Warren Roper (chemist)
{{Short description|New Zealand chemist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=April 2018}}
Warren Richard Roper FRS FRSNZ FNZIC (born 1938) is a New Zealand chemist and Emeritus Professor at the University of Auckland.
Roper was educated at Nelson College from 1952 to 1956, and was dux in his final year.{{cite book | chapter=Full school list of Nelson College, 1856–2005 | title=Nelson College Old Boys' Register, 1856–2006 | year=2006 | edition=6th | type=CD-ROM}} He then studied chemistry at the University of Canterbury, and undertook his PhD under the supervision of CJ Wilkins. He completed his PhD in 1963, and spent three years undertaking postdoctoral research at the University of North Carolina in the United States before returning to New Zealand. At that point Roper was appointed as lecturer at the University of Auckland, where he remained until his retirement (apart from visiting lectureships at other institutions). He mentored several notable students, including Anthony Hill and Penelope Brothers.
Scholarship
Roper's research has focused on synthetic and structural organometallic chemistry,{{cite journal
| first = Geoffrey J. | last = Irvine | first2 = M. J. Gerald | last2 = Lesley
| first3 = Todd B. | last3 = Marder | first4 = Nicholas C. | last4 = Norman | first5 = Craig R. | last5 = Rice | first6 = Edward G. | last6 = Robins
| first7 = Warren R. | last7 = Roper | first8 = George R. | last8 = Whittell | first9 = L. James | last9 = Wright
| title = Transition Metal−Boryl Compounds: Synthesis, Reactivity, and Structure
| journal = Chemical Reviews
| volume = 98
| issue = 8
| pages = 2685–2722
| publisher = ACS Publications
| date = 21 November 1998
| doi = 10.1021/cr9500085
| pmid = 11848976 }} and particularly compounds with metal-carbon, -silicon, -tin or -boron bonds.{{cite web|title=Prof. Warren Roper|url=http://web.chemistry.auckland.ac.nz/staff/staff.aspx?staffid=24|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130222212849/http://web.chemistry.auckland.ac.nz/staff/staff.aspx?staffid=24|url-status=dead|archive-date=22 February 2013|publisher=chemistry.auckland.ac.nz|access-date=29 December 2012}} As his postdoctoral research group had an interest in Vaska's complex, Roper too developed a program on M-PPh3-CO complexes of the platinum metals. A recurring themes of the work was the reactivity of coordinated ligands, especially simple ligands. These ligands included dichlorocarbene, carbonyl sulfide, carbonyl selenide, and carbonyl telluride, and PH2. Prior to his work, metal carbene complexes were restricted to early metals. Roper greatly expanded the scope of carbene ligands with his preparation of {{chem2|Os(CH2)(NO)(Cl)(PPh3)2}}.{{cite journal |doi=10.1021/ja00356a050 |title=A mononuclear, low-valent, electron-rich osmium methylene complex |date=1983 |last1=Hill |first1=Anthony F. |last2=Roper |first2=Warren R. |last3=Waters |first3=Joyce M. |last4=Wright |first4=Anthony H. |journal=Journal of the American Chemical Society |volume=105 |issue=18 |pages=5939–5940 }}
Recognition
He was made a fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand (RSNZ) in 1984,{{cite web|title=2005 Academy Yearbook|url=http://www.royalsociety.org.nz/publications/reports/yearbooks/year2005/past-fellows/|publisher=Royal Society of New Zealand|access-date=29 December 2012}} and a fellow of the Royal Society in 1989. The RSNZ awarded Roper the Hector Memorial Medal in 1991.{{cite web|title=Hector Medal|url=http://www.royalsociety.org.nz/programmes/awards/hector-medal/recipients/|publisher=Royal Society of New Zealand|access-date=29 December 2012}} He gave a valedictory address at the 2006 New Zealand Institute of Chemistry Conference in honour of his retirement.{{cite journal|last=Miskelly|first=Gordon|author2=Rewcastle, Gordon |title=Chemistry in Auckland 1981-2011|journal=Chemistry in New Zealand|year=2011|volume=October 2011|pages=208–214}}
Selected publications
- Irvine, Geoffrey J., MJ Gerald Lesley, Todd B. Marder, Nicholas C. Norman, Craig R. Rice, Edward G. Robins, Warren R. Roper, George R. Whittell, and L. James Wright. "Transition metal− boryl compounds: synthesis, reactivity, and structure." Chemical reviews 98, no. 8 (1998): 2685–2722.
- Gallop, Mark A., and Warren R. Roper. "Carbene and carbyne complexes of ruthenium, osmium, and iridium." Adv. Organomet. Chem 25 (1986): 121–198.
- Brothers, Penelope J., and Warren R. Roper. "Transition-metal dihalocarbene complexes." Chemical Reviews 88, no. 7 (1988): 1293–1326.
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Recipients of the Hector Memorial Medal}}
{{FRS 1989}}
{{Authority control}}
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Category:New Zealand fellows of the Royal Society
Category:University of Canterbury alumni
Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of New Zealand
Category:20th-century New Zealand chemists
Category:21st-century New Zealand chemists
Category:People educated at Nelson College