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Boris KamenarCurriculum vitaeDr. Boris Kamenar, professor of inorganic chemistry at the Faculty ofScience and a member of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, wasborn on February 20th, 1929 in Su{ak (Rijeka) where he finished elemen-tary school and then grammar school. In 1953, he graduated from theDepartment of Chemical Technology of the Technical Faculty, University ofZagreb. In 1953, he founded the Laboratory for Chemical and MechanicalExaminations at the Crane Factory and Foundry »Vulkan« in Rijeka, serv-ing as the head of the laboratory until 1956. From 1956 to 1962, he workedas an assistant in the Department of Structural and Inorganic Chemistry atthe Ru|er Bo{kovi} Institute. He defended his Ph.D. thesis Nova metoda zadobivanje ~istog silicija i bora (A New Method for Obtaining Pure Silicon andBoron) at the Faculty of Science in 1960 under the guidance of Professor DragoGrdeni}. In 1962, he was appointed assistant professor, in 1966, associateprofessor and in 1972, he became full professor at the Laboratory of Generaland Inorganic Chemistry, Faculty of Science. As a member of the LinacreCollege and a postdoctoral fellow he spent the 1964/1965 academic year inthe Chemical Crystallography Laboratory at the Oxford University in theresearch group of Professor Dorothy C. Hodgkin. In the period 1971/1972, asa Visiting Fellow of All Souls College, he joined the same research team. Hewas appointed visiting professor three times at two different universities inNew Zealand. In 1980, he spent six months at the Auckland University andduring the 1989/1990 academic year and for one term of the 1995/1996 aca-demic year he was engaged by the Massey University at Palmerston North.Boris Kamenar's scientific interest is inorganic chemistry and the X-raystructural analysis of the new inorganic, coordination, and organometalliccompounds, as well as compounds of pharmacological importance. Especiallynoteworthy is his research in preparing pure silicon and boron for semicon-ductor use and determination of the structures of tin(II), arsenic(III) andantimony(III) compounds to elucidate the function of the unshared electronpair. Furthermore, he has been involved in the synthesis and X-ray struc-ture determination of a large number of mercury compounds and coordina-tion compounds of iron, nickel, copper, niobium and other transition metals.However, he has been mostly engaged in investigations of the molybdenumcomplex compounds that can serve as models for understanding the struc-CROATICA CHEMICA ACTA 72 (2–3) (1999) IXture and function of molybdenum enzymes and also as catalysts in a vastnumber of chemical processes. He also undertook to solve the crystal struc-ture of biologically and pharmacologically relevant organic compounds.Mention should be made of his work on the class of new azalide macrocyclicantibiotics (azitromycin) and potential antihyperglycemics from the class ofdioxepino-azirines. This research is the result of B. Kamenar’s long lastingcooperation with the Research Institute of the PLIVA pharmaceutical com-pany.Forty-five years of Boris Kamenar’s scientific career coincides with thedevelopment of the research field to which he has dedicated himself – theX-ray structure analysis. This period was characterized by introduction ofnew diffraction techniques and computational methods aimed at solving thechemical problems through recognising the molecular structure. Since thetime when experimental diffraction data were recorded on photographicfilm and their relative intensities were measured visually, when structuredetermination of small molecules, regardless of the heavy atom presence,took a year or more, Boris Kamenar has been one of the structural chemiststhat witnessed and participated in the developments when automatic dif-fractometers, electronic computers and new methods of calculation were in-troduced into determination of molecular and crystal structures.So far, Boris Kamenar has published 125 original scientific papers inprominent international journals, the most outstanding of them being Jour-nal of Chemical Society (London), Inorganica Chimica Acta, Polyhedron, Zeit-schrift für Kristallographie and Acta Crystallographica, and 19 articles intechnical journals and periodicals. During his career he has given 14 ple-nary lectures at scientific meetings and 23 lectures at foreign universitiesas invited speaker. With about 210 contributions he attended with his co-workers a large number of domestic and foreign scientific conferences. Heparticipated in organizing several dozens of international and national sci-entific meetings. He was also invited to write review articles and chaptersfor books in the area of his scientific interest. Two of them are: C. K. Proutand B. Kamenar, Crystal Structures of Electron-Donor-Acceptor Complexes(a chapter in the book Molecular Complexes, ed. R. Foster, Paul Enke Scien-tific Books Limited, London, 1973) and B. Kamenar and B. Kaitner, TheCrystal and Molecular Structure of Oxo-bridged Binuclear Iron(III) ComplexContaining the Methoxide Derivative of the Tetrabenzo-b,f,j,n1,5,9,13-tetra-azacyclohexadecine (an article in the book Structural Studies on Moleculesof Biological Interest: A Volume in Honour of Professor Dorothy Hodgkin, eds.G. Dodson, J. P. Glusker and D. Sayre, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1981). Theformer comprises earlier knowledge about the structures of charge-transfercomplexes, and the latter offers a complete review of the biologically inter-esting molecular structures containing an iron-oxygen-iron bridge.X CROATICA CHEMICA ACTA 72 (2–3) (1999)For many years Boris Kamenar attracted a large number of coworkersto different scientific projects. He was supervisor to numerous undergradu-ate as well as 16 M.Sc. and 12 Ph.D. graduate students, who successfullydefended their theses. As a member of the Laboratory of General and Inor-ganic Chemistry of the Department of Chemistry, he delivered lectures inalmost all courses for undergraduate students: General Chemistry, Generaland Inorganic Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry, Crystal Chemistry and Inor-ganic Stereochemistry and the Chemistry of Organometallic Compounds. Aspart of graduate studies, he taught courses in Modern Methods of InorganicChemistry, Selected Chapters of Crystal Chemistry and Single Crystal andPowder X-ray Diffraction.He has held many different positions at the Faculty of Science and theUniversity of Zagreb. He served as the head of the Chemistry Departmentin 1965–1966, vice-dean of the Faculty of Science (1968–1970), head of theUniversity of Zagreb Graduate Studies in Chemistry in 1972–1980, dean ofthe Faculty (1976–1978), and head of the Laboratory of General and Inorganicchemistry of the Faculty of Science (1982–1984). From 1976–1980, he wasthe president, and in the period from 1980–1982, the vice-president of theCroatian Chemical Society. In 1978, he was elected to chair the EuropeanCrystallographic Committee as its vice-president (1978–1981) and presidentfrom 1981–1984. Since 1992, he has chaired the Croatian CrystallographicAssociation. He is a member of the Croatian Chemical Society, Royal Che-mical Society (London), American Chemical Society and the EuropeanCrystallographic Council and the representative of the Croatian crystallo-graphers in the International Union of Crystallography. He served on theEditorial Board of the Kemija u industriji (Chemistry in Industry) technicaljournal, was assistant editor of the Godi{njak Jugoslavenskog centra za kri-stalografiju (Annual of the Yugoslav Centre of Crystallography) and he hasbeen a member of the Advisory Board of the journals Croatica Chemica Actaand Bulletin of the Chemists and Technologists of Macedonia. He wasawarded the Republic prize Ru|er Bo{kovi} (1970), and the City of Zagrebaward for scientific work (1980). Since 1975, he was an associate memberand since 1991 he has been a full member of the Croatian Academy of Scien-ces and Arts.CROATICA CHEMICA ACTA 72 (2–3) (1999) XI@ivotopisDr. Boris Kamenar, redoviti profesor anorganske kemije Prirodoslovno-matemati~kog fakulteta i ~lan Hrvatske akademije znanosti i umjetnosti,ro|en je 20. velja~e 1929. godine u Su{aku (Rijeka), gdje je zavr{io osnovnu{kolu i klasi~nu gimnaziju. Godine 1953. diplomirao je na Kemijsko-tehno-lo{kom odsjeku Tehni~kog fakulteta Sveu~ili{ta u Zagrebu. 1953. godine uTvornici dizalica i ljevaonici »Vulkan« u Rijeci osniva Laboratorij za kemij-ska i mehani~ka ispitivanja i njegovim je voditeljem do 1956. godine. Od1956. do 1962. godine asistent je Odjela strukturne i anorganske kemije In-stituta »Ru|er Bo{kovi}«. Doktorirao je 1960. godine na Prirodoslovno-ma-temati~kom fakultetu disertacijom Nova metoda za dobivanje ~istog silicija ibora, a izradio ju je pod vodstvom profesora Draga Grdeni}a. Od 1962. go-dine docent, 1966. izvanredni profesor, a od 1972. redoviti profesor u Zavoduza op}u i anorgansku kemiju. Godine 1964/65. kao ~lan Linacre College-a ipostdoktorand boravi u Laboratoriju za kemijsku kristalografiju Sveu~ili{tau Oxfordu u grupi profesorice Dorothy C. Hodgkin, a 1971/72. ponovno je uistoj sredini kao gostuju}i ~lan All Souls College-a. U tri je navrata gostuju}iprofesor u Novom Zelandu: 1980. {est mjeseci na Sveu~ili{tu u Aucklandu, a{kolske godine 1989/90. i jedan semestar 1995/96. na Massey sveu~ili{ta uPalmerston Northu.Podru~je znanstvenog interesa Borisa Kamenara su anorganska kemijai rentgenska strukturna analiza novih anorganskih i kompleksnih spojeva,organometalnih spojeva i organskih spojeva od farmakolo{kog zna~enja. Po-sebno se isti~e njegovo gotovo pionirsko istra`ivanje ~istog silicija i bora zapoluvodi~ku upotrebu, rje{enje struktura spojeva kositra(II), arsena(III) iantimona(III) radi utvr|ivanja stereokemijske funkcije nepodijeljenog elek-tronskog para, zatim sinteza i rje{enje struktura ve}eg broja `ivinih spoje-va, te kompleksnih spojeva `eljeza, nikla, bakra, niobija i drugih prijelaznihmetala. Me|utim, najve}i dio tih istra`ivanja odnosi se na kompleksne spo-jeve molibdena koji mogu poslu`iti kao modeli za bolje razumijevanje struk-ture i funkcije molibdoenzima i kao katalizatora u mnogim kemijskim pro-cesima. Isti~u se tu i radovi na rje{avanju struktura organskih spojeva odbiolo{kog i farmakolo{kog interesa, posebno novih makrocikli~kih antibioti-ka iz reda azalida (azitromicin) i potencijalnih antihiperglikemika iz redadioksepino-azirina. Ova posljednja istra`ivanja plod su dugogodi{nje surad-nje B. Kamenara s Istra`iva~kim institutom PLIVA.XII CROATICA CHEMICA ACTA 72 (2) (1999)^etrdeset i pet godina znanstvenog rada Borisa Kamenara podudara ses razvitkom podru~ja kojim se bavi – rentgenskom strukturnom analizom.To je razdoblje ozna~ilo razvitak difrakcijske tehnike i novih metoda ra~un-anja, a sve radi rje{avanja kemijskih problema poznavanjem strukture. Oddoba kada su se eksperimentalni difrakcijski podaci sakupljali na fotograf-skom filmu i fotometrirali, a strukture malih molekula rje{avale godinu ivi{e dana, i to naj~e{}e ako je kemijski spoj sadr`avao te{ki atom, B. Ka-menar pripada generaciji strukturnih kemi~ara, koja je svjedokom i sudi-onikom vremena kada se u odre|ivanje strukture molekula i kristala uvodeautomatski difraktometri, elektronska ra~unala i nove ra~unske metode.B. Kamenar je do sada objavio 125 znanstvenih radova u svjetski pozna-tim ~asopisima, te oko dvadesetak stru~nih radova. Isti~u se ~asopisi kao {tosu Journal of the Chemical Society (London), Inorganica Chimica Acta,Polyhedron, Zeitschrift für Kristallographie i Acta Crystallographica. Naznanstvenim je kongresima odr`ao 14 plenarnih predavanja, a na inozem-nim sveu~ili{tima 23 pozivna predavanja. Na velikom broju znanstvenihskupova u zemlji i inozemstvu sa suradnicima sudjeluje s oko 210 priop}e-nja. I sam je organizator vi{e desetaka me|unarodnih i doma}ih znanstve-nih skupova. Pozivan je da iz podru~ja kojim se bavi pi{e i pregledne ~lankei poglavlja u knjigama. Treba spomenuti sljede}e: C. K. Prout and B. Ka-menar, Crystal Structures of Electron-Donor-Acceptor Complexes (poglavljeu knjizi Molecular Complexes, ed. R. Foster, Paul Enke Scientific Books Li-mited, London, 1973), te B. Kamenar and B. Kaitner, The Crystal and Mo-lecular Structure of Oxo-bridged Binuclear Iron(III) Complex Containing theMethoxide Derivative of the Tetrabenzo-[b,f,j,n][1,5,9,13]-tetraazacyclo-hexadecine (~lanak u knjizi Structural Studies on Molecules of Biological In-terest: A Volume in Honour of Professor Dorothy Hodgkin, eds. G. Dodson, J.P. Glusker and D. Sayre, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1981). U prvom je siste-matizirano tada{nje znanje o strukturama kompleksa s prijenosom naboja,a u drugom dan cjelovit pregled biolo{ki zanimljivih molekulskih strukturas mostom `eljezo-kisik-`eljezo.Tijekom svih tih godina B. Kamenar je na razli~itim znanstvenim pro-jektima okupio veliki broj suradnika. Bio je voditeljem brojnih diplomskihradova i mentorom 16 magistarskih i 12 doktorskih disertacija. Predavao jeili predaje mahom sve kolegije Zavoda za op}u i anorgansku kemiju: Op}akemija, Op}a i anorganska kemija, Anorganska kemija, Kristalokemija ianorganska stereokemija i Organometalni spojevi na dodiplomskom studiju,te Moderne metode anorganske kemije, Izabrana poglavlja kristalokemije iDifrakcija rentgenskih zraka na monokristalnom i polikristalnom uzorku napostdiplomskom studiju.Na Prirodoslovno-matemati~kom fakultetu i Sveu~ili{tu obna{ao je velikbroj razli~itih du`nosti: pro~elnik Kemijskog odjela (1965/66), prodekanCROATICA CHEMICA ACTA 72 (2) (1999) XIIIFakulteta (1968–70), voditelj sveu~ili{nog postdiplomskog studija iz kemije(1972–80), dekan Fakulteta (1976–78), te predstojnik Zavoda za op}u i anor-gansku kemiju (1982–84). Od du`nosti u znanstvenim dru{tvima isti~u se:predsjednik (1976–80) i podpredsjednik (1980–1982) Hrvatskog kemijskogdru{tva, podpredsjednik (1978–81) i predsjednik (1981–84) Europskog kri-stalografskog vije}a, od 1992. predsjednik Hrvatske kristalografske zajednice.^lan je Hrvatskog kemijskog dru{tva, Kraljevskog kemijskog dru{tva (Lon-don), Ameri~kog kemijskog dru{tva, te Europskog kristalografskog savjeta ipredstavnik hrvatskih kristalografa u Me|unarodnoj kristalografskoj uniji.Bio je ~lan Savjeta ~asopisa Kemija u industriji, pomo}ni urednik Godi{nja-ka Jugoslavenskog centra za kristalografiju, a sada je ~lan savjeta ~asopisaCroatica Chemica Acta i Bulletin of the Chemists and Technologists of Mace-donia. Dobitnik je Republi~ke nagrade za znanstveni rad »Ru|er Bo{kovi}«(1970) i Nagrade za znanstveni rad grada Zagreba (1980). Od 1975. ~lan su-radnik, od 1988. izvanredni, a od 1991. godine redoviti ~lan Hrvatske aka-demije znanosti i umjetnosti.XIV CROATICA CHEMICA ACTA 72 (2) (1999)

Boris Kamenar Curriculum vitae

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