Frank Albert Cotton | |
|---|---|
 Cotton in August 2005 | |
| Born | (1930-04-09)April 9, 1930 Philadelphia,Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | February 20, 2007(2007-02-20) (aged 76) College Station, Texas, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Harvard University |
| Known for | Metal-Metal Bonding Hapticity andFluxionality |
| Awards | William H. Nichols Medal (1975) Linus Pauling Award (1976) National Medal of Science (1982) NAS Award in Chemical Sciences (1990) Welch Award in Chemistry (1994) Priestley Medal (1998) Wolf Prize (2000) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Inorganic Chemistry |
| Institutions | Massachusetts Institute of Technology Texas A&M University |
| Doctoral advisor | Geoffrey Wilkinson[1] |
| Doctoral students | |
| Other notable students | |
Frank Albert CottonFRS (April 9, 1930 – February 20, 2007)[1] was an American chemist. He was the W.T. Doherty-Welch Foundation Chair and Distinguished Professor of Chemistry atTexas A&M University. He authored over 1600 scientific articles.[2] Cotton was recognized for his research on the chemistry of thetransition metals.
Cotton, known as "Al" Cotton, or "F Albert" on publications, was born on April 9, 1930, inPhiladelphia,Pennsylvania. He attended local public schools before attendingDrexel University and thenTemple University, both in Philadelphia.[2] After earning hisBachelor of Arts degree from Temple in 1951, Cotton pursued a Ph.D. thesis under the guidance ofSir Geoffrey Wilkinson[1] atHarvard University where he worked onmetallocenes.[3] He received hisPh.D. in 1955.[4]
Following his graduation fromHarvard University, Cotton began teaching atMassachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In 1961, at 31-years-old, he became the youngest person to have received a full professorship at MIT.[2] His work emphasized both electronic structure and chemical synthesis. He pioneered the study of multiple bonding between transition metal atoms, starting with research onrhenium halides,[5] and in 1964 identified thequadruple bond in theRe
2Cl2−
8 ion. His work soon focused on other metal-metal bonded species,[6] elucidating the structure of chromium(II) acetate.
He was an early proponent of single crystalX-ray diffraction as a tool for elucidating the extensive chemistry of metal complexes. Through his studies on clusters, he demonstrated that many exhibited "fluxionality", whereby ligands interchange coordination sites on spectroscopically observable time-scales. He coined the term "hapticity" and the nomenclature that derives from it.
In 1962 he undertook the crystal structure of the Staphylococcal nuclease enzyme,[7] solved to 2Å resolution in 1969, published in 1971,[8] and deposited in theProtein Data Bank (PDB code 1SNS) as one of the first dozen protein crystal structures.[9]
In 1972 Cotton moved to Texas A&M University as the Robert A. Welch Professor of Chemistry. The following year he was named the Doherty-Welch Distinguished Professor of Chemistry. He also served as the director of the university's Laboratory for Molecular Structure and Bonding.[2][10]
In addition to his research, Cotton taughtinorganic chemistry. He authoredChemical Applications of Group Theory.[11] This text focuses ongroup theoretical analysis ofbonding andspectroscopy.
Among college students, Cotton is perhaps best known as the coauthor of the textbookAdvanced Inorganic Chemistry, now in its sixth English edition.[12][13] Coauthored with his thesis advisor, SirGeoffrey Wilkinson, and now with coauthors Carlos Murillo and Manfred Bochmann, the textbook is colloquially known as "Cotton and Wilkinson." The text surveys coordination chemistry, cluster chemistry, homogeneous catalysis, and organometallic chemistry.[2][13]
Cotton served on various editorial boards of scientific journals, including those of theJournal of the American Chemical Society,Inorganic Chemistry, andOrganometallics. He chaired the Division of Inorganic Chemistry of the ACS and was an ACS Councillor for five years. He served on the U.S. National Science Board (1986–1998), which oversees the National Science Foundation, and the Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee of Argonne National Laboratory, and the National Research Laboratory Commission of Texas.
Cotton supervised the thesis research of 116 doctoral students[10] as well as more than 150 postdoctoral associates,[4] includingRichard H. Holm,Stephen J. Lippard,Charles B. Harris,Tobin J. Marks,John J. Wise, andAda Yonath. This academic lineage has become one of the most influential in the field of chemistry, extending to third-generation scholars such asOmar M. Yaghi,Jeffrey R. Long,Jeremy M. Berg,Jacqueline Barton,Chuan He,Amy Rosenzweig,Wesley I. Sundquist,John F. Hartwig,JoAnne Stubbe,Paul Alivisatos,Michael D. Fayer,Ahmed Zewail, andMercouri Kanatzidis.[14]
Among the awards Cotton received included the U.S.National Medal of Science in 1982,[15] theWolf Prize in 2000; and thePriestley Medal, theAmerican Chemical Society's highest recognition, in 1998.[10]
In 1995, the Department of Chemistry at Texas A&M along with the local section of the American Chemical Society, inaugurated the annual F.A. Cotton Medal for excellence in chemical research.[citation needed]
A second award named in his honor, the F. Albert Cotton Award for Synthetic Inorganic Chemistry, is presented at the National Meeting of the American Chemical Society each year.[16]
Cotton was a member of theNational Academy of Sciences in theUnited States, and the corresponding academies inRussia,China, theUnited Kingdom,France, andDenmark, as well as the American Philosophical Society. He received twenty-nine honorary doctorates.[10]
Cotton caused a controversy in his run for President of the American Chemical Society for 1984, wherein he mailed a letter to selected members describing his opponent as "a mediocre industrial chemist".[17] Cotton ultimately lost the bid to his opponent Dr.Warren D. Niederhauser ofRohm & Haas.[18]
The F.A. Cotton Medal, established in 1994, is awarded annually by the Texas A&M Section of theAmerican Chemical Society to recognize accomplishments in research rather than distinction of any other sort, no matter how meritorious. The award is sponsored by the F. Albert Cotton Endowment Fund, which was initially raised by Carlos A. Murillo in honor of Frank Albert Cotton, to whom the first medal was awarded in 1995. The recipient receives, in addition to the medal, a bronze replica thereof and a certificate describing the award.[19]
Source:Texas A&M Section of the American Chemical Society
Cotton died on February 20, 2007, inCollege Station, Texas from complications of a head injury he suffered in a fall in October 2006.[21] He was survived by his wife, the former Diane Dornacher, whom he married in 1959, and their two daughters, Jennifer and Jane.[2]The Brazos County Sheriff's Department opened an investigation into his death, describing his death as "suspicious".[22]
