# Frank Alden Bovey
**Frank Alden Bovey** (June 4, 1918, [Minneapolis](https://www.edgepedia.org/minneapolis) – January 19, 2003, [Amherst, Massachusetts](https://www.edgepedia.org/amherst-massachusetts)) was an American polymer chemist whose name is associated with nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy of polymers.[1](https://www.nationalacademies.org/read/11429/chapter/4) According to Spiess's 2003 review in *Macromolecular Chemistry and Physics*, he helped establish solution NMR as an important tool for elucidating the chain microstructure of synthetic polymers; the National Academy of Sciences memoir by Frederic C. Schilling and Alan E. Tonelli credits him with introducing the stereochemical notation still used to describe vinyl polymer sequences; and a University of Notre Dame Library catalog record notes that he wrote the monographs that trained a generation of practitioners. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1975.[1](https://www.nationalacademies.org/read/11429/chapter/4)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born – died | June 4, 1918, Minneapolis; January 19, 2003, Amherst, Massachusetts[1](https://www.nationalacademies.org/read/11429/chapter/4) |
| Field | Polymer chemistry; NMR spectroscopy of macromolecules[1](https://www.nationalacademies.org/read/11429/chapter/4) |
| Training | Harvard (B.A.-level chemistry, 1940); Ph.D. 1948, University of Minnesota, with Izaak M. Kolthoff[1](https://www.nationalacademies.org/read/11429/chapter/4) |
| Career | National Synthetic Rubber Corp. from 1942; 3M (14 years); Bell Laboratories 1962–1993[1](https://www.nationalacademies.org/read/11429/chapter/4) |
| Signature work | m/r and i/s/h stereochemical notation; Bernoullian/Markovian stereosequence statistics (1966)[3](https://doi.org/10.1002/pol.1959.1203813308) • [1](https://www.nationalacademies.org/read/11429/chapter/4) |
| Books | Nine, including *High Resolution NMR of Macromolecules* (1972) and *Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy* (2nd ed., 1988)[1](https://www.nationalacademies.org/read/11429/chapter/4) |
| Honors | National Academy of Sciences, 1975; ACS Polymer Chemistry Award, 1969; Nichols Medal, 1978[1](https://www.nationalacademies.org/read/11429/chapter/4) |
## Education and early career
Bovey studied chemistry at Harvard, graduating in 1940.[1](https://www.nationalacademies.org/read/11429/chapter/4) From 1942 he worked at the National Synthetic Rubber Corp. in [Louisville, Kentucky](https://www.edgepedia.org/louisville-kentucky), helping to develop a formula for GR-S, the styrene-butadiene copolymer produced for the war effort.[1](https://www.nationalacademies.org/read/11429/chapter/4) In 1945 he entered graduate school at the [University of Minnesota](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-minnesota), and in 1948 received his Ph.D. in physical chemistry with Professor Izaak M. Kolthoff, for work on emulsion polymerization and copolymerization of styrene.[1](https://www.nationalacademies.org/read/11429/chapter/4)
After the Ph.D. he joined 3M, where he remained for 14 years and became head of the 3M Polymer Research Department.[1](https://www.nationalacademies.org/read/11429/chapter/4) In 1962 he moved to AT&T Bell Laboratories in New Jersey, where he worked until his retirement in 1993, much of that time as head of the Polymer Chemistry Research Department.[1](https://www.nationalacademies.org/read/11429/chapter/4) He never held a permanent academic position; his research career was carried out in industry.[1](https://www.nationalacademies.org/read/11429/chapter/4)
## Representative work
**Well-resolved solution NMR of polymers.** According to a 1959 paper by G. V. D. Tiers and G. Filipovich in the *Journal of Polymer Science*, from their laboratory at 3M, many polymers in solution give well-resolved NMR spectra, in contrast to the broad peaks of the solid state; the polystyrene peaks in carbon tetrachloride were not much broader than those of cumene, a small organic molecule.[3](https://doi.org/10.1002/pol.1959.1203813308) The same paper interpreted the large anomalous proton shifts of polystyrene with a π-current model of the benzene ring and concluded that runs of ten or more phenyl groups on a chain cluster in a quasi-crystalline arrangement.[3](https://doi.org/10.1002/pol.1959.1203813308)
**Stereochemical notation.** Bovey introduced the m (meso) / r (racemic) diad notation and the triad terminology i = mm (isotactic), s = rr (syndiotactic), and h = mr (heterotactic), which remains the standard way of describing vinyl polymer stereosequences.[1](https://www.nationalacademies.org/read/11429/chapter/4)
**Stereosequence statistics and mechanism.** In 1966 he presented mathematical relations describing the probabilities of stereosequence populations in vinyl polymers, allowing a quantitative distinction between Bernoullian and Markovian polymerization mechanisms.[1](https://www.nationalacademies.org/read/11429/chapter/4) In a 1967 paper in *Pure and Applied Chemistry*, Bovey reported that configurational-sequence data (dyad, triad, and tetrad resonances) in polymethyl methacrylate and deuterium-labeled methacrylates reveal the direction of double-bond addition and the statistics of propagation, including cis versus trans addition controlled by ether content and initiator conditions.[4](https://doi.org/10.1351/pac196715030349)
**New instruments and nuclei.** In the early 1970s Bovey ensured that Bell Laboratories obtained one of the first high-magnetic-field superconducting NMR spectrometers.[1](https://www.nationalacademies.org/read/11429/chapter/4) He was among the first to apply high-resolution carbon-13 NMR, and, after the 1976 proposal of solid-state methods, solid-state carbon-13 NMR, to solid polymers, blends, and clathrate compounds; he also observed fluorine-19, silicon-29, and phosphorus-31 nuclei, and pioneered multidimensional NMR for the conformations of flexible polymers in solution.[1](https://www.nationalacademies.org/read/11429/chapter/4)
## Books and editorial work
Bovey authored or coauthored nine books and published nearly 200 original papers.[1](https://www.nationalacademies.org/read/11429/chapter/4) *The Effects of Ionizing Radiation on Natural and Synthetic High Polymers* (Interscience, 1958) was volume 1 of the Polymer Reviews series; others include *Emulsion Polymerization* and *Polymer Characterization by ESR and NMR*.[5](https://findit.library.nd.edu/Record/000006317) *High Resolution NMR of Macromolecules* (Academic Press, 1972) and the second edition of *Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy* (1988) became the field's standard references.[1](https://www.nationalacademies.org/read/11429/chapter/4) His 1966 review "Study of polymer chain configuration and conformation by high resolution n.m.r. spectroscopy" appeared in *Pure and Applied Chemistry* (volume 12, pages 525–544).[6](https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1351/pac196612010525/html?lang=en) A 1988 main lecture in *Macromolecular Symposia* reviewed NMR as a method of great importance for most aspects of polymer structure and behavior, including solid-state observation by magic angle spinning (spinning sample at 54.7° to sharpen solid NMR signals) and high-power proton decoupling.[7](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/masy.19880200116) His book *Chain Structure and Conformation of Macromolecules* closes with a chapter on the NMR observation of solid polymers by magic angle spinning, by which both dynamic measurements and high-resolution structural information are possible.[8](https://shop.elsevier.com/books/chain-structure-and-conformation-of-macromolecules/bovey/978-0-12-119780-3) From the journal's first publication in 1968 he served as associate editor of *Macromolecules* for more than 25 years.[1](https://www.nationalacademies.org/read/11429/chapter/4)
## Honors and recognition
Bovey was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1975.[1](https://www.nationalacademies.org/read/11429/chapter/4) His awards include the ACS Polymer Chemistry Award (1969), the APS High-Polymer Physics Award (1974), the Nichols Medal (1978), the Applied Polymer Science Award (1983), the Carothers Award (1991), and the Silver Medal of the Japanese Polymer Society (1991).[1](https://www.nationalacademies.org/read/11429/chapter/4) According to *Macromolecules*, a journal on whose editorial staff he had served since its founding, it published a memorial notice for him in its April 1, 2003 issue.[9](https://doi.org/10.1021/ma030121u)
## What later research made of the work
In a 2003 historical overview of NMR in macromolecular science, H. W. Spiess cited Bovey's *Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy* (2nd edition, Academic Press, San Diego, 1988) as a foundational reference, and recorded that high-resolution NMR in solution was established somewhat later than early broad-line solid-state work as a tool for elucidating chain microstructure, the transition Bovey's own career traced.[2](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/macp.200290074)
## References
1. [Biographical Memoirs: Frank Alden Bovey, National Academy of Sciences](https://www.nationalacademies.org/read/11429/chapter/4)
2. [Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy in Macromolecular Science, H. W. Spiess, Macromolecular Chemistry and Physics, 2003](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/macp.200290074)
3. [Polymer NMR spectroscopy. I. The motion and configuration of polymer chains in solution, Journal of Polymer Science, 1959](https://doi.org/10.1002/pol.1959.1203813308)
4. [Configurational sequence studies by n.m.r. and the mechanism of vinyl polymerization, Pure and Applied Chemistry, 1967](https://doi.org/10.1351/pac196715030349)
5. [University of Notre Dame Library catalog record](https://findit.library.nd.edu/Record/000006317)
6. [Study of polymer chain configuration and conformation by high resolution n.m.r. spectroscopy, Pure and Applied Chemistry, 1966](https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1351/pac196612010525/html?lang=en)
7. [The observation of polymer microstructure by NMR, Macromolecular Symposia, 1988](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/masy.19880200116)
8. [Chain Structure and Conformation of Macromolecules, Elsevier](https://shop.elsevier.com/books/chain-structure-and-conformation-of-macromolecules/bovey/978-0-12-119780-3)
9. [Frank Alden Bovey (1918−2003), Macromolecules, 2003](https://doi.org/10.1021/ma030121u)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Physical world and mathematics › Physical and mathematical scientists › Chemists › Researchers in polymer, supramolecular, and materials chemistry › Polymer physics and rheology*
*Initially written Sep 21, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 25, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Sep 25, 2026*
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