Owen Wright Webster (March 25, 1929 – April 13, 2018) was a distinguished member of the organic and

polymer chemistry Polymer chemistry is a sub-discipline of chemistry that focuses on the structures of chemicals, chemical synthesis, and chemical and physical properties of polymers and macromolecules. The principles and methods used within polymer chemistry are ...

communities. His polymerization technique for making block copolymer dispersing agents is used by

DuPont DuPont de Nemours, Inc., commonly shortened to DuPont, is an American multinational chemical company first formed in 1802 by French-American chemist and industrialist Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours. The company played a major role in ...

to make ink-jet printer inks. Born in

Devils Lake, North Dakota Devils Lake is a city in Ramsey County, North Dakota, Ramsey County, North Dakota, United States. It is the county seat of Ramsey County. The population was 7,192 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is named after the nearby body o ...

, Webster received a

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

degree from the

University of North Dakota The University of North Dakota (also known as UND or North Dakota) is a public research university in Grand Forks, North Dakota. It was established by the Dakota Territorial Assembly in 1883, six years before the establishment of the state of ...

in 1951. He received his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvan ...

in 1955 under the direction of L. H. Sommer, known for his silicon mechanistic work. After graduation, Webster joined the

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 of

E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company DuPont de Nemours, Inc., commonly shortened to DuPont, is an American multinational chemical company first formed in 1802 by French-American chemist and industrialist Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours. The company played a major role in ...

at the Experimental Station, where he spent his entire industrial career. He is Adjunct Professor of Chemistry at both the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and la ...

and the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

. Webster’s early research activities at du Pont involved synthesis of cyanocarbons. His seminal discoveries in this area ranged from tetracyanoethylene oxide, which adds to olefins through its carbon-carbon bond; hexacyanobutadiene, with an oxidation potential near that of

bromine Bromine is a chemical element with the symbol Br and atomic number 35. It is the third-lightest element in group 17 of the periodic table (halogens) and is a volatile red-brown liquid at room temperature that evaporates readily to form a simila ...

; pentacyanocyclopentadiene, an acid as strong as

perchloric acid Perchloric acid is a mineral acid with the formula H Cl O4. Usually found as an aqueous solution, this colorless compound is a stronger acid than sulfuric acid, nitric acid and hydrochloric acid. It is a powerful oxidizer when hot, but aqueous sol ...

; diiminosuccinonitrile, a remarkable adduct of

cyanogen Cyanogen is the chemical compound with the formula ( C N)2. It is a colorless and highly toxic gas with a pungent odor. The molecule is a pseudohalogen. Cyanogen molecules consist of two CN groups – analogous to diatomic halogen molecule ...

and

hydrogen cyanide Hydrogen cyanide, sometimes called prussic acid, is a chemical compound with the formula HCN and structure . It is a colorless, extremely poisonous, and flammable liquid that boils slightly above room temperature, at . HCN is produced on an ...

; and diazodicyanoimidazole, which cleaves to a

carbene In organic chemistry, a carbene is a molecule containing a neutral carbon atom with a valence of two and two unshared valence electrons. The general formula is or where the R represents substituents or hydrogen atoms. The term "carbene" ma ...

that forms a bromo

ylide An ylide or ylid () is a neutral dipolar molecule containing a formally negatively charged atom (usually a carbanion) directly attached to a heteroatom with a formal positive charge (usually nitrogen, phosphorus or sulfur), and in which both atoms h ...

with

bromobenzene Bromobenzene is an aryl halide, C6H5Br. It is a colourless liquid although older samples can appear yellow. It is a reagent in organic synthesis. Synthesis and reactions Bromobenzene is prepared by the action of bromine on benzene in the presen ...

. In other organic research he showed that diazonium compounds undergo 2+4 cycloaddition to dienes. In the latter half of his stay at DuPont he switched to polymer science where he invented

Group Transfer Polymerization A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic iden ...

(GTP), a new way to control chain architecture of

acrylic polymer An acrylate polymer (also known as acrylic or polyacrylate) is any of a group of polymers prepared from acrylate monomers. These plastics are noted for their transparency, resistance to breakage, and elasticity. Acrylate polymer is commonly used ...

s. DuPont uses this technology to make ink for ink-jet printers, a multimillion-dollar business. In addition to GTP he developed a living cationic polymerization of vinyl ethers. These two discoveries sparked a burst in university activity on controlled polymerization still going on today. He reintroduced the concept of condensation polymerization of A2B type monomers and named them hyperbranched polymers. These systems augment the now popular dendritic polymers. Shortly before retirement he capped his efforts in the materials science area with the synthesis of high surface-area hypercrosslinked polymers by coupling rigid-rod A2 monomers with B3 crosslinkers. His polymer work led the prestigious

American Chemical Society The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 155,000 members at all d ...

award for Applied Polymer Science in 1993. After a brief period as research supervisor in the 1980s, he accepted a position as duPont Fellow. Shortly before retirement duPont honored him with its highest technical award, the Lavoisier Medal.

Honors and awards

*1993

award for Applied Polymer Science *1995

Chemical Pioneer Award The Chemical Pioneer Award, established in 1966, is awarded by the American Institute of Chemists to recognize chemists or chemical engineers who have made outstanding contributions to advances in chemistry or the chemical profession. Recent rec ...

from the American Institute of Chemists *1996 Lavoisier Medal from

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Webster, Owen 1929 births 2018 deaths People from Devils Lake, North Dakota University of North Dakota alumni American physical chemists