- Email: [email protected]
Professor Francis Petit
N19
report on metallation, halogenation and free radical addition to C60. New products were characterized by ESR and Raman spectroscopy. Several principles emerging from C60 chemistry are supported by molecular orbital calculations. P.W. Fowler et al. discuss the mechanism of isomerization of fullerenes; they used a computer model to generate all the fullerene isomers and to list their interconversions. Energetic and group-theoretical aspects of the transformation are discussed, symmetry-based selection rules devised and complete isomerization maps designed for small fullerenes (C20 to C40) and isolated pentagon isomers (078 to C88). ED FURIMSKY
Professor Francis Petit We have recently learned of the sudden death of Francis Petit, Professor at the University of Science and Technology at Lille. A graduate of the Ecole Nationale Sup~rieure de Chimie at Lille, he was appointed Lecturer to the Faculty of Science at Lille, then Head-Lecturer at the University of Poitiers and, ultimately, Professor at the University of Lille. His doctoral thesis, directed by Professor M. Blanchard, on the heterogeneous catalytic isomerization of bicyclic terpenes, was followed by post-doctoral positions in industry (SNPA) and at the University of Oxford (with M.L.H. Green). He created, in 1975, the Applied Organic Chemistry Laboratory of the ENSC at Lille, where he was joined by his colleague, Professor A. Mortreux, the following year. His research group quickly gained an international reputation for organometallic chemistry to homogeneous catalysts. He deapplied catalysis A: General
veloped the electrochemical preparation of highly active and selective homogeneous catalysts and the syntheses of highly effective chiral ligands for asymmetric catalysis. Readers of the Journals of Molecular Catalysis, of which he was a member of the International Scientific Board,often had occasion to remark on the originality of his results. An excellent chemist, imaginative and industrious, he was a colleague devoted to the scientific community. He was always ready to contribute to the administration and evaluation of the research at the CNRS or university levels. He was appreciated by those in industrial circles, with whom he maintained close ties, due to his research interests and because of the many engineers whom he trained. He had a consulting activity in several industrial groups, where his advice on the strategy of catalysis were of great help. He leaves all who knew him with the memory of a colleague who ennobled the chemical community. J.C. VEDRINE
Catalytic Properties of Carbon Black In a brief review, published in Chemical Technology, January 1993, Malvina Farcasiu discusses the catalytic properties of carbon blacks for the selective cleavage of carbon-carbon bonds, selective dehydroxylation, hydrogen-deuterium exchange in aromatic rings and the transfer of alkyl groups. A high surface a r e a (1440 m2/g) carbon black on its own exhibited similar catalytic activity and selectivity in hydrocracking reactions as did MoS2 supported on the same carbon black. Thus several carbon-carbon bonds of Volume 96 No. 2 -
26 March 1993
report on metallation, halogenation and free radical addition to C60. New products were characterized by ESR and Raman spectroscopy. Several principles emerging from C60 chemistry are supported by molecular orbital calculations. P.W. Fowler et al. discuss the mechanism of isomerization of fullerenes; they used a computer model to generate all the fullerene isomers and to list their interconversions. Energetic and group-theoretical aspects of the transformation are discussed, symmetry-based selection rules devised and complete isomerization maps designed for small fullerenes (C20 to C40) and isolated pentagon isomers (078 to C88). ED FURIMSKY
Professor Francis Petit We have recently learned of the sudden death of Francis Petit, Professor at the University of Science and Technology at Lille. A graduate of the Ecole Nationale Sup~rieure de Chimie at Lille, he was appointed Lecturer to the Faculty of Science at Lille, then Head-Lecturer at the University of Poitiers and, ultimately, Professor at the University of Lille. His doctoral thesis, directed by Professor M. Blanchard, on the heterogeneous catalytic isomerization of bicyclic terpenes, was followed by post-doctoral positions in industry (SNPA) and at the University of Oxford (with M.L.H. Green). He created, in 1975, the Applied Organic Chemistry Laboratory of the ENSC at Lille, where he was joined by his colleague, Professor A. Mortreux, the following year. His research group quickly gained an international reputation for organometallic chemistry to homogeneous catalysts. He deapplied catalysis A: General
veloped the electrochemical preparation of highly active and selective homogeneous catalysts and the syntheses of highly effective chiral ligands for asymmetric catalysis. Readers of the Journals of Molecular Catalysis, of which he was a member of the International Scientific Board,often had occasion to remark on the originality of his results. An excellent chemist, imaginative and industrious, he was a colleague devoted to the scientific community. He was always ready to contribute to the administration and evaluation of the research at the CNRS or university levels. He was appreciated by those in industrial circles, with whom he maintained close ties, due to his research interests and because of the many engineers whom he trained. He had a consulting activity in several industrial groups, where his advice on the strategy of catalysis were of great help. He leaves all who knew him with the memory of a colleague who ennobled the chemical community. J.C. VEDRINE
Catalytic Properties of Carbon Black In a brief review, published in Chemical Technology, January 1993, Malvina Farcasiu discusses the catalytic properties of carbon blacks for the selective cleavage of carbon-carbon bonds, selective dehydroxylation, hydrogen-deuterium exchange in aromatic rings and the transfer of alkyl groups. A high surface a r e a (1440 m2/g) carbon black on its own exhibited similar catalytic activity and selectivity in hydrocracking reactions as did MoS2 supported on the same carbon black. Thus several carbon-carbon bonds of Volume 96 No. 2 -
26 March 1993