Alexander Boldyrev

Alexander Ivanovich Boldyrev (19 December 1951 – 26 August 2023) was a Russian-born computational chemist who spent twenty-four years at Utah State University and made metal clusters a testing ground for the idea of aromaticity.亚历山大·伊万诺维奇·博尔德列夫（Alexander Ivanovich Boldyrev，1951 年 12 月 19 日—2023 年 8 月 26 日）是俄裔计算化学家，在犹他州立大学工作二十四年，把金属团簇变成了检验芳香性概念的试验场。

With Gennady Gutsev he built the theory of superhalogens and superalkalis, and with Lai-Sheng Wang he turned predictions about all-metal aromatic rings into measured spectra.他与根纳季·古采夫（Gennady Gutsev）建立了超卤素与超碱金属理论，又与王来生（Lai-Sheng Wang）合作，把关于全金属芳香环的预测变成了可测量的谱图。

Biography

• He was born in Novokuznetsk, an industrial city in the Kemerovo region of Siberia, on 19 December 1951.1951 年 12 月 19 日，他生于西伯利亚克麦罗沃州的工业城市新库兹涅茨克。
• A preschool demonstration in which blood seemed to appear in a glass settled the question, and he knew before starting school at seven that he wanted to be a chemist.学前班的一次演示让杯中仿佛凭空出现「血液」，这件事定下了方向：七岁入学之前，他就知道自己要当化学家。
• At fifteen he left his parents' home for the newly opened physics and mathematics school No. 165 in Novosibirsk, a boarding school for science-minded teenagers about 300 miles away.十五岁那年，他离开父母家，进入新西伯利亚新设的第 165 物理数学学校——一所为理科少年开办的寄宿学校，距家约 300 英里。
• He went on to Novosibirsk State University, where he ran his first quantum-chemical calculations and completed his undergraduate degree.随后他升入新西伯利亚国立大学，在那里第一次运行量子化学计算并完成本科学业。
• Graduate study took him to Moscow State University and the group of Oleg Charkin, where he worked on non-rigid, fluxional molecules and received his Ph.D. in 1978.研究生阶段他转入莫斯科国立大学奥列格·恰尔金（Oleg Charkin）课题组，研究非刚性、流变分子，1978 年获副博士学位。
• In 1983 he joined the Institute of Chemical Physics of the USSR Academy of Sciences at Chernogolovka, in Alexander Ovchinnikov's group.1983 年，他进入苏联科学院化学物理研究所，驻地切尔诺戈洛夫卡，加入亚历山大·奥夫钦尼科夫（Alexander Ovchinnikov）课题组。
• A Doctor of Sciences degree, the higher Soviet qualification, followed in 1986, and from 1988 to 1991 he served as an advanced senior researcher of the academy.1986 年他取得苏联更高一级的科学博士学位，1988 至 1991 年任科学院高级研究员。
• A Humboldt research fellowship took him to Germany for 1990 and 1991, where he worked with Paul von Ragué Schleyer on the theory of chemical bonding.1990 至 1991 年，洪堡研究奖学金把他带到德国，与保罗·冯·拉盖·施莱尔（Paul von Ragué Schleyer）合作研究化学键理论。
• Jack Simons brought him to the United States in 1992 as a research professor at the University of Utah, where he stayed for seven years.1992 年，杰克·西蒙斯（Jack Simons）把他请到美国，在犹他大学任研究教授，一待七年。
• Utah State University appointed him assistant professor in 1999, when he was 49, then associate professor in 2002 and professor in 2005.1999 年，49 岁的他受聘为犹他州立大学助理教授，2002 年升副教授，2005 年升正教授。
• He died on 26 August 2023, aged 71, after an extended illness, and was buried in Logan City Cemetery. He lived in Providence, Utah.2023 年 8 月 26 日，他因病去世，享年 71 岁，安葬于洛根市公墓，生前住在犹他州普罗维登斯。

Research

• His first widely cited result came with Gennady Gutsev, a 1981 Chemical Physics paper showing that certain complex anions should hold electrons more tightly than chlorine does.他最早被广泛引用的成果来自与根纳季·古采夫的合作：1981 年《Chemical Physics》的论文表明，某些络合阴离子束缚电子的能力强于氯。
• Those species were named superhalogens, with electron affinities that can pass 7 eV against roughly 3.6 eV for chlorine, and the MX(k+1) pattern gave the field a design rule.这类物种被命名为超卤素，电子亲和能可超过 7 eV，而氯约为 3.6 eV；MX(k+1) 的模式为这一领域提供了设计规则。
• A 1982 companion paper introduced superalkalis, clusters whose ionization potentials fall below that of caesium, the most loosely bound stable alkali metal.1982 年的姊妹论文提出超碱金属，即电离能低于铯的团簇，而铯是结合最松的稳定碱金属。
• With Jack Simons he argued in a 1998 JACS paper that pentaatomic molecules could carry a planar tetracoordinate carbon, breaking the tetrahedral rule taught for saturated carbon.1998 年，他与杰克·西蒙斯在《JACS》论文中论证，五原子分子可以承载平面四配位碳，打破了饱和碳必为四面体的成规。
• Lai-Sheng Wang's photoelectron experiments confirmed the prediction, first in Al4C− and then in the salt-like [CAl4]2−.王来生的光电子实验证实了这一预测，先是 Al4C−，随后是盐状的 [CAl4]2−。
• The 2001 Science paper reported Al4^2− as a square-planar ring with two π electrons, the first all-metal molecule to obey Hückel's rule.2001 年《Science》论文报告 Al4^2− 为带两个 π 电子的正方形环，这是首个符合休克尔规则的全金属分子。^[1]
• Boldyrev and Wang reviewed the subject in Chemical Reviews in 2005, setting out how aromaticity and antiaromaticity survive in rings made only of metal atoms.2005 年，博尔德列夫与王来生在《Chemical Reviews》综述该领域，说明芳香性与反芳香性如何在纯金属环中成立。
• With Dmitry Zubarev he introduced adaptive natural density partitioning in 2008, a scheme that extracts n-centre two-electron bonds straight from the computed density.2008 年，他与德米特里·祖巴列夫（Dmitry Zubarev）提出自适应自然密度划分，从计算得到的密度中直接提取 n 中心两电子键。^[2]
• AdNDP spread well beyond clusters and is now applied to organic aromatic molecules, solids and intermetallic compounds.AdNDP 的用处远超团簇，如今也用于有机芳香分子、固体与金属间化合物。
• Boron clusters became a second testing ground, and with Wang's group he identified B19− in 2010 as a planar cluster with concentric double π aromaticity.硼团簇成为第二个试验场：2010 年，他与王来生课题组确认 B19− 是具同心双 π 芳香性的平面团簇。
• The same partnership had reported in 2003 hepta- and octacoordinate boron in eight- and nine-atom molecular wheels.同一合作在 2003 年报告了八原子与九原子硼轮中的七配位和八配位硼。
• Coordination numbers kept rising, with decacoordinated Ta©B10− and Nb©B10− in 2012 and cobalt-centred CoB16− drums in 2015.配位数继续上升：2012 年的十配位 Ta©B10− 与 Nb©B10−，2015 年又出现钴中心的 CoB16− 鼓形团簇。
• His group also sorted out all-boron analogues of hydrocarbons, among them B16^2− as an all-boron naphthalene and B17− and B18− as analogues of larger arenes.他的课题组还厘清了烃类的全硼类似物，其中包括作为「全硼萘」的 B16^2−，以及对应更大芳烃的 B17− 与 B18−。
• A 2015 JACS paper described a Cu2Si monolayer in which copper and silicon both occupy planar hexacoordinate sites.2015 年《JACS》论文描述了一种 Cu2Si 单层，其中铜与硅都占据平面六配位位置。
• In 2017 he was among the authors who predicted Na2He, a compound of helium and sodium that is stable only under high pressure.2017 年，他参与预测了 Na2He，这是一种只在高压下稳定的氦与钠化合物。
• His papers treated aromaticity as a family of measurable electron-counting patterns, distinguishing multiple, conflicting and concentric varieties rather than one property.他的论文把芳香性当作一组可测量的电子计数模式，区分多重、冲突与同心等变体，而非单一属性。
• The partnership with Wang lasted more than two decades and paired photoelectron spectroscopy with high-level calculations, a division of labour that became a template for cluster chemistry.他与王来生的合作持续二十余年，把光电子能谱与高精度计算配对，这种分工后来成为团簇化学的模板。
• At his death Google Scholar listed more than 600 papers, over 25,000 citations and an h-index of 85, while OpenAlex recorded about 550 works and 29,000 citations.他去世时，Google Scholar 列出论文 600 余篇、引用超过 2.5 万次、h 指数 85，OpenAlex 则记录约 550 篇论文与 2.9 万次引用。
• His last research direction was artificial intelligence, which he and his students used to search for the most stable structures of new molecules and to design materials computationally.他最后的研究方向是人工智能，他与学生用它在新型分子中寻找最稳定结构，并以计算方式设计材料。
• Doctoral students carried the programme forward, among them Anastassia Alexandrova, who took her Ph.D. in 2005 and later became a professor at UCLA.博士生把这条路线延续下去，其中 2005 年获得博士学位的阿纳斯塔西娅·亚历山德罗娃（Anastassia Alexandrova）后来成为加州大学洛杉矶分校教授。
• Six of his doctoral students won Utah State's Robins Award, the university's top honour for graduate researchers, and two recent graduates received Oppenheimer Postdoctoral Fellowships.他有六名博士生获得犹他州立大学罗宾斯奖——该校研究生的最高荣誉，另有两名近期毕业生获得奥本海默博士后奖学金。

Awards

• He held an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation research fellowship from 1990 to 1991 and was awarded a second Humboldt fellowship later.1990 至 1991 年，他获亚历山大·冯·洪堡基金会研究奖学金，后来又获得第二份洪堡奖学金。
• He also held a Fulbright Fellowship, as the family's obituary records.据家属讣告，他还获得过富布赖特奖学金。
• The American Chemical Society's Utah section gave him its Utah Award in Chemistry in 2008.2008 年，美国化学会犹他分会授予他犹他化学奖。
• Utah State named him winner of the D. Wynne Thorne Career Research Award in 2009, the university's most prestigious research honour.2009 年，犹他州立大学把该校最高研究荣誉——D. Wynne Thorne 终身研究奖——授予他。
• In 2017 the university recognised his mentoring with its Outstanding Graduate Mentor of the Year award.2017 年，该校又以年度杰出研究生导师奖表彰他的指导工作。
• He became the inaugural R. Gaurth Hansen Professor of Chemistry in November 2020.2020 年 11 月，他成为首位 R. Gaurth Hansen 化学讲席教授。
• In 2021 he was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.2021 年，他当选美国科学促进会会士。
• That same year The Journal of Physical Chemistry A marked his seventieth birthday with a festschrift of nearly 80 papers, among the largest the journal had assembled.同年，《The Journal of Physical Chemistry A》以近 80 篇论文的纪念专集祝贺他七十寿辰，是该刊规模最大的专集之一。

Personal life

• He married Natalia Klimenko during his doctoral years in Moscow, and their son Dmitry was born while he was still a student.在莫斯科读博期间，他与娜塔莉娅·克里门科（Natalia Klimenko）结婚，儿子德米特里（Dmitry）在他仍是学生时出生。
• As a boy in Novokuznetsk he built model rockets with his brothers and friends, mixing nitrate from fertiliser with charcoal and sulphur, and singed his eyebrows at least once.在新库兹涅茨克，他还是个男孩，就和兄弟、朋友一起做模型火箭，把化肥里的硝酸盐与木炭、硫磺混合，至少有一次烧焦了眉毛。
• He read TASS technical reports instead of comics and idolised Yuri Gagarin, who orbited the Earth four years after Sputnik 1.他读的是塔斯社的技术通报而不是漫画，崇拜尤里·加加林——斯普特尼克 1 号升空四年后，加加林绕地球飞行。
• Students remembered his physical chemistry lectures as among the most sought after on campus, and he gave individual attention to those who struggled.学生记得他的物理化学课是校园里最抢手的课程之一，对跟不上的人他也会个别辅导。
• With Anastassia Alexandrova, Lai-Sheng Wang and his wife Natalia he founded the International Conference on Chemical Bonding in 2013, held every year afterwards on Kauai, Hawaii.2013 年，他与亚历山德罗娃、王来生及妻子娜塔莉娅共同创办国际化学键会议，此后每年在夏威夷考艾岛举行。
• The conference was renamed in his honour from 2025.2025 年起，该会议以他的名字命名。
• He was survived by his wife Natalia and his son Dmitry, and colleagues remembered a scholar who shifted praise toward his students.他身后留下妻子娜塔莉娅与儿子德米特里，同事们记得他总把赞誉推给学生。
• A scholarship endowment in his name supports students in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Utah State.以他命名的奖学金基金资助犹他州立大学化学与生物化学系的学生。