Special Issue Preface Cite This: J. Phys. Chem. A 2018, 122, 2823−2824
pubs.acs.org/JPCA
W. Lester S. Andrews Preface Published as part of The Journal of Physical Chemistry virtual special issue “W. Lester S. Andrews Festschrift”. research activities in the group. He often has discussions of the latest results on a daily basis, if not more frequently with his group members. Lester always created a very relaxed atmosphere in his research group. After each intriguing new experimentally observed molecule was finally confirmed with the support of electronic structure calculations, Lester would often treat his students to a beer or dinner at a local Chinese restaurant for celebration. His group had lots of good experiences not just discussing science but also sharing thoughts on many other things, from social issues to simple daily matters. All of the coeditors have benefited from working with Lester, and he has impacted us. With Lester, Bruce Ault published 29 papers in his 3 years as a postdoctoral fellow and Dave Dixon has published 21 papers in his collaborations over about a decade. Xuefeng Wang was a postdoctoral and senior research scientist in Lester’s group for ten years (1999−2009) and continues a long collaboration after he moved Tongji University, Shanghai. More than 130 papers have been published during this collaboration. MingFei Zhou spent two years in Lester’s group as a postdoctoral researcher during 1997−1999 and his continued collaboration has resulted in 64 publications. Lester has collaborated with a broad range of theorists and his work has sharpened the computational toolbox by providing a test-bed for electronic structure methods as his molecules often exhibit all of the quirks that really test our computational approaches. So besides learning about the structures and bonding in these molecules, the experimental measurements also provide results against which to benchmark our computational methods, especially density functional theory with various flavors of exchange-correlation functionals. There is nothing like having a set of good vibrational modes from experiment to test whether a computational method is providing any realistic predictions and especially humbling when it does not do so even for a simple molecule with only 6 atoms! It is always interesting writing a paper with Lester as he probes to understand the finest details of the properties, structures, isotopic frequency shifts, and bonding in the molecules under investigation. Lester’s work is not just for physical chemists but also has had a large impact on inorganic and organometallic chemistry, especially for the heavier elements. His group has explored multiple new chemistries using matrix isolation, including studying the reactions of alkaline earth metal atoms with oxygen, developing the salt-molecule reaction technique to make such species as Cs+F3− and related ion pairs, making one of the first spectroscopic observations of XeF, and characterizing the neutral and charged products of laser ablated transition metal reactions with CO. Lester’s group used multiple spectroscopies to explore these molecules,
It is with great pleasure that we honor Lester Andrews with a virtual special issue on his 75th year. Lester has been doing science at a very high level for a long time beginning in the early 1960s, and he is still extremely active in his laboratory at the University of Virginia and his trips to Germany to collaborate at the Freiburg Universität and Freie Universität Berlin. We have chosen The Journal of Physical Chemistry for this Festschrift as Lester has published more than one-third of his more than 865 papers in the Journal. This demonstrates real support of the Journal and for its scientific audience. It also speaks to the fact that Lester is a physical chemist in the broadest sense of this description. Lester Andrews is a passionate person. He is passionate about his family, his science, his music, and also Mississippi State. He is a physical chemist who has made interesting molecules and characterized them using infrared spectroscopy. Lester expanded the field of matrix-isolation IR spectroscopy building on his work as a graduate student in George Pimentel’s group at the University of California at Berkeley. The research stimulation of the Pimentel group was highly contagious, starting with the man at the top. Lester is the consummate experimentalist who makes molecules that exhibit novel electronic properties that enhance our understanding of how atoms in molecules form bonds. Lester’s very precise IR measurements provide us with unique insights into molecular structures that when coupled with modern computational electronic structure approaches provide us with detailed understanding of novel aspects of chemistry. This combination has yielded fascinating molecular structures with novel bonding. Lester has isolated a broad range of exotic molecules and ions in low temperature matrixes and calls this “trapping new animals”. Lester has been an excellent mentor for undergraduates, graduate students, and very importantly, postdoctoral fellows and visiting faculty. The scientists that he has mentored have gone on to spread the matrix-IR spectroscopy approach around the world and to make all types of novel and interesting molecules. He is very hands-on and is involved with day-to-day © 2018 American Chemical Society
Published: March 22, 2018 2823
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpca.8b00346 J. Phys. Chem. A 2018, 122, 2823−2824
Special Issue Preface
The Journal of Physical Chemistry A
As his career advanced, Lester has provided invaluable contributions to the Chemistry Department serving as the inaugural Chair and then as a current member of the Department of Chemistry Advisory Board. Whether providing counsel on Department promotion and tenure guidelines, advocating for faculty hires, relating with alumnior most importantly for Lesterpromoting student professional development, Lester has offered his time and expertise with generosity. The annual W. Lester S. Andrews Graduate Research Symposium was established by the Department of Chemistry in his honor. The enduring impact of this hallmark event on graduate education in the Department of Chemistry cannot be overstated.
including infrared, Raman, vis−UV, and laser-induced fluorescence. Lester always employed his expert skills to design very delicate experiments. Lester uses a pulsed Nd:YAG laser to ablate metal atoms for his matrix isolation investigations. He developed techniques to focus the laser spot in these metal ablation experiments, which heats the metals to very high temperature, while enabling the reaction products to be isolated in very low temperature matrixes. For example, hydrogen as a matrix must be held under 4 K, and the critical factors are the precise laser focus and heat insulation. A major breakthrough in his work involved the reaction of aluminum atoms with solid hydrogen. The existence of free, neutral dialane (Al2H6) like diborane was predicted theoretically long ago, but it could not be isolated experimentally in neat form because of its spontaneous reaction to solid alane (AlH3)n. In these experiments, laser-ablated aluminum atoms were codeposited with pure hydrogen on a cold substrate at 3.5 K, and at 6.5 K the matrix softened. This allowed diffusion of AlH3 units and the exothermic dimerization of AlH3 into Al2H6. He also synthesized WH6, which is the only neutral metal hexahydride to be observed experimentally. Lester is always looking to discover new types of bonding and molecular connectivity. As an example, he has really broadened the field of small molecule actinide chemistry. For example, with electronegative ligands, uranium likes to bind the CN group as an isocyanide with the N bonded to the U. Thorium does the same type of chemistry with the CN group. He has observed novel multiple bonds between P and As with U as well as novel agostic As−H or P−H interactions with U. He has also found multiple bonding of U with the chalcogenides. His study of thorium fluorides led to the discovery of a novel molecule ThF5, which gets around the +IV oxidation state maximum, for Th by forming the complex [ThF3+][F2−]. Correlated molecular orbital theory calculations accompanying the experimental work showed that ThF5 has a very high electron affinity, >7 eV, and that the Th−F bond is one of, if not the strongest, single fluorine bond. In addition, his work on the reactions of Th and U with O2 and CO in both Ne and Ar matrixes led to the reassignment of the electronic ground states of the isolated CUO and UO2 molecules. The discovery of different infrared spectra of CUO and UO2 in solid argon and neon stimulated more detailed experimental and theoretical studies of matrix effects on the IR spectra and electronic structures of uranium compounds, and showed how rare gases can interact with actinides. Coda. Lester’s colleagues from Mississippi State (Edwin A. Lewis, David E. Wigley, and Dennis W. Smith, Jr.,) noted that it is a privilege to join in the congratulations of Professor W. Lester S. Andrews on the occasion of this Festschrift in his honor, which pays tribute to his significant scientific contributions. Professor Andrews is a cherished alumnus (B.S. 1963) and steadfast supporter of his alma mater. The Department of Chemistry at Mississippi State University would like to take this opportunity to thank Professor Andrews for his exemplary engagement that undoubtedly stems from a lifelong love of science and a chemical heritage rooted in Starkville, MS. As an undergraduate at Mississippi State University, Lester was a proud member and first chair clarinet of the Famous Maroon Band. He remains a longtime supporter of the band and various academic programs to this day. Lester played with the wind ensemble in a concert to dedicate the new band hall.
David Dixon The University of Alabama
Mingfei Zhou Fudan University
Xuefeng Wang Tongji University
Bruce Ault
■
University of Cincinnati
ASSOCIATED CONTENT
S Supporting Information *
The Supporting Information is available free of charge on the ACS Publications website at DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpca.8b00346. Table of contents for the W. Lester S. Andrews Festschrift (PDF)
2824
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpca.8b00346 J. Phys. Chem. A 2018, 122, 2823−2824
