Dr. Michael Fryzuk

MICHAEL D. FRYZUK, Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of British Columbia, has contributed significantly in several areas of inorganic/organometallic chemistry, particularly in the design of organic ligands for manipulation of the properties of metal centres within both mono- and dinuclear species. Highly reactive hydrocarbon fragments have been stabilized at metals, often in new bonding modes, and novel reactivity patterns established including catalytic processes. The inert gas dinitrogen has been activated by an unusual side-on bonding mode within a dinuclear system, and understanding increased of factors governing the reactivity of N_ at metal centres, which is important in elucidating the chemistry of nitrogenases within enzymatic processes. His findings of unusual bonding combinations between certain atoms and metals are forcing the chemical community to reformulate ideas about bonding patterns.