1.
Yuan-Yuan Chiu. Only one paper was interesting.
Not long after joining [the] Colonel's research group, I met
him on the third floor steps of Gibbs one day. I said
to him, "Welcome back from the Conference. Were there
many interesting papers?" [The] Colonel said, "No,
only one was interesting." I said, "Oh! I see,
the one given by you!" Waving his arm, he replied
happily, "Yes! You know me!!"
Yuan Yuan Chiu
1967-1970, 1972-1974
Chiu's Publications with Lipscomb
Chiu, Y.-Y., Brown, L. D., & Lipscomb, W. N., "Crystal and
Molecular Structure of Complex between cyclo(L-Prolylglycyl)4
and RbSCN," J. Am. Chem. Soc.
99, 4799-4803 (1977).
Chiu, Y.-Y., & Lipscomb, W. N., "Molecular and Crystal
Structure of Streptonigrin," J.
Amer. Chem. Soc. 97,
2525-2530 (1975).
Chiu, Y.-Y. H., & Lipscomb, W. N., "The Crystal and Molecular
Structure of C14O7NH21 ,
1-acetyl-trans-3,
trans-4-isopropylidenedioxy-cis-4-acetoxymethyl-2-acetoxypyrrolidine,"
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 96, 978-982 (1974).
Chiu, Y.-Y. and Lipscomb, W. N., "The Molecular and Crystal
Structure of P2O4C12H18,
1,8-Diethoxy-3a,4,7,7a-Tetrahydro-4,7-Phosphinidenephosphindiole-1,8-Dioxide.
A.
Diels-Alder Dimer of 1-Ethoxyphosphate-l-Oxide," J. Am. Chem. Soc. 91, 4150-4155 (1969).
2.
Robert Collin. Sledge hammer late at night.
As a first year graduate student I was toying with the idea of
crystallography for a research field when Bill Lipscomb showed up
at Minnesota fresh from Cal Tech. Any lingering reluctance I might
have had about crystallography was. dispelled by Bill\91s
enthusiasm, energy, and brashness.
As a lecturer Bill could be very good but he had a habit of not
rehearsing complex mathematical derivations. This meant he had to
work them out on the blackboard as he went along with much
backtracking and erasures - A procedure illuminating to these of
us trying to learn the mental processes of physical chemistry but
disastrous to those, mainly organic chemists, whose prime interest
was in writing a neat sat of lecture notes.
When there was a job to be done Bill was never one to spend much
time searching for just the right tool or waiting for just the
right conditions. Ho would take what was handy and sail right in.
His first low temperature laboratory was fashioned out of an old
darkroom by breaking out the inner walls with a sledge hammer late
at night after those who might be concerned about the internal
integrity of the building had left for the day, At the end of my
graduate studies while standing around wondering how to get rid of
a vacuum line full of diborane Bill walked in, asked me what the
problem was, and then picked up e ring-stand and brought it
crashing down on the glassware. The glass shattered with a roar
and my problem disappeared in a bright green flash.
Bill also participated in the intellectual life of the University
to the full and was particularly concerned even then about the
application of molecular science to biology. At a colloquium
discussing the difficulty of distinguishing man from a machine
Bill made his contribution by pointing out that as an experimental
scientist he had observed that, "machines made less noise when well-oiled".
In his first years at Minnesota Bill had many successes in
research and won many converts to new ways of looking at chemical
and crystallographic problems but he had one failure that should
be recorded. Much of his energy the first year went into trying to
teach faculty and students a peculiar type of baseball then
popular in California. Like many other California imports this met
with massive resistance from everyone and Bill was never able to
convince us that this short-base baseball ever had the least bit
of merit. But I left Minnesota before Bill did and, I don't know,
maybe he persisted and maybe new they do play California baseball
in Minnesota, Maybe they even play it at Harvard!
Robert L. Collin
1946-1950
Collins' Publications with Lipscomb
Abrahams, S. C., Collin, R. L. and Lipscomb, W. N., "The Crystal
Structure of Hydrogen Peroxide," Acta Cryst. 4,
15 (1951).
Collin, R. L. and Lipscomb, W. N., "The Crystal Structure of
Hydrazine," Acta Cryst.
4, 10 (1951).
Abrahams, S. C., Collin, R. L., Lipscomb, W. N. and Reed, T. B.,
"Further Techniques in Single-Crystal X-ray Diffraction Studies at
Low Temperatures," Rev. Sci.
Instr. 21, 396 (1950).
Collin, R. L. and Lipscomb, W. N., "Eclipsed Configuration of the
Hydrazine Molecule in the Solid State," J. Chem. Phys. 18,
566 (1950).
Collin, R. L. and Lipscomb, W. N., "The Crystal Structure of
Groutite, HMnO2," Acta
Cryst. 2, 104
(1949).
3.
Brian Dickens. After-hours musical group meets Bill's
son.
I began graduate school in September 1958 at the University of
Minnesota because I wished to avoid being drafted into the British
Army and because Minnesota was the largest U.S. school which
accepted me. For complex family reasons, I had worked in England
for a storage battery company and had gone to night school rather
than pursue full time study. Originally I had intended to work for
Kolthoff at Minnesota on some aspect of electrochemistry relevant
to the battery company. However, I quickly learned that between 5
and 7 years might be needed for a Ph.D. with Kolthoff and I had
been given only 3 years leave of absence by my British employer. I
chose to work with Lipscomb (whom I had not heard of before)
because he had organo-metallic structures to be solved and I was
attracted to the idea of molecular structure, particularly of
organo-metallics. Furthermore, the projected time seemed more
acceptable.
My graduate school experiences began in cultural shock because of
differences in country (USA vs. UK), modes of living, slang,
institutions, food, attitudes (living to work rather than working
to live) and also because until September 1953 I had lived in an
environment which Lipscomb once described as "as a glimpse into a
former century." Almost immediately, more hazards appeared.
Lipscomb moved to Harvard in April 1959 and to keep my timetable
of as close to 3 years as possible I had to.cram the course work
at Minnesota in 15 months even though I had taken only 7 credits
the first quarter. In addition, I rendered minimal help to Bill
Streib in his determination of an alkaloid unit cell and wasted
several boxes of X-ray film on my first crystal. Later I learned
not to spread myself so thinly.
In January 1960 I moved to Harvard and began to collect "real"
Xray data on C8H8Fe(CO) ill-advisedly using
only the precession method and Mo radiation. Collecting all the
data took a long time. Also the crystal had to be kept cool -- at
Minnesota this was easily accomplished by opening the window.
After a 6 week interruption in England because of the death of a
close friend, I solved the structure in Sept. 1960. I than had the
task of refining the structure on the night shift (the "Matrix
Society", as Lipsomb's group was known to the computer operators,
required too much time so he allowed to use the computer in the
day). Fortunately, the computer center was at that time opposite
an apartment building where the tenants were careless with their
shades. My own careless exhibition of a free hand drawing of the
refined molecule (pre-ORTEP) brought me the thankless task of
being Lipscomb's draftsman, using what I hope are now obsolete
techniques with Leroy and stencil sets. There were times when the
British army seemed to have its good points. In Jan. 1961, I began
to collect data on (OC)3Fe8CH8Fe(CO)3
using the same time-consuming methods of precession photography.
This crystal was stable at room temperature but had twice as many
reflections as other one. I chased missing reflections with the
devotion of a wolf in pursuit of a Russian peasant. The structure
was easily solved in the summer of 1961 and I performed some
orbital overlap calculations on both compounds using programs
available in the group. In Jan. 1962 I submitted my thesis on the
molecular structures of cyclo-octatetraene.
I used to practice the trumpet without benefit of formal
instruction during the time Lipscomb went home for dinner.
Periodically I would check for Lipscomb\92s blue English Ford in the
parking lot (Lipscomb seemed to harbor the suspicion that I had
specially constructed the Ford for him before leaving England and
was always telling me how inferior it was to his previous car, a
Plymouth, Unknown to Lipscomb, we had a small quasi-musical combo
on the second floor of Gibbs lab; Russell Grimes and Bill Peatman
on clarinet, Fred Wang on violin and Bill Streib on tenor uke if
there were less than either 4 sharps or 4 flats. Our repertoire
included a quartet originally scored for violin, clarinet, oboe
and cello, Mozart\92s basset horn duets, Night and Day, and Basin
Street Blues. One evening Lipscomb came back unexpectedly early
with his son, Jimmy, who was to perform some experiment upstairs
but spent a few minutes playing the trumpet part with us while I
attempted to play a trombone which I had just bought for 50c.
Jimmy had at that time just begun to learn the cornet and was
missing as many notes on the trumpet as I was on the trombone. To
make him feel better, I said, "I don't play this thing very well"
and he responded in true Lipscomb fashion, "I can see that."
Another musical event occurred one Christmas day when Lipscomb
kindly invited a few of us out to his home. We played a piece that
his sister had written for the Lipscomb family and I for one was
pleased to be able to get through the piece each time without
gross error. We never did get to do Basin Street Blues.
Brian Dickens (1958-1962)
Dickens' Publications with Lipscomb
Dickens, B. and Lipscomb, W. N., "Molecular and Valence Structures
of Complexes of Cyclo-Octatetraene with Iron Tricarbonyl," J. Chem. Phys. 37, 2084-2093 (1962).
Dickens, B. and Lipscomb, W. N., \93Molecular Structure of C8H8Fe(CO)3,"
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 83, 4862 (1961).
Dickens, B. and Lipscomb, W. N., "Structure of (OC3)Fe(C8H8)Fe(Co)3,"
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 83, 489 (1961).
4.
Brian Edwards. A poem with apologies to Robert
Service.
The Obelation Of Brian E.
( A chant accompanied by solo clarinet )
There are strange things done in the Cambridge sun,
By the men who moil for gold.
The Harvard trails have their secret tales,
That would make your blood run cold.
The Cambridge lights have seen queer sights,
But the queerest they ever did see,
Comprised the crew of the Colonel's zoo,
In the Gibbs Labor'toree.
"What Gibbs?" you ask, it's not my task, of gibberish to speak,
The door opes wide, and Shutt's inside, to welcome you this
week;
A press'd white suit, a vile cheroot, he's Peter at the gate,
Not paradise, but near as nice, so hurry in we're late.
A philosophe, not just a prof, resides upon floor one,
Don makes small talk, "so what's up Doc?", and tells what he has
done;
Upon a beach, he wants to teach, his courses if he can;
On coli plaque, and Road and Track and high
speed Porsche sedan.
On second floor, behind the door, that's labelled two-oh-one,
You find the three, and their debris, who've all the assays
done;
Larry and Rick, not choleric, despite their mutual TIFF,
Can find the site, if weak or tight, and plot it in a jiff.
Behind the desk, that's picturesque, with stacked coffee cup,
There smokes a man, from Michigan, who parties till sun-up;
Dave splits enzymes, loves torrid climes, and guides the young
students,
Who're on rotation, towards salvation, at least its rudiments.
A pungee stick, will do the trick, opined a Flo far gone,
He sat and thought, and mad he got, when thinking of A Con;
One must not plan, with any man, who is not really edel,
He looked on high, invoked the sky, "I hope my stick is fatal".
In sneakers old, with matching mold, on J. C. Penny pants,
Steve used to stare, on bosoms bare, like all the true gallants;
Travel by rail, was never stale, he always timed his stops,
He's 'toasty warm' in every storm, when on the mountain tops.
Pause here my friend, before we ascend, and listen to the
ghosts,
Of those old grads, who are nomads, from these abandoned posts;
Does life exist, for the chemist, beyond these holy walls?
No man knoweth, until he goeth, forever from these halls.
Now yonder shade, who has just made, a butt from 'borrowed'
smoke,
Is Douglas K., of whom hearsay, reports a merry bloke;
Now up the stairs, to empyreal airs, we climb the real Parnasse,
The aura quiet, a no-smoke.fiat, control the lummox crass.
We enter right, to find bedight, a room with print-out piles,
Here CRYSIS reigns, and saps the brains, of those who try its
wiles;
A wild dibbuk, clean run amok, from George the mad programmer,
Who always codes, assembled modes, and cannot ken the clamour.
In binary, speaks ol' Bethge, peripheral device,
His cycle time, can let him mime, a terminal precise;
And Marynick, sits there heartsick, his stereo e-Klipsched,
He still has wine, exceeding thine, but feels apocalypsed.
The PHIRE from hell, broils Brian well, whene'er he turns to
CRYMS,
But keep your tears, he has what cheers, the Sunday New York
Times;
And Haskell Hart, who will impart, to any patriot, -
"This woman stuff", he growls so gruff, "it's all a commie
plot."
G. Eisele, on cola spree, is looking for a pistol,
The camera creeps, the anode beeps, and he has cracked the
crystal;
Now standing by, and wondering why, the fellow known as Lou,
The human brain, can't take the strain, of data that won't do.
Ten thousand miles, you find the isles, of Tonga in the sea,
With siren call, they try to haul, Jim from this agony;
He oscillates, but fin'lly states, a truth that is homespun,
"It is not rot, that half a spot, is better far than none."
One must be wise, to crystallize, some new Aspartate Trans-
Carbamylase, so Hugo prays, with several talismans;
He calls the gods, he calls them sods, whene'er no crystals
form,
Beneath the blows of fate he knows, it is the awful norm.
Be not distressed, we've not transgressed, the rules of mighty
HEW,
We are not churls, there are some girls, among this crazy crew;
Elita P., Yuan Yuan C., have joined the company,
They bring some grace, to this strange place, that saps your
sanity.
A special place, in Filbert space, where nuts can operate,
The theoro dwells, in many shells, of convoluted states;
Though time wore on, they still bor-on, towards the great
beyond,
Their holy grail, they shall not fail, a no-electron bond.
Without the math, one has no path, among these demi-men,
And so I pause, and leave their cause, to their own denizen;
We have some tea, with Marg'ret G., before the sacred cell,
With words of lore, she guards the door, of W. N. L.
with air benign, and half divine, he oversees them all,
with learned voice, he guides their choice, of wine and
wherewithal;
A better serve, a toot with verve, he shows one with aplomb,
And he survives, although he drives, a blue Mercedes bomb.
An amazing man, he always can, locate the pinging pump,
That's out of tune, and very soon, he stops its jarring thump;
The cold room door, will clank no more, it had the
coup-de-grace,
He also knows, if someone goes, into his parking place.
A glorious Khan, a Nobel man, a true aristocrat,
His best kudo, will always show, you see his string cravat?
Against the gout, and germs without, and all the fires infernal,
It is a charm, he's safe from harm, a real Kentucky Colonel!
I end this hymn, my eyes are dim, from speaking of these
friends.
They were estranged, a bit deranged, from what the Lord intends;
But raise the glass, may they all pass, in joy to their four
score,
So fresh so strange, so out of range, the days that are no more.
(The author apologizes to Robert Service)
Brian F. P. Edwards
1969 - 1975
Edwards' Publications with Lipscomb
Honzatko, R. B., Crawford, J. L., Monaco, H. L., Ladner, J. E.,
Edwards, B. F. P., Evans, D. R., Warren, S. G., Wiley, D. C.,
Ladner, R. C., & Lipscomb, W. N., "Crystal and molecular
structures of native and CTP-liganded aspartate
carbamoyltransferase from Escherichia
coli," J. Mol. Biol.
160, 219-263 (1983).
Lipscomb, W. N., Edwards, B. F. P., Evans, D. R., &
Pastra-Landis, S. C., "Binding Site at 5.5 A Resolution of
Cytidine Triphosphate, the Allosteric Inhibitor of Aspartate
Transcarbamylase from E. coli.
Relation to Mechanism of Control." M. Sundaralingam & S. T.
Rao, 4th Annual Harry Steenbock
Symposium, Madison, Wisconsin, June 16-19, 1974. Structure and
Conformation of Nucleic Acids and Protein-Nucleic Acid
Interactions (Baltimore: University Park Press, 1975) pp.
333-350.
Lipscomb, W. N., Evans, D. R., Edwards, B. F. P., Warren, S. G.,
Pastra-Landis, S. C., & Wiley, D. C., "Three-Dimensional
Structures at 5.5 A Resolution and Regulatory Processes in
Aspartate Transcarbamylase from E.
coli," J
Supramolecular Structure2, 82-99 (1974).
Edwards, B. F. P., Evans, D. R., Warren, S. G., Monaco, H. L.,
Landfear, S. M., Eisele, G., Crawford, J. L., Wiley, D. C., &
Lipscomb, W. N., "Complex of Aspartate Transcarbamoylase from
Escherichia coli with its Allosteric Inhibitor, Cytidine
Triphosphate: Electron Density at 5.5 A Resolution," Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA71, 4437 (1974).
Warren, S. G., Edwards, B. F. P., Evans, D. R., Wiley, D. C.,
& Lipscomb, W. N., "Aspartate Transcarbamoylase from E. coli. Electron Density at
5.5 A Resolution," Proc. Nat.
Acad. Sci. USA 70,
1117-1121 (1973).
Evans, D. R., Warren, S. G., Edwards, B. F. P., McMurray, C. H.,
Bethge, P. H., Wiley, D. C., & Lipscomb, W. N., "The Aqueous
Central Cavity in Aspartate Transcarbamylase from E. coli," Science 179, 683 (1973).
Wiley, D. C., Evans, D. R., Warren, S. G., McMurray, C. H.,
Edwards, B. F. P., Franks, W. A. and Lipscomb, W. N., "The 5.5 A
Resolution Structure of the Regulatory Enzyme, Aspartate
Transcarbamylase," Cold Spring
Harbor Symposium36,
285-290 (1971).
I am happy to have
an excuse to write down some remembrances about my early work with
the Colonel, before I grow too old and memory fades. As a graduate
student at the University of Minnesota in the spring of 1958,
trying to decide which professor to work for, I interviewed all
the regular inorganic faculty, and Paul O\92Connor suggested that I
also talk to Lipscomb, who was then head of the physical chemistry
division. At the time I had nearly decided to work with Doyle
Britton on reactions of HCN, but I did go to see Lipscomb, who
said he was looking for someone to do preparative boron hydride
chemistry and lent me a copy of Stock's book on boranes, which was
even then nearly 30 years old. I was struck by the Lipscombian
vitality - his feelings about borane research approximated those
of Wernher von Braun on space travel - but I had reservations
about working with the reputedly toxic and unpleasant boranes. The
choice (I thought) was between HCN, which could kill me instantly,
or boranes, which presumably might well do the same only more
slowly, and I threw in my lot with Lipscomb and the boranes.
As a synthetic chemist in Lipscomb\92s group (the first, I believe),
I was surrounded by crystallographers and theoretical types who
seemed uneasy around vacuum lines (with good reason, no doubt) and
stayed clear of the lab as much as possible. This was especially
noticeable after I had managed to convert an entire vacuum system
to powdered glass, in a memorable explosion of 30 ml of solid
pentaborane on which liquid oxygen had condensed. However, the
Colonel's support never wavered and he visited the synthetic labs
every day to see what wild ideas were being pursued. I do not
recall the Colonel ever ridiculing or dismissing out of hand a
proposed reaction or structure - an attitude which profoundly
influenced my own view of research, and still does. The Colonel's
lab was a constant ferment of ideas and he was rarely too busy to
talk chemistry. I still have notes from those days which show that
he anticipated things which were to come years later (some day I
may donate these to the Smithsonian). I was not as fully aware
then as I am now, how fortunate I was tp be a part of that scene,
which I shared with others such as Gogi Kodama, Alex Kaczmarczyk,
Brian Dickens, Bill Kern, Russ Pitzer, Roald Hoffman, Bruce
Penfold, Bill and Kirsten Streib, Herb Beall, Larry Friedman, Fred
Wang (I can only hope Fred.has by now forgiven me for the sample
of B10H16 I gave him for X-ray study, which
erupted in flame as he opened the tube).
The atmosphere in the Colonel's lab was a model of what
imaginative fundamental research should be, and I tried to convey
the essence of this to the scientific public in my Science
article [subscription required] on the Nobel award. Probably
the most valuable thing I took with me on leaving his group was a
sense of the excitement and wonder of chemistry, something I try
to convey to my own students - how successfully, it is hard to
say. In any event, I am grateful to have had an association with
the Colonel and look forward to seeing him frequently at boron
meetings, Like all the past and present Lipscombites, I
congratulate the Colonel on his great achievement and wish him
well.
Russell N. Grimes
1958-1962
Grimes' Publications with Lipscomb
Grimes, R. N. and Lipscomb, W. N., "Decaborane (16): Its
Rearrangement to Decaborane (14) and Cleavage," Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA48, 496-499 (1962).
Grimes, R., Wang, F. E., Lewin, R., and Lipscomb, W. N., "A New
Type of Boron Hydride, B10H16,\94 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA47, 996-999 (1961).
6. Truman
Jordan. From the fall of man to salvation. Bill's
prodigious ability.
Travels with the Colonel
(Reflections of a Harvard Ph. D. '64)
The Colonel and I both arrived at Harvard at the same time: The
fall of 1959. Fortunately for him, his reception was much nicer
than mine. While I struggled with qualifying exams and courses, he
was setting up his research group. When I joined the group in the
fall of 1960, it was already rather large with holdovers from
Minnesota - Streib (the elder statesman), Dickens, Grimes, Kern,
and Matthews; postdocs - Kodama and Wang; and graduate students
from my class - Dobrott, Lohr, Pitzer and Simpson.
The Colonel always said that he didn't criticize a student until
they had done at least one thing right. Thus, I set about escaping
any sort of criticism for about six months by not doing anything
at all that he could recognize. Finally, I did my first crystal
structure with H. Warren Smith, and the floodgates were open!!
(For both of us!) In those days we had a cyclical theory of
working for the Colonel. Everyone started out on the top of his
list and fell to the bottom (the Fall of Man). When they worked
there way back to the top of his list, they got their Ph.D.
(Salvation!) Of course there were some students that existed
outside the theory. No one could ever recall Russ Pitzer or Roald
Hoffmann falling to the bottom of the list!! But for the rest of
us there was always a time when the Colonel would come around,
push his glasses back with the thumb and middle finger of his
right hand, and say "I\91m a little worried about you." Then you
knew you had to get to work. There was no escaping it.
Reminiscing about graduate school days in the early sixties brings
back a collage of memories\85. Polishing pipe with Bill Streib
while working on the low temperature apparatus. Listening to Brian
Dickens tell stories of Bill\91s prodigious ability to sleep the
clock around. Moving sleeping bags into the lab while taking data
on N2, O2, and F2 . The Colonel's
parties where he tried to hide his good scotch from Raman. (I\91m
not sure he was ever successful!) Chemistry department picnics,
especially the one where I struck out the Colonel in a softball
game. (You seldom got the best of him in anything, so I do
remember that!) Fred Wang struggling to pronounce his l's. He
coined (by accident) the second favorite name for the Colonel:
Rripscomb .... Bob Dobrott and Paul Simpson explaining the
mysteries of the computer. working the Acrostickler with Pete Boer
as soon as his latest copy of the Reporter arrived. Blowing soap
bubbles out of the third floor Gibbs window with Ruth Lewin. (The
record for distance was the bubble that made it all the way to
Oxford St.) Starting each day with the New York Times. The day
Brian Dickens took his pocket alarm clock to the Colonel's group
theory class. It went off at noon and broke up the class. The
Colonel had to stop. And the Rinky-Dinky...how could you forget
the Rinky-Dinky. It was the kiss of death. The Russians send
people to Siberia, and the Colonel assigned people to work on the
Rinky-Dinky. I understand the whole lab cheered when they later
tried to move it from third floor Gibbs with a crane, and it
dropped all three floors by accident! (Providence!)
Yet through it all we learned. Learned that there is no easy way
to get good data. Learned that you had to think if you were going
to be a good scientist. Learned that you had to be a good chemist
if you were going to be a good crystallographer. And we learned it
all from a man with a sense of humor. That made it bearable. It
made learning fun. And it still is. Thank you.
Truman H. Jordan
Jordan's Publications with Lipscomb
Jordan, T. H., Streib, W. E., and Lipscomb, W. N., "Single-Crystal
X-ray Diffraction Study of beta-Fluorine," J. Chem. Phys. 41, 760 (1964).
Jordan, T. H., Smith, H. W., Streib, W. E., and Lipscomb, W. N.,
"Single-Crystal X-ray Diffraction Studies of alpha-N2
and beta-N2," J.
Chem. Phys. 41,
756-759 (1964).
Jordan, T. H., Streib, W. E., Smith, H. W., and Lipscomb, W. N.,
"Single-crystal Studies of beta-F2 and gamma-O2," Acta Cryst. 17, 777 (1964).
Jordan, T., Smith, H. W., Lohr, L. L., and Lipscomb, W. N., "X-ray
Structure Determination of (CH3)2NSO2N(CH3)2
and LCAO-MO Study of Multiple Bonding in Sulfones," J. Am. Chem Soc. 85, 846-851 (1963).
Streib, W. E., Jordan, T. H., and Lipscomb, W. N., "Single-Crystal
X-ray Diffraction Study of beta-Nitrogen," J. Chem. Phys. 37, 2962 (1962).
Jordan, T., Smith, W., and Lipscomb, W. N., "(CH3)2NSO2N(CH3)2
as a Model for alpha-Sulfonyl Carbanions,\94 Tetrahedron LettersNo. 2, 37 (1962).
7. Edward
Kostansek. Sung to the tune of Yankee Doodle.
Colonel Lipscomb
Sung with revolutionary sprit
Sung to Yankee Doodle
1.
In M-two-twenty-two I started,
Hou Sen Wong was there.
Chinese tea and three-necked flasks
and friendship we did share.
2.
While we worked there we did come
Upon the revelation,
That the plumbing and the fume hoods
Needed renovation.
3.
Then I moved across the street,
Such peace in which to delve.
The Colonel wondered what I did
Inside McKay five-twelve.
4.
Now I have a job for you",
He said without a snicker.
"Try to keep repaired and clean
The Syntex and the Picker."
5.
Finally a structure came,
The fruit of work and reason.
A mushroom toxin very strong,
Said He, "Are they in season?"
6.
Colonel Lipscomb has the faith,
of Gibbs he is protector.
He'll stand in front of all attacks
From bulldozer and tractor.
7.
Then the Colonel went to Stockholm,
Riding on a borane,
Took his greetings to the King,
And drank his fill of champagne.
8.
Colonel Lipscomb is our leader
For this we are lucky.
He leads his troops, through all the loops,
From Cambridge to Kentucky.
Chorus: Colonel Lipscomb, keep it up,
Colonel Lipscomb Dandy,
Mind the music and the science,
And keep the racquet handy.
Edward C. Kostansek, December 1976
(graduate student 1973-1977)
Kostansic's Publications with Lipscomb
Kostansek, E. C., Thiessen, W. E., Schomburg, D., and Lipscomb, W.
N., "Crystal Structure and Molecular Conformation of the Cyclic
Hexapeptide cyclo-(Gly-L-Pro-Gly)2," J. Am. Chem. Soc. 101, 5811 (1979).
Kostansek, E. C., Lipscomb, W. N., and Thiessen, W. E., "Crystal
Structure and Conformation of the Cyclic Hexapeptide
cyclo-(Gly-L-Pro-D-ALa)2," J. Am. Chem. Soc. 101, 834-837 (1979).
Kostansek, E. C., Lipscomb, W. N., Yocum, R. R., and Thiessen, W.
E., "The Conformation of the Mushroom Toxin beta-Amanitin in the
Crystalline State," Biochemistry
17, 3790 (1978).
Kostansek, E., Lipscomb, W. N., Yocum, R. R., and Thiessen, W. E.,
"The Crystal Structure of the Mushroom Toxin Beta-Amanitin," J. Am. Chem. Soc. 99, 1273 (1977).
More Information
Edward C. Kostansek is at the Chemistry Division of Oak Ridge
National Laboratory.
8. E.
Lippert. Liquid nitrogen on the bus.
OWENS\95ILLINOIS
Corporate Technology
January 12, 1977
Dear Colonel:
Besides your being a fine teacher and friend, there are a few
memories that I recall from the Minnesota Space Group 23l days
that are worth recording:
How Dick Dickerson and I used up
most of the Universities' 500 free hours on the ERA 1103
computer.
The argument with the University about painting the darkroom
black.
The problems of transporting large Dewars of liquid nitrogen and
how small quantities were carried on the bus, much to the
consternation of the passengers.
The "hot" keys to the stockroom which we both had.
When the start of data collection on B6H10
was delayed because the liquid nitrogen was decidedly blue and
how the second data collection effort was terminated when an
assistant fell down the stairs one night.
The Friday afternoon meetings with the beer and limericks.
I should also remark that footnote 3, J. Chem. Phys. 25,606-7l (l956) has been
dutifully noted by The Stormy Petrels of Maumee Bay.
Sincerely,
E. L. Lippert, Jr. Ph.D. (l955-56)
Chief, Evaluation & Testing Section
ELL/nj
Lippert's Publications with Lipscomb
Lipscomb, W. N., Wang, F. E., May, W. R. and Lippert, E. L.,
"Comments on the Structures of 1,2-dichloroethane and of N2O2,"
Acta Cryst. 14, 1100 (1961).
Hirshfeld, F. L., Eriks, K., Dickerson, R. E., Lippert, E. L. and
Lipscomb, W. N., "Molecular and Crystal Structure of B6H10,\94
J. Chem. Phys. 28, 56 (1958).
Lippert, E. L. and Lipscomb, W. N., "The Structure of H3NBH3,\94
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 78, 503 (1956).
9. Lawrence
Lohr. "Where is the inorganic Woodward?"
My Years with the Colonel
1959 \96 1963
The Colonel and I both came to Harvard in the Fall of 1959, he as
a new Professor from the University of Minnesota and I as a new
graduate student from the University of North Carolina. I had
counted on doing research in inorganic chemistry only to discover
that Harvard had few \93official\94 inorganic chemists! Needless to
say, I was delighted that the Colonel had arrived, as his
interests spanned both inorganic and physical. Before my first
year was over I not only had completed the course requirements but
also had spent a week at Penn State learning about boron halides
from Professor Thomas Wartik and five weeks at Uppsala, Sweden,
learning about quantum chemistry from Professor Per-Olov Lowdin
and his associates in their famous summer course and symposium.
Returning to Harvard for my second year, I had my last \93fling\94 at
crystallography by refining the structural data for iodine
heptafluoride. After that my studies consisted of theoretical
studies of various inorganic compounds, with emphasis on
transition metal complexes. At one point the theoretical
\93sub-group" sharing an office consisted of the Harvard students
Hoffmann, Lohr, Stevens, and Pitzer (plus Kern who was a "refugee"
from Minnesota}; computer output invariably bore the masthead
\94Harvard Laboratory of Structural Properties\93, or HLSP, standing
possibly for ourselves, or better, for the quantum chemistry
pioneers Heitler, London, Slater, and Pauling. As we all know, the
Colonel was not only readily available for questions, but often
sought us out to listen to his new ideas. Several times, usually
late at night, he asked my opinion about various potential Nobel
Laureates, particularly in the area of inorganic chemistry! \94Where
is the inorganic Woodward?", he would ask. Now he knows the
answer! Congratulations.
Lawrence L. Lohr. Jr.
Professor of Chemistry
University of Michigan
Ann arbor, MI 48104
Lohr's Publications with Lipscomb
Lohr, L. L. and Lipscomb, W. N., "An LCAO-MO Study of Rare-Gas
Fluorides," in Noble-Gas
Compounds. Ed. H. H. Hyman, (Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1963) 347-353.
Lohr, L. L. and Lipscomb, W. N., "LCAO-MO Charge Distribution and
Proton Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Shifts in Transition Metal
Hydride Complexes," Inorg. Chem.
3, 22-26 (1964).
Lohr, L. L. and Lipscomb, W. N., "An LCAO-MO Study of Static
Distortions of Transition Metal Complexes," Inorg. Chem. 2, 911-917 (1963).
Lohr, L. L. and Lipscomb, W. N., "Molecular Orbital Theory of
Spectra of Cr3+ Ions in Crystals," J. Chem. Phys. 38, 1607-1612 (1963).
Jordan, T., Smith, H. W., Lohr, L. L., and Lipscomb, W. N., "X-ray
Structure Determination of (CH3)2NSO2N(CH3)2
and LCAO-MO Study of Multiple Bonding in Sulfones," J. Am. Chem Soc. 85, 846-851 (1963).
Lohr, L. L. and Lipscomb, W. N., "Molecular Symmetry of XeF2
and XeF4," J. Am.
Chem. Soc. 85,
240 (1963).
Lohr, L. L. and Lipscomb, W. N., "Molecular Symmetry of IF7,"
J. Chem. Phys. 36, 2225 (1962).
Moore, E. B., Lohr, L. L., and Lipscomb, W. N., "Molecular
Orbitals in Some Boron Compounds,\94 J. Chem. Phys. 35,
1329 (1961).
10. Lillian
MacVey. Young Billy swinging from the chandelier.
December 28, 1976
2440 S. Barrington
Los Angelei, California 90064
Dr. william Lipscomb
Department of Chemistry
Harvard University
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138
Dear Dr. Lipscomb:
(a.k.a. \93little ole ornery red-headed Billy Lipscomb")
Congratulations on the Nobel Surprise! (Accordingly to the L.A.
Times it was indeed a surprise to you, thereby attesting to your
modisty.)
When you were a small child, I recognized your intelligence, your
"creativity" (if almost blowing up the house, and other such
antics could qualify at creativity), and your potential. The only
thing that is a surprise about "The Prize" is that you ever grew
up to receive it. On second thought I\92m surprised that I'm still
here to write this note.
You may not remember that as a young child I was "importuned\94 -- I
believe the word is used properly -- to "babysit" with you and
your younger sisters. What in heaven\92s name possessed our
respective mothers to allow such a haphazard arrangement?! (You'd
better censor that last remark in view of the fact that our
respective mothers are still good friends and I want it to remain
that way.)
I remember once climbing up on the dining room table and pulling
you down from the chandelier, from which you were merrily
swinging, at the same time trying to attend to your baby sister\92s
urgent need (diapers, bottle -- who knows?). Helen was an innocent
bystander probably minding her own business but possibly wondering
what was going on between her younger and older siblings and the
inadequate babysitter from across the street.
(Personal family section omitted. -James Lipscomb)
From your friendly, neighborhood former baby sitter.
Lillian Holmes MacVey
P.S. I was shocked to see my former charge on the front page of
the L.A. Times (considered one of the best newspapers in the
Country) drinking champagne. Tsk, tsk, Billy Lipscomb.
11. Sheldon
Shore. "With the possible exception of myself...."
Western Union
Mailgram
SHELDON SHORE
81 BREVOORT RD
COLUMBUS OH 43214
PROFESSOR W N LIPSCOMB, CARE DEPT OF
CHEMISTRY, HARVARD UNIVERSITY
CAMBRIDGE MA 02158
DEAR BILL,
WITH POSSIBLE EXCEPTION OF MYSELF, I CAN THINK OF NO MORE
DESERVING RECIPIENT OF THE NOBEL PRIZE THAN YOU.
CONGRATULATIONS
SHELDON
15:10 EST
Shore's Publication with Lipscomb
Li H, Min D, Shore SG, Lipscomb WN, Yang W. Nature of "hydrogen
bond" in the diborane-benzene complex: covalent, electrostatic, or
dispersive? Inorg Chem. 2007 May
14;46(10):3956-9. (PubMed)
In the spring of 1963, on the day that Russ Pitzer passed his
oral, Dick Enrione's vacuum line developed a crack. The B5H9
that was being kept in the line at liquid N2
temperatures thereby combined with liquid O2 to form a
highly sensitive and explosive compound. The question was not
whether the compound would explode, but when. After waiting for
several hours everyone grew tired of sitting on a bomb (Pitzer's
party was to begin soon) so Enrione tried to remove the offending
flask to the roof of Gibbs lab. As soon as he touched it, it
exploded with a terrific blast leaving Enrione, as always,
completely unscathed.
This train of events started Colonel Lipscomb thinking about the
problems of sitting on a bomb. Surely something like Enrione's
experience would sooner or later happen again. But it would be
doubtful that the victim would have Enrione's luck with explosions
(Enrione was never even scratched in the half dozen or so
explosions he had, often almost in his hands, during his stay in
the lab). At the same time one couldn't wait forever for a bomb to
go off. Yet one couldn't throw rocks at the offending flask in a
laboratory full of glassware. Aha, why not shoot at it with an air
rifle. That would surgically preempt the explosion.
So Colonel went out and bought an air rifle (how he explained this
expense to the NSF has never been related). But of course
all-experimental techniques need testing in order to perfect them.
Thus Colonel found a laboratory that had several bulbs of unknown
but suspect material in them which had been left behind by F.G.A.
Stone. Enter Jimmy Lipscomb, then about age 12. In simpler times I
suppose Colonel would have taught him to hunt 'possum and such.
But now they were after bigger game. Jimmy stationed himself
behind some shielding and fired away. There were several
satisfying roars in answer. The test was then pronounced a
complete success and the air rifle was installed as an item of
important safety equipment.
Several months later Enrione departed for the greener pastures of
the University of Syracuse. He left behind two suspect bulbs on
his vacuum rack with instructions to dispose of them on the roof
in the usual fashion by throwing bricks at them. But this was a
golden opportunity to demonstrate the air rifle technique of bomb
disposal under actual battle conditions. Out came Jimmy and the
air rifle. Once more barricading himself he blazed away at the
offending bulbs. The first one shattered but with no explosion.
Then he hit the second bulb but it didn't break. Pausing to
reload, Jimmy took aim at the bulb once more.
But what was that flood on the floor? Could it be? Yes, it could.
Jimmy's shot had ricocheted off the bulb into a nearby glass
diffusion pump, thereby shattering its water jacket. The result of
this was that several gallons of water cascaded onto the floor
before the water could be turned off. Oh well, back to the drawing
boards. And the air rifle disappeared into C0lonel's office, never
to be seen again.
Donald Voet
Voet's Publications with Lipscomb
Voet, D. and Lipscomb, W. N., \93Molecular and Crystal Structure of
B7C2H11(CH3)2,"
Inorg. Chem. 6, 113-119 (1967).
Voet, D. and Lipscomb, W. N., "Molecular Structure of Carboranes.
A 1,2-Dicarbaclovododecaborane Derivative, B10H10(CCH2Br)2,"
Inorg. Chem. 3, 1679 (1964).
14. Frederick
Wang. Convincing Bill to knock on the darkroom door.
It was in the early Summer of 1960,
at a young post-doc, that I arrived at the Harvard campus and
joined Lipscomb\92s group. Before long I noticed the Colonel\92s habit
of strolling by my desk and sticking his head over my shoulder and
inquiring about the progress of my work. I was bit annoyed by the
frequency of such occurrences and sometimes replied by saying
\93When I've got the results I will let you know!." During the
Summer of 1961, the Colonel had just returned from his vacation on
the west coast and once more he strolled by and as usual stuck his
head in. Oniy this time he said, "How did you enjoy my vacation?."
Up on the third floor of Gibb's laboratory, between offices on one
side and the X-nay equipment room on the other side, there existed
a small darkroom for developing film. I often developed X-ray film
in that small room. The only hazard was that invariably the
Colonel would walk through the darkroom without knocking on the
door to see if anyone was using the darkroom first - at far at I
could recall the Colonel was the only one did this among the whole
group! Of course, as a result, the half-developed film was totally
darkened and could not be used to identify the crystal symmetry. I
called the Colonel's attention to this misdemeanor of his, a
number of times, in vain. Now, the Colonel is a great enthusiast
when it comet to the game of guessing the molecular structure by
knowing only the symmetry. In response to his inquiry about a
particular crystal under investigation, I showed him the darkened
film instead, for him to figure out the symmetry. Staring at the
darkened film, he meekly said, "Did I do that?.\94 At far at I know,
he has stopped this misdemeanor completely since.
Frederick E. Wang
1960 - 1962
Wang's Publications with Lipscomb
Wang, F. E., Simpson, P. G., and Lipscomb, W. N., "Molecular
Structure of B9H13(CH3CN)," J. Chem. Phys. 35, 1335 (1961).
Lipscomb, W. N., Wang, F. E., May, W. R., and Lippert, E. L.,
"Comments on the Structures of 1,2-dichloroethane and of N2O2,"
Acta Cryst. 14, 1100 (1961).
Grimes, R., Wang, F. E., Lewin, R., and Lipscomb, W. N., "A New
Type of Boron Hydride, B10H16,\94 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA47, 996-999 (1961).
Wang, F. E., Simpson, P. G., and Simpson, W. N., "Molecular
Structure of B9H13NCCH3,\94 J. Am. Chem. Soc. 83, 491 (1961).
By lucky chance, I
was able to hear about the Colonel's Nobel festivities even before
he returned to Harvard from Stockholm.
Last month I was in Germany, finishing up work on building the
atomic model of Tobacco Mosaic Virus. It was six weeks of
concentrated work, and on the return flight from Zurich to Boston
I was still thinking about nothing but TMV.
.
I was worn out, unshaven and unwashed. I had just barely caught
the plane, having overslept after a final late night with the
model. I was desperately searching for an unoccupied toilet over
the Atlantic, passing through the corridors of the jumbo-jet, when
to my astonishment
I was suddenly face-to-face with the Colonel. [Needless to say, he
was in fine form as usual, with his careful choice of air routes
and his advance planning to minimize jet-lag.]
Well, this was certainly unexpected, and for an embarrassing
minute I couldn't even recall why the Colonel should have been in
Europe. I was so totally wrapped up in my own work that even when
he mentioned that he had been in Stockholm, it didn't ring a bell.
I was thinking, "Now, what lab might he have been visiting in
Stockholm?"
Of course, eventually I came to my senses, and the rest of the
flight was most enjoyable indeed. [I did later find that toilet.]
Jim and Mary Adele had come along, and Jim showed me his snapshots
of the festivities in Stockholm. The Colonel showed me his award
certificate and even let me hold his solid-gold medal. And it was
a fine opportunity for me to spout off about TMV.
I doubt that anyone else on that plane ever suspected that a Nobel
Prize-winner was on board.
15 January 1977
Steve Warren. (1968 \96 1973)
Warren's Publications with Lipscomb
Honzatko, R. B., Crawford, J. L., Monaco, H. L., Ladner, J. E.,
Edwards, B. F. P., Evans, D. R., Warren, S. G., Wiley, D. C.,
Ladner, R. C., & Lipscomb, W. N., "Crystal and molecular
structures of native and CTP-liganded aspartate
carbamoyltransferase from Escherichia
coli," J. Mol. Biol.
160, 219-263 (1983).
Lipscomb, W. N., Evans, D. R., Edwards, B. F. P., Warren, S. G.,
Pastra-Landis, S. C., & Wiley, D. C., "Three-Dimensional
Structures at 5.5 A Resolution and Regulatory Processes in
Aspartate Transcarbamylase from E.
coli," J
Supramolecular Structure2, 82-99 (1974).
Edwards, B. F. P., Evans, D. R., Warren, S. G., Monaco, H. L.,
Landfear, S. M., Eisele, G., Crawford, J. L., Wiley, D. C., &
Lipscomb, W. N., "Complex of Aspartate Transcarbamoylase from
Escherichia coli with its Allosteric Inhibitor, Cytidine
Triphosphate: Electron Density at 5.5 A Resolution," Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA71, 4437 (1974).
Warren, S. G., Edwards, B. F. P., Evans, D. R., Wiley, D. C.,
& Lipscomb, W. N., "Aspartate Transcarbamoylase from E. coli. Electron Density at
5.5 A Resolution," Proc. Nat.
Acad. Sci. USA 70,
1117-1121 (1973).
Evans, D. R., Warren, S. G., Edwards, B. F. P., McMurray, C. H.,
Bethge, P. H., Wiley, D. C., & Lipscomb, W. N., "The Aqueous
Central Cavity in Aspartate Transcarbamylase from E. coli," Science 179, 683 (1973).
Wiley, D. C., Evans, D. R., Warren, S. G., McMurray, C. H.,
Edwards, B. F. P., Franks, W. A. and Lipscomb, W. N., "The 5.5 A
Resolution Structure of the Regulatory Enzyme, Aspartate
Transcarbamylase," Cold Spring
Harbor Symposium36,
285-290 (1971).
16. Peter J.
Wheatley. All-purpose congratulatory letter.
All-purpose Congratulatory
Letter (Patent applied for).
(Science format)
Date as postmark.
Dear Bill,
Congratulations on your
___ elevation to the peerage.
_x_ Nobel prize.
___ knighthood.
___ FRS.
___ OM / CBE / OBE / MBE (other .......... ).
___ acquittal on the rape / bigamy / indecent exposure / theft /
drugs / drunken driving / (other ............................ )
charge.
___ Honorary degree from Harvard / the Sorbonne / Oxford /
Battersea Polytechnic / (other ............................ ).
___ defeat of H. M. Inspector of Taxes.
___ engagement / marriage / divorce.
___ quintu / quadru / tri / di / uni / plet(s).
_x_ highly successful party, which you will no doubt be holding.
___ I earned it
___ I was lucky
___ I couldn't have done it without your help
___ My wife was delighted
___ Thank you
___ Get stuffed
Signed
...............................................................
Wheatley's Publications with Lipscomb
Dickerson, R. E., Wheatley, P. J., Howell, P. A. and Lipscomb, W.
N., "Crystal and Molecular Structure of B9H15,"
J. Chem. Phys. 27, 200 (1957).
Atoji, M., Wheatley, P. J. and Lipscomb, W. N., "Crystal and
Molecular Structure of Diboron Tetrachloride B2Cl4,"
J. Chem. Phys. 27, 196 (1957).
Dickerson, R. E., Wheatley, P. J., Howell, P. A., Lipscomb, W. N.
and Schaeffer, R., "Boron Arrangement in a B9 Hydride,"
J. Chem. Phys. 25, 606 (1956).
Atoji, M., Lipscomb, W. N. and Wheatley, P. I., "Molecular
Structure of Diborane Tetrachloride, B2Cl4,"
J. Chem. Phys. 23, 1176 (1955).
From a scrapbook assembled by Bill's first wife, Marydell Lipscomb
in 1976-1977 these congratulatory letters are presented with
permission of William Lipscomb. Insofar as this
transcription from image to text is an owned, new, or derived
work, work on this page (text) is by http://wlipscomb.tripod.com
and is licensed under a Creative
Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. You are free to
copy, distribute, transmit, and modify the work for both
commercial and non-commercial uses. You must attribute the work to
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