DeLos F. DeTar
Born1920 (1920)
Kansas City, Missouri
Alma materUniversity of Illinois
University of Pennsylvania
Known forcomputational chemistry
physical organic chemistry

DeLos F. DeTar (1920-2022)[1] was an American chemist known for his work in computational chemistry and physical organic chemistry.

Education and early life

DeTar was born in 1920 in Kansas City, Missouri and grew up in Elgin, Illinois. After his 1941 graduation from the University of Illinois, where he worked with Carl S. Marvel as an undergraduate, he was accepted to the University of Pennsylvania for graduate work. He completed a Ph.D. in chemistry under the supervision of Marvin Carmack in 1944.[2]

Career and important contributions

After working for a short time with the Dupont Company, he became a lecturer at Cornell University, followed by an eight-year stint at the University of South Carolina (where he helped form their first Ph.D. degree program in chemistry).[3] In 1961 he joined the chemistry department at Florida State University, where he remained until retiring in 1988.

During his career, DeTar wrote or co-authored 498 peer-reviewed publications in the areas of physical organic chemistry and computational chemistry between 1941 and 2007. His most cited papers were focused on reaction mechanisms [4][5] and the properties of conformationally flexible molecules.[6][7] In 1976, he became the founding editor of the journal Computers and Chemistry (now known as Computational Biology and Chemistry).[8]

Although DeTar retired his faculty position and was given the title of Professor Emeritus in 1988,[9] he was prolific in retirement and subsequently published 95 more papers; his last was published in 2007, in the Journal of Physical Chemistry A.[10]

Awards and honors

DeTar was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1983.[11] He also was recognized with the Florida Award by the Florida section of the American Chemical Society in 1987.[12]

Personal life

DeTar married Francis Patty Livesay in 1943. Together they had four children (Carleton, Caroline, Marvin, and Martha). Carleton was a professor of physics at the University of Utah,[13] and published at least one article together with his father.[14] The DeTars were founding members of the Unitarian Universalist Association in Columbia, South Carolina and became active members of the Tallahassee congregation. Patty died in 2003 after sixty years of marriage; DeTar then married Karlene Losey Sabin, who died in 2012.

References

  1. ↑ "Obituaries in Tallahassee, FL | Tallahassee Democrat". tallahassee.com. Retrieved 2023-10-02.
  2. ↑ "Cooke Tree #1" (PDF). CareerChem. Retrieved 29 June 2022.
  3. ↑ "DeLos Fletcher DeTar". Tallahassee.com. Tallahassee Democrat. Retrieved 29 June 2022.
  4. ↑ DeTar, D.F.; Silverstein, R. (1966). "Reactions of Carbodiimides. I. The Mechanisms of the Reactions of Acetic Acid with Dicyclohexylcarbodiimide". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 88 (5): 1013–1019. doi:10.1021/ja00957a027. Retrieved 29 June 2022.
  5. ↑ DeTar, D.F.; Luthra, N.P. (1980). "Quantitative evaluation of steric effects in SN2 ring closure reactions". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 102 (13): 4505–4512. doi:10.1021/ja00533a033. Retrieved 29 June 2022.
  6. ↑ DeTar, D.F.; Luthra, N.P. (1977). "Conformations of proline". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 99 (4): 1232–1244. doi:10.1021/ja00446a040. PMID 833398. Retrieved 29 June 2022.
  7. ↑ DeTar, D.F.; Tenpas, C.J. (1976). "Calculations of steric hindrance in ester hydrolysis based on estimation of van der Waals strain energies of alkanes". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 98 (15): 4567–4571. doi:10.1021/ja00431a039. Retrieved 29 June 2022.
  8. ↑ DeTar, D.F. (1976). "Editorial". Computers and Chemistry. 1 (1): 1. doi:10.1016/0097-8485(76)80001-0. Retrieved 29 June 2022.
  9. ↑ "Emerita/Emeritus Status | Office of Faculty Development and Advancement". fda.fsu.edu. Retrieved 2023-12-21.
  10. ↑ DeTar, DeLos F. (2007). "Calculation of Entropy and Heat Capacity of Organic Compounds in the Gas Phase. Evaluation of a Consistent Method without Adjustable Parameters. Applications to Hydrocarbons". Journal of Physical Chemistry A. 111 (20): 4464–4477. Bibcode:2007JPCA..111.4464D. doi:10.1021/jp066312r. PMID 17447733. Retrieved 1 July 2022.
  11. ↑ "Historic Fellows". AAAS. Retrieved 29 June 2022.
  12. ↑ "Florida Award". Florida Local Section. American Chemical Society. Retrieved 29 June 2022.
  13. ↑ "Carleton DeTar". University of Utah. Retrieved 1 July 2022.
  14. ↑ DeTar, DeLos F.; DeTar, Carleton E. (1966). "General Computer Techniques for Evaluating the Time-Concentration Relationships Predicted by Reaction Mechanisms, Including Complex Enzyme Mechanisms". Journal of Physical Chemistry. 70 (12): 3842–3847. doi:10.1021/j100884a016. Retrieved 1 July 2022.
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