George W. Parshall (September 19, 1929 – July 28, 2019) was an American organometallic chemist who made notable contributions to

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 ...

. He was a senior scientist at E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company for many years.

Personal and educational background

Born in

Hackensack, Minnesota Hackensack is a city in Cass County, Minnesota, Cass County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 294 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is part of the Brainerd, Minnesota, Brainerd Brainerd micropolitan area, Micropolita ...

, Parshall received a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degree with highest distinction from the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

in 1951. He received his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

Organic Chemistry Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the science, scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic matter, organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain ...

from the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

in 1954 under the direction of Reynold C. Fuson. In 1954, he joined

Central Research In 1957, the research organization of the Chemicals Department of E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company was renamed Central Research Department, beginning the history of the premier scientific organization within DuPont and one of the foremost indus ...

Department at du Pont Experimental Station, where he rose to Director of Chemical Sciences. He took two industrial sabbaticals, one at

Imperial College London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

in 1960-61 and another at

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

in 1986. He was a visiting Ipatieff Lecturer at

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

of the fall of 1994. Parshall is a member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

, the

New York Academy of Sciences The New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS), originally founded as the Lyceum of Natural History in January 1817, is a nonprofit professional society based in New York City, with more than 20,000 members from 100 countries. It is the fourth-oldes ...

, the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...

Phi Lambda Upsilon Phi Lambda Upsilon National Honorary Chemical Society () was founded in 1899 at the Noyes Laboratory of the University of Illinois. Phi Lambda Upsilon was the first honor society dedicated to scholarship in a single discipline, chemistry. Objec ...

and

Sigma Xi Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society () is an international non-profit honor society for scientists and engineers. Sigma Xi was founded at Cornell University by a faculty member and graduate students in 1886 and is one of the oldest ...

. Parshall is a member of the Guild of Scholars of The Episcopal Church. He married Naomi B. Simpson on October 9, 1954.

Professional career and technical contributions

Parshall was a senior manager at du Pont during an era of rapid development and commercialization of

organometallic chemistry Organometallic chemistry is the study of organometallic compounds, chemical compounds containing at least one chemical bond between a carbon atom of an organic molecule and a metal, including alkali, alkaline earth, and transition metals, and so ...

and

. He directed the work of 50 to 100 DuPont scientists, including that of Fred Tebbe and

Richard Schrock Richard Royce Schrock (born January 4, 1945) is an American chemist and Nobel laureate recognized for his contributions to the olefin metathesis reaction used in organic chemistry. Education Born in Berne, Indiana, Schrock went to Mission Ba ...

. The activation of carbon-hydrogen bonds was a recurring theme of his own research. He conducted research on the use of molten salts in catalysis and initiated work on organolanthanide chemistry. He conducted early studies related to nitrogen fixation. He was most closely associated with the DuPont processes for making critical polymer intermediates used in producing

nylon Nylon is a family of synthetic polymers characterised by amide linkages, typically connecting aliphatic or Polyamide#Classification, semi-aromatic groups. Nylons are generally brownish in color and can possess a soft texture, with some varieti ...

and

polyester Polyester is a category of polymers that contain one or two ester linkages in every repeat unit of their main chain. As a specific material, it most commonly refers to a type called polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Polyesters include some natura ...

and

spandex Spandex, Lycra, or elastane is a synthetic fiber known for its exceptional elasticity. It is a polyether- polyurea copolymer that was invented in 1958 by chemist Joseph Shivers at DuPont. Name The name ''spandex'', which is an anagram of t ...

. Parshall coauthored a textbook on “Homogeneous Catalysis” with

Steven Ittel Steven Dale Ittel (born 1946 in Hamilton, Ohio) is an American chemist specializing in organometallic chemistry and homogeneous catalysis. Training Ittel attended Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where he received a bachelor's degree in chemist ...

. Parshall also directed the development of alternatives to the

chlorofluorocarbons Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) are fully or partly halogenated hydrocarbons that contain carbon (C), hydrogen (H), chlorine (Cl), and fluorine (F). They are produced as volatile derivatives of methane, ethane, ...

(CFCs) used in

refrigerators A refrigerator, commonly shortened to fridge, is a commercial and home appliance consisting of a thermally insulated compartment and a heat pump (mechanical, electronic or chemical) that transfers heat from its inside to its external envir ...

and

air conditioners Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C (US) or air con (UK), is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior temperature, and in some cases, also controlling the humidity of internal air. Air c ...

When Parshall retired from DuPont in 1992, he joined the effort to destroy

chemical weapon A chemical weapon (CW) is a specialized munition that uses chemicals formulated to inflict death or harm on humans. According to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), this can be any chemical compound intended as ...

stockpiles in the United States and across the world. As a member of the National Research Council’s “Stockpile Committee,” he has played a role in advising the U.S. Army in its ongoing effort to safely destroy chemical weapons.Impact of scientific developments on the Chemical Weapons Convention (IUPAC Technical Report), Parshall, George W.; Pearson, Graham S.; Inch, Thomas D.; Becker, Edwin D.; IUPAC Commission, Pure and Applied Chemistry (2002), 74(12), 2323-2352. The

Chemical Weapons Convention The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), officially the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction, is an arms control treaty administered by the Organisation for ...

called for the destruction of these chemicals, which generally fell into three types.

References

External links

*
George W. Parshall, Catalyst of Change
*
Robert H. Crabtree, "George W. Parshall", Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences (2022)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parshall, George 2019 deaths 1929 births University of Minnesota alumni Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences 21st-century American chemists People from Cass County, Minnesota Academics of Imperial College London DuPont people Activists from Delaware Scientists from Delaware 20th-century American scientists 20th-century American chemists