Peter Michael Maitlis,
FRS (15 January 1933 – 18 May 2022) was a British
organometallic
Organometallic chemistry is the study of organometallic compounds, chemical compounds containing at least one chemical bond between a carbon atom of an organic molecule and a metal, including alkali, alkaline earth, and transition metals, and so ...
chemist
A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe th ...
.
Early life and education
Maitlis was born on 15 January 1933,
and educated at
Hendon School
Hendon School is a mixed secondary school in Golders Rise, Hendon, with academy status since November 2011 (previously a comprehensive) in the London Borough of Barnet. It specialises in languages, offering lessons amongst others to its student ...
(then Hendon County School) in north London 1944–50. He was awarded a
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...
in Science from the
University of Birmingham
, mottoeng = Through efforts to heights
, established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason Univers ...
, and a PhD (1956, studying under Professor
Michael J. S. Dewar
Michael James Steuart Dewar (24 September 1918 – 10 October 1997) was an American theoretical chemist.
Education and early life
Dewar was the son of Scottish parents, Annie Balfour (Keith) and Francis Dewar. He received the degrees of Bache ...
,
who helped to develop the
Dewar–Chatt–Duncanson model
The Dewar–Chatt–Duncanson model is a model in organometallic chemistry that explains the chemical bonding in transition metal alkene complexes. The model is named after Michael J. S. Dewar, Joseph Chatt and L. A. Duncanson.
The alkene donat ...
for bonding in
organometallic compound
Organometallic chemistry is the study of organometallic compounds, chemical compounds containing at least one chemical bond between a carbon atom of an organic molecule and a metal, including alkali, alkaline earth, and transition metals, and so ...
s) and a
DSc DSC may refer to:
Academia
* Doctor of Science (D.Sc.)
* District Selection Committee, an entrance exam in India
* Doctor of Surgical Chiropody, superseded in the 1960s by Doctor of Podiatric Medicine
Educational institutions
* Dalton State Col ...
(1970) from the
University of London
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...
.
Career
After completing his doctorate, Maitlis worked as an
Assistant Lecturer
Lecturer is an academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. They may also conduct res ...
at the University of London.
He undertook
postdoctoral
A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). The ultimate goal of a postdoctoral research position is to p ...
study at
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...
as a
Fulbright Fellow
The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...
(1960–1961) and then as a
research fellow
A research fellow is an academic research position at a university or a similar research institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a pr ...
at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
(1961–1962)
under
F. G. A. Stone.
While working and teaching at
McMaster University
McMaster University (McMaster or Mac) is a public research university in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main McMaster campus is on of land near the residential neighbourhoods of Ainslie Wood and Westdale, adjacent to the Royal Botanical Ga ...
in
Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Hamilton has a population of 569,353, and its census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington and Grimsby, has a population of 785,184. The city is approximately southwest of T ...
(1962–1972), he rose from Assistant Professor to a full Professorship. Returning to the United Kingdom in 1972, Maitlis was a professor of chemistry at the
University of Sheffield
, mottoeng = To discover the causes of things
, established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions:
– Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield
, type = Pu ...
for 30 years until his appointment as an
emeritus professor
''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...
in 2002.
In 1971, he published two volumes on the organic chemistry of
palladium
Palladium is a chemical element with the symbol Pd and atomic number 46. It is a rare and lustrous silvery-white metal discovered in 1803 by the English chemist William Hyde Wollaston. He named it after the asteroid Pallas, which was itself na ...
which were "widely recognised as the most authoritative account of the organo-complexes of this metal".
Maitlis was elected a
Fellow of the Royal Society
Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...
in 1984. The citation highlights his work on the
platinum group
The platinum-group metals (abbreviated as the PGMs; alternatively, the platinoids, platinides, platidises, platinum group, platinum metals, platinum family or platinum-group elements (PGEs)) are six noble, precious metallic elements clustered to ...
metals
palladium
Palladium is a chemical element with the symbol Pd and atomic number 46. It is a rare and lustrous silvery-white metal discovered in 1803 by the English chemist William Hyde Wollaston. He named it after the asteroid Pallas, which was itself na ...
,
rhodium
Rhodium is a chemical element with the symbol Rh and atomic number 45. It is a very rare, silvery-white, hard, corrosion-resistant transition metal. It is a noble metal and a member of the platinum group. It has only one naturally occurring isoto ...
and
iridium
Iridium is a chemical element with the symbol Ir and atomic number 77. A very hard, brittle, silvery-white transition metal of the platinum group, it is considered the second-densest naturally occurring metal (after osmium) with a density of ...
.
Achievements in organometallic chemistry
The
hexafluorophosphate
Hexafluorophosphate is an anion with chemical formula of . It is an octahedral species that imparts no color to its salts. is isoelectronic with sulfur hexafluoride, , and the hexafluorosilicate dianion, , and hexafluoroantimonate . In this anio ...
ion is generally considered inert and hence a suitable
counterion
160px, Polystyrene sulfonate, a cation-exchange resin, is typically supplied with as the counterion.">cation-exchange_resin.html" ;"title="Polystyrene sulfonate, a cation-exchange resin">Polystyrene sulfonate, a cation-exchange resin, is typical ...
in
organometallic synthesis. However, Maitlis' work has demonstrated a
solvolysis
In chemistry, solvolysis is a type of nucleophilic substitution (S1/S2) or elimination reaction, elimination where the nucleophile is a solvent molecule. Characteristic of S1 reactions, solvolysis of a chirality (chemistry), chiral reactant affor ...
reaction of the hexafluorophosphate ion. The tris(
solvent
A solvent (s) (from the Latin '' solvō'', "loosen, untie, solve") is a substance that dissolves a solute, resulting in a solution. A solvent is usually a liquid but can also be a solid, a gas, or a supercritical fluid. Water is a solvent for ...
)
rhodium
Rhodium is a chemical element with the symbol Rh and atomic number 45. It is a very rare, silvery-white, hard, corrosion-resistant transition metal. It is a noble metal and a member of the platinum group. It has only one naturally occurring isoto ...
complex
5-C5methyl">Me5)Rh(Me
2CO)
3.html" ;"title="methyl.html" ;"title="η
5-C
5methyl">Me
5)Rh(Me
2CO)
3">methyl.html" ;"title="η
5-C
5methyl">Me
5)Rh(Me
2CO)
3PF
6)
2 undergoes solvolysis when heated in acetone, forming a difluorophosphate-bridged complex [(η
5-C
5Me
5)Rh(μ-OPF
2O)
3Rh(η
5-C
5Me
5)]PF
6.
:
Hexamethyl Dewar benzene
Dewar benzene (also spelled ''dewarbenzene'') or bicyclo .2.0exa-2,5-diene is a bicyclic isomer of benzene with the molecular formula C6H6. The compound is named after James Dewar who included this structure in a list of possible C6H6 structures ...
(C
6Me
6) undergoes an unusual rearrangement reaction with
hydrohalic acid
In chemistry, hydrogen halides (hydrohalic acids when in the aqueous phase) are diatomic, inorganic compounds that function as Arrhenius acids. The formula is HX where X is one of the halogens: fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine, or astatine. A ...
s to form a
pentamethylcyclopentadiene
1,2,3,4,5-Pentamethylcyclopentadiene is a cyclic diene with the formula C5Me5H (Me = CH3). 1,2,3,4,5-Pentamethylcyclopentadiene is the precursor to the ligand ''1,2,3,4,5-pentamethylcyclopentadienyl'', which is often denoted Cp* (C5Me5) and read ...
derivative, and consequently can be used as a starting material for synthesising some
pentamethylcyclopentadienyl
1,2,3,4,5-Pentamethylcyclopentadiene is a cyclic diene with the formula C5Me5H (Me = CH3). 1,2,3,4,5-Pentamethylcyclopentadiene is the precursor to the ligand ''1,2,3,4,5-pentamethylcyclopentadienyl'', which is often denoted Cp* (C5Me5) and read ...
organometallic compound
Organometallic chemistry is the study of organometallic compounds, chemical compounds containing at least one chemical bond between a carbon atom of an organic molecule and a metal, including alkali, alkaline earth, and transition metals, and so ...
s.
Maitlis and colleagues demonstrated this synthesis and its applicability to the iridium
analogue,
5-C5Me5)IrCl2sub>2">η
5-C
5Me
5)IrCl
2sub>2. His group also demonstrated a more convenient synthesis for the bright orange, air-stable
diamagnetic
Diamagnetic materials are repelled by a magnetic field; an applied magnetic field creates an induced magnetic field in them in the opposite direction, causing a repulsive force. In contrast, paramagnetic and ferromagnetic materials are attracted ...
iridium reagent using
pentamethylcyclopentadiene
1,2,3,4,5-Pentamethylcyclopentadiene is a cyclic diene with the formula C5Me5H (Me = CH3). 1,2,3,4,5-Pentamethylcyclopentadiene is the precursor to the ligand ''1,2,3,4,5-pentamethylcyclopentadienyl'', which is often denoted Cp* (C5Me5) and read ...
.
Isocyanide
An isocyanide (also called isonitrile or carbylamine) is an organic compound with the functional group –. It is the isomer of the related nitrile (–C≡N), hence the prefix is ''isocyano''.IUPAC Goldboo''isocyanides''/ref> The organic fragme ...
s can serve as
ligands
In coordination chemistry, a ligand is an ion or molecule (functional group) that binds to a central metal atom to form a coordination complex. The bonding with the metal generally involves formal donation of one or more of the ligand's electro ...
in
co-ordination chemistry as a result of the lone electron pair on
carbon
Carbon () is a chemical element with the symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalent
In chemistry, the valence (US spelling) or valency (British spelling) of an element is the measure of its combining capacity with o ...
, and are especially useful with metals in the 0, +1, and +2
oxidation state
In chemistry, the oxidation state, or oxidation number, is the hypothetical charge of an atom if all of its bonds to different atoms were fully ionic. It describes the degree of oxidation (loss of electrons) of an atom in a chemical compound. C ...
s. In particular, Maitlis has demonstrated that
''tert''-butyl isocyanide can stabilise metals in unusual oxidation states, such as palladium(I) in the complex
2Pd(μ-Cl)">''t''-BuNC)2Pd(μ-Cl)sub>2.
Metallomesogens
Metallomesogens are "metal complexes of organic ligands which exhibit
liquid crystal
Liquid crystal (LC) is a state of matter whose properties are between those of conventional liquids and those of solid crystals. For example, a liquid crystal may flow like a liquid, but its molecules may be oriented in a crystal-like way. T ...
line (
mesomorphic) character
nd thus theycombine the variety and range of metal-based coordination chemistry with the extraordinary physical properties exhibited by liquid crystals."
They have been a research interest of Maitlis' group since the mid-1980s, and in fact Maitlis jointly directed the early investigations of these systems in the UK and actually coined the term ''metallomesogen''.
Personal life
Maitlis was Jewish. He was the father of the journalist and newsreader
Emily Maitlis
Emily Maitlis (born 6 September 1970) is a British journalist, documentary filmmaker, and former newsreader for the BBC. She was the lead anchor until the end of 2021 of ''Newsnight'', the BBC Two news and current affairs programme.
Early lif ...
.
He died on 18 May 2022, at the age of 89.
Most cited publications
The following list shows the top 10 most cited journal articles by Maitlis according to
Web of Science data. The number of citations indicated is current as at 27 May 2022:
* --- 657 citations
* --- 570 citations
* --- 482 citations
*Maitlis, P. M.; Haynes, A.; Sunley, G. J.; Howard, M. J. (1996). "Methanol Carbonylation Revisited: Thirty Years On". ''J. Chem.Soc., Dalton Trans.'' (11): 2187–2196. do
10.1039/dt9960002187 --- 276 citations
* --- 265 citations
* --- 247 citations
* --- 240 citations
* --- 230 citations
*Maitlis, P. M. (1981). "Eta-5-Cyclopentadienyl and eta-6-Arene as Protecting Ligands Towards Platinum-Metal Complexes". ''Chem. Soc. Rev.'' 10 (1): 1–48. do
10.1039/cs9811000001 --- 207 citations
* --- 196 citations
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maitlis, Peter
1933 births
2022 deaths
British Jews
British people of German-Jewish descent
British chemists
Academics of the University of Sheffield
Jewish scientists
Fellows of the Royal Society
Academic staff of McMaster University
Cornell University alumni
Harvard University alumni
Alumni of the University of Birmingham
Jewish chemists