Thomas J. Kealy

Thomas Joseph Kealy (December 22, 1927[1] – May 17, 2012[1][2]) was an American chemist.

Personal

He was born in 1927 to Thomas S. Kealy (from Ireland) and Josephine Kealy (born Frawley), in New York. He had three siblings, including John F. and Josephine Joan (married Clarke). Thomas married Patricia Weaver in 1953.[1]

Education and career

Thomas graduated in 1950 from the Manhattan College, New York.[2]

In 1951, while a student at Duquesne University, he and his advisor Peter Pauson discovered the compound ferrocene by accident, while trying to prepare fulvalene. Their discovery revolutionized chemistry and created organometallic chemistry as a separate discipline.[3][4]

Between 1957 and 1967, at least, he was working as a research chemist for DuPont in Delaware. His published research includes the addition reaction of phenols with ethylene,[5] the chemistry of allene (propadiene, H2C=C=CH2),[6] the synthesis of diazaquinones,[7] the co-dimerization of monoalkenes and conjugated dienes.[8] He also filed a patent on synthesis of biciclooctenones in 1957,[9] one on diazaquinones in 1960,[10] and one on extrudable alkene copolymers in 1968.[11]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Thomas Joseph Kealy". MyHeritage genealogy website. Accessed on 2019-03-30.
  2. ^ a b (2013) "In Memoriam". Manhattan College Alumni Magazine, Fall 2012, published 2013-07-10, page 58,
  3. ^ Arthur Greenberg (2014): Chemistry: Decade by Decade, page 181. Infobase Publishing, 470 pages. ISBN 9781438109787
  4. ^ Jeffrey I. Seeman and Stuart Cantrill (2016): "Wrong but seminal". Nature Chemistry, volume 8, pages 193–200. doi:10.1038/nchem.2455.
  5. ^ T. J. Kealy and D. D. Coffman (1961): "Thermal Addition Reactions of Monocyclic Phenols with Ethylene". Journal of Organic Chemistry, volume 26, issue 4, pages 987–992. doi:10.1021/jo01063a001
  6. ^ T. J. Kealy and R. E. Benson (1961): "Chemistry of allene. IV. Carbonylation reactions of allene". Journal of Organic Chemistry, volume 26, issue 9, pages 3126–3130. doi:10.1021/jo01067a020
  7. ^ Thomas J. Kealy (1962): "The Chemistry of Diazaquinones: 3,6-Pyridazinedione and 1,4-Phthalazinedione". Journal of the American Chemical Society, volume 84, issue 6, pages 966–973. doi:10.1021/ja00865a018
  8. ^ Roy Glenn. Miller, Thomas J. Kealy, and Arthur L. Barney (1967): "Codimerization of α-olefins and conjugated dienes by a nickel-based coordination catalyst". J. Am. Chem. Soc., volume 89, issue 15, pages 3756–3761. doi:10.1021/ja00991a013
  9. ^ Thomas J Kealy (1957): "Patent US2883425A: Method for preparing bicyclooctenones". U. S. Patent Office. Assigned to E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. Filed 1957-01-31, granted 1959-04-21, expired 1976-04-21.
  10. ^ Thomas J Kealy (1960): "Patent US3062820A: Pyridazino[1, 2-a]-pyridazine-1, 4-diones and pyridazino[1, 2-b]-phthalazine-6, 11-diones". U. S. Patent Office. Assigned to E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. Filed 1960-05-02, granted 1962-11-06, expired 1979-11-06.
  11. ^ Thomas J Kealy (1968): "Patent US3627723A: Filler loaded elastomeric compositions having improved extrudability and physical properties". U. S. Patent Office. Assigned to E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. Filed 1968-12-26, granted 1971-12-14, expired 1988-12-14.