Professor Leif J. Sæthre

Department of Chemistry,
University of Bergen, Norway


Educated iat the University of Bergen Professor Sæthre combines x-ray crytallography, photoelectron spectroscopy and quantum chemical calculations to study the molecular structure and properties of a variety of compounds. He is particularly interested in structure and bonding in trithiapentalenes and their derivatives, but other chalcogen and also halogen compounds have been studied.

In recent years core-ionization energies have been combined with Auger kinetic energies to investigate charge distribution in small molecules and to study the factors that affect the ability of a molecule to accept or donate charge in a chemical reaction. This ability determines important chemical properties such as electronegativity, acidity, proton affinity and chemical reactivity.