Ronald Gillespie

Ronald James Gillespie CM ( born August 21, 1924 in London ) is a British chemist. Gained fame primarily for his work in the field of the spatial shape of molecules and the VSEPR theory developed from it in collaboration with Ronald Nyholm.

Life

Ronald J. Gillespie was born in London in 1924 and began in 1942 to study chemistry at University College London, where he received in 1945 a Bachelor of Science ( B.Sc.). He then became a member of the group of Christopher Kelk Ingold, who explored the mechanisms of the nitration of aromatics. His role within the group was the investigation of nitronium ion (NO2 ) arising in mixtures of sulfuric acid ( H2SO4) with nitric acid (HNO3). It was founded in 1949 by the results of his work from the University of London for the Ph.D. doctorate. Even before his graduation, he was invited by Ingold, prepare their own lectures and was from 1948 to 1950, first Assistant Lecturer, then to 1958 Lecturer ( Lecturer ) at University College London. He expanded during this period his research in the field of high acidic acids, now known as superacids, for which he was awarded the 1957 Doctor of Science ( D.Sc. ), a lent in the UK a "higher doctorate ". In 1958 he went to Canada at McMaster University in Hamilton (Ontario), where until his retirement in 1989 he was professor of chemistry from 1960.

Gillespie has received numerous awards, including the Order of Canada and several honorary doctorates in the course of his life. He is also a member of the Royal Society, Royal Society of Canada, Royal Society of Chemistry, American Chemical Society and the Chemical Institute of Canada.

Services

The research Gillespie in the field of super acids, including the fluorosulphonic ( HFSO3 ) and their use as solvents for non- and semi-metals allowed the preparation of new and hitherto unknown polyatomic cations such as I2 or S82 . In the field of fluorine chemistry, he also dealt with the determination of the covalent radius of fluorine in compounds, which is due to the extremely high electronegativity of the element difficult to determine at low atomic size than that of other elements.

His most famous work was the development of the VSEPR model ( Valence Shell Electron Pair acronym for repulsion, valence shell electron pair repulsion ), along with Ronald Nyholm, with the aid of the three-dimensional shape of molecules can be determined. Using the VSEPR theory, for example, can explain the angular shape of the water molecule. He wrote several books on the subject. Today his works are among the most important to describe or predict the shape of molecules. Gillespie developed with other researchers along the LCP theory ( ligand close packing theory ) that takes into account the interactions between the ligands around a central atom, which also affect the shape of molecules.

In addition to several books Gillespie published over 370 articles in scientific journals.

Works

• Ronald J. Gillespie: Molecular geometry, New York, Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1972.
• Molecular geometry. Electron-pair repulsion and molecular structure. Translated by Joseph Gross. Verlag Chemie, Weinheim, 1975; ISBN 3-527-25610-5
• Ronald J. Gillespie et al.: Chemistry, Boston, Allyn and Bacon, 1989.
• Ronald J. Gillespie, István Hargittai: The VSEPR model of molecular geometry, Boston, Allyn and Bacon, 1991.
• Ronald J. Gillespie et al.: Atoms, molecules, and reactions: an introduction to chemistry, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, Prentice Hall, 1994.
• Ronald J. Gillespie, Paul LA Popelier: Chemical bonding and molecular geometry: from Lewis to electron Densities, New York, Oxford University Press, 2001.