Recognized for innovative studies of flourine
Chemist William R. Dolbier of Gainesville, Fla., will be honored on March 28 by the world's largest scientific society for innovative studies of fluorine, the element that makes Teflon heat resistant. He will receive the American Chemical Society Award for Creative Work in Fluorine Chemistry at the Society's national meeting in San Francisco.
Simply put, Dolbier aims to "get fluorine atoms in molecules just the right way and in the exactly right place," said the physical organic chemist, a chemistry professor at the University of Florida. "So we develop methods to make these kinds of molecules, and to make them efficiently."
Adding fluorine to a compound strengthens all the bonds between its atoms, making products like Teflon resistant to high temperatures. Fluorinated molecules also tend to repel water, as Scotchgard(tm) does. Pharmaceutical companies put fluorine into drugs to increase their activity.
Dolbier's team of graduate students and post-doctoral researchers investigates fluorine's impact on the reactivity of compounds. They also undertake practical projects. For example, the team has developed a fluorine-based material for the semiconductor industry. Computer chips require thin layers of insulation between their conductive layers, said Dolbier, and his fluoropolymer is thermally stable and chemically resistant.
The chemist is also working with colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center to develop a fluorinated agent that can detect oxygen-starved tissue. When used in conjunction with a PET (positron emission tomography) scan, the compound could help doctors identify rapidly growing tumors as well as damage from a heart attack or stroke.
Dolbier enjoyed science and math as a boy, but it was his undergraduate chemistry professors at Stetson University, DeLand, Fla., who "turned me on to organic chemistry as a career," he said. "They infected me with their enthusiasm."
The ACS Award for Creative Work in Fluorine Chemistry is sponsored by Lancaster Synthesis, Inc. of Columbia, S.C.
A nonprofit organization with a membership of 161,000 chemists and chemical engineers, the American Chemical Society (www.acs.org) publishes scientific journals and databases, convenes major research conferences, and provides educational, science policy and career programs in chemistry. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.