by boranes. Later on, he focused on the structures of pro- Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain. teins and the reactivity of enzymes. A scientific genius with a great sense of humor, Lipscomb was an excel- Earl Muetterties lent mentor to many. Two of his graduate students and (1927–1984) another one who spent some time in his laboratory went on to win Nobel Prizes. Earl Muetterties was born in Elgin, Illinois, on 23 June 1927. Leonid I. Zakharkin After graduation from Harvard (1923–2001) University in 1952, he joined the Central Research Department at Leonid I. Zakharkin was an outstand- DuPont. He served as associ- ing scientist in many fields of organic ate director until 1967 when he and organometallic chemistry. He decided to explore the academic field and became began his career at the Institute of part of the adjunct faculty, first at Princeton University Organoelement Compounds of the and then at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1973 he Academy of Sciences of USSR in 1954, took the opportunity to become a full professor at CHEMISTRY International July-August 2012 15 Icons of Boron Chemistry Cornell and stayed there until 1978. He finally moved Stanislav Heřmánek (1929–1999) to UC-Berkeley and ended his career there. During his stay at DuPont he worked with boron hydrides Stanislav Heřmánek, a close friend of Jaromir Plešek, and extended the chemistry of polyhedral borane was born in Tábor, Bohemia, on 13 June 1929. He 2- anions such as B12H12 that was discovered earlier graduated from Prague Technical University in 1952 by Hawthorne at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, with a master’s degree and later in 1966 he received Alabama. He was a unique individual who undoubt- his Ph.D. degree from Technical University, Pardubice. edly made a significant contribution to modern inor- He was a faculty member at The Institute of Chemical ganic chemistry. Technology from 1961 to 1974. Later, he joined Charles University as a professor and continued his service Jaromir Plešek (1927– there until his death. Heřmánek was one of the found- 2010) ers of IMEBORON who was actively involved in the development of more sophisticated multinuclear NMR Born in Hostašovice, Moravia, on 21 methods to identify new substances. A key early September 1927, Jaromir Plešek gradu- breakthrough was his recognition that the kinetics ated in 1952 with a Masters degree of the thermal gas-phase conversion of diborane from Prague Technical University. into higher boranes, and ultimately, decaborane. The He worked in the same institute as value of his contributions was recognized in 1968 by an assistant professor of Organic a Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences Award, and Chemistry until 1958 and then joined a most recently by the award of the highly prestigious company named Polymers for Human Heyrovsky Medal of the Academy of Sciences of Medicine as a research chemist.