Introduction to the Special Issue in Honor of J. C. (Tito) Scaiano

Abstract

In August 2005, Tito Scaiano’s coworkers, friends and colleagues gathered in Ottawa for Reactive Intermediates in Photochemistry, a truly international symposium held to celebrate Tito’s achievements on the occasion of his 60 birthday. The symposium provided a wonderful opportunity to pay tribute to a scientist who is a world leader in studying the kinetics and mechanisms of organic reactions involving short-lived intermediates, who has been a guiding force in physical organic chemistry over the last quarter century and who has made exceptional contributions to training young chemists. Tito’s remarkable record of achievements includes the publication of almost 600 scientific papers, book chapters and patents, and recognition with numerous awards and honors. His research extends from fundamental mechanistic studies to applications in diverse areas such as pulp and paper chemistry, microelectronics and health sciences. Juan Cesar (Tito) Scaiano was born in 1945, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He credits his high school science teachers with introducing him to the excitement and power of chemistry with many practical, hands-on demonstrations. Tito earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Buenos Aires in 1967. After a brief stint in the Argentinean army, much of which was fortunately spent on clerical assignment, he moved to the University of Chile to start graduate studies with Eduardo Lissi. His PhD research on reactions of methyl radicals and bromine atoms with triethylborane marked the start of a lifelong interest in reactive intermediates. Shortly after moving to Chile he married Elda, and their first son, Gus, was born before Tito finished his PhD. In 1970 Tito accepted a postdoctoral position to study in the laboratory of Alwyn Davies at University College London, where he continued his studies on organoborane chemistry. After 2 years he and his family, now including his daughter, Veronica, returned briefly to Chile and then moved to the University of Rio Quarto in Argentina. The political climate in Argentina eventually convinced the Scaianos that it was an opportune time for a visit to North America, and they arrived in Ottawa on a very cold New Year’s Eve in 1974. Tito spent a year and a half with Keith Ingold at the National Research Council (working on kinetic studies of radical reactions using electron spin resonance) before moving to his first faculty position in the Radiation Laboratory at the University of Notre Dame. There he had the good fortune to have the use of a nitrogen laser, which he coupled with a HeNe laser and a computer, and developed his first laser flash photolysis system. His recognition of the potential of laser techniques for studies of reaction mechanisms is a landmark in his career. He was among the first to apply laser flash photolysis to a wide range of organic reactions, and the automated, user-friendly equipment that he developed made the technique accessible to a wide range of physical organic and mechanistic chemists. Tito’s early research at Notre Dame focused primarily on studies of biradicals and alkoxyl radicals. He was the first to determine the lifetime of short-lived biradicals involved in the Norrish Type II reaction, using the novel paraquat probe technique that he invented for the task. This was the first of many textbook intermediates that would be detected—directly or indirectly—and characterized over the next 2 decades by Tito and the many coworkers and collaborators who were introduced to laser flash photolysis in his laboratory. In 1979 Tito returned to the National Research Council in Ottawa. After having lived in five countries with children born in the United Kingdom (Gus), Argentina (Veronica), Chile (Adriana) and the United States (Martin), he and Elda were ready to settle in Canada. Tito’s research group grew rapidly during the next few years; the synergy between his group and the researchers associated with Ingold and Griller and Tito’s boundless energy and enthusiasm for science provided a stimulating environment for research on reactive intermediates and for training young scientists. Many studies focused on free radical kinetics, most notably with the determination of the first absolute rate constants for reactions of Tito Scaiano after receiving the NSERC Herzberg Gold Medal.