Arnold O. Beckman Professor of Chemistry; Founding Director, Beckman Institute
B.S., Western Kentucky College, 1957; Ph.D., Northwestern University, 1960; D.Sc.h.c., Northwestern University; University of Rochester; University of Chicago; University Paul Sabatier (France); Bowling Green State University; Columbia University, Goteborg University; University of Pennsylvania; Oberlin College; University of Arizona; Carleton University (Canada); University of South Carolina; University of Copenhagen, University of Edinburgh; Occidental College; Simon Fraser University; Carleton College; Fil.dr.h.c., Gothenburg University; Bowling Green State University; Laurea h.c., University of Florence (Italy); D.L.h.c., Illinois Wesleyan University. Ph.D.h.c., Weizmann Institute of Science (Israel); Distinguished Professorships, Eastman Professor, Oxford University, 1997-98; Distinguished Professorship, University of Hong Kong, 2005; Visiting Professor of Inorganic Chemistry, Caltech, 1965; Professor of Chemistry, 1966-81; William R. Kenan Professor, 1976-81; Beckman Professor, 1981-. Chairman, Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, 1978-84; Director, Beckman Institute, 1986-2001; Founding Director, 2001-.
Professor Gray's interdisciplinary research program addresses a wide range of fundamental problems in inorganic chemistry, biochemistry, and biophysics. Electron-transfer (ET) chemistry is a unifying theme for much of this research.
Great progress has been made in understanding how covalent bridges mediate long-range ET reactions. Questions remain, however, regarding the contributions of solvents to long-range interactions between electron donors and acceptors. Gray's research has shown that electron tunneling in aqueous glasses is much less efficient than tunneling across saturated covalent bridges. Investigations of ET reactions between excited metal complexes and electron acceptors in rigid protic and aprotic media are probing the factors that control distant couplings through solvents.
Over the past twenty years the Gray group has been measuring the kinetics of long-range ET reactions in metalloproteins labeled with inorganic redox reagents. Current research is aimed at understanding how intermediate protein radicals accelerate long-range ET. New techniques have been developed for measuring ET rates in crystals of Ru-, Os-, and Re-modified azurins, as well as crystals of Fe(III)-cytochrome c doped with Zn(II)-cytochrome c. This method of integrating photosensitizers into protein crystals has provided a powerful new tool for studying biochemical reaction dynamics.
Electron exchange with metal cofactors deeply buried in the interiors of redox enzymes is often quite slow. Researchers in the Gray group have succeeded in accelerating the delivery of electrons and holes to the buried active site of cytochrome P450 by tethering a photochemical redox sensitizer to P450 substrate analogs. This approach is now being exploited in studies of several other redox enzymes (e.g., nitric oxide synthase, catechol oxidase, amine oxidase).
Gray has published over 950 research papers and given named lectures on six continents and in all 50 US States. His many awards and honors include the National Medal of Science (1986); the Linderstrøm-Lang Prize (1992); the Gibbs Medal (1992); the Harvey Prize (2000); the NAS Award in Chemical Sciences (2003); the Benjamin Franklin Medal (2004); the Wolf Prize (2004); the Welch Award (2009); the Richards Medal (2014); the Cotton Medal (2018); the Westheimer Prize (2018); the Feynman Prize (2018); seven national awards from the American Chemical Society, including the Priestley Medal (1991); and 22 honorary doctorates. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences; the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; the American Philosophical Society; a foreign member of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters; the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences; the Royal Society of Great Britain; and the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei. He has mentored several hundred students and postdocs during his career, including 119 women, and six have been presidents of seven universities.
Ch 153 abc. Advanced Inorganic Chemistry.9 units (3-0-6); second (Ch 153 a), third (Ch 153 b to be offered 2022-23, alternating with Ch 153 c in subsequent years) terms, 2022-23.Prerequisites: Ch 112 and Ch 21 abc or concurrent registration.
Ch 153 a: Topics in modern inorganic chemistry. Electronic structure, spectroscopy, and photochemistry with emphasis on examples from the research literature. Ch 153 b: Applications of physical methods to the characterization of inorganic and bioinorganic species, with an emphasis on the practical application of Moessbauer, EPR, and pulse EPR spectroscopies. Ch 153 c: Theoretical and spectroscopic approaches to understanding the electronic structure of transition metal ions. Topics in the 153 bc alternate sequence may include saturation magnetization and zero-field splitting in magnetic circular dichroism and molecular magnetism, hyperfine interactions in electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy, Moessbauer and magnetic Moessbauer spectroscopy, vibronic interactions in electronic absorption and resonance Raman spectroscopy, and bonding analyses using x-ray absorption and/or emission spectroscopies.
Instructors: Gray, Winkler (a), Hadt (b)
Ch 213 abc. Advanced Ligand Field Theory.12 units (1-0-11); first, second, third terms, 2022-23.Prerequisites: Ch 21 abc or concurrent registration.
A tutorial course of problem solving in the more advanced aspects of ligand field theory. Recommended only for students interested in detailed theoretical work in the inorganic field.
Instructor: Gray
Ch 153 abc. Advanced Inorganic Chemistry.9 units (3-0-6) ; second (Ch 153 a), third (Ch 153 c offered in 2019-20, alternating with Ch 153 b in subsequent years) terms, 2019-20.Prerequisites: Ch 112 and Ch 21 abc or concurrent registration.
Ch 153 a: Topics in modern inorganic chemistry. Electronic structure, spectroscopy, and photochemistry with emphasis on examples from the modern research literature. Ch 153 b: Applications of physical methods to the characterization of inorganic and bioinorganic species, with an emphasis on the practical application of Moessbauer, EPR, and pulse EPR spectroscopies. Ch 153 c: Theoretical and spectroscopic approaches to understanding the electronic structure of transition metal ions. Topics in the 153bc alternate sequence may include saturation magnetization and zero-field splitting in magnetic circular dichroism and molecular magnetism, hyperfine interactions in electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy, Moessbauer and magnetic Moessbauer spectroscopy, vibronic interactions in electronic absorption and resonance Raman spectroscopy, and bonding analyses using x-ray absorption and/or emission spectroscopies.
Instructors: Gray, Winkler (a), Hadt/Peters (c)
Ch 213 abc. Advanced Ligand Field Theory.12 units (1-0-11); first, second, third terms, 2019-20.Prerequisites: Ch 21 abc or concurrent registration.
A tutorial course of problem solving in the more advanced aspects of ligand field theory. Recommended only for students interested in detailed theoretical work in the inorganic field.
Instructor: Gray
