Robert H. Grubbs
Robert H. Grubbs | |
---|---|
Born | Robert Howard Grubbs February 27, 1942 |
Died | December 19, 2021 Duarte, California, U.S. | (aged 79)
Education | University of Florida (BS, MS) Columbia University (PhD) |
Known for | Catalysts for olefin metathesis in organic synthesis |
Spouse | Helen O'Kane |
Awards |
|
Scientific career | |
Fields | Organic chemistry |
Institutions | Stanford University Michigan State University California Institute of Technology |
Thesis | I. Cyclobutadiene Derivatives II. Studies of Cyclooctatetraene Iron Tricarbonyl Complexes (1968) |
Doctoral advisor | Ronald Breslow[2] |
Doctoral students | |
Other notable students | Post-docs:
|
Website | grubbsgroup |
Robert Howard Grubbs
Grubbs was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 2015 for developments in catalysts that have enabled commercial products.
He was a co-founder of Materia, a
Early life and education
Grubbs was born on February 27, 1942, on a farm in Marshall County, Kentucky, midway between Possum Trot and Calvert City.[10][11] His parents were Howard and Faye (Atwood) Grubbs.[10][12] Faye was a schoolteacher. After serving in World War II, the family moved to Paducah, Kentucky, where Howard trained as a diesel mechanic, and Robert attended Paducah Tilghman High School.[10][11]
At the University of Florida, Grubbs initially intended to study agriculture chemistry.[13] However, he was convinced by professor Merle A. Battiste to switch to organic chemistry.[14] Working with Battiste, he became interested in how chemical reactions occur.[11] He received his B.S. in 1963 and M.S. in 1965 from the University of Florida.[14][15]
Next, Grubbs attended Columbia University, where he worked with Ronald Breslow on organometallic compounds which contain carbon-metal bonds. Grubbs received his PhD in 1968.[2][11]
Career
Grubbs worked with James Collman at Stanford University as a National Institutes of Health fellow during 1968–1969. With Collman, he began to systematically investigate catalytic processes in organometallic chemistry, a then relatively new area of research.[11]
In 1969, Grubbs was appointed to the faculty of
In 1978, Grubbs moved to California Institute of Technology as a professor of chemistry. As of 1990 he became the Victor and Elizabeth Atkins Professor of Chemistry.[19][20]
As of 2021[update], Grubbs has an h-index of 160 according to Google Scholar[21] and of 137 according to Scopus.[22]
Commercial activities
Both first and second generation Grubbs catalysts were commercially available from Materia, a startup company that Grubbs co-founded with Mike Giardello in
Grubbs was a member of the Reliance Innovation Council formed by
Grubbs was a member of the USA Science and Engineering Festival's advisory board.[33]
Research
Grubbs's main research interests were in
Grubbs was instrumental in developing a family of
The Grubbs group successfully polymerized the 7-oxo norbornene derivative using
The corresponding tricyclohexylphosphine complex (PCy3)2Cl2Ru=CHCH=CPh2 was also shown to be active.[42] This work culminated in the now commercially available first-generation Grubbs catalyst in 1995.[23][43][44] Second generation catalysts were developed as well.[45][46]
Ruthenium is stable in air and has higher selectivity and lower reactivity than molybdenum, the most promising of the previously discovered catalysts. In addition, Grubbs took a green chemistry approach to catalysis that reduced the potential to create hazardous waste. The Grubbs catalyst has become a standard for general metathesis applications in ordinary laboratories.[7][36][45]
By controlling the catalyst used, it became possible to synthesize polymers with specialized structures and functional capabilities, including cyclic olefins, alternating copolymers, and multiblock copolymers.[34] Using catalysts allows chemists to speed up chemical transformations and to lower the cost of what were previously complicated multi-step industrial processes.[24]
Personal life
While at Columbia University, Grubbs also met his future wife, Helen O'Kane, a special-education teacher, with whom he had three children: Barney (born 1972), Brendan H. (born 1974) and Kathleen (Katy) (born 1977).[11][47][48]
Grubbs died from a heart attack at the City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center in Duarte, California, on December 19, 2021, at age 79.[49][48] At the time of his death, he was being treated for lymphoma.[48]
Awards and honors
Grubbs received the 2005 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, along with Richard R. Schrock and Yves Chauvin, for his work in the field of olefin metathesis.[8][50] He has received a number of other awards and honors, including the following:
- 1989: National Academy of Sciences[51]
- 1994: American Academy of Arts and Sciences[52]
- 2000: Benjamin Franklin Medal in Chemistry from the Franklin Institute[53]
- 2000: ACS Herman F. Mark Polymer Chemistry Award[54]
- 2001: ACS Herbert C. Brown Award for Creative Research in Synthetic Methods[35]
- 2002: Tolman Medal[20]
- 2002: Arthur C. Cope Award[55][56]
- 2003: Tetrahedron Prize for Creativity in Organic Chemistry & BioMedicinal Chemistry (with Dieter Seebach)[57]
- 2005: Nobel Prize in Chemistry (with Richard R. Schrock and Yves Chauvin)[8]
- 2005: Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry[58]
- 2005: Paul Karrer Gold Medal[59]
- 2006: Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement[60]
- 2009: Fellow of the American Chemical Society[61]
- 2010: American Institute of Chemists Gold Medal[7]
- 2015: Inducted into the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame[62]
- 2013: National Academy of Inventors[63]
- 2015: National Academy of Engineering[64]
- 2015: Chinese Academy of Sciences (foreign academician)[65][66]
- 2017: Ira Remsen Award[67]
- 2017: Elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society[1]
Publications
- Grubbs, Robert (2003). Handbook of Metathesis. Weinheim, Germany; Chichester, England: Wiley-VCH John Wiley distributor. OCLC 52485738.
References
- ^ a b Anon (2017). "Professor Robert Grubbs ForMemRS". royalsociety.org. London: Royal Society.
- ^ ProQuest 302317287. (subscription required)
- . Retrieved December 20, 2021.
Research Advisor(s): Grubbs, Robert H.
- . Retrieved December 20, 2021.
Research Advisor(s): Grubbs, Robert H.
- ^ "People – The Sanford Group". WordPress Websites – Offered by LSA Technology Services. October 29, 2021. Retrieved December 20, 2021.
- . Retrieved December 20, 2021.
Research Advisor(s): Grubbs, Robert H.
- ^ a b c "American Institute of Chemists Gold Medal". Science History Institute. March 22, 2018.
- ^ a b c "Press Release, 5 October 2005". The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2005. NobelPrize.org. Retrieved April 12, 2016.
- ^ "Lanxess rubber employs Materia catalysts". Chemical & Engineering News. 84 (34): 23. August 21, 2006. Retrieved January 9, 2018.
- ^ a b c "Jackson Purchase Nobel Laureate". Jackson Purchase Historical Society. Retrieved April 12, 2016.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Robert H. Grubbs – Biographical". The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2005. NobelPrize.org. Retrieved April 12, 2016.
In some places, my birthplace is listed as Calvert City and in others Possum Trot. I was actually born between the two, so either one really is correct.
- ISBN 9780938021360. Retrieved December 22, 2021 – via Google Books.
- ^ "Nobel laureate Robert Grubbs dies at 79". cen.acs.org. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
- ^ a b c d Janine Young, Sikes (October 6, 2005). "A Gator wins Nobel in chemistry". The Gainesville Sun. Archived from the original on April 21, 2016. Retrieved April 14, 2016.
- ^ Doerfler, Andrew (December 20, 2021). "UF Mourns the Passing of Robert H. Grubbs, Nobel-Winning Alumnus". News – College of Liberal Arts & Sciences. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
- ^ "Robert H. Grubbs PhD " Leadership Board". Department of Chemistry, University of Florida. Retrieved April 14, 2016.
- ^ "Nobel Laureates". Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Retrieved April 15, 2016.
- ^ "Chemistry Nobel Prize for two Humboldtians". The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. October 5, 2005. Archived from the original on November 14, 2018.
- ^ "Robert H. Grubbs American chemist". Encyclopædia Britannica.
- ^ a b "2002 Robert H. Grubbs, Caltech". Southern California Section of the American Chemical Society. July 20, 2012. Retrieved April 12, 2016.
- ^ Robert H. Grubbs publications indexed by Google Scholar
- ^ Robert H. Grubbs publications indexed by the Scopus bibliographic database. (subscription required)
- ^ a b Notman, Nina (January 28, 2015). "Grubbs catalyst". Chemistry World. Retrieved April 15, 2016.
- ^ a b c "Industry's Secret Ingredient". Caltech News. Archived from the original on September 10, 2015. Retrieved April 17, 2014.
- ^ "Leading Innovation in Catalysis". Materia. Retrieved April 15, 2016.
- ^ "The History of Materia". Materia. Retrieved April 15, 2016.
- ^ "Materia and Sigma-Aldrich Announce Exclusive Distribution Deal for Grubbs' Metathesis Catalysts". Business Wire. August 18, 2003. Retrieved April 15, 2016.
- .
- ^ Kotrba, Ron (March 23, 2010). "Newton plant to become biorefinery showcase". Biodiesel Magazine. Retrieved April 15, 2016.
- ^ "Materia, Inc. Sells Catalyst Business to Umicore". Materia. December 20, 2017. Retrieved June 10, 2021.
- ^ "ExxonMobil acquires Materia, Inc., a high-performance structural polymers company". ExxonMobil. Retrieved December 18, 2021.
- ^ "Reliance Innovation Council (2007–2017) – Raghunath Mashelkar – Mukesh Ambani – Jean-Marie Lehn – Robert Grubbs – George Whitesides – Gary Hamel – William Haseltine". Reliance Industries Limited. Archived from the original on December 16, 2021. Retrieved December 20, 2021.
- ^ "Nobel Laureates". USA Science & Engineering Festival. Archived from the original on April 21, 2010. Retrieved April 12, 2016.
- ^ a b Miree-Luke, Lisa (October 8, 2015). "Axalta's Distinguished Lecture Series at the University of Pennsylvania Features Presentation on Methathesis Polymerization". Business Wire. Retrieved April 14, 2016.
- ^ a b Pearson, Rodney (April 3, 2001). "South Pasadena chemist wins national award for designing new catalysts". EurekaAlert. Archived from the original on April 15, 2016. Retrieved April 14, 2016.
- ^ a b Singh, Okram Mukherjee (2006). "Metathesis catalysts: Historical perspective, recent developments and practical applications" (PDF). Journal of Scientific & Industrial Research. 65 (December): 957–965. Retrieved April 12, 2016.
- PMID 16724297.
- PMID 16220959. Retrieved April 14, 2016.
- ^ .
- .
- .
- .
- .
- .
- ^ doi:10.1039/b412198h. Archived from the original(PDF) on June 16, 2016. Retrieved April 12, 2016.
- .
- ^ "Columbia News ::: Alumnus Robert Grubbs Wins Nobel Prize in Chemistry". www.columbia.edu. Archived from the original on March 1, 2017. Retrieved July 21, 2016.
- ^ a b c McClain, Dylan Loeb (December 24, 2021). "Robert H. Grubbs, 79, Dies; Chemistry Breakthrough Led to a Nobel". The New York Times. Retrieved December 24, 2021.
- ^ "Caltech Mourns the Loss of Nobel Laureate Robert H. Grubbs". Caltech. December 19, 2021. Retrieved December 19, 2021.
- ^ "Robert H. Grubbs – Facts". The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2005. NobelPrize.org. Retrieved April 15, 2016.
- ^ "National Academy of Sciences Members". Caltech. Retrieved April 15, 2016.
- ^ "Robert H. Grubbs". American Academy of Arts & Sciences. November 18, 2021. Retrieved December 20, 2021.
- ^ "Robert H. Grubbs". The Franklin Institute. January 10, 2014. Retrieved April 14, 2016.
- ^ "Herman F. Mark Award 2000". Division of Polymer Chemistry, Inc. of the American Chemical Society. Archived from the original on March 15, 2016. Retrieved April 14, 2016.
- ^ "Pasadena chemist wins national award for cata". EurekAlert!. Retrieved December 20, 2021.
- ^ "Arthur C. Cope Award". ACS Chemistry for Life. American Chemical Society. Retrieved April 12, 2016.
- ^ "Tetrahedron Prize for Creativity". Elsevier B.V. Retrieved April 12, 2016.
- ^ "Members Grubbs". rsc.org. Royal Society of Chemistry. Retrieved April 15, 2016.
- ^ "Robert H. Grubbs 31st Paul Karrer Lecture 2005". University of Zurich. Archived from the original on April 23, 2016. Retrieved April 12, 2016.
- American Academy of Achievement.
- ^ "2009 ACS Fellows". American Chemical Society. Archived from the original on February 24, 2019. Retrieved April 15, 2016.
- ^ "2015 Inductees: Robert Howard Grubbs". Florida Inventors Hall of Fame. September 28, 2015. Retrieved April 14, 2016.
- ^ "Current NAI Fellows". National Academy of Inventors. Retrieved April 15, 2016.
- ^ "Professor Robert Howard Grubbs". National Academy of Engineering. Retrieved April 12, 2016.
- .
- ^ "12 Famous Scientists Elected 2015 CAS Foreign Members". CASAD. Retrieved April 12, 2016.
- ^ Wang, Linda (February 13, 2017). "Robert Grubbs wins Remsen Award". Chemical & Engineering News. 59 (7). American Chemical Society. Retrieved December 20, 2021.
External links
- "Press Release, 5 October 2005". The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2005. NobelPrize.org.
- Robert H. Grubbs on Nobelprize.org