Chemical Communications Blog

We are excited to share the success of Nazar Rad’s first-time independent research article in ChemComm; ‘Effect of Na+ and K+ on the cucurbituril-mediated hydrolysis of a phenyl acetate‘ included in the full milestones collection. 

Read our interview with Nazar

What are the main areas of research in your lab and what motivated you to take this direction?

Currently, our focus is in application of catalytically active macrocycles that mimic the behaviour of natural enzymes. Like natural enzymes, the macrocycles confine the substrate and accelerate its conversion. The great advantage of macrocycles over enzymes is their simple structure. Thus, examination of macrocycles allows us to elucidate enzyme behaviour and construct new functional systems.

Can you set this article in a wider context?

We demonstrate that abundant sodium and potassium cations can affect the catalytic activity of enzymes by directly binding to the active site. Therefore, when enzyme activity is studied in vitro using a buffer solution, the cation effect should be considered along with the ionic strength effect. Otherwise, the cation binding to the active site can reduce the concentration of the active form of the enzyme. I believe that taking the cation effect into account will solve many misunderstandings related to enzyme behaviour.

What do you hope your lab can achieve in the coming year?

Generally, uncompetitive inhibitors are more effective drugs than a more generic competitive ones. Meanwhile, their mechanism of action is not clear. Thus, we plan to study and elucidate the nature of uncompetitive inhibition using the macrocycle as a model system for enzyme behaviour.

Describe your journey to becoming an independent researcher.

My decision to become a scientist germinated when I started my second year at the university. After classes, I spent more time in the chemistry lab working as Undergraduate Research Assistant getting acquainted with organic synthesis. And when I joined a graduate school as a PhD candidate, I started planning majority of my research, performing experiments, and analysing the obtained results. I was deciding the research directions on my own. My supervisor helped me to develop my understanding of the field and senior colleagues in the lab always supported me with advice and encouragement throughout my doctorate career path. The experience gained while participating in internships in Poland and Germany has broadened my vision of science and deepened my understanding in the field. After a two-year industrial experience, I continued my academic career in Poland working as a post-doc. Shortly, I secured a funding for my first project and currently holding an Assistant Professor position at the Institute of Physical Chemistry, Poland.

What is the best piece of advice you have ever been give?

The best advice that always encourages me is: “The only man who never makes a mistake is the man who never does anything.” I have often heard this statement from my senior colleagues. These words helped me throughout my scientific career to keep working towards the set targets and learn from gained experience be it positive or negative. I believe, this is the one of the best advice for an early career scientist.

Why did you choose to publish in ChemComm?

The article shows how the sodium and potassium cations, which are common in every laboratory, can affect reaction rates. Therefore, I believe that the results should be of interest to the broad community of chemists. Furthermore, ChemComm is one of the most widely read interdisciplinary journals. I also appreciate ChemComm’s venue for rapid publication.

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Nazar Rad is originally from Ukraine, born in Lviv, 1985. After earning a MSc degree in Chemical Science from the Lviv National University after Ivan Franko in 2008, he continued graduate education as a PhD candidate at the same university in the group of Prof. M. Obushak. His PhD thesis was focused on the transformation of the nitro group during the nucleophile attack on nitroethenes and nitrothiophenes. Further, he studied the formation of aryltriflouroborate complexes with diazonium salts at Maria Curie-Skłodowska University (Poland, 2010–2011) as a Fellow of the Visegrad Fund. In 2011–2012, N. Rad joined the group of Prof. A. Schmidt at the Clausthal University of Technology (Germany) as a DAAD Fellow developing organocatalysts of the Hayashi-Miyaura reaction. Then, he gained experience in industry working as an analytical chemist at the Enzyme Company (Ukraine, 2015-2016). After PhD defense in 2016, he joined Prof. M. Mąkosza’s group at the Institute of Organic Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences. In 2017, he accepted a post-doc position in the group of Prof. V. Sashuk at the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences, working on light-controlled supramolecular switches. Currently, Dr. Rad holds the position of Assistant Professor at the Institute of Physical Chemistry, Poland. His research is focused on the application of macrocycles as enzyme mimics.

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Brian Lindley has reached an exciting ChemComm Milestone when he published his first independent research article in our journal. You can read Brian’s #ChemComm1st article here: ‘Unlocking metal coordination of diborylamides through ring constraints‘ Find out more about Brian in our interview with him below.

What are the main areas of research in your lab and what motivated you to take this direction?

The central aim of my research group is to explore the cooperative action of boronic ligands and 1st-row transition metals within the context of catalysis. In this research, I draw on the demonstrated versatility of metal-ligand cooperativity as a design element for enabling a broad range of stoichiometric and catalytic transformations. Inspired by the work of others who have successfully integrated the benefits of transition metal and main group chemistry, I set out to expand the chemical diversity of boron-containing ligand architectures for applications ranging from organic synthesis to energy conversion.

Can you set this article in a wider context?

Metal-ligand cooperativity is a compelling strategy for lowering barriers to chemical reactions, e.g. by having both the metal and ligand play active roles in bond-making and bond-breaking processes. This reduces the burden on the transition metal center, often providing distinct advantages over traditional inorganic reaction mechanisms. We are interested in further exploring this principle by synthesizing ligands featuring boron functionalities proximate to the transition metal binding site. We aim to exploit this strategic placement of Lewis acidic boranes for metal-boron cooperative reactivity. In this article, we synthesize a cyclic diborylamide ligand and explore its coordination chemistry with lithium and iron. This new ligand features two boron substituents adjacent the nitrogen donor atom, thus potentially serving as useful classes of ligands for future metal-ligand cooperative applications.

What do you hope your lab can achieve in the coming year?

In 2022, we aim to probe the effect of boron substitution on the bonding and reactivity of these new cyclic diborylamide compounds. Beyond the diborylamide project, we also hope to disclose our first findings in two distinct research projects that also center on the coordination chemistry of boron-containing ligands with transition metals.

Describe your journey to becoming an independent researcher.

Though I admittedly teetered between chemistry and chemical engineering as an undergraduate, my research experience with Prof. Rich Eisenberg at the University of Rochester inspired me to pursue a career in inorganic chemistry. Rich also provided invaluable guidance on the graduate school application process, which ultimately led me to join Prof. Pete Wolczanski’s group at Cornell. The environment provided by Pete and his talented group of graduate students allowed me to think creatively about synthetic inorganic chemistry, thus laying the foundation for my independent career. I was fortunate to be offered a postdoctoral researcher position in Prof. Alex Miller’s group at UNC-Chapel Hill, where I matured as a scientist and expanded my skillset to include electrochemical methods. Motivated by these experiences, which also fostered my passion for teaching and mentoring students, I decided to pursue my own independent career to explore new frontiers in transition metal and main group chemistry.

What is the best piece of advice you have ever been given?

The best advice I’ve received is probably to believe in my ideas. Though often easier said than done, this guidance is comforting, particularly when research is progressing slowly.

Why did you choose to publish in ChemComm?

ChemComm covers a broad range of research topics including fundamental advancements in main group and transition metal chemistry, thus making the journal a perfect fit for the present research article.

Brian M. Lindley received his BS in Chemistry in 2010 from the University of Rochester, where his research in Prof. Rich Eisenberg’s lab centered on the synthesis of organic chromophores for light-driven, cobalt-catalyzed hydrogen evolution. Brian went on to receive his PhD in Chemistry in 2016 from Cornell University, where he studied metal-templated carbon-carbon bond forming reactions and Fe(IV) alkylidenes under the tutelage of Prof. Pete Wolczanski. Brian spent the next 3.5 years as a postdoctoral researcher in Prof. Alex Miller’s group at UNC-Chapel Hill, where he studied the fundamental steps in a proposed electrochemical dinitrogen reduction scheme. In 2019, Brian joined the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry at Baylor University as an assistant professor. Research in the Lindley Lab is centered on the development of fundamentally new classes of ligands for applications in 1st-row transition metal catalysis.

We recently caught up with Imogen Riddell (University of Manchester) – our latest ChemComm Milestones author. We wanted to find out about Imogen’s research and experiences as a first-time author in the interview below. You can now read Imogen’s first independent research paper ‘Self-assembly of a trigonal bipyramidal architecture with stabilisation of iron in three spin states‘ in our growing ChemComm1st collection.

Our interview with Imogen

What are the main areas of research in your lab and what motivated you to take this direction?
I believe that research can be placed on a spectrum which spans fundamental research to application science, and I have been fortunate enough to get experience of both ends. My PhD research was focused on the fundamental science of self-assembling metal-organic systems, whereas my postdoctoral work at MIT focused on the application of metal complexes in cancer treatment. Now I run my own group, I aim to take the best of each approach and have focused on developing novel self-assembling metal-organic systems with targeted applications in catalysis, bio-imaging and molecular stabilisation.

Can you set this article in a wider context?
Nature has a knack for successfully exploiting metals for both structural and catalytic purposes, however the scientific community has yet to develop the same level of mastery. Recently, the supramolecular community has become skilled at using metals as structure-directing agents, but unfortunately, current strategies have left the metal unavailable for further reactivity; effectively inhibiting the potential for catalytic activity.

A first step to overcoming this is to understand how to control the spin states of metal ions in complex architectures. In our paper, we demonstrate the incorporation of iron ions in three different spin states within a single molecule, illustrating how relatively simple starting materials can generate highly sophisticated molecules with potentially interesting properties.

What do you hope your lab can achieve in the coming year?
Currently work in my lab is looking at systematically understanding how we can exploit asymmetry within ligands to generate supramolecular cages with complex, yet controllable, three-dimensional structures. We are hoping to build on the understanding we have gained from the work described in this paper to demonstrate applications for these structures ranging from stabilisation of catalytically active metal sites to isolation and stabilisation of biomolecules. The highlight of this year, however, will undoubtedly be the graduation of my first PhD student, Lauren, who is also the first author on this paper!

Describe your journey to becoming an independent researcher.
Following an undergraduate degree at the University of Strathclyde, I was thrilled to accept a PhD position at Cambridge University, but I had no idea of what academia entailed, and certainly no concept that I would ultimately accept a job within the system.

The first year of my PhD was tough, very little worked, but with the publication of my first paper and a change of topic everything changed. Ultimately, I loved the chemistry I worked on in my PhD and assigning complex NMR spectra and problem solving mass spectral fragments became a fun hobby, and one I was paid to do! As my PhD came towards its end I rather boldly decided to move countries and research topics, a decision which has ultimately benefited me but was challenging in the short term.

My postdoc at MIT, was a very different experience from my PhD research. Rather than unraveling supramolecular mysteries we were attempting to develop better anticancer agents. The objective here was clear, but the magnitude of the problem you were attempting to address was very apparent. The postdoc did however provide extensive opportunities to diversify my background and acquire new skills.

When I was ultimately offered an independent fellowship at the University of Manchester I was able to use the skills I learned in these different settings to navigate the turmoil of moving once again to a new institution and learning new processes. Now I have a research group consisting of four students and a postdoc, and sitting on the other side of the fence I occasionally recognise I may have given my previous supervisors a bit of hard time!

What is the best piece of advice you have ever been given?
The piece of advice I reflect most often on is ‘consider your audience’. In essence who will read your text or watch your presentation, and what do they want to take from it. As scientists we become experts in particularly narrow subjects and can fixate on minor nuances which don’t impact the bigger picture. Understanding how much of the detail is of interest to your audience is a skill which, when mastered, allows the general public, our friends, family and fellow scientists to better appreciate the work we do.

Why did you choose to publish in ChemComm?
ChemComm is a very readable journal, the communication format and the broad readership made it well suited to this work which contains aspects of both supramolecular chemistry and magnetism. Additionally, as ChemComm published my very first research paper I am particularly fond of the journal and over the past decade have been able to see how well cited ChemComms can be!

Imogen completed her PhD at the University of Cambridge working for Prof Jonathan Nitschke where she explored new strategies for self-assembly of metal-organic container molecules. She then undertook her postdoctoral training with Prof Steve Lippard at MIT where her research was directed at understanding the mechanisms of non-classical inorganic anticancer complexes. In 2017 she was awarded a University of Manchester Dame Kathleen Ollerenshaw Research Fellowship, followed by a Royal Society URF in 2018 which enabled her to start her own research program looking at the design and discovery of metal-organic materials for novel applications.