Fukui Kenichi (19181October 4 ~19981October 9), born in Japan, is a Japanese quantum chemist. Graduated from Kyoto University, Japanese theoretical chemist, foreign academician of American Academy of Sciences, academician of European College of Arts and Sciences, winner of Japanese government cultural medal.
Because 195 1 put forward an intuitive frontier orbit theory, Kenichi Fukui, a professor at Kyoto University of 198 1, won the Nobel Prize in chemistry. He is the first Japanese scientist to win the Nobel Prize in chemistry and the first winner in Asia.
1998 is dead.
Chinese name: Kenichi Fukui
Mbth: Japanese hiragana: ふくぃけんぃち.
Nationality: Japan
Ethnic group: Yamato ethnic group
Date of birth:1918101October 4th.
Date of death:1998 65438+1October 9.
Occupation: Japanese theoretical chemist
Graduate school: Kyoto University (Bachelor, Master, Doctor)
Main achievements: won the 198 1 nobel prize in chemistry.
Asia's first Nobel Prize winner in chemistry
Member of the Royal Society
Masterpiece: Graphic Quantum Chemistry
Blood type: type A.
Position at the time of winning the Nobel Prize: Kyoto University.
Character experience
vocational selection
19181kloc-0/0 On October 4th, Kenichi Fukui was born in an employee's family in Itonomachi, Nara Prefecture, Japan. His father graduated from Tokyo University of Commerce and works in a British company. Fukui has a well-off family and received a good education since childhood. He not only studied the Analects of Confucius and other traditional classics, but also was influenced by European and American culture and advanced technology. In middle school, Kenichi Fukui studied in Osaka Likong Junior High School and Old Osaka Senior High School. His mathematics and German are excellent, but the future theoretical chemist is very uninterested in middle school chemistry. In the entrance examination, Fukui was influenced by his family relatives and professor of industrialization at Imperial University of Kyoto, and chose his least favorite chemistry as his lifelong major.
learning process
1938, Fukui was admitted to the Department of Industrial Chemistry of Kyoto University. After entering the university, Fukui did not give up his interest in mathematics and took a large number of courses in mathematics and theoretical physics, during which he laid a solid foundation in mathematics. 194 1 Graduated from Fukui University and entered the laboratory of Professor Yu Nobujiro, Department of Fuel Chemistry, Kyoto University to study for a master's degree. The second-order Junlang studied in Germany in his early years and brought back a large number of European books and materials after returning to Japan. At that time, European quantum theory was in an unprecedented development process. Through these precious books, Kenichi Fukui came into contact with the frontier of theoretical scientific research at that time. He was a lecturer at Kyoto University from 65438 to 0943, and Fukui received his doctorate from 65438 to 0948. After graduating from Fukui, he stayed in the Department of Fuel Chemistry of Kyoto University and engaged in theoretical research in a poor laboratory. Professor of Physical Chemistry at Kyoto University from 195 1. In the same year, Kenichi Fukui published the first paper of frontier orbital theory, Molecular Orbit Study of Aromatic Reactivity, which laid the foundation of Fukui's theory. Fukui's early work was not recognized by people. His colleagues and superiors thought that Fukui did not concentrate on applied chemistry, but hoped to put forward a brand-new basic theory of chemistry, hoping to introduce quantum mechanics into the field of chemistry, which was not accepted by the chemical community at that time, which was unrealistic and arrogant. Japanese academic circles also pay little attention to Fukui's theory. Until the1960s, European and American academic circles began to quote a large number of Fukui's papers, and Japanese talents began to re-examine the value of Fukui's theory. Due to Fukui's pioneering work in frontier orbital theory, Kyoto University has gradually formed a theoretical chemistry research team with him as the core, and Fukui School has also become an important school in the field of quantum chemistry.
erudite and scholarly contribution
Kenichi Fukui has long been engaged in the study of quantum chemistry theory and organic compounds, and summed up the famous frontier orbital theory. He pointed out that many properties of compound molecules are mainly determined by the highest occupied molecular orbital phase and the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital. All electrons in the frontier orbit can be paired first. This plays a decisive role in choosing the reaction route of organic synthesis. 195 1 year, when Kenichi Fukuoka put forward this theory, it did not attract people's attention. Woodward and Hoffman first affirmed the value of this theory in 1959, and used it to study the stereochemical selection law of pericyclic reactions, and further developed it into the conservation of molecular orbital symmetry. These findings not only explain some unexplained phenomena in previous chemical reactions, but also predict whether many chemical reactions can be carried out. Under the guidance of frontier orbital theory and the conservation of molecular orbital symmetry, the synthesis of vitamin B 12 is a very successful example.
Frontier orbit theory
Frontline orbit theory is the theory that Kenichi Fukui became famous. In this theory, the electron cloud distributed around molecules is divided into molecular orbits with different energy levels according to energy. Fukui believes that the molecular orbital, the highest energy (HOMO) and the lowest energy (LUMO) with electronic configuration that are not occupied by electrons are the key to determine the chemical reaction of a system. Although the molecular orbitals of other energies have little effect on the chemical reaction, they can be ignored for the time being. HOMO and LUMO are the so-called frontier orbits.
Fukui proposed that by calculating the molecular orbitals of the particles involved in the reaction, the frontier orbital information, such as energy, wave function phase, overlap degree, etc., can explain various chemical reaction behaviors quite satisfactorily. For some behaviors that can't be explained by classical theory, we can also give a satisfactory explanation by frontier orbit theory. The frontier orbital theory is simple, intuitive and effective, and is widely used in the theoretical study of chemical reactions, biomacromolecule reaction processes and catalytic mechanisms.
Natural response coordinate method
According to the transition state theory, the process of chemical reaction is the process that the system slides from one lowest point to another lowest point on the potential energy surface through a specific path. It is a task of chemical reaction dynamics to study the trajectory left by the system sliding on the potential energy surface. The intrinsic reaction coordinate method proposed by Fukui can clarify the relationship between each force on the reaction path and the nuclear displacement of the system.
Visualization of quantum chemistry
Both frontier orbit theory and intrinsic reaction coordinate method transform complex and abstract quantum chemical formulas into simple and intuitive approximate theories. All the work of Kenichi Fukui focuses on the goal of visualizing quantum chemistry. Through his theory, traditional chemists can directly use the theory of quantum chemistry to guide experiments without deducing and calculating abstract formulas, which opens the mysterious door of theoretical chemistry for them. For this reason, Fukui specially compiled the book Graphical Quantum Chemistry, which is a classic reading for non-theoretical chemistry professionals to understand quantum chemistry.
Winning record
198 1 year, Kenichi Fukui shared the Nobel Prize in chemistry with Roald Hoffmann, an American scientist who proposed conservation of molecular orbital symmetry. In the same year, he was awarded a series of honors, such as foreign academician of American Academy of Sciences, academician of European College of Arts and Sciences, Japanese Government Cultural Medal, and member of Royal Society. 1982, Fukui retired from Kyoto University and was hired as the president of Kyoto University of Technology and Fiber (Kyoto University of Technology). At the same time, he is the director of Fukui Institute of Basic Chemistry and the director of Kyoto Institute of Basic Chemistry.
works