Brice Michael Bosnich (3 June 1936 – 13 April 2015) was an Australian
inorganic chemist
An inorganic compound is typically a chemical compound that lacks carbon–hydrogen bondsthat is, a compound that is not an organic compound. The study of inorganic compounds is a subfield of chemistry known as ''inorganic chemistry''.
Inorgan ...
. He gained recognition for the design of complex ligands useful in
homogeneous catalysis
In chemistry, homogeneous catalysis is catalysis where the catalyst is in same phase as reactants, principally by a soluble catalyst in a solution. In contrast, heterogeneous catalysis describes processes where the catalysts and substrate are in d ...
.
Education
He graduated from
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...
with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1958, and from
Australian National University
The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...
University College London
University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...
. He then moved to the
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...
, where he remained from 1970 to 1987. Thereafter he became Gustavus F. and Ann M. Swift Distinguished Service Professor at
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...
. After his retirement he became a visiting fellow at his alma mater,
Australian National University
The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...
.
As an independent scientist at the University of Toronto, he developed a rational approach to chiral
diphosphine
Diphosphane, or diphosphine, is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . This colourless liquid is one of several binary phosphorus hydrides. It is the impurity that typically causes samples of phosphine to ignite in air.
Properties, ...
ligands, the premier member being chiraphos. Unlike previous chiral ligands, the chirality of chiraphos arose from the backbone of the chelate. This concept underpins many of the C2-symmetrical ligands subsequently developed in
asymmetric hydrogenation
Asymmetric hydrogenation is a chemical reaction that adds two atoms of hydrogen to a target (substrate) molecule with three-dimensional spatial selectivity. Critically, this selectivity does not come from the target molecule itself, but from oth ...
. Other areas of research included
hydroacylation
Hydroacylation is a type of organic reaction in which an electron-richSmith (2020), ''March's Organic Chemistry'', 8th ed. Rxn. 15-30. Unsaturated hydrocarbons, unsaturated hydrocarbon inserts into a formyl C-H bond. With alkenes, the p ...
catalysis and the development of ligands that mimic the spectroscopic properties of the blue copper proteins.
After his retirement, Bosnich questioned the
Royal Society
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
's position on
climate change
Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...
Bosnich was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2000. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where: His biography reads: