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GREGORY L. HILLHOUSE

1955-2014

Chemistry professor who made “Double Nickel” breakthrough and

broke down barriers for LGBTQ+ scientists

Black and white photograph of Gregory Hillhouse

A recipient of the 2013 American Chemical Society’s National Award in Organometallic Chemistry, Gregory Hillhouse was recognized for overturning old assumptions about the stability of multiple bonds among late transition metals, particularly with nickel.

 

Hillhouse was born in Greenville, SC, in 1955. He went on to earn a BS in chemistry from the University of South Carolina and a PhD in inorganic chemistry from Indiana University Bloomington. After three years as a postdoctoral fellow at the California Institute of Technology, he joined the UChicago faculty in 1983, where he remained until his death from pancreatic cancer.

 

Much of Hillhouse’s work focused on creating organometallic compounds to stabilize and isolate reactive intermediates—molecules that exist briefly during a larger catalytic reaction cycle.

 

Hillhouse had a long-standing interest in the chemistry of nitrogen in transition metal compounds stemming from his doctoral thesis. In 2001 he and his colleagues achieved a significant breakthrough in organometallic chemistry by synthesizing a molecule nicknamed “Double Nickel.” This compound featured a double bond between nickel and nitrogen, which had previously been deemed impossible. This molecule exemplified Hillhouse’s ability to stabilize reactive species, making it possible to study elusive intermediates that play crucial
roles in various reactions and processes.

 

Hillhouse’s subsequent research provided valuable insights into the unseen intermediates involved in catalytic reactions and had applications in the development of pharmaceuticals, the operation of catalytic converters, and the combustion of rocket fuel.

 

Throughout his career, Hillhouse mentored nearly 70 graduate and undergraduate students as well as postdocs in his research group– along with countless students across the broader UChicago community. Hillhouse, who came out as gay later in life, also served as a role model for younger LGBTQ+ scientists. Hillhouse’s scientific breakthroughs and other achievements left an indelible mark on his field, and his impact on generations of mentees extended far beyond
inorganic chemistry.

Photo Source: Professor Milton Smith III

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