21 May 2009
Neil Champness is the Professor of Chemical Nanoscience at the University of Nottingham, UK. He is also the current chair of the CrystEngComm editorial board. His research covers all aspects of molecular organisation and supramolecular chemistry.
Why did you become a scientist?
I probably became a scientist because I was always better at sciences when I was at school. I have always believed that you should use your talents for the benefit of others and for me that meant becoming a scientist.
What projects are you working on at the moment?
There are always a large number of projects going on in my group and our research is becoming more diverse all the time! A couple of projects which we are really enjoying are studies of new metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) that support optically active substituents and another project on generating random structures on surfaces which we do in collaboration with Peter Beton’s group here in Nottingham. It is fun for a supramolecular chemist to use designed intermolecular interactions to generate random structures – it is like using order to create disorder. The irony appeals to me!
What do you think will be the next big breakthrough in your field?
I think there are some very interesting things going on in translating our understanding of three-dimensional crystals to two-dimensional surface structures and vice versa. I think we are starting to learn a lot about how crystals begin to form and this could have an enormous impact on crystal engineering and on surface assembly in general.
How do you think crystal engineering will develop in the next five years?
I think there will be significant developments in the field of MOFs. Personally I feel that this is a field which is starting to mature and will lead to increasing commercialisation of these type of compounds for a variety of applications. In the wider crystal engineering field, I anticipate that people will get closer and closer to being able to predict structures ab initio. Structure prediction is a field that I think many researchers watch with fascination and there is some beautiful work going on.
What would you do if you weren’t a scientist?
I would be a politician. I have been quoted as saying this before and it is probably the comment which raises most surprise from other academics. I have strong political beliefs and my heroes tend to be politicians rather than scientists. Anyone who has visited me in Nottingham would know that I have a full-size campaign poster from Robert F. Kennedy’s 1968 presidential campaign above my computer – I guess this will tell people something about me.
What is the most rewarding aspect of your work?
Working with the researchers in my group. There are few jobs where you get to interact with so many bright and enthusiastic people. I enjoying publishing but I also enjoy the sense of achievement that the researchers feel from their first few publications.
What is the secret to a successful research group?
The researchers, the PhD students and the postdocs. The reality is that it is the people in the lab who actually do things. Of course the group leader needs to nurture a sense of excitement about the research that is being done but ultimately it all comes down to the researchers.
What advice would you give to a young scientist?
Never lose hold of the big picture. It is very important to be ambitious – to try to solve important questions and not to get lost in the minutiae.
What achievement are you most proud of?
Probably the work we have done on surface self-assembly, using crystal engineering concepts to organise molecules on the nanoscale. I was recently told by a student that one of my papers was the first scientific paper they had ever read which somewhat surprised me. It is nice that our work is now covered in text books as well as it feels that our contribution is being passed on to undergraduate students.
What is your favourite place to be?
Naturally at home with my family. After that I guess it is a toss-up between being by the sea or watching my football club, Southampton. People who know anything about UK football will realise that watching Southampton is not normally too enjoyable for their fans!
Related links:
Hydrogen-bonding tectons for the construction of bimolecular framework materials
Jacqueline Hamblin, Stephen P. Argent, Alexander J. Blake, Claire Wilson and Neil R. Champness, CrystEngComm, 2008, 10, 1782 DOI: 10.1039/b811462e
Hydrogen storage in metal–organic frameworks
Xiang Lin, Junhua Jia, Peter Hubberstey, Martin Schröder and Neil R. Champness,
CrystEngComm, 2007, 9, 438 DOI: 10.1039/b706207a
