F. Albert Cotton is the W.T. Doherty-Welch Foundation Chair and Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at Texas A&M University. His particular areas of interest include the structure, synthesis, and properties of bi- and polymetallic complexes, but he has contributed to many areas involving transition metals. Texas A&M University, often Texas A&M, A&M or TAMU for short, is the flagship[4] institution of The Texas A&M University System. ...

Education

After a BS degree from Temple University in 1951, Cotton pursued a Ph.D. thesis under the guidance of Sir Geoffrey Wilkinson at Harvard where he worked on metallocenes.^[1] He received his Ph.D. in 1955. Temple University is a university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ... Sir Geoffrey Wilkinson was an English chemist. ... Harvard University is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, and a member of the Ivy League. ... In chemistry, and in particular, in organometallic chemistry, a metallocene is a compound consisting of an aromatic organic ligand bound to a metal. ...

Independent career

Cotton began his career at MIT with an emphasis on both electronic structure and chemical synthesis. He pioneered the study of multiple bonding between metals, initially with research on rhenium halides,^[2] but soon focusing on species related to chromium(II) acetate.^[3] That work continues today. He also initiated a broad study on metal cluster compounds. He was an early proponent of single crystal X-ray diffraction as a routine tool for elucidating the rich chemistry of metal complexes. Through his studies on clusters, he demonstrated that many exhibited "fluxionality", whereby ligands interchange coordination sites on spectroscopically observable time-scales. He coined the term hapticity. In the early 1970's, he moved to his current location at Texas A&M, where he has continued to be a prolific publisher and influential mentor. Mapúa Institute of Technology (MIT, MapúaTech or simply Mapúa) is a private, non-sectarian, Filipino tertiary institute located in Intramuros, Manila. ... General Name, Symbol, Number rhenium, Re, 75 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 7, 6, d Appearance grayish white Atomic mass 186. ... One of the chromium salts of acetic acid is chromium(II) acetate with chemical formula Cr2(CH3COO)4. ... In chemistry, a cluster is an array of bound atoms that is intermediate in character between a molecule and a solid. ... X-ray crystallography is a technique in crystallography in which the pattern produced by the diffraction of x-rays through the closely spaced lattice of atoms in a crystal is recorded and then analyzed to reveal the nature of that lattice. ... // η-bonding The Greek letter η (eta) is used to denote the number of atoms of a ligand that bind to a metal center. ...

Pedagogical influence

In addition to his diverse research, Cotton has contributed to the pedagogy of inorganic chemistry. He authored "Chemical Applications of Group Theory".^[4] This text introduced generations of chemists to the value of group theoretical analysis of bonding and spectroscopy. With his PhD advisor, he coauthored a text known simply as "Cotton and Wilkinson".^[5] The text, which has had many editions, surveys the entirety of inorganic chemistry with an emphasis on post-Wernerian themes of cluster chemistry, homogeneous catalysis, and organometallic chemistry. Prior to "Cotton and Wilkinson", instruction in inorganic chemistry was more practically driven, less connected to organometallics, and less focused on molecular structure. Inorganic chemistry is the branch of chemistry concerned with the properties and reactions of inorganic compounds. ... A chemical bond is the physical phenomenon of chemical substances being held together by attraction of atoms to each other through sharing, as well as exchanging, of electrons or electrostatic forces. ... Extremely high resolution spectrum of the Sun showing thousands of elemental absorption lines (fraunhofer lines) Spectroscopy is the study of matter by investigating light, sound, or particles that are emitted, absorbed or scattered by the matter under investigation. ... Alfred Werner (December 12, 1866 - November 15, 1919) was a German Nobel prize-winning chemist. ... Organometallic chemistry is the study of chemical compounds containing bonds between carbon and a metal. ...

Recognition

Cotton has published over 1600 papers. He has been honored throughout the world with prestigious prizes.

See also

[Texas A&M biography]

References

1. ^ Wilkinson, G.; Pauson, P. L. and Cotton, F. A., "Bis-cyclopentadienyl compounds of nickel and cobalt", Journal of the American Chemical Society, 1954, 76, 1970-4.
2. ^ Bertrand, J. A.; Cotton, F. A. and Dollase, W. A., "Metal-metal bonded, polynuclear complex anion in CsReCl₄", J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1963, 85, 1349-50
3. ^ Cotton, F. A.; Walton, R. A. “Multiple Bonds Between Metal Atoms” Oxford (Oxford): 1993. ISBN 0-19-855649-7.
4. ^ Cotton, F. A., "Chemical Applications of Group Theory," John Wiley & Sons: New York, 1990.
5. ^ Cotton, F. A. and Wilkinson, G., "Advanced Inorganic Chemistry", John Wiley and Sons: New York, 1988.