| Location: | Chichester 3 3R341 |
| Email: | H.W.Kroto@sussex.ac.uk |
| Telephone numbers | |
| Internal: | 8329 |
| UK: | (01273) 678329 |
| International: | +44 1273 678329 |
Biography
Harry Kroto's personal webpages
Harold Kroto received a BSc (Chemistry, 1961) and a PhD (Molecular Spectroscopy, 1964) from the University of Sheffield. After Postdoctoral work at the National Research Council (Ottawa, Canada) and Bell Telephone Laboratories (Murray Hill, NJ USA) he started his academic career at the University of Sussex (Brighton) in 1967. He became a professor in 1985 and a Royal Society Research Professor in 1991. In 1996 he was knighted for his contributions to chemistry and later that year, together with Robert Curl and Richard Smalley (of Rice University, Houston, Texas), received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for the discovery of C60 Buckminsterfullerene a new form of carbon.
Research
Main research areas:
I Spectroscopy of Unstable Species and Reaction Intermediates
(Infrared, Photoelectron, Microwave and Mass Spectrometry)
II Cluster Science
(Carbon and Metal Clusters, Microparticles, Nanofibres)
III Fullerenes
(Chemistry, Physics and Materials Science)
IV Astrophysics
(Interstellar Molecules and Circumstellar Dust)
Research Highlights:
a) Synthesis in 1976 of the first phoaphaalkenes (compounds containing the free carbon phosphorus double bond) in particular CH2=PH (with N P C Simmons and J F Nixon, Sussex), Refs 1,7.
b) Synthesis in 1976 of the first analogues of HCP, the phosphaalkynes which contain the carbon phoshorus triple bond - in particular CH3CP (with N P C Simmons and J F Nixon, Sussex), Refs 2,7.
c) The discovery (1976-8) of the cyanopolyynes, HCnN (n=5,7,9), in interstellar space (with D R M Walton A J Alexander and C Kirby (Sussex) and T Oka, L W Avery, N W Broten and J M MacLeod (NRC Ottawa)), Ref 4-6, based on microwave measurements made at Sussex, Refs 3,7.
d) The discovery of C60: Buckminsterfullerene in 1985 (with J R Heath, S C O'Brien, R F Curl and R E Smalley), Refs 8,13,15.
e) The detection of endohedral metallofullerene complexes (with J R Heath, S C O'Brien, Q Zhang, Y Liu, R F Curl, F K Tittel and R E Smalley), Ref 9
f) The prediction that C60 should be produced in combustion processes and might indicate how soot is formed (with Q L Zhang, S C O'Brien, J R Heath, Y Liu, R F Curl and R E Smalley) Ref 10
g) The explanation of why C70 is the second stable fullerene (after C60) and the discovery of the Pentagon Isolation Rule as a criterion for fullerene stability in general (Refs 11,13,15)
h) The prediction of the tetrahedral structure of C28 and the possible stability of "tetravalent" derivatives such as C28H4 Refs 11,15.
i) The prediction that giant fullerenes have quasi-icosahedral shapes and the detailed structure of concentric shell graphite microparticles (with K G McKay), Refs 12,13.
j) The mass spectrometric identification and solvent extraction (with J P Hare and A Abdul-Sada) of C60 from arc processed carbon in 1990 - independently from and simultaneously with the Heidelberg/Tucson group; Refs 14,15.
k) The chromatographic separation/purification of C60 and C70 and 13C NMR measurements which provided unequivocal proof that these species had fullerene cage structures (with J P Hare and R Taylor, Sussex), Refs 14,15
References refer to the list below:
Publications
240 research papers; book "Molecular Rotation Spectra" (Wiley 1975 - reprinted with a new preface Dover 1992)Key Publications 1) M J Hopkinson, H W Kroto, J F Nixon and N P C Simmons, 'The detection of unstable molecules by microwave spectroscopy: phospha-alkenes CF2=PH, CH2=PCl and CH2=PH', J.C.S. Chem. Comm., 513-515 (1976).
2) M J Hopkinson, H W Kroto, J F Nixon and N P C Simmons, 'The detection of the reactive molecule 1-phosphapropyne, CH3CP, by microwave spectroscopy', Chem. Phys. Letts., 42, 460-461 (1976).
3) A J Alexander, H W Kroto and D R M Walton, 'The microwave spectrum, substitution structure and dipole moment of cyanobutadiyne, HC5N', J. Mol. Spectrosc., 62, 175-180 (1976).
4) L W Avery, N W Broten, J M MacLeod, T Oka and H W Kroto, 'Detection of the heavy interstellar molecule cyanodiacetylene', Astrophys. J., 205, L173-175 (1976).
5) H W Kroto, C Kirby, D R M Walton, L W Avery, N W Broten, J M MacLeod and T Oka, 'The Detection of Cyanohexatriyne, HC7CN, in Heiles' Cloud 2', Astrophysics J., 219, L133-L137 (1978).
6) N W Broten, T Oka, L W Avery, J M MacLeod and H W Kroto, 'The Detection of HC9N in Interstellar Space', Astrophys. J., 223, L105-107 (1978).
7) H W Kroto, 'Semistable Molecules in the Laboratory and in Space', Royal Society of Chemistry Tilden Lecture; Chem. Soc. Revs., 11, 435-491 (1982).
8) H W Kroto, J R Heath, S C O'Brien, R F Curl and R E Smalley, 'C60: Buckminsterfullerene', Nature, 318(No.6042), 162-163,(1985)
9) J R Heath, S C O'Brien, Q Zhang, Y Liu, R F Curl, H W Kroto, F K Tittel and R E Smalley 'Lanthanum Complexes of Spheroidal Carbon Shells', J. Am. Chem. Soc., 107, 7779-7780 (1985).
10) Q L Zhang, S C O'Brien, J R Heath, Y Liu, R F Curl, H W Kroto and R E Smalley. 'Reactivity of large carbon clusters Spheroidal Carbon Shells and their possible relevance to the formation and morphology of soot', J. Phys. Chem., 90, 525-528 (1986)
11) H W Kroto, 'The Stability of the Fullerenes Cn (n = 24, 28, 32, 50, 60 and 70)', Nature 329, 529-531 (1987)
12) H W Kroto and K McKay, 'The Formation of Quasi-icosahedral Spiral Shell Carbon Particles' Nature, 331, 328-331 (1988)
13) H W Kroto "Space, Stars, C60 and Soot", Science, 242, 1139-1145 (1988)
14) R Taylor, J P Hare, A K Abdul-Sada, and H W Kroto, "Isolation, Separation and Characterisation of the Fullerenes C60 and C70: The Third Form of Carbon." J. Chem. Soc. Chem. Commun., 1423-1425 (1990)
15) H W Kroto "C60: Buckminsterfullerene, the Celestial Sphere that Fell to Earth", Angewandte Chemie 31, 111-129 (1992)