William N. Lipscomb Jr.Died 14 Apr 2011 at age 91 (born 9 Dec 1919).William Nunn Lipscomb was an American physical chemist who won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1976 for his research on the structure of boranes (boron hydride compounds), work which also answered general questions about chemical bonding. Boranes became important in chemical research in the 1940s and ‘50s because of the need to find volatile uranium compounds (borohydrides) for isotope separation, as well as the need to develop high-energy fuels for rockets and jet aircraft. To map the molecular structures of boranes, Lipscomb also developed x-ray techniques that later found application in many other areas of chemical research. Lipscomb's research interests included the relationship of three-dimensional structure and mechanisms of enzymes and other proteins. |
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