John A. Osborn

John Osborn

John A. Osborn (1939–2000) was an inorganic chemist who made many contributions to organometallic chemistry. Osborn received his PhD under the mentorship of Geoffrey Wilkinson.[1] During that degree Osborn contributed to the development of Wilkinson's catalyst.[2] His thesis studies ranged widely.[3]

Education

After studying at Cambridge University in England (Bachelor with honors, 1962), he obtained a PhD from Imperial College London under the supervision of Sir Geoffrey Wilkinson (Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1973). During this period, he made a decisive contribution to the discovery of Wilkinson's catalyst RhCl(PPh3)3. On the recommendation of his thesis supervisor, he accepted a position as assistant professor (1967-1972) and then associate professor (1972-1975) at Harvard University in Cambridge, USA.

Career

At Harvard, his first doctoral student was Richard R. Schrock (Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2005), followed by John R. Shapley and Jay A. Labinger, among others. During this time, the chemistry of [M(diene)(PR3)2]+ was advanced (M = Rh, Ir), laying the foundation for many subsequent developments.[4] With Schrock, he developed the Schrock-Osborn catalyst [(PR3)2RhS2]+ (S = solvent), which is a cationic species derived from the Wilkinson catalyst.[5][6]

During his time at Harvard, he taught organometallic chemistry and homogeneous catalysis with transition metals, inspiring many students to pursue careers in this field, including Ryōji Noyori (Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2001), who was a postdoctoral student at Harvard at the same time.[7] He met Jean-Marie Lehn (Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1987), who was a visiting professor at Harvard in 1972 and then in 1974, and who invited him to join the Louis Pasteur University of Strasbourg in 1975.

In Strasbourg, he became a university professor and headed a CNRS-university research laboratory until his untimely death.

References

  1. ^ Schrock, R. (2001). "In Memory of John Anthony Osborn". Adv. Synth. Catal. 343: 3–4. doi:10.1002/1615-4169(20010129)343:1<3::AID-ADSC3>3.0.CO;2-Q.
  2. ^ Osborn, J. A.; Jardine, F. H.; Young, J. F.; Wilkinson, G. (1966). "The Preparation and Properties of Tris(triphenylphosphine)halogenorhodium(I) and Some Reactions Thereof Including Catalytic Homogeneous Hydrogenation of Olefins and Acetylenes and Their Derivatives". J. Chem. Soc. A. 1966: 1711–1732. doi:10.1039/J19660001711.
  3. ^ Thomas, K.; Osborn, J. A.; Powell, A. R.; Wilkinson, G. (1968). "Preparation of Hydridopentammine- and Hydridoaquotetramminerhodium(III) Sulfates and Other Salts; the Formation of Alkyl and Fluoroalkyl derivatives". J. Chem. Soc. A: 1801–1806. doi:10.1039/j19680001801.
  4. ^ Osborn, J. A.; Schrock, R. R. (1971). "Coordinatively unsaturated cationic complexes of rhodium(I), iridium(I), palladium(II), and platinum(II). Generation, synthetic utility, and some catalytic studies". J. Am. Chem. Soc. 93 (12): 3089–3091. doi:10.1021/ja00741a069.
  5. ^ Schrock, Richard R.; Osborn, John A. (1976). "Catalytic hydrogenation using cationic rhodium complexes. I. Evolution of the catalytic system and the hydrogenation of olefins". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 98 (8): 2134–2143. doi:10.1021/ja00424a020. ISSN 0002-7863.
  6. ^ Schrock, Richard R.; Osborn, John A. (1976). "Catalytic hydrogenation using cationic rhodium complexes. II. The selective hydrogenation of alkynes to cis olefins". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 98 (8): 2143–2147. doi:10.1021/ja00424a021. ISSN 0002-7863.
  7. ^ "Ryoji Noyori – Biographical". NobelPrize.org. Retrieved 16 August 2025.
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