AWARDEE OF CHEMISTRY PRIZE

LOU NANQUAN

Abstract

Professor Lou Nanquan, physical chemist. Born on December 13，1992，in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. Graduated from Department of Chemical Engineering, National Central University at Chongqing in 1946 (B.Sc.). Research professor of Dalian Institute of Chemical physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences; member of Chinese Academy of Sciences (1991-); adjunct professor of Tsinghua University, Nanking University and University of Science and Technology of China. Lou has been the director (1983-1986) of Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, CAS and chairman of the Academy Committee (1982-1992); member of the International Molecular Beam Advisory Committee (1979-); the editor in chief of Chinese Journal of Chemical Physics (1988), and vice editor in chief of ACTA PHYSICO-CHEMICA SINICA(1985).
Professor Lou has long devoted oneself to working in the research field for physical chemistry and chemical physics. He, for the first time, put forward the research work of kinetics of gas phase chemical reactions in China to progress beyond the stage of determining macrocopic rate constants of Arrhenius activation energies and preexponential factors toward an understanding reactions in terms of chemical dynamics, the chemical kinetics concerning the microscopic and molecular dynamics behavior of reacting systems. With his colleague, a huge sophisticated crossed molecular beams machine was built under his guidance in Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics at the end of 1979, which has the versatilities for studying the reactive scattering, dynamics of chemiluminescent reactions and laser-induced photodissociation of polyatomic molecules. This is one of his main achievements. In the late seventies, much of the research on highly exothermic chemiluminescent reaction is motivated by the interest in searching for chemical systems compatible with the requirements of electronic transition chemical lasers. Surprisingly complex kinetic behavior of the reaction also arouses interest in its chemiluminascence study. Nevertheless, the origine of chemiluminascence of most of these systems is still not clear. Convincing elucidation of the dynamic features for these systems is thus necessary. To do this, it is essential to know the low-lying electronic state capable of being populated by the reaction exoergicity. Lou and his group have done experiments using various alkali earth metal to react with different oxcidants, and the results obtained could give a lot insight into the detailed dynamics of the reactions studied. By use of this crossed molecular beams machine, meanwhile, Lou also embarked on the dynamics study for the bimolecular reaction system with the vibrational structure of the emission spectrum of the product molecule's low-lying levels is well resolved, they found that the product internal state distribution can then be obtained as the primary dynamic signature of the system.
Recently (1999-), Lou begins to turn his effort on to the study of femtosecond laser chemistry trying to work out something for laser-control chemical reactions.
Up till now, Lou has more than 100 publications to his credit as author or co-author. In 1957, 1987, and 2000, Professor Lou and his group have won of three national nature science awards of one third and two second class, respectively.