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Preface and guest editor's foreword

I met Paul for the first time in 1986 in Amsterdam when he visited the department of Inorganic Chemistry, where I had just started, to give a seminar as part of our unsurpassed series of ‘John van Geuns’ lectures. His knowledge of applied NMR spectroscopy, especially of transition metaland other hetero-nuclei as well as his unique way of transmitting that knowledge made a big impression on me. When given the slightest opportunity (and if not given, he will seize one at his earliest convenience) to delve into his newest discoveries in molecular chemistry, he will start teaching in a most compelling way, be it using a black or white board, a piece of paper, his well-kept transparencies or, reluctantly at first, also using modern equipment. There are many vivid memories of the enthusiasm with which he shares and points to emerging literature that may be of interest to the research of others, at conferences and EU-COST meetings, but again also on private visits; like when during our first meeting he set Kees Vrieze and me on the track of high-pressure NMR by alluding to that seminal paper by Chris Roe of Dupont concerning the necessary equipment. Paul Pregosin was born on 26 October 1943 in the USA. He obtained his PhD in 1970 at the City University of New York with Professor T. Axenrod on 15N NMR Spectroscopy – among others – of nitrosamines and complexes, if I remember correctly. He carried out post-doctoral research at Queen Mary College, University of London, in 1970 and 1971 with professor E.W. Randall on 13C and 15N NMR of natural products. A second post-doctoral period followed with Professor Luigi Venanzi at the University of Delaware between 1971 and 1973, where he studied inorganic and organometallic chemistry of platinum compounds, involving 195Pt NMR. In 1973 he moved to ETH Zürich together with his mentor, where he developed a strong program in NMR and organometallic chemistry. In 1980, Paul received the prestigious Werner Prize for his work on NMR Spectroscopy of Transition Metal Complexes. He has been ‘Privatdozent’ since 1980, and in 1987 he obtained the personal chair of Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at ETH. Paul likes to call himself a ‘structural chemist’; elucidation and description of molecular structure, properties and mechanism indeed is the leading motif in about 300 of his research papers and reviews. His interests have shifted over the years, but have always kept that common denominator of structural chemistry. He started studying platinum group coordination and organometallic chemistry, and developed a significant part of the NMR of several transition metal nuclei, particularly 195Pt. This transpires most clearly in his seminal review ‘Pt-195 Nuclear Magnetic Resonance’ published in Coordination Chemistry Reviews in 1982, which is his most cited publication. Another major work in this respect has been the writing and compiling of a volume of the series Studies in Inorganic Chemistry: ‘Transition Metal Nuclear Magnetic Resonance’. It was a most timely and successful book that appeared in 1991 and it has been a true ‘Fundgrube’ for me, personally, and for many colleagues starting in the field, I am sure. His main research interests are much broader defined, however; these include coordination and organometallic chemistry of the transition metals, enantioselective homogeneous catalysis, apart from the already mentioned applications of multinuclear NMR spectroscopy to problems in organometallic chemistry. His works on enantioselective catalysis – involving palladium and ruthenium compounds, especially those composed of the well known MeO-BiPheP ligand – encompass studies concerning the structure and dynamics of chiral allyl-palladium complexes and many other relevant species. He also proposed and advocated the use of so called reporter ligands. At a later stage, he was the first to apply emerging Diffusion Ordered Spectroscopy techniques to organometallics. The group, furthermore, studied PGSE Overhauser effects including heteronuclear Overhauser spectroscopy applied to 7Li, 19F and 31P. Especially the correlation and understanding of ion pairing in ionic compounds in solution has beheld his special interest over