Robert Brattain

R. Robert Brattain (May 21, 1911 – November 17, 2002) was an American physicist at Shell Development Company. He was involved in a number of secret projects during World War II. He is recognized as one of America's leading infrared spectroscopists for his work in designing several models of spectrophotometer, and for using the infrared spectrophotometer to determine the β-lactam structure of penicillin. His instrumentation work was essential to the subsequent study and understanding of structures in organic chemistry.

Biography R. Robert Brattain was born May 21, 1911, to Ross R. Brattain and Ottilie Houser Brattain. Both parents were graduates of Whitman College; During much of Robert Brattain's childhood, the family lived on a cattle ranch near Tonasket, Washington.

Brattain attended Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, following his older brother, Walter Houser Brattain. He then completed a master's degree in physics at the University of Washington in 1933. He went on to attend Princeton University,

Initially interested in mathematical physics, Robert Brattain soon became interested in experimental physics. After his advisor Edward Condon suggested that he assist R. Bowling Barnes, an expert in infrared spectrometry, Brattain became fascinated with infrared research and instrument design. Brattain, Barnes, and others in the laboratory built a research-quality infrared spectrophotometer, using a rock salt prism, a strip of platinum as an infrared radiation source, a thermopile to measure radiation, and two galvanometers to display results. They used the instrument to begin studying the molecular structure of organic molecules. After Barnes left Princeton for American Cyanamid, he directed funding to Brattain and others to study the infrared absorption spectra of organic compounds such as benzene, toluene, and naphthalene.

Shell Development Company Due to financial pressures of the Great Depression, Robert Brattain left Princeton in 1938 without completing his degree. Brattain's work on gas mixtures was "one of the first applications [of spectrophotometry] of major importance to the petroleum industry".

Aviation fuels One of the areas Brattain studied was isomers of butane, which were used to make high-octane aviation fuel. His goal was to use infrared spectrometry as an analytical tool for industrial chemical process control, reliably measuring the isomers in petroleum mixtures. Brattain's former professor R. Bowling Barnes, now at Cyanamid, promoted the use of infrared spectrophotometers in the US synthetic rubber program. Choosing to adopt Bob Brattain's existing design for a single-beam infrared spectrophotometer, they commissioned Beckman Instruments to mass-produce standardized instruments for scientists to use as part of the U.S. government's synthetic-rubber war effort. No one was allowed to publish or discuss anything related to the new machines. Companies such as Perkin-Elmer whose work was not as restricted, were able to publish about their work in infrared spectroscopy before Brattain and Beckman could do so. Several possible structures were hypothesized, including an oxazalone structure with 2 linked 5-member rings, The US Office of Scientific Research and Development approached Shell during the summer of 1944, and Robert Brattain assembled a team to study the problem using infrared spectrophotometry. Another team at Shell used chemical synthesis techniques.

Working independently in Britain, Dorothy Crowfoot and Barbara Low in Oxford, England used x-ray diffraction to study penicillin's structure, as did researchers at Imperial Chemical Industries. At much the same time as Brattain's group, Dorothy Crowfoot's x-ray crystallography group found results supporting the conclusion that penicillin had a β-lactam structure.