The seminal papers of Lewis and Kossel published 100 years ago have had an outstanding impact on the development of the chemical sciences. Their insights depended on the attainment of inert gas configurations by the atoms in molecules, either directly by electron transfer, or electron-pair sharing. The model somehow incorporated an evolutionary gene which has enabled it to survive and grow as the chemistry revealed new classes of molecules by incorporating the essential ideas of quantum physics. The simplicity of the model has resulted in the development of a notation, which is universally used by chemists and has evolved to trace the course of organic chemical reactions and predict their region-selectivities. The limitations of the model to inorganic molecules became apparent at an early stage and required more sophisticated quantum mechanically descriptions of hypo- and hyper- valent molecules. The model has been repeatedly enriched by quantum mechanically based theoretical insights, and the speaker contributed to some of these developments. This lecture will celebrate 100 years of the chemical bond model and look forward to future developments.
About the speaker
Prof D. Michael P. Mingos received his BS in Chemistry from University of Manchester in 1965 and PhD from University of Sussex in 1968. From 1971 until 1976 he was a lecturer at Queen Mary, University of London and then moved to the University of Oxford as a lecturer. In 1992, he joined Imperial College London as Sir Edward Frankland British Petroleum Professor of Inorganic Chemistry and also served as the Dean of the Royal College of Science until 1999. In 2000, Prof Mingos returned to the University of Oxford as the Professor of Inorganic Chemistry until he retired in 2009.
Prof Mingos’ research has resulted in generalizations which have greatly influenced the development and teaching of modern inorganic chemistry. Specifically the Wade-Mingos Rules which rationalize the structures of polyhedral inorganic molecules and the Green-Davies-Mingos Rules, which account for some of the reactions of organometallic compounds, are both widely cited in inorganic textbooks. He has experimentally verified some of his theoretical predictions, for example an icosahedral molecule containing gold atoms –which is relevant for understanding the metal’s nano-technological possibilities. He has also contributed to the understanding of the bonding properties of nitric oxide, an important cellular signalling molecule involved in many physiological processes.
Prof Mingos was elected as the Fellow of Royal Society. He also served as series editor of Structure and Bonding and edited three volumes titled “The Chemical Bond 100 Years Old and Getting Stronger”.
For attendees’ attention
The lecture is free and open to all. Seating is on a first come, first served basis.
