Christopher Reed (born February 25, 1947) is a New Zealand-educated, American professor emeritus and inorganic chemist known for his contributions to synthetic and structural chemistry across the periodic table, particularly his discovery of the strongest known acid.[1]
He is a fellow of The Royal Society of Chemistry, the American Chemical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry.[2]
Early life and education edit
Reed was born in Auckland, New Zealand to English parents, Mick and Sylvia Reed, and educated at Dilworth School.[3]
He obtained his Bachelor of Science degree from The University of Auckland in 1967, followed by a Master of Science with First Class Honors in 1969. His master's thesis was Nitrosyl Complexes of Iridium, done under the mentorship of Warren R. Roper.[3]
In 1971, Reed completed his Ph.D. at The University of Auckland with his thesis on Oxidative Addition Reactions of Low-Valent Complexes of Iridium, again under the guidance of Warren R. Roper.[1]
During 1971–1973, he did postdoctoral research on picket fence porphyrin models for hemoglobin at Stanford University with James P. Collman.[4]
Career edit
Reed was an Assistant Professor at the University of Southern California (USC) in 1973. He was associate professor from 1979 to 1982 and Professor of Chemistry until 1998. During his tenure at USC, Reed served as the Head of the Division of Inorganic/Biological Chemistry from 1994 to 1998.[1]
In 1998, he joined the University of California, Riverside (UCR) as a Distinguished Professor and was Director of the UCR Center for s and p Block Chemistry from 2005 until he retired as Emeritus Professor in 2012.[2]
Reed held several visiting professorships at institutions worldwide, including the Centre d'Études Nucleaires de Grenoble, The University of Auckland, Monash University, Université de Rennes, Domaine Universitaire de Grenoble, University of Sydney, Oxford University, and Freie Universität Berlin.[1][2]
Research and contributions edit
Reed's early work in collaboration with Robert Scheidt, led to an understanding of spin and oxidation state relationships in the structures of iron porphyrins and hemoproteins, as well as the development of new principles guiding spin-spin coupling mechanisms in copper dimers and metalloporphyrin radical cations.[5]
In collaboration with Peter Boyd, Reed uncovered novel supramolecular interactions between porphyrins and fullerenes.[6]
Reed's work on icosahedral carboranes opened up new avenues of research in the field of least coordinating anions, leading to the isolation of highly reactive cations such as t-butyl cation and controversially,[7] silylium ions. Silylium ion chemistry has led to transformative developments in cationic catalysis.[8]
One of Reed's most notable achievements was the synthesis of the strongest known acids, H(CHB11F11) and H(CHB11Cl11), surpassing the acidity of typical superacids based on SbF5. Paradoxically, these carborane acids are also the gentlest known acids, because their counterions are so inert. This has allowed the isolation and structural characterization of reactive cations previously thought to be unstable, such as HC60+ and C59N+.[9][3]
Reed's more recent work in collaboration with Evgenii Stoyanov, on one of the oldest problems in chemistry, the molecular structure of Haq+ in water, challenges conventional wisdom theories about the nature of acids in water.
Reed has written several essays on exploitative practices in the scientific literature.[3][2]
Memberships and awards edit
He received Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship, a Camille and Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, the USC Associates Award for Creativity in Research and Scholarship, a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, the Tolman Award from the Southern California Section of the ACS, and the F. Albert Cotton ACS Award in Synthetic Inorganic Chemistry.[10][11]
Selected publications edit
- “Myths about the Proton. The Nature of H+ in Condensed Media” C. A. Reed, Acc. Chem. Res., 2013, 46, 2567–2575.
- “The Strongest Acid” C. A. Reed, Chemistry in New Zealand, 2011, 174–179.
- “The Unique Nature of H+ in Water” E. S. Stoyanov, I. V. Stoyanova, C. A. Reed, Chem. Sci., 2011, 2, 462–672.
- "Taming Superacids: Stabilization of the Fullerene Cations HC60+ and C60+. " C. A. Reed, K-C. Kim, R. D. Bolskar, L. J. Mueller, Science, 2000, 289, 101–104.
- "Crystallographic Evidence for a Free Silylium Ion" K-C. Kim, C. A. Reed, D. W. Elliott, L. J. Mueller, F. Tham, L. Lin, J. B. Lambert, Science, 2002, 297, 825–827.
References edit
- ^ a b c d "UCR Profiles - Chris Reed". University of California, Riverside.
- ^ a b c d "Reed Group". University of California, Riverside.
- ^ a b c d "Strongest Acid" (PDF). Reed Group Lab.
- ^ "2004 Christopher Reed, UC Riverside – SCALACS". Southern California Section of the American Chemical Society.
- ^ Brown-Hinds, Paulette (29 March 2005). "Distinguished Professor Recognized for his Contributions to Chemistry". Black Voice News.
- ^ Sun, Dayong; Tham, Fook S.; Reed, Christopher A.; Boyd, Peter D. W. (2002). "Extending Supramolecular Fullerene-Porphyrin Chemistry to Pillared Metal-Organic Frameworks". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. pp. 5088–5092.
- ^ Siegel, Jay S. (20 November 2019). "Silylium ions: from controversial beginnings to useful catalysts". Nature Reviews Chemistry.
- ^ "Carborane acids. New "strong yet gentle" acids for organic and inorganic chemistry". ChemComm. 23 March 2005. pp. 1669–1677. doi:10.1039/B415425H.
- ^ "Just Say No to Exploitative Publishers of Science Journals". Reed Group Lab.
- ^ "Reed Receives Tolman Medal". Chemical & Engineering News.
- ^ "F. Albert Cotton Award In Synthetic Inorganic Chemistry" (PDF). Reed Group Lab.