Christopher Reed

Christopher Reed (born February 25, 1947) is a New Zealand-educated American inorganic chemist known for his contributions to synthetic and structural chemistry across the periodic table, particularly for his discovery of the strongest known acid.

Early life and education

Reed was born in Auckland, New Zealand, to English parents Mick and Sylvia Reed and educated at Dilworth School. He obtained his Bachelor of Science degree from The University of Auckland in 1967, followed by a Master of Science with First Class Honors in 1969. His master's thesis was Nitrosyl Complexes of Iridium, done under the mentorship of Warren R. Roper.

In 1971, Reed completed his Ph.D. at The University of Auckland with a thesis on Oxidative Addition Reactions of Low-Valent Complexes of Iridium, again under the guidance of Roper. From 1971 to 1973, he conducted postdoctoral research on picket fence porphyrin models for hemoglobin at Stanford University with James P. Collman.

Career

Reed began his independent academic career as an Assistant Professor at the University of Southern California (USC) in 1973. He became an Associate Professor in 1979 and a Professor of Chemistry until 1998. During his tenure at USC, Reed served as Head of the Division of Inorganic/Biological Chemistry from 1994 to 1998.

In 1998, Reed joined the University of California, Riverside (UCR), as a Distinguished Professor and was the Director of the UCR Center for s and p Block Chemistry from 2005 until his retirement as Emeritus Professor in 2012.

Reed held several visiting professorships at institutions worldwide, including the Centre d'Études Nucleaires de Grenoble, The University of Auckland, Monash University, Université de Rennes, Domaine Universitaire de Grenoble, University of Sydney, Oxford University (St. John's College), and Freie Universität Berlin.

Research and contributions

Reed's research covered a wide range of topics in chemistry, from the synthesis of novel molecules to the exploration of reactive cation chemistry across the periodic table.

His early work, in collaboration with Robert Scheidt, led to an understanding of spin and oxidation state relationships in the structures of iron porphyrins and hemoproteins. He also developed new principles guiding spin-spin coupling mechanisms in copper dimers and metalloporphyrin radical cations.

Reed's work on icosahedral carboranes opened new avenues of research in the field of least coordinating anions, leading to the isolation of highly reactive cations such as t-butyl cation and silylium ions. One of Reed's most notable achievements was the synthesis of the strongest known acids, H(CHB11F11) and H(CHB11Cl11), which surpassed typical superacids based on SbF5. Despite their extreme acidity, these carborane acids are paradoxically the gentlest known acids due to their inert counterions. This discovery allowed the isolation and structural characterization of reactive cations such as HC60+ and C59N+.

In collaboration with Evgenii Stoyanov, Reed's recent work challenges conventional theories about the molecular structure of Haq+ in water.

Memberships and awards

Reed is a Fellow of The Royal Society of Chemistry, the American Chemical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry.

He has received numerous awards for his contributions to chemistry, including an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship, a Camille and Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, the USC Associates Award for Creativity in Research and Scholarship, a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, the Tolman Award from the Southern California Section of the ACS, and the F. Albert Cotton ACS Award in Synthetic Inorganic Chemistry.

Selected publications

1. “Myths about the Proton: The Nature of H+ in Condensed Media” (2013)
2. “The Strongest Acid” (2011)
3. “The Unique Nature of H+ in Water” (2011)
4. “Taming Superacids: Stabilization of the Fullerene Cations HC60+ and C60+” (2000)
5. “Crystallographic Evidence for a Free Silylium Ion” (2002)
6. “Triethylsilyl perfluoro-tetraphenylborate: A Widely Used Non-Existent Compound” (2011)
7. “Discrete Fulleride Anions and Fullerenium Cations” (2000)
8. “Fullerene-Porphyrin Constructs” (2005)
9. “Designing Ionic Liquids: Imidazolium Melts with Inert Carborane Anions” (2000)
10. “Spin State/Stereochemical Relationships in Iron Porphyrins: Implications for Hemoproteins” (1981)