Dr. Thomas Information Sheet

Chemistry 1423.002, Honors General Chemistry

To my Chem 1423 class,

I asked you for an information sheet to help me get to know you better. In response, several of you asked about an information sheet from me. OK, here are a few things which may or may not be of interest.

I grew up in west central Ohio. I always loved math and science and intended to major in mathematics when I went to Denison University for my undergraduate work. However, I really enjoyed science, and particularly fell in love with organic lab my sophomore year. It was at that time that I switched my major to chemistry. I worked on several different research projects while I was an undergraduate. That made me realize that I wanted to become a chemist.

I worked at Battelle Columbus Labs as a research chemist for two years following graduation. I did a variety of very interesting things, including testing the applicability of extracts from seaweed for practical use (e.g. as thickeners in ice cream). I also worked on a team developing methods to test blood and urine for drugs. Such methods were generally not available at the time, but were needed by physicians in emergency rooms for the diagnosis of patients unable to communicate what they had ingested. I also helped develop and verify several tests now used to determine the amount of various compounds in the air. (I might explain that Battelle is a contract research organization. It got its start by developing the photocopying process. The person with the original idea for the dry photo reproduction process contacted Battelle for help in developing his idea. However, he could not afford much money, so paid Battelle in stock. The company formed to produce the product eventually changed its name to the Xerox Corporation. By the way, do you know what the word "xerox" means? Go to the Xerox home page and find out. For more neat things that Battelle scientists have done, click on the innovations button of the Battelle Columbus Labs homepage.)

I then went to Wayne State University to do graduate work. I earned my Ph.D. studying the properties of aluminum, gallium, indium, and lithium organometallic compounds. (Organometallic compounds are compounds with a metal attached to a carbon group.)

Upon completing my doctorate, I joined the faculty at North Texas State University....which, of course, is now University of North Texas.

My research interests are the development of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques and their use in the study of organolithium compounds. I am most known internationally for my work on the structures of organolithium compounds. Most recently, we have discovered a structure containing 12 lithiums which we believe is in the shape of a cuboctahedron. No such structure has previously been observed for lithium compounds. If this structure is correct, it requires a new type of bonding in part of the molecule not previously observed in organolithium compounds. Needless to say, my students and I are very excited about these new developments. We were also among the first to show how some of these organolithium compounds rearrange in solution. "Why does anyone care?", you ask. Well, I do it because I think it is fun and the structures are aesthetically very nice. The synthetic techniques used to make the compounds (including the vacuum line shown on the left) and the NMR techniques we use to study them have much broader use.  Therefore synthesizing and studying these compounds serve as powerful training tools for students. However, on a wider scale, organolithium compounds are used commercially in the preparation of pharmaceuticals, agricultural chemicals, and even polymers for truck tires. Without a knowledge of the structures and properties of the compounds, development and optimization of their use is by trial and error. By understanding their properties, their use can be developed in a rational fashion. In fact, we have designed and developed several new organolithium compounds which have special chemical properties for making certain types of other compounds.

I love chemistry and I love to teach it. I really enjoy seeing students understand the concepts we are studying. I still learn new things every time I teach, which is terrific and is one of the major reasons why I have turned down opportunities to work in industry.  Best of all, I get a special thrill when I see students who have gone on to successful careers after working in my research lab or taking my classes.

Teaching has also given me the opportunity to do many things I would not have been able to do otherwise.  This includes multiple trips to Europe to discuss my research with other scientists at conferences and universities.  I also went on a six week NSF science expedition to Antarctica in 1992  with TAMS student Elizabeth Morales.  The picture at right is of Elizabeth and me on one of our last days on an ice floe in the Weddell Sea. It was one of the warmer days, approximately -15° F. Although it looks like we are standing on land, it was actually frozen ocean (approximately 3-4 feet thick). My story of the trip appeared in serial form in Fall, 1992, in three issues of Retort, a publication of the Dallas-Fort Worth Section of the American Chemical Society.  A better copy of this picture and a map of our journey in and out of the Weddell Sea is on my office wall.  Please take a look the next time you are in my office.

When I am not thinking about chemistry (that includes research, teaching, and administrative work as Chair of the Chemistry Department) I like to spend time with my family, read action novels like those by Tom Clancy, and play with computers (like making this webpage). My husband is a software engineer and my daughter is a junior computer science major at Rice University. I have been able to learn a lot about computers from both of them.

The newest members of our family, as of January, 1999, are two 12 week old kittens. Alex is a super affectionate orange tabby. His sister, Wendy, is a somewhat skittish tortoiseshell with a tabby splotch on her face. When awake, they are two inseparable little bundles of energy. They are currently into playing hockey with balls of yarn, hiding in grocery sacks, and waging kitty wars against each other.

I doubt if the information included here will help you learn chemistry any better, but hopefully it will help you have a better idea of why I enjoy chemistry so much.

Written and maintained by R. D. Thomas

Department of Chemistry, P.O. Box 305070, University of North Texas, Denton, TX 76203