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" No One Nor Anything Can Silence Me " - Dmitri Mendeleev

Posted on 5:00 AM No Comments

Due to the fact that this post would be concerning the Chemistry Nobel Prize for the year 2010, I thought it would only be appropriate for it to contain the words and story of One of the Greatest chemist of all time in my opinion.

Dmitriv Mendeleev ( above ) Born 8 Feb 1834 - Died 2 Feb 1907 was a Russian Chemist and Inventor.

He is credited as the creator of the first version of Periodic Table of elements, Which is a fundamental part of chemistry in which hundreds of questions were answered based on his creation. Also, using his table he managed to predict the properties of elements yet to be discovered. Truly Remarkable in my opinion..

He was the first to try to classify the elements according to their chemical properties, he then noticed a pattern that later lead him to postulate his Periodic Table.

Claims of elements being able to fall in Periodicity have been made before Mendeleev's Table but have always fallen short, John Newlands, another scientist published his Law Of Octaves in 1865, but his lack of spaces for undiscovered elements and placing two elements in one box were criticized and his ideas were not accepted..

History notes that Julius Lothar Meyer a German Chemist was Mendeleev's competitor in drawing up and discovering the first Periodic Table of chemical elements, Both scientist have made vast contribution to the Periodic table however Mendeleev is credited for being the First and  created the Most widely accepted version of the Periodic Table.

Mendeleev predicted 8 elements, the very accurate predictions of Three of them which he called ekasilicon, ekaaluminium and ekaboron ( Germanium, Gallium and Scandium respectively ) Granted him great credibility and the major contribution to the Periodic Table of Elements..He used the prefixes (eka, dvi, tri) which are (Sanskrit One, Two, Three)

Some people dismissed Mendeleev for predicting there would be more elements, but he was proven correct when Germanium & Gallium were discovered in 1886 & 1875 respectively, Fitting perfectly in the two missing places..


The Above picture is a sculpture in honour of the leading Chemist and the Periodic Table of Elements located in Bratislava, Slovakia..

In 1906 around 35 years after Mendeleev published his first periodic table, The Nobel Committee for Chemistry recommended to award the Nobel prize to the Chemist for the discovery of the Periodic System, Almost every one agreed with this decision, however Svante Arrhernius although not a member of the Nobel Committee had great influence on the final decision and he dismissed Mendeleev by stating that his discovery is too old by now to be recognized as it occured 35 years ago..

Historians believe that this decision by Arrhenius was due to a personal grudge towards Mendeleev because  the latter criticized Arrhenius's Disassociation theory.. And Mendeleev never got the Prize that year, Attempts to award him with it the next year in 1907 also got complete opposition from Arrhenius leading to Mendeleev not receiving the award that year as well..

Finally in 1907, Mendeleev died at the age of 72 in Saint Petersburg from Influenza, 

The Mendeleev Medal


The Crater Mendeleev on the Moon and the Element 101  the radioactive ( Mendeleevium ) were all in his honour..


The above picture here is also in honour of Mendeleev and the Periodic Table of Elements, this sculpture is found in Saint Petersburg, Russia..

So even if Mendeleev was never recognized by the Nobel committee, his work and discoveries still have a loud voice all over the world and a lot of people recognize his greatness and these sculptures and the crater on the moon and the Element named after him all say a lot about his influence..

Never Forgotten, Always Remembered, Dmitri Mendeleev.. 1834 - 1907.

-------------------------------------

Now to the Topic at Hand, Who took home the Nobel Prize For Chemistry for the year 2010 ? : )

On October 6 - 2010 The Nobel Prize For Chemistry was awarded to a group of three scientists, 

Richard F. Heck, Ei-ichi Negishi, Akira Suzuki.. The First an American Chemist and the Latter both Japanese Chemists..

They were awarded for their work in Palladium catalyzed grouping reaction in Organic Synthesis.

I AM SURE YOU ARE WONDERING WHAT THAT MEANS.. :) No worries, 

Let me explain, 

In Chemistry a coupling reaction is a catch all for a range of reactions in Organometallic Chemistry where two hydrocarbons (alkanes, Alkenes, Alkynes) Fragments are coupled with the aid of a metal catalyst supported by suitable Ligands.

Hmmn.. What are Ligands? 

Central Metal atom with Six (Red) Ligands.


Well, Ligands are ions or molecules that binds into a central metal atom to form a Co-ordination Complex, this bond between Metal and Ligand generally involves a formal donation of one of more of the ligand's electron pair.

Keep in mind that Metal-lingand bonding can range from ionic to covalent and the bond order can range from 1 to 3..

Generally speaking there are two types of Coupling reactions, Cross coupling & Homocoupling.

Cross - Between two chemically distinct Partners.
Homo - Couples the Molecule itself. Often in oxidation or Reduction.

A Common Metal used in this chemistry is Palladium.

The Three Scientists had coupling reactions under their name :


Reaction
year
Reactant A
Reactant B
homo/cross
catalyst
remark
Heck reaction
1972
alkene
sp²
R-X
sp²
cross
Pd
requires base
Negishi coupling
1977
R-Zn-X
sp³, sp², sp
R-X
sp³ sp²
cross
Pd or Ni
Suzuki reaction
1979
R-B(OR)2
sp²
R-X
sp³ sp²
cross
Pd
requires base


And These three scientist were the recipients of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry 2010 for their work on Palladium Catalysed Cross Coupling in Organic Synthesis.


Palladium, as catalyst, first acts as a binding point for one activated carbon atom and attracts another with two extra electrons.
It unlocks itself from its temporary bond and moves on as a free catalyzing agent when the second atom binds to the first and makes the bond stable.
Palladium’s catalytic action continues, typically, until the substrate is stabilized and/or until the ambient condition remains hospitable to the reaction.
The Palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling reaction, as described above, becomes the technique of choice for constructing large carbon-based molecules.


Applications :

  • Styrene, component plastic of polystyrene (late 1969s)
  • Naproxen, anti-inflammatory (OTC – 1994 as Flanax, Midol among other brands)
  • Montelukast, ashtma relief – 1990s based on patent expiry of 2012
  • Palytoxin -1994
  • Dragmacidin F, herpes and HIV anti viral – 2005
  • Vancomycin modification for MRSE and entero-cocci –
  • Discodermolide synthesis, anti-cancer (2010 for large-scale synthesis)
  • Diazonamide A synthesis, anti colon cancer – a Philippine ascidian -sea squirt – is the original, natural source of this drug ingredient
  • Organic and blue LED optimization – late 1990s
  • Thin computer monitors

Until Next time, 
May God Bless, 
Peace, 

Yazz

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