Issue in Honor of Prof. Anthony J. Arduengo, III ARKIVOC 2012 (ii) 1-5
Research
Georgia Tech (1972-1976)
As a student in the Burgess research group, Bo investigated organo-main group element chemistry, specifically, thiocarbonyl ylides, and low-coordinate hypervalent sulfur compounds.
DuPont (1977)
In 1977 when he initially joined DuPont, Bo became a member of Howard Simmons’ research group where his initial project investigated trimethylsilyl esters of inorganic acids as synthetic reagents in organic chemistry.
University of Illinois (1978-1984)
Bo was recruited by Professor J. C. Martin onto the faculty at The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. During his time at Illinois, he established many milestones in main group chemistry, including creation of the first stable carbonyl ylide. Bo examined more broadly the areas of organo-main group element chemistry and molecules containing unusual valency. His first publications, involving the chemistry of electron-deficient carbenes, occurred during this time frame as well. This work led to the first structure determinations on a nitrile and carbonyl ylide. Throughout his Illinois years, Bo had a close collaboration with his colleague J.C. Martin who also worked in the area of organo-main group element chemistry and hypervalency. To facilitate discussions about unusual molecular structures and bonding for main-group element centers, Martin and Arduengo devised the N-X-L nomenclature system. The Arduengo group completed the synthesis and characterization of the first compound with a planar T-shaped, 10electron 3-coordinate bonding arrangement at a phosphorus atom, ADPO, and paved the way for a range of novel main-group element chemistry on his return to DuPont. Bo’s final Illinois research extended beyond the newly discovered ADPO chemistry to include the arsenic analog, ADAsO.
DuPont 1984-1999
Upon returning to DuPont in 1984, Bo resumed a position within Central Research and Development (CR&D). He continued his early research from Illinois into the ADPO molecule and related structures. The ADPO related chemistry provided a basis for the discovery of a new inversion process, termed edge inversion, which was fully characterized and modeled through the collaborative work of Bo and David A. Dixon.
Bo's research often coalesced with his other hobbies outside the laboratory; for example with sports cars. He contributed to the development of low VOC automotive coatings by devising catalysts for a novel cross-linking chemistry used by DuPont Performance Coatings in next- generation low-VOC paints. Eventually, DuPont waterborne performance coatings would be used by Lotus on their Elise and Exige models (two models that Bo currently owns). These efforts thrusted Bo back into carbene chemistry; this time however, his area of focus was in
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