James Boggs

james.boggs@mail.utexas.edu

Professor Emeritus

Education

BA, Oberlin College, 1943

MS, University of Michigan, 1945

PhD, University of Michigan, 1952

Affiliations

Institute for Theoretical Chemistry

Physical chemistry: structure, intramolecular dynamics, quantum theory

My research studies have always been near the borderline of theory and experiment and have always centered on puzzling problems of molecular structure and the chemical consequences of that structure. I worked for quite a few years with microwave spectroscopy when that technique was new. In recent years, my work has been completely theoretical but with strong connections with experimental groups, particularly in various fields of spectroscopy.

 

Our current work has strong emphasis on the effect of vibronic interactions on the structure and dynamics of small molecules.  There are many cases where the Born-Openheimer approximation of separation of nuclear and electronic motion breaks down, with very serious impact on the spectroscopic and other properties of molecules and radicals.

 

Other studies involve collaboration with microwave and infrared experimentalists to obtain the best possible combined experimental and theoretical equilibrium potentials for small molecules.



 

Representative Publications

Wenli Zou, Yang Liu, and James E. Boggs, “Relativistic Ab Initio Study on PtF and HePtF”.  Dalton Trans, 39, 2023-2026 (2010).

Wenli Zou, Dong Xu, Peter Zajac, Andrew Cooksy, Isaac B. Bersuker, Yang Liu, and James E. Boggs,  “Symmetry breaking in ZnCl2+:  A theoretical study”.  J. Mol Struct., 978, 263-268 (2010).

Yang Liu, Isaac Bersuker, Wenli Zou, and James E. Boggs, “Pseudo Jahn-Teller versus Renner-Teller effects in the instability of linear molecules”.  Chem. Phys, 376, 30-35 (2010).

Pablo Garcia-Fernandez, Yang Liu, Isaac B. Bersuker and James E. Boggs, "Pseudo Jahn-Teller Origin of Cis-Trans and Other Conformational Changes. The Role of Double Bonds". Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 13, 3502-3513 (2011).

Alberto Lesarri, Alicia Vega-Toribio, Richard D. Suenram, Dale J. Brugh, Davood Nori-Shargh, James E. Boggs, and Jens-Uwe Grabow, “Structural evidence of anomeric effects in the anesthetic isoflurane.” Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 13, 6610-6618 (2011).