Steven Dale Ittel (born 1946 in Hamilton, Ohio) is an American chemist specializing in organometallic chemistry and homogeneous catalysis.

Training Ittel attended Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where he received a bachelor's degree in chemistry in 1968. He was then commissioned as an officer in the United States Public Health Service and studied photochemical smog in the New York City metropolitan area from 1968 to 1970. He attended Northwestern University, where he received his PhD in chemistry under the direction of James A. Ibers in 1974.

Career Ittel worked on hydride activation of lanthanides for Systems for Nuclear Auxiliary Power (SNAP) at Monsanto's Mound Laboratories for a short time. Upon receiving his PhD from Northwestern University, he joined DuPont’s Central Research Department at the Experimental Station in Wilmington, Delaware.

Ittel is best known for his contributions to organometallic chemistry and homogeneous catalysis. He discovered fluxional processes in both diamagneticJack M. Williams, Richard K. Brown, Arthur J. Schultz, Galen D. Stucky, and Steven D. Ittel, "Interaction of an Aliphatic Hydrogen Atom with a Transition Metal. The First Direct Observation of a Strong C-H...Metal Interaction Derived from a Single Crystal Neutron Diffraction Study of Fe[P(OCH3)3]3(h3-C8H13)]+[BF4]-," J. Am. Chem. Soc., 100, 7407 (1978). and paramagneticS. D. Ittel. P. J. Krusic, and P. Meakin, "An Electron Spin Resonance Study of the Fluxional Nature of Paramagnetic (π-Alkenyl)tris(trimethyl phosphite)iron Complexes," J. Am. Chem. Soc., 100, 3264 (1978). π-allyl organometallic complexes bearing M-H-C agostic interactions. He was responsible for a series of C-H activation reactions based upon fleeting zero-valent iron complexes bearing bidentate phosphorus ligands.S. D. Ittel, C. A. Tolman, A. D. English, and J. P. Jesson, "The Chemistry of 2-Naphthyl bis[bis(dimethylphosphino)ethane] Hydride Complexes of Fe, Ru, and Os. 2. Cleavage of sp and sp3 C-H, C-O, and C-X Bonds. Coupling of Carbon Dioxide and Acetonitrile," J. Am. Chem. Soc., 100, 7577 (1978).C. A. Tolman, S. D. Ittel, A. D. English, and J. P. Jesson, "Chemistry of 2-Naphthyl- bis[bis(dimethylphosphino)ethane] Hydride Complexes of Iron, Ruthenium, and Osmium. 3. Cleavage of sp2 C-H Bonds," J. Am. Chem. Soc., 101, 1742 (1979).

While working on the air oxidation of cyclohexane to adipic acid (an intermediate in the preparation of nylon-66) he discovered a series of bis(pyridylimino)isoindoline complexes of cobalt to be very effective catalysts for the decomposition of the intermediate cyclohexylhydroperoxide.US Patent 4,326,084, "Improved Catalytic Process for Oxidation of Cyclohexane and Decomposition of Cyclohexylhydroperoxide," J. D. Druliner, S. D. Ittel, P. J. Krusic, and C. A. Tolman, April 20, 1982. He led and contributed to DuPont’s technology for cobalt-catalyzed chain transfer in acrylic radical polymerization.Alexei A. Gridnev and Steven D. Ittel, “Catalytic Chain Transfer in Free-Radical Polymerizations,” Chem. Rev., 101(12), 3611-3659 (2001). The resulting macromonomers are utilized commercially in a broad range of automotive finishes.

As a manager at DuPont, he directed the work of almost 100 DuPont scientists over the years. One major effort was on DuPont Versipol post-metallocene catalysts for ethylene coordination polymerization and copolymerization.Steven D. Ittel, Lynda K. Johnson, and Maurice Brookhart, "Late Metal Catalysts for Ethylene Homo- and Copolymerization," Chem. Rev. (Washington, D. C.), 100(4), 1169-1203 (2000).

Late in his career, his research interests became more diverse, yet he never left his central focus of transition metal chemistry. Biopanning produced polypeptides that would selectively bind minerals such as clays and calcium carbonate to cellulose, skin, hair, and other surfaces.US Patent 7,749,957 B2, “Clay-Binding Peptides and Methods of Use,” Steven Dale Ittel, Scott D. Cunningham, Pierre E. Rouviere, Stephen R. Fahnestock, John P. O'Brien, Eberhard Schneider, Gregor Schurmann, Peter Wagner. July 6, 2010. His contributions to nanotechnology and the electronics and displays industries include printing carbon nanotubes for plasma displays,WPO Patent Application 2009108226, “Process for Protecting Carbon Nanotubes,” Steven Dale Ittel. Published September 3, 2009. spin printingUS Patent 7,618,704 B2, "Spin Printing of Electronic and Display Components" Steven Dale Ittel and Jeffrey G. Crawford. Nov 17, 2009. and inkjet printing US Patent 7,691,280 B2, “Ink Jet Printing of Etchants and Modifiers,” Robert Paul Waldrop, Steven Dale Ittel, and Howard E. Simmons III. April 6, 2010. of nanomaterials, and fluoro-resists for printing OLED displays.US Patent 8,309,376 B2, “Process and Materials For Making Contained Layers and Devices Made With Same,” Charles D. Lang, Paul Anthony Sant, Jerald Feldman, Steven Dale Ittel, Stephan James McLain,... , November 13, 2012. Ittel coauthored the definitive textbook, Homogeneous Catalysis,"Homogeneous Catalysis," 2nd Edition, George W. Parshall and Steven D. Ittel, Wiley Interscience, New York (1992). with George Parshall, and his work is recorded in over 150 citations in Chemical Abstracts. He has 60 US Patents, many more foreign patent applications and 90 publications of original research.

Ittel practices the art of bonsai, assists the curation of the bonsai collection at Longwood Gardens,Mary Allinson, “Bonsai Beginnings - A look at the origin of Longwood’s Bonsai Collection,” Longwood Chimes, 292, Winter, 2016, p20. and has displayed trees at Longwood Gardens and the Brandywine River Museum.

Personal life Ittel's father was a superintendent of a rural school district and a YMCA camp director, so he spent the first 19 summers of his life at Camp Campbell Gard outside Hamilton, Ohio. His mother was one of the 165 victims of the Beverly Hills Supper Club fire.

He is married to Kathleen P. Ittel, Esq. and they have two children.

References

External links

Ittels of the World