What? Inorganic Life?

I was born in a southern Kentucky tobacco farming community in the middle of the Depression. Encouraged by my mother’s two brothers, who dabbled with ham radios on the farm, I took up chemistry at the age of twelve. With big bottles of sulfuric and nitric acids from a supply house in Chicago, as well as many other chemicals, I could claim that I had a fairly decent lab in the basement of my house. Of course I made my mother very nervous by running chemical reactions that often gave dramatic results. It was around that time that my very dear grandmother lost her life to cancer. She lived on the farm, cooked for me, and did everything for me, so I was very close to her. It was a defining moment in my life, as I knew then that I wanted to become a scientist. It was apparent to me that there were diseases that could take loved ones away too soon, and I thought that by becoming a scientist I might be able to do something about it.

After college in Kentucky I went to graduate school at Northwestern University, where I worked with Fred Basolo and Ralph Pearson on platinum reaction chemistry. During that time I became very interested in crystal field theory as it helped me to understand the colors and magnetic properties of inorganic compounds. It was an exciting time in inorganic chemistry. After I finished my degree, I accepted a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellowship to work on crystal field theory with Carl Ballhausen in Copenhagen. Soon after I arrived, however, I turned to molecular orbital theory as a more powerful framework for my investigations of the electronic spectra of inorganic complexes. I made good progress in my work on the electronic structures of metal-oxo complexes, and after an extensive discussion with Martin Karplus, who was a visitor in Copenhagen, I was invited to join the chemistry faculty at Columbia University. I started my academic career in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of New York City in the fall of 1961.

I knew from earlier conversations with Fred Basolo that the Inorganic Chemistry Gordon Conference was very special. He urged me to go as soon as I had a chance. My very first Gordon Conference was Inorganic Chemistry in the summer of 1962 at the New Hampton School in New Hampton, New Hampshire. I had been invited to give a talk on my work on inorganic electronic structure by Bob Parry, who was organizing the conference that year. Bob also invited Dick Holm, Dick Carlin, Al Cotton, and Dick Fenske–outstanding investigators who were doing pioneering work in inorganic chemistry. This mix made for an incredible meeting; there were many heated discussions because we all had different ideas about the best theoretical model to use to explain the ground and excited states of inorganic complexes. Was molecular orbital theory better than crystal field theory? Or should we use the best parts of both, which we called ligand field theory? And with molecular orbital theory what level of theory was useful for inorganic complexes? With the field in flux we were looking for some common ground in a theory that would fit experimental results for many classes of inorganic compounds.

In addition to the sessions and intense scientific discussions there was much time for tennis. The tennis courts at the school were great. One year Gil Haight and I even entered the New Hampshire Open and did quite well. We were semifinalists in doubles and could have gone farther, but we managed to blow a crucial set by talking too much to each other. My experiences at the Inorganic Chemistry Gordon Conference really hooked me. I started going to Gordon Conferences every year, with Metals in Biology being one of my favorites. In more recent times I have also been a regular at Inorganic Reaction Mechanisms and Quinone and Redox Active Amino Acid Cofactors (now known as Protein Derived Cofactors, Radicals, and Quinones). Of course I like to go to the “original” conference (Inorganic Chemistry) whenever I can. I have also made more than one appearance at Organo-metallic Chemistry, Electron Donor Acceptor Interactions, and Electrochemistry. Indeed, I have been told by Carlyle Storm that I have the all-time record for attendance at Gordon Conferences.

The Gordon Conference on Metals in Biology was instrumental in building a bridge across the divide between inorganic chemistry and biology. Paul Saltman was the first chair to welcome “inorganikers” in large numbers to the conference. At Paul’s meeting, where I was asked to talk about our work on iron in biochemistry, I remember many fruitful discussions with Jack Halpern on problems that we felt could be attacked by inorganic chemists entering the field. Many of my own contributions to bioinorganic chemistry have come from experimental work that has shed light on the underlying physics and chemistry of electron transfer reactions that occur in photosynthesis, respiration, DNA synthesis, and many other biological redox processes. Much of this work was presented for the first time at Gordon Conferences. The discussions I had at those conferences often changed the direction of my work–always for the better, I am sure.

Bioinorganic chemistry is now booming, thanks in large measure to the hard-hitting discussions that have taken place between biochemists and inorganic chemists at Gordon Conferences. The field is a vibrant, ever-changing area of science that includes metals in medicine, of which the platinum-based cancer drugs that are famous for their role in restoring the cyclist Lance Armstrong to full health are a great example. I had worked on similar platinum (II) complexes in grad school, so I was particularly pleased when I learned that the cis-dichloro-diammine complex was being used very effectively in the fight against the most dreaded of diseases. All in all, bio-inorganic chemists have made many important contributions to science and medicine that have come about because of a deeper understanding of the structures, spectroscopic properties, and reactivities of metal-containing biomolecules.

The Gordon Conferences have played a very special role in science. It is a pleasure to have an opportunity to thank the wonderful folks who have made them the best conferences on the planet.