imported>Jevansen: Moving from Category:Inorganic chemists to Category:British inorganic chemists using Cat-a-lot

2025-03-11T05:57:31Z

Moving from Category:Inorganic chemists to Category:British inorganic chemists using Cat-a-lot

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{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_suffix = {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CBE|FRS}}
| image =
| caption =
| birth_date = 6 November 1914
| birth_place = [[Horden]], County Durham, England
| death_date = 19 May 1994
| death_place = [[Hove]], East Sussex, England
| alma_mater = {{Plainlist|
* [[Emmanuel College, Cambridge]]
}}
| occupation =
| years_active =
| spouse = {{marriage|Ethel Williams|1947}}
| children = 2
}}
'''Joseph Chatt''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|CBE|FRS}}<ref name="frs">{{Cite journal | last1 = Eaborn | first1 = C. | author-link1 = Colin Eaborn| last2 = Leigh | first2 = G. J. | doi = 10.1098/rsbm.1996.0007 | title =Joseph Chatt, C. B. E. 6 November 1914-19 May 1994 | journal = [[Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society]] | volume = 42 | pages = 96 | year = 1996 | doi-access = }}</ref> (6 November 1914 – 19 May 1994) was a renowned British researcher in the area of [[inorganic chemistry|inorganic]] and [[organometallic chemistry]]. His name is associated with the description of the pi-bond between transition metals and [[alkene]]s, the [[Dewar–Chatt–Duncanson model]].

==Early life and education==
Chatt was born to a farming family in [[Horden]], County Durham.<ref name="ti obit">{{Cite web|url=https://www.the-independent.com/news/people/obituary-professor-joseph-chatt-1439686.html|title=Obituary: Professor Joseph Chatt|work=The Independent|first=John|last=Postgate|date=30 May 1994|accessdate=18 February 2025}}</ref> At age 10, he moved with his family to [[Welton, Cumbria]] south of [[Carlisle]]. Chatt attended the [[The Nelson Thomlinson School|Nelson School]].<ref name="bn">{{Cite web|url=https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/modern-coordination-chemistry-jeff-leigh/1102994795#|title=Modern Coordination Chemistry: The Legacy of Joseph Chatt|work=Barnes & Noble|first=Jeff|last=Leigh|accessdate=18 February 2025}}</ref>

In 1937, Chatt graduated with his first degree in Chemistry at from [[Emmanuel College, Cambridge]]. He went on to complete his PhD at Cambridge under the direction of [[Frederick George Mann|F. G. Mann]] for research on [[organoarsenic]] and [[organophosphorus]] compounds and their complexes with transition metals.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Chatt | first1 = J. | last2 = Mann | first2 = F. G. | doi = 10.1039/JR9390000610 | title = 139. The synthesis of ditertiary arsines. Meso- and racemic forms of bis-4-covalent-arsenic compounds | journal = Journal of the Chemical Society (Resumed) | pages = 610 | year = 1939 }}</ref>

==Career and contributions==
[[File:PtHCl(PEt3)2.svg|thumb|Structure of {{chem2|PtHCl(PEt3)2}} described by Chatt et al.|120px]]
Chatt was employed at Imperial Chemical Industries from 1949 to 1962, during which time he published influential work on the [[metal hydride]]s and metal alkene complexes. During this period, he reported the first example of [[C-H bond activation]] by a transition metal<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Chatt | first1 = J. | last2 = Davidson | first2 = J. M. | doi = 10.1039/JR9650000843 | title = 154. The tautomerism of arene and ditertiary phosphine complexes of ruthenium(0), and the preparation of new types of hydrido-complexes of ruthenium(II) | journal = Journal of the Chemical Society (Resumed) | pages = 843 | year = 1965 }}</ref> and the first non-organometallic transition metal hydride.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1039/PS9570000329 |title=A Volatile Chlorohydride of Platinum |journal=Proceedings of the Chemical Society |date=1957 |page=329-368|first1=J.|last1=Chatt|first2=L. A.|last2=Duncanson|first3=B. L.|last3=Shaw }}</ref> While at ICI, he work with several future luminaries, including [[Luigi M. Venanzi]], [[Lidia Vallarino]], and especially [[Bernard L. Shaw]].

In the 1960s, Chatt moved to a professorship at the [[University of Sussex]] and subsequently assumed directorship of the Nitrogen Fixation Unit under the Agricultural Research Council.<ref>Leigh, G.J. (editor), N. W. Winterton (editor), ''Modern Coordination Chemistry: The Legacy of Joseph Chatt'', Springer Verlag (2002). {{ISBN|0-85404-469-8}}</ref> Using the [[transition metal dinitrogen complex]] W(N2)2([[dppe]])2, his group first demonstrated the conversion of a [[Transition metal dinitrogen complex|dinitrogen ligand]] into ammonia. This work provided some of the first molecular models for [[nitrogen fixation]]. Chatt authored or co-authored over 300 peer-reviewed publications.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://academictree.org/chemistry/publications.php?pid=52742&searchstring=&showfilter=all |title=Joseph Chatt publications |access-date=2020-07-24 |publisher=Academictree.org}}</ref>

Among his many awards, he was recognised with the 1981 [[Wolf Prize]] "for pioneering and fundamental contributions to synthetic transition metal chemistry, particularly transition metal hydrides and dinitrogen complexes." He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1961 and was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire.<ref name="frs"/>

==Personal life==
In 1947, Chatt married Ethel Williams, with whom he had a daughter and a son.<ref name="ti obit"/> They lived in [[Ditchling]], Sussex.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theargus.co.uk/memorials/death-notices/death/14316956.ethel-emma-chatt/notice|title=Ethel (Emma) CHATT|work=The Argus|accessdate=18 February 2024}}</ref>

==Death and legacy==
Chatt fell ill in 1991<ref name="ti obit"/> and passed away suddenly in 1994. At the time, he was "preparing himself for a joint photograph" with other Fellows at Sussex University.<ref name="bn"/>

In 1995, a year after his death, the Unit of Nitrogen Fixation moved to Norwich and became part of the [[John Innes Centre]]. The new building, as well as an annual lecture at the Centre, were named in his honour.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.jic.ac.uk/get-involved/friday-seminars/chatt-lecture/ |title=The Chatt Lecture |access-date=19 January 2015 |archive-date=5 November 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141105164017/https://www.jic.ac.uk/get-involved/friday-seminars/chatt-lecture/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Wolf Prize in Chemistry}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chatt, Joseph}}
[[Category:1914 births]]
[[Category:1994 deaths]]
[[Category:Academics of the University of Sussex]]
[[Category:Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:British chemists]]
[[Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Imperial Chemical Industries people]]
[[Category:British inorganic chemists]]
[[Category:People educated at the Nelson Thomlinson School]]
[[Category:People from Cumberland (unitary authority)]]
[[Category:People from Horden]]
[[Category:Scientists from County Durham]]
[[Category:Wolf Prize in Chemistry laureates]]

Joseph Chatt - Revision history

imported>Jevansen: Moving from Category:Inorganic chemists to Category:British inorganic chemists using Cat-a-lot