Affiliation:
1. Department of Chemistry and Energy Sciences Institute, Yale University,New Haven, Connecticut, USA
Abstract
Starting life with a dramatic escape from Nazi Germany, Peter Maitlis rose to make important contributions to a variety of areas of organometallic chemistry, many of which have had a continuing influence in both academic and industrial practice. Perhaps his most significant work was his early discovery of pentamethylcyclopentadienyl complexes of rhodium and iridium, compounds that have been eagerly taken up elsewhere for a very wide variety of purposes. His mechanistic work related to the Fischer–Tropsch and Cativa processes had important industrial implications.