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Marilyn Olmstead

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Marilyn Olmstead was an American chemist, an expert in small molecule crystallography and a international leader in the crystallographic study of fullerenes, or "Buckyballs." She held the position of Professor Emerita of Chemistry at the University of California Davis, where she published more than 1,190 articles in scientific journals and had been cited more than 34,000 times.

She was elected as a Fellow of the American Chemical Society in 2014[1][2][3] and the American Crystallographic Association in 2017,[4] Marilyn also served as a teacher, mentor, and advocate for students and junior faculty.[5][6][7]

Early life

Marilyn Olmstead was born on December 8, 1943 in Glendale, CA.[7]  Marilyn developed an interest in science as a child. Her parents allowed her to pursue her "tomboy" interests in cowboys, stamps, rocks, and insects and when she was 8, bought her a microscope. At 12, she obtained a general operator's license in ham radio, becoming the youngest female ham radio operator in the US. She built radio transmitters and antennas and communicated using Morse code with "hams" as far away as South Africa. During summers, she worked as a draftswoman at Lockheed and a YMCA camp counselor. In high school, she played tennis and was also Burbank High School's homecoming queen. She graduated from Burbank High School in 1961.

Higher education

Marilyn earned a B.A. in Chemistry from Reed College in 1965.  She attended University of Wisconsin-Madison for her graduate studies and was supported by a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship.  She received her Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1969. She was the only woman in her graduating class of 40 students.[5]

Career and discoveries

Marilyn started at University of California, Davis in 1969, coming from University of Wisconsin-Madison with a Ph.D. in chemistry. She held a variety of positions in the Department of Chemistry at the University of California, Davis: Lecturer in Chemistry (1969-1975), Postdoctoral Fellow (1971-1986), Staff Research Associate (X-ray Crystallography) (1986-1997), and Specialist (1997-2003). By 2000, Marilyn Olmstead directed one of the most productive crystallographic labs in the world and was the most published and cited member of the Chemistry Department. Finally, in 2003, when Marilyn was 60 years old, she was appointed to the faculty as full professor. She became a faculty member at the rank of Professor Step 2 in 2003, and advanced through the system to Professor, Step 6 in 2015. She became emerita in 2015.

Marilyn Olmstead was an internationally-recognized expert in small molecule crystallography. She published more than 1,190 articles in scientific journals and had been cited more than 34,000 times. A focus of her research since 1990 was the structural characterization by X-ray crystallography of fullerenes, both empty and filled (endohedrals) cages, in collaboration with Professor Alan Balch. She contributed to many of the seminal papers that described previously undetected higher fullerenes (larger than C70) and endohedral fullerenes (those that contain encaged metals and small clusters). She pushed boundaries of crystallography, employing synchrotron radiation and ultra-low temperature data collection. Complementing her work on fullerenes and carbon nonocapsules, Marilyn also collaborated with petroleum scientists to provide definitive structural characterization of a number of the large family of diamondoid hydrocarbons found in oil wells.

Notable Discoveries

• Structural characterization of the first boron-centered radical[8]

• Structure of the first endohedral metallofullerene[9]

• Isolation and structural proof of the first large diamondoid cyclohexamantane[10]

• Structure of [123]tetramantane, a new type of σ-helical structure based on a diamondoid (nanodiamond) framework[11]

• Structure of the first fullerene that did not obey the Isolated pentagon rule[12]

• Structural characterization of the largest fullerene[13] (until 2018 when this record was broken[14])

• Structure of a fullerene with the most atoms encapsulated inside[15]

• Structure of the first fullerene with a heptagon[16]

Marilyn Olmstead served as an original co-editor of the journal Acta Crystallographica Section E over a ten-year period, from 2001 to 2011. She also served on the editorial boards of the journal Inorganic Chemistry and Journal of Coordination Chemistry. She was very active in the American Crystallographic Association, having served in the elected positions of chair of the General Interest Group, and Chair of the Continuing Education Committee in that organization. She served as a member of the Journal’s Commission of the International Union of Crystallography. She was an elected member of the U.S. National Committee on Crystallography, a branch of the National Academy of Sciences, whose goal is the promotion of the science of crystallography through education and outreach activities.

In 2014 Marilyn was elected a Fellow of the American Chemical Society, which recognized her crystallographic work on fullerenes and service to the profession.[1][2][3] In 2017, she was elected a Fellow of the American Crystallographic Association.[4]

Death

Marilyn Olmstead loved biking and was killed on September 30, 2020 in a collision while cycling on a rural road north of Davis, CA.[17]

References

  1. ^ a b "2014 ACS Fellows". cen.acs.org. Retrieved 2021-08-14.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. ^ a b "Three Alumni Named 2014 ACS Fellows". Department of Chemistry. 2014-07-22. Retrieved 2021-08-14.
  3. ^ a b "Women From Higher Education Named Fellows of American Chemical Society". Women In Academia Report. 2014-08-06. Retrieved 2021-08-14.
  4. ^ a b "Fellows of the American Crystallographic Association". www.amercrystalassn.org. Retrieved 2021-08-14.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  5. ^ a b "Marilyn Olmstead: My Life and Career in Chemistry | The Capitol Chemist". Retrieved 2021-08-14.
  6. ^ "Obituary: Marilyn Olmstead". cen.acs.org. Retrieved 2021-08-14.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. ^ a b "Remembering Professor Marilyn Olmstead". UC Davis Chemistry. 2020-10-08. Retrieved 2021-08-14.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  8. ^ Olmstead, Marilyn M.; Power, Philip P. (1986-07-01). "First structural characterization of a boron-centered radical: x-ray crystal structure of [Li(12-crown-4)2]+ [BMes3]-.bul". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 108 (14): 4235–4236. doi:10.1021/ja00274a071. ISSN 0002-7863.
  9. ^ Stevenson, S.; Rice, G.; Glass, T.; Harich, K.; Cromer, F.; Jordan, M. R.; Craft, J.; Hadju, E.; Bible, R.; Olmstead, M. M.; Maitra, K. (1999). "Small-bandgap endohedral metallofullerenes in high yield and purity". Nature. 401 (6748): 55–57. doi:10.1038/43415. ISSN 1476-4687.
  10. ^ Dahl, Jeremy E. P.; Moldowan, J. Michael; Peakman, Torren M.; Clardy, Jon C.; Lobkovsky, Emil; Olmstead, Marilyn M.; May, Paul W.; Davis, Tim J.; Steeds, John W.; Peters, Ken E.; Pepper, Andy (2003). "Isolation and Structural Proof of the Large Diamond Molecule, Cyclohexamantane (C26H30)". Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 42 (18): 2040–2044. doi:10.1002/anie.200250794. ISSN 1521-3773.
  11. ^ Schreiner, Peter R.; Fokin, Andrey A.; Reisenauer, Hans Peter; Tkachenko, Boryslav A.; Vass, Elemér; Olmstead, Marilyn M.; Bläser, Dieter; Boese, Roland; Dahl, Jeremy E. P.; Carlson, Robert M. K. (2009-08-19). "[123]Tetramantane: Parent of a New Family of σ-Helicenes". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 131 (32): 11292–11293. doi:10.1021/ja904527g. ISSN 0002-7863.
  12. ^ Olmstead, Marilyn M.; Lee, Hon Man; Duchamp, James C.; Stevenson, Steven; Marciu, Daniela; Dorn, Harry C.; Balch, Alan L. (2003). "Sc3N@C68: Folded Pentalene Coordination in an Endohedral Fullerene that Does Not Obey the Isolated Pentagon Rule". Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 42 (8): 900–903. doi:10.1002/anie.200390237. ISSN 1521-3773.
  13. ^ Mercado, Brandon Q.; Jiang, An; Yang, Hua; Wang, Zhimin; Jin, Hongxiao; Liu, Ziyang; Olmstead, Marilyn M.; Balch, Alan L. (2009). "Isolation and Structural Characterization of the Molecular Nanocapsule Sm2@D3d(822)-C104". Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 48 (48): 9114–9116. doi:10.1002/anie.200904662. ISSN 1521-3773.
  14. ^ Pan, Changwang; Bao, Lipiao; Yu, Xianyong; Fang, Hongyun; Xie, Yunpeng; Akasaka, Takeshi; Lu, Xing (2018-02-27). "Facile Access to Y2C2n (2n = 92–130) and Crystallographic Characterization of Y2C2@C1(1660)-C108: A Giant Nanocapsule with a Linear Carbide Cluster". ACS Nano. 12 (2): 2065–2069. doi:10.1021/acsnano.8b00384. ISSN 1936-0851.
  15. ^ Mercado, Brandon Q.; Olmstead, Marilyn M.; Beavers, Christine M.; Easterling, Michael L.; Stevenson, Steven; Mackey, Mary A.; Coumbe, Curtis E.; Phillips, Joshua D.; Phillips, J. Paige; Poblet, Josep M.; Balch, Alan L. (2009-12-15). "A seven atom cluster in a carbon cage, the crystallographically determined structure of Sc4(μ3-O)3@Ih-C80". Chemical Communications. 46 (2): 279–281. doi:10.1039/B918731F. ISSN 1364-548X.
  16. ^ Zhang, Yang; Ghiassi, Kamran B.; Deng, Qingming; Samoylova, Nataliya A.; Olmstead, Marilyn M.; Balch, Alan L.; Popov, Alexey A. (2015). "Synthesis and Structure of LaSc2N@Cs(hept)-C80 with One Heptagon and Thirteen Pentagons". Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 54 (2): 495–499. doi:10.1002/anie.201409094. ISSN 1521-3773.
  17. ^ "Retired UCD chem professor killed while cycling on rural road". Davis Enterprise. 2020-10-01. Retrieved 2021-08-14.


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