| RefNo | EC/1987/13 |
| Previous numbers | Cert XXII, 60 |
| Level | Item |
| Title | Greenwood, Norman Neill: certificate of election to the Royal Society |
| Date | 1986 |
| Description | Citation typed |
| Citation | Professor Greenwood is distinguished for a wide range of studies in synthetic and structural inorganic chemistry, especially the chemistry of the main group elements. He was among the first to apply a wide range of physical techniques to the study of Lewis base adducts of the halides of boron, aluminium, and gallium and from his work stemmed the first isolation and characterisation of gallium hydride and its derivatives. Other work included pioneering studies on the chemical applications of Mossbauer spectroscopy. It is the area of boron chemistry, however, where Greenwood's contributions have been particularly significant. Commencing in about 1980, in a series of papers he has reported important new work on the higher boron hydrides and their metal derivatives. Especially noteworthy has been the identification of boranes of high nuclearity such as the eleven isomers of B20H26, and the synthesis and characterisation of a series of ruthenium, osmium, rhodium, iridium, and many other heavy metal complexes in which polyhedral borane fragments function as ligands. These latter studies have opened a new domain since synergistic interactions between the metal and the borane cage leads to novel reactivity and unprecedental [sic] cluster geometries. This seminal research work has been recognised by the award of the Liversidge Lectureship of the Royal Society of Chemistry, and by the Society's Medal for Main Group Element Chemistry. He has also been A.W. von Hofmann Lecturer of the German Chemical Society, and is a past President of the Inorganic Chemistry Division of IUPAC and of the Dalton Division of the Royal Society of Chemistry. A list of approximately 350 publications is attached. |
| AccessStatus | Closed |
Fellows associated with this archive
| Code | PersonName | Dates |
| NA4428 | Greenwood; Norman Neill (1925 - 2012) | 1925 - 2012 |