The Importance of  Questioning Scientific Assumptions: Lessons from Lanthanide and Actinide Chemistry

Location: Room 410 of Main Research Building

Prof. William J. Evans

Department of Chemistry University of California Irvine, USA

Introduction:

William J. Evans was born in Madison, Wisconsin in 1947. He received his B.S. degree in 1969 from the University of Wisconsin, and obtained his Ph.D. degree in the area of metallocarborane chemistry at UCLA in 1973. Evans subsequently conducted postdoctoral research at Cornell University. When Evans joined the faculty of the University of Chicago in 1975, he initiated a research program in an area entirely different from his training or experience: the chemistry of lanthanide elements. After promotion to Associate Professor with tenure at Chicago in 1982, he moved to the University of California, Irvine, where he was appointed Professor in 1983. His research has shown from many different perspectives how the unique chemistry of the f elements can be utilized to broaden and expand chemistry.

Abstract:

As scientists we know that we should constantly question the assumptions upon which our research is based. We also know that we do not do this often enough. This lecture will serve to remind us not to take the traditional boundaries of any area of chemistry for granted. Recent results in f element chemistry will be presented that show how the "rules" in an area, thought to be true for decades, can be overturned. Examples will be presented that challenge previous ideas on topics as fundamental as redox chemistry and bond lengths. Several new ways of doing reductive chemistry including multi-electron reductions will be discussed as well as the synthesis of a growing class of organometallic complexes that have bond distances longer than anyone thought possible.

Contact: the State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry