Guy Bertrand is a chemistry

Chemistry

Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....

 professor at the University of California, Riverside

University of California, Riverside

The University of California, Riverside, commonly known as UCR or UC Riverside, is a public research university and one of the ten general campuses of the University of California system. UCR is consistently ranked as one of the most ethnically and economically diverse universities in the United...

.

Bertrand obtained his B.Sc. from the University of Montpellier

University of Montpellier

The University of Montpellier was a French university in Montpellier in the Languedoc-Roussillon région of the south of France. Its present-day successor universities are the University of Montpellier 1, Montpellier 2 University and Paul Valéry University, Montpellier III.-History:The university...

 in 1975 and his Ph.D. from the Paul Sabatier University

Paul Sabatier University

Paul Sabatier University is a French university, in the Academy of Toulouse.Founded in 1229, the University of Toulouse is one of the oldest in Europe. Today’s Toulouse III was named for Paul Sabatier, winner of the 1912 Nobel prize in chemistry, when it was established on the foundations of the...

, Toulouse

Toulouse

Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...

, in 1979. He was a postdoctoral researcher at Sanofi Research, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, in 1981.

The research interests of Bertrand and his co-workers lie mainly in the chemistry of with main group elements from group 13 to 16, at the border between organic, organometallic and inorganic chemistry; especially their use in stabilizing carbene

Carbene

In chemistry, a carbene is a molecule containing a neutral carbon atom with a valence of two and two unshared valence electrons. The general formula is RR'C:, but the carbon can instead be double-bonded to one group. The term "carbene" may also merely refer to the compound H2C:, also called...

s, nitrene

Nitrene

In chemistry, a nitrene is the nitrogen analogue of a carbene. The nitrogen atom has only 6 valence electrons and is therefore considered an electrophile...

s, radical

Radical (chemistry)

Radicals are atoms, molecules, or ions with unpaired electrons on an open shell configuration. Free radicals may have positive, negative, or zero charge...

s and biradicals, 1,3-dipole

1,3-dipole

In organic chemistry, a 1,3-dipolar compound or 1,3-dipole is a dipolar compound with delocalized electrons and a separation of charge over three atoms...

s, anti-aromatic heterocycles, and more. He has directed the synthesis of some original persistent carbene

Persistent carbene

A persistent carbene is a type of carbene demonstrating particular stability. The best-known examples are diaminocarbenes with the general formula 2C:, where the 'R's are various functional groups...

s, including bis(diisopropylamino)cyclopropenylidene, the first example of a carbene with all-carbon environment that is stable at room-temperature.

Guy Bertrand is an honorific member or fellow of several scientific societies, such as the AAAS

American Association for the Advancement of Science

The American Association for the Advancement of Science is an international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsibility, and supporting scientific education and science outreach for the...

 (2006), the French Academy of Sciences

French Academy of Sciences

The French Academy of Sciences is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French scientific research...

 (2004), the European Academy of Sciences

European Academy of Sciences

The European Academy of Sciences has as mission to promote excellence in science and technology and their essential roles in fostering social and economic development and progress. It is registered in and operates under rules and regulations of Belgium. The European Academy of Sciences is an...

 (2003), Academia Europaea

Academia Europaea

Academia Europæa is a European non-governmental scientific academy founded in 1988. Its members are scientists and scholars who collectively aim to promote learning, education and research. It publishes European Review through Cambridge Journals....

(2002), and the recipient of various prizes and awards.

Selected publications

• (2002) Singlet diradicals: from transition states to crystalline compounds. Science, volume 295, pages 1880-1881.
• (2005) Stable Cyclic (Alkyl)(Amino)Carbenes as Rigid or Flexible, Bulky, Electron-Rich Ligands for Transition Metal Catalysts: a Quaternary Carbon makes the difference. Angewandte Chemie Int. Ed., volume 44, pages 5705-5709.
• (2007) Facile Splitting of Hydrogen and Ammonia by Nucleophilic Activation at a Single Carbon Center. Science, volume 316, pages 439-441
• (2009) Isolation of a C5-Deprotonated Imidazolium, a Crystalline "Abnormal" N-Heterocyclic Carbene. Science, volume 326. issue 5952, pp. 556–559
• Olivier Back, Gleen Kuchenbeiser, Bruno Donnadieu, Guy Bertrand (2009), Non-Metal Mediated Fragmentation of P4. Isolation of P1 and P2 Bis-Carbene Adducts. Angewandte Chemie, volume 48 issue 30, pages 5530-5533.