| Authorised form of name | Chambers; Richard Dickinson (1935 - 2019) |
| Other forms of name | Richard Dickson |
| Other forms of surname | Chambers |
| Dates | 1935 - 2019 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of birth | West Stanley, Co Durham, England |
| Date of birth | 16/03/1935 |
| Date of death | 18/04/2019 |
| Activity | Richard Chambers studied the synthesis and chemistry of organofluorine compounds. When carbon–hydrogen bonds in organic compounds replace much stronger carbon–fluorine bonds, either singly or multiply, a vast range of ‘manmade’ molecules becomes available. An illustration of this is the contrast between polypropene and inert Teflon, which is composed of all carbon–fluorine bonds. Indeed, fluorine-containing compounds have wide-ranging applications in industry, including unique surface effects and important pharmaceuticals such as anaesthetics.
Richard also developed methods for the synthesis many new compounds that are useful in plant-protection products, inert fluids and pharmaceuticals. In the latter case, one of the roles of fluorine is to enhance the lifetime of a drug in the body.
The chemistry of organofluorine compounds is very different from that of their hydrocarbon based counterparts and therefore poses a major test of current theories of mechanism in organic chemistry. Elemental fluorine is the most reactive of the elements; the design and use of microreactors has contributed to good progress in the synthesis of fluorine-containing compounds as drug candidates. |
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 15/05/1997 |
| Age at election | 62 |
| Source | Non preferred name taken from election certificate (possibly a typing error?) |
| Virtual International Authority File | http://viaf.org/viaf/61621604 |
| Code | NA3952 |
Archives associated with this Fellow
| RefNo | Title | Date |
| EC/1997/05 | Chambers, Richard Dickinson: certificate of election to the Royal Society | 1991 |
| IM/000786 | Chambers, Richard Dickinson | 1997 |