Biography:Robert H. Grubbs

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Short description: American chemist and Nobel Laureate (1942–2021)
Robert H. Grubbs
Robert Grubbs Royal Society.jpg
Grubbs in 2018
Born
Robert Howard Grubbs

(1942-02-27)February 27, 1942
Marshall County, Kentucky, U.S.
DiedDecember 19, 2021(2021-12-19) (aged 79)
Duarte, California, U.S.
EducationUniversity of Florida (BS)
University of Florida (MS)
Columbia University (PhD)
Known forCatalysts for olefin metathesis in organic synthesis
Spouse(s)Helen O'Kane
Awards
  • Tolman Award (2002)
  • Linus Pauling Award (2003)
  • Nobel Prize in Chemistry (2005)
  • AIC Gold Medal (2010)
  • ForMemRS (2017)[1]
Scientific career
FieldsOrganic chemistry
InstitutionsStanford University
Michigan State University
California Institute of Technology
ThesisI. Cyclobutadiene Derivatives II. Studies of Cyclooctatetraene Iron Tricarbonyl Complexes (1968)
Doctoral advisorRonald Breslow[2]
Doctoral students
Other notable studentsPost-docs:
Websitegrubbsgroup.caltech.edu

Robert Howard Grubbs ForMemRS (February 27, 1942 – December 19, 2021) was an American chemist and the Victor and Elizabeth Atkins Professor of Chemistry at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California.[7] He was a co-recipient of the 2005 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on olefin metathesis.[8]

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 university spin-off startup to produce catalysts.[9]

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 Michigan State University, where he began his work on olefin metathesis. Harold Hart, Gerasimos J. Karabatsos, Gene LeGoff, Don Farnum, Bill Reusch and Pete Wagner served as his early mentors at MSU.[11] Grubbs was an assistant professor from 1969 to 1973, and an associate professor from 1973 to 1978.[16] He received a Sloan Fellowship for 1974–1976.[17] In 1975, he went to the Max Planck Institute for Coal Research in Mülheim, Germany on a fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.[18]

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), 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 Pasadena, California, in 1998.[23][24][25] Materia has been able to obtain exclusive rights to manufacture many of the known olefin catalysts.[26] Under Giardello, Materia was able to sell their catalysts through Sigma-Aldrich's chemicals catalogue. Sigma-Aldrich became their exclusive worldwide provider.[24][27] In 2008, Materia partnered with Cargill to form Elevance Renewable Sciences to produce specialty chemicals from renewable oils,[28] including biofuels.[29] In 2017, Materia sold its catalyst business to Umicore.[30] In 2021, Materia was acquired by ExxonMobil.[31]

Grubbs was a member of the Reliance Innovation Council formed by Reliance Industries Limited, India.[32]

Grubbs was a member of the USA Science and Engineering Festival's advisory board.[33]

Research

Grubbs's main research interests were in organometallic chemistry and synthetic chemistry, particularly the development of novel catalysts for olefin metathesis. In olefin metathesis, a catalyst is used to break the bonds of carbon molecules, which can then re-form to create chemical bonds in new ways, producing new compounds with unique properties.[14][34] The basic technique can be used for creation of polymers, pharmaceuticals and petrochemicals[35] and has broad applications in areas including pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, agriculture, and plastics.[14]

Grubbs was instrumental in developing a family of ruthenium catalysts, including Grubbs catalyst for olefin metathesis.[36] He studied olefin transformations for ring-closing metathesis (RCM),[37] cross-metathesis reaction (CMR),[38] and ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) with cyclic olefins such as norbornene.[39] He also contributed to the development of "living polymerization", in which the termination ability of a polymerization reaction is removed. The polymer will continue to replicate until a quenching agent is presented.[40]

The Grubbs group successfully polymerized the 7-oxo norbornene derivative using ruthenium trichloride, osmium trichloride as well as tungsten alkylidenes.[41] They identified a Ru(II) carbene as an effective metal center and in 1992 published the first well-defined, ruthenium-based olefin metathesis catalyst, (PPh3)2Cl2Ru=CHCH=CPh2.[39]

Metathesis Grubbs 1992

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:

AIC Gold Medal recipient, 2010
  • 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

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Anon (2017). "Professor Robert Grubbs ForMemRS". London: Royal Society. https://royalsociety.org/people/robert-grubbs-13392/. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Grubbs, Robert Howard (1968). I. Cyclebutadiene Derivatives II. Studies of Cyclooctatetraene Iron Tricarbonyl Complexes (PhD thesis). Columbia University. ProQuest 302317287. (Subscription content?)
  3. ↑ Swager, Timothy Manning (1988). Precursor Routes to Conducting Polymers from the Ring-Opening Metathesis Polymerization of Cyclic Olefins (phd). California Institute of Technology. doi:10.7907/KF6P-FC76. Retrieved December 20, 2021. Research Advisor(s): Grubbs, Robert H.
  4. ↑ Sanford, Melanie Sarah (2001). Synthetic and mechanistic investigations of ruthenium olefin metathesis catalysts (phd). California Institute of Technology. doi:10.7907/Q96P-VK05. Retrieved December 20, 2021. Research Advisor(s): Grubbs, Robert H.
  5. ↑ "People – The Sanford Group". October 29, 2021. https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/msanford-lab/people/. 
  6. ↑ Nguyen, SonBinh TheBao (1995). The designs, syntheses, and applications of well-defined, single component group VIII olefin metathesis catalysts (phd). California Institute of Technology. doi:10.7907/1BVB-S189. Retrieved December 20, 2021. Research Advisor(s): Grubbs, Robert H.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 "American Institute of Chemists Gold Medal". Science History Institute. March 22, 2018. https://www.sciencehistory.org/american-institute-of-chemists-gold-medal. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 "Press Release, 5 October 2005". NobelPrize.org. https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2005/press.html. 
  9. ↑ "Lanxess rubber employs Materia catalysts". Chemical & Engineering News 84 (34): 23. August 21, 2006. https://cen.acs.org/articles/84/i34/Lanxess-rubber-employs-Materia-catalysts.html?type=paidArticleContent. Retrieved January 9, 2018. 
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 "Jackson Purchase Nobel Laureate". http://jacksonpurchasehistory.org/2010/12/13/jackson-purchase-nobel-laureate/. 
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6 "Robert H. Grubbs – Biographical". NobelPrize.org. https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2005/grubbs-bio.html. "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." 
  12. ↑ History and Families, McCracken County, Kentucky, 1824–1989. Turner Publishing Company. December 22, 1989. ISBN 9780938021360. https://books.google.com/books?id=cpMzZe1INPMC&dq=Faye+Atwood+Grubbs&pg=PA159. Retrieved December 22, 2021. 
  13. ↑ "Nobel laureate Robert Grubbs dies at 79". https://cen.acs.org/people/obituaries/Nobel-laureate-Robert-Grubbs-dies/99/web/2021/12. 
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 Janine Young, Sikes (October 6, 2005). "A Gator wins Nobel in chemistry". The Gainesville Sun. http://www.gainesville.com/article/20051006/LOCAL/51006006. 
  15. ↑ Doerfler, Andrew (December 20, 2021). "UF Mourns the Passing of Robert H. Grubbs, Nobel-Winning Alumnus". https://news.clas.ufl.edu/uf-clas-mourns-the-passing-of-robert-h-grubbs-nobel-winning-alumnus/. 
  16. ↑ "Robert H. Grubbs PhD " Leadership Board". https://www.chem.ufl.edu/about-all/directory/people/name/robert-grubbs/. 
  17. ↑ "Nobel Laureates". https://sloan.org/fellowships/nobel-laureates. 
  18. ↑ "Chemistry Nobel Prize for two Humboldtians". October 5, 2005. https://www.humboldt-foundation.de/web/33300.html. 
  19. ↑ "Robert H. Grubbs American chemist". Encyclopædia Britannica. http://www.britannica.com/biography/Robert-H-Grubbs. 
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 "2002 Robert H. Grubbs, Caltech". July 20, 2012. http://scalacs.org/?page_id=1089. 
  21. ↑ {{Google Scholar id}} template missing ID and not present in Wikidata.
  22. ↑ Robert H. Grubbs publications indexed by the Scopus bibliographic database. (Subscription content?)
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Notman, Nina (January 28, 2015). "Grubbs catalyst". Chemistry World. http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/2015/01/grubbs-catalyst-olefin-metathesis-podcast. 
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 "Industry's Secret Ingredient". https://innovation.caltech.edu/content/industrys-secret-ingredient. 
  25. ↑ "Leading Innovation in Catalysis". http://www.materia-inc.com/technology/olefin-metathesis. 
  26. ↑ "The History of Materia". http://www.materia-inc.com/corporate/about/history. 
  27. ↑ "Materia and Sigma-Aldrich Announce Exclusive Distribution Deal for Grubbs' Metathesis Catalysts". Business Wire. August 18, 2003. http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20030818005374/en/Materia-Sigma-Aldrich-Announce-Exclusive-Distribution-Deal-Grubbs. 
  28. ↑ Tullo, Alexander H. (March 31, 2008). "Cargill, Materia Launch New Firm Elevance will make specialty chemicals from vegetable oils". Chemical & Engineering News 86 (13): 6. doi:10.1021/cen-v086n013.p006. http://cen.acs.org/articles/86/i13/Cargill-Materia-Launch-New-Firm.html. 
  29. ↑ Kotrba, Ron (March 23, 2010). "Newton plant to become biorefinery showcase". Biodiesel Magazine. http://www.biodieselmagazine.com/articles/4091/newton-plant-to-become-biorefinery-showcase. 
  30. ↑ "Materia, Inc. Sells Catalyst Business to Umicore". December 20, 2017. http://www.materia-inc.com/media/news/materia-inc.-sells-catalyst-business-to-umicore. 
  31. ↑ "ExxonMobil acquires Materia, Inc., a high-performance structural polymers company" (in en). https://corporate.exxonmobil.com:443/News/Newsroom/News-releases/2021/1207_ExxonMobil-Acquires-Materia-Inc-a-High-Performance-Structural-Polymers-Company. 
  32. ↑ "Reliance Innovation Council (2007–2017) – Raghunath Mashelkar – Mukesh Ambani – Jean-Marie Lehn – Robert Grubbs – George Whitesides – Gary Hamel – William Haseltine". https://www.ril.com/Innovation-R-D/Innovation.aspx. 
  33. ↑ "Nobel Laureates". http://www.usasciencefestival.org/about/advisors. 
  34. ↑ 34.0 34.1 Miree-Luke, Lisa (October 8, 2015). "Axalta's Distinguished Lecture Series at the University of Pennsylvania Features Presentation on Methathesis Polymerization". Business Wire. http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20151008005945/en/Axalta%E2%80%99s-Distinguished-Lecture-Series-University-Pennsylvania-Features. 
  35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 Pearson, Rodney (April 3, 2001). "South Pasadena chemist wins national award for designing new catalysts". EurekaAlert. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2001-04/ACS-SPcw-0304101.php. 
  36. ↑ 36.0 36.1 Singh, Okram Mukherjee (2006). "Metathesis catalysts: Historical perspective, recent developments and practical applications". Journal of Scientific & Industrial Research 65 (December): 957–965. http://nopr.niscair.res.in/bitstream/123456789/4987/1/JSIR%2065%2812%29%20957-965.pdf. Retrieved April 12, 2016. 
  37. ↑ Grubbs, Robert H. (2006). "Olefin-Metathesis Catalysts for the Preparation of Molecules and Materials (Nobel Lecture)". Angewandte Chemie International Edition 45 (23): 3760–3765. doi:10.1002/anie.200600680. PMID 16724297. 
  38. ↑ Chatterjee, Arnab K.; Choi, Tae-Lim; Sanders, Daniel P.; Grubbs, Robert H. (September 2003). "A General Model for Selectivity in Olefin Cross Metathesis". Journal of the American Chemical Society 125 (37): 11360–11370. doi:10.1021/ja0214882. PMID 16220959. http://medchem.rutgers.edu/mc504/pdfs/CM.pdf. Retrieved April 14, 2016. 
  39. ↑ 39.0 39.1 Nguyen, SonBinh T.; Johnson, Lynda K.; Grubbs, Robert H.; Ziller, Joseph W. (May 1992). "Ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) of norbornene by a Group VIII carbene complex in protic media". Journal of the American Chemical Society 114 (10): 3974–3975. doi:10.1021/ja00036a053. https://authors.library.caltech.edu/88217/2/ja00036a053_si_001.pdf. 
  40. ↑ Schrock, R. R.; Feldman, J.; Cannizzo, L. F.; Grubbs, R. H. (September 1987). "Ring-opening polymerization of norbornene by a living tungsten alkylidene complex". Macromolecules 20 (5): 1169–1172. doi:10.1021/ma00171a053. Bibcode: 1987MaMol..20.1169S. 
  41. ↑ Novak, Bruce M.; Grubbs, Robert H. (1988). "The ring opening metathesis polymerization of 7-oxabicyclo[2.2.1]hept-5-ene derivatives: a new acyclic polymeric ionophore". Journal of the American Chemical Society 110 (3): 960–961. doi:10.1021/ja00211a043. 
  42. ↑ Nguyen, Sonbinh T.; Grubbs, Robert H.; Ziller, Joseph W. (1993). "Syntheses and activities of new single-component, ruthenium-based olefin metathesis catalysts". Journal of the American Chemical Society 115 (21): 9858–9859. doi:10.1021/ja00074a086. 
  43. ↑ Schwab, Peter; France, Marcia B.; Ziller, Joseph W.; Grubbs, Robert H. (1995). "A Series of Well-Defined Metathesis Catalysts–Synthesis of [RuCl2(CHR')(PR3)2] and Its Reactions". Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 34 (18): 2039–2041. doi:10.1002/anie.199520391. 
  44. ↑ Schwab, Peter; Grubbs, Robert H.; Ziller, Joseph W. (1996). "Synthesis and Applications of RuCl2(=CHR')(PR3)2: The Influence of the Alkylidene Moiety on Metathesis Activity". Journal of the American Chemical Society 118: 100–110. doi:10.1021/ja952676d. 
  45. ↑ 45.0 45.1 Astruc, Didier (2005). "The metathesis reactions: from a historical perspective to recent developments". New Journal of Chemistry 29 (1): 42. doi:10.1039/b412198h. http://astruc.didier.free.fr/doc%20astruc/Metathese-NJC-2005-29-Astruc-p42-56.pdf. Retrieved April 12, 2016. 
  46. ↑ Wilson, Gerald O.; Porter, Keith A.; Weissman, Haim; White, Scott R.; Sottos, Nancy R.; Moore, Jeffrey S. (August 14, 2009). "Stability of Second Generation Grubbs' Alkylidenes to Primary Amines: Formation of Novel Ruthenium-Amine Complexes". Advanced Synthesis & Catalysis 351 (11–12): 1817–1825. doi:10.1002/adsc.200900134. 
  47. ↑ "Columbia News ::: Alumnus Robert Grubbs Wins Nobel Prize in Chemistry". http://www.columbia.edu/cu/news/05/10/robertGrubbs_nobel.html. 
  48. ↑ 48.0 48.1 48.2 McClain, Dylan Loeb (December 24, 2021). "Robert H. Grubbs, 79, Dies; Chemistry Breakthrough Led to a Nobel". The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/24/science/robert-h-grubbs-dead.html. Retrieved December 24, 2021. 
  49. ↑ "Caltech Mourns the Loss of Nobel Laureate Robert H. Grubbs". Caltech. December 19, 2021. https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/caltech-mourns-the-loss-of-nobel-laureate-robert-h-grubbs. 
  50. ↑ "Robert H. Grubbs – Facts". NobelPrize.org. https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2005/grubbs-facts.html. 
  51. ↑ "National Academy of Sciences Members". https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/robert-h-grubbs-wins-national-award-american-chemical-society-54744. 
  52. ↑ "Robert H. Grubbs". November 18, 2021. https://www.amacad.org/person/robert-h-grubbs. 
  53. ↑ "Robert H. Grubbs". January 10, 2014. https://www.fi.edu/laureates/robert-h-grubbs. 
  54. ↑ "Herman F. Mark Award 2000". http://www.polyacs.org/271.html. 
  55. ↑ "Pasadena chemist wins national award for cata". https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/625149. 
  56. ↑ "Arthur C. Cope Award". American Chemical Society. http://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/funding-and-awards/awards/national/bytopic/arthur-c-cope-award.html. 
  57. ↑ "Tetrahedron Prize for Creativity". https://www.elsevier.com/awards/global/tetrahedron-prize-for-creativity. 
  58. ↑ "Members Grubbs". Royal Society of Chemistry. https://royalsociety.org/people/robert-grubbs-13392/. 
  59. ↑ "Robert H. Grubbs 31st Paul Karrer Lecture 2005". http://www.chem.uzh.ch/en/events/KarrerLecture/ListOfRecipients/RobertGrubbs.html. 
  60. ↑ "Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement". American Academy of Achievement. https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#science-exploration. 
  61. ↑ "2009 ACS Fellows". https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/funding-and-awards/fellows/list-of-2009-acs-fellows.html. 
  62. ↑ "2015 Inductees: Robert Howard Grubbs". September 28, 2015. http://www.floridainvents.org/robert-grubbs/. 
  63. ↑ "Current NAI Fellows". http://www.academyofinventors.org/search-fellows.asp?qFellows=G&Qa=%&qSort=FASC. 
  64. ↑ "Professor Robert Howard Grubbs". http://www.nae.edu/130206.aspx. 
  65. ↑ "New Academicians and Foreign Members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences". Angewandte Chemie International Edition 55 (8): 2633–2634. February 2016. doi:10.1002/anie.201511637. 
  66. ↑ "12 Famous Scientists Elected 2015 CAS Foreign Members". http://english.casad.cas.cn/bb/201601/t20160118_158870.html. 
  67. ↑ Wang, Linda (February 13, 2017). "Robert Grubbs wins Remsen Award". Chemical & Engineering News (American Chemical Society) 59 (7). https://cen.acs.org/articles/95/i7/Robert-Grubbs-wins-Remsen-Award.html. Retrieved December 20, 2021. 

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