Archive for the ‘People’ Category

Meet our Authors – April 2013

Two authors of NJC’s April Issue are interviewed for this month’s Meet our Authors feature.

 

Our first author is Kathleen Mullen, who is an Australian Postdoctoral Fellow and a Lecturer at the Queensland University of Technology. Kathleen’s research is in the broad field of supramolecular chemistry, but she is particularly interested in incorporating porphyrins into interlocked architectures, anion sensors and molecular machines.

 

The article by Kathleen and her co-authors looks into he construction of interlocked architectures that will have interesting photo-and electrochemical properties. Porphyrins and bipyidinium moieties are perfect targets for such purposes, however the range of chemical reactions that are compatible with both species is relatively limited. The work in this paper set out to gain a better understanding of the size/structure of strapped porphyrin macrocycles and broaden the synthetic tools available for he construction of rotaxanes incorporating these motifs.

 

On choosing NJC to publish this work, Kathleen commented: “Because our work appeals to a general chemistry audience, which NJC caters for.”

 

When not working, Kathleen loves to travel: “Its even better that our work enables us to travel so much. Last year my visit to the University of Cambridge also coincided with the Olympics which was an amazing experience.” (see photo).
If she could not be a scientist, Kathleen would be a food critic. She thinks that it would be a great way to travel the world, tasting gourmet food along the way.

 

The second author is Ian Fairlamb, who is a Professor of Chemistry at the University of York (UK). His research group is currently working on catalysis, synthetic chemistry, mechanistic examination and carbon monoxide therapeutics.

 

For several years Ian has been intrigued by macrocyclic aryl ketone natural products, and their derivatives. He and co-workers noted that efficient synthetic routes to these types of structures were limited. Therefore they developed and exploited a Pd-catalysed protocol for aryl ketone synthesis. Silyl deprotection of the resultant products and a subsequent Mitsunobu reaction gave access to both 16-membered and 17-membered macrocyclic compounds.

 

On the main motivation for submitting his work to NJC, Ian commented: “The NJC experience, from paper subimission and revision, through to publication, is an efficient process. We wanted to submit our paper to a more general-focused journal, where it would be visible to different research fields. NJC occupies a unique position in this respect.”

 

Outside the laboratory, Ian has several favourite activities, including playing the guitar and being outdoors for gardening, walking in the hills, running and cycling. His favourite books include ‘Comfrey’, by Lawrence D. Hills and ‘Memoirs of a Fellwanderer’ by Alfred Wainwright.
When asked for an alternative career path if not a scientist, Ian answered running shoe designer (just do it…yourself !)

 

We would like to thank to our authors for making time in their busy schedules to answer these questions for us.

 

Why not submit your high impact research to us today!
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Meet our authors of the March issue of NJC

We are pleased to present a selection of our authors of the March issue of NJC. We thank each of them for accepting our invitation and having kindly taken some of their time to answer a few questions for us.

Our first author is Thomas Maschmeyer who is Professor of Chemistry at the University of Sidney (Australia) and Director of the Laboratory of Catalysis for Sustainability. His current research interests concerns all aspects of catalysis from new complexes, new materials and performance studies to process development and pilot plants – with the common theme of enhancing sustainability. Thomas and co-workers provide in his NJC paper a basis for the preparation of supported bismuth species and highlights unusual band gap shifts associated with supported cluster size variation.

Thomas chooses NJC as it is a journal that appeared ideal for the dissemination of this type of work that lies at the boundaries of a range of disciplines.

Outside of the lab, Thomas enjoys Kayaking. If he could not be a scientific researcher, he would be an engineer or a novelist.

Unprecedented blue-shift in bismuth oxide supported on mesoporous silica by Antony J. Ward, Anne M. Rich, Anthony F. Masters and Thomas Maschmeyer, New J. Chem., 2013, 37, 593-600 ; DOI: 10.1039/C2NJ40847C, paper.

Our next author is Robert B. King, regents’ Professor Emeritus, University of Georgia (USA); and adjunct Professor of Chemistry, Babeş-Bolyai University (Romania); Associate Director of the Center for Computational Quantum Chemistry, South China Normal University (China) and Academic Co-Director of the Research Center for Advanced Computation, Xihua University (China). Robert’s research interests are centred on computational inorganic and organometallic chemistry.

In this issue of NJC, Robert has authored the article Diverse bonding modes of the tetramethyleneethane ligand in binuclear iron carbonyl derivatives by Huidong Li, Hao Feng, Weiguo Sun, Qunchao Fan, Yaoming Xie and R. Bruce King, New J. Chem., 2013, 37, 709-716 ; DOI: 10.1039/C2NJ40644F, paper. “A paper in which density functional methods is used to explore the chemistry of tetramethyleneethane iron carbonyl derivatives related to species originally obtained from reactions of allene with iron carbonyls” explains Robert who chooses NJC for publication of this article as this work is interdisciplinary since it applies methods from quantum physics and chemistry to an area of organometallic chemistry.

In his free time, Robert loves contract Bridge (Bronze Life Master), travel to unusual places and music.

Closing this month’s author selection, Dr. Feng Li is Associate Professor at the Nanjing University of Science and Technology, P. R. China.

His current research interest is organic synthesis/design, exploration and development of environmentally friendly reactions and he has authored in this NJC issue the paper Regioselective N-alkylation with alcohols for the preparation of 2-(N-alkylamino)quinazolines and 2-(N-alkylamino)pyrimidines by Feng Li, Lin Chen, Qikai Kang, Jianguang Cai and Guangjun Zhu, New J. Chem., 2013, 37, 624-631 ; DOI: 10.1039/C2NJ41021D, Paper.

This paper shows that in the presence of the [Cp*IrCl2]2/NaOH system, the direct N-alkylation of 2-aminoquinazolines and 2-aminopyrimidines with alcohols afforded the N-exosubstituted 2-(N-alkylamino)quinazolines and 2-(N-alkylamino)pyrimidines with high yields and complete regioselectivities. The protocol is highly attractive because of easily available starting materials, high atom efficiency and environmental friendliness.

NJC is prospective and promising journal in the field of chemistry”, says Feng.

Out of the lab, Feng’s favorite activity is sport. If he could not be a scientist, Feng would probably be an Art designer.

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Meet Our Authors – February 2013

Welcome to one of our favorite category of our NJC blog. NJC talks to some of our authors of the February issue of NJC. Scroll down to read interviews with research scientists and discover their development of interest in science, mentors, research work, and other aspects of their careers.

Our first author Dr Jörg Saßmannshausen holds a Computer Officer position at the University College London, London, UK. His current research focuses on Organometallic Chemistry – Reaction Mechanism.

Why you choose this type of position and how you motivate yourself? I always was a Chemist with a spanner in my hand. When I started to move into the area of Molecular Modeling, I also started to set up computer clusters and installed programs. The real beauty of my current position is I can do both: I get paid for using my ‘spanner’, i.e. maintaining the Department’s High Performance Computers and giving advice here, and I still can pursue my research in my spare time. I am fortunate that the Department is really supportive here. So I got an ideal position: a permanent job in a vibrant Department, which allows me to do the research I am, interested it without the administrative burden or writing research grant proposals. My curiosity is probably my greatest motivation here.

What experiences in school science, if any, influenced you to pursue a career in science? I think I was always interested in science, even in primary school. During my time in secondary school I had not only really good science teacher in Biology, Physics and Chemistry, there were also some great programs on TV at the time. So I absorbed as much as I could get. Being a practical person (the ‘spanner’) I decided to do an apprentice ship as a laboratory assistant in Chemistry when I left secondary school. That was the final inspiration, which I needed to become a Research Chemist.

On the main motivation for submitting his work in NJC, Jörg said:I found that work a wonderful example how wet chemistry, molecular modeling and spectroscopy can work hand in hand to look into reaction mechanism. In order to reach a broad audience we decided to publish it in New Journal of Chemistry… Seeing my publication printed” is the most exciting moment during his research.

A different career or a different profession for Jörg? I actually toyed with the idea of becoming a Gardener. However, when you make your hobby your profession, you are losing your hobby, so I decided against it.

Gardening is Jörg’s favorite after work activity. ”And I used to build my own furniture, a past-time which I will take up more now that I am settled”, he added.

Taming the shrew: [TMEDALi-Zn(C2H4)2L] as a model compound for anionic ethene polymerisation by Jörg Saßmannshausen, Jan Klett, Alan R. Kennedy, John A. Parkinson and David Armstrong, New J. Chem., 2013, 37, 494-501, DOI: 10.1039/C2NJ40874K.

Our next author Dr George Psomas is an Assistant Professor at the Department of General and Inorganic Chemistry at the Faculty of Chemistry, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. His research interests are in the area of Bioinorganic Chemistry.

On choosing a career in science, George comments: “My teachers in chemistry motivated me highly to science. It combines research and working with young people.” In his paper published in NJC, George Psomoa and his colleagues describe the successful synthesis of Zinc(II) complexes with the quinolone antibacterial drug flumequine. “I was sure that the article was suitable for a reputed journal such as NJC” explaining why choosing the NJC journal.

In his free time George enjoys having fun with his sun. And the most exciting moment during his research is “When unexpected interesting results are obtained”.

Zinc(II) complexes with the quinolone antibacterial drug flumequine: structure, DNA- and albumin-binding by Alketa Tarushi, Jakob Kljun, Iztok Turel, Anastasia A. Pantazaki, George Psomas and Dimitris P. Kessissoglou, New J. Chem., 2013, 37, 342-355, DOI: 10.1039/C2NJ40798A.

Johannes M. Nitsche is a Professor of Chemical Engineering at the 
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York. Johannes’s research interests include transport phenomena, transport in biological systems, dermal absorption of drugs and chemicals, biological membrane permeability.

Why you choose this type of position and how you motivate yourself? Because I love science and the theory underlying physical phenomena, and teaching the next generation.  Motivation comes from curiosity, and telling yourself to keep going and never give up trying to figure something out.  Having colleagues who are really decent and dedicated people makes it easier to work hard.

On choosing NJC to publish this work, he said: “The physical property addressed by the paper (written jointly with Gerald B. Kasting at the University of Cincinnati) is the key to predicting cell membrane permeability, yet measured for very few molecules.  We wanted to determine how predictable this property really is from other readily available molecular attributes.  We submitted the paper to NJC because it was written as a commentary about another paper addressing this issue in the same journal.”

What is the most exciting moment during your research? “After many late nights, the “aha” moment when you finally understand something.”

Can you imagine having had a different career or a different profession? What would it be? I always wanted to work at a university for as long as I can remember.  In another university life I might have wanted to be a theoretical physicist.  In another totally different life I might have wanted to be an artist, but that’s a bit riskier.” Besides his research activity, Johannes enjoys ballroom, latin dancing, and traveling.

A critique of Abraham and Acree’s correlation for deca-1,9-diene/water partition coefficients by Johannes M. Nitsche and Gerald B. Kasting, New J. Chem., 2013, 37, 283-285, DOI: 10.1039/C2NJ40622E

Our last authors are Christina Hettstedt and Konstantin Karaghiosoff from the Department of Chemistry, Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, Germany.

Christina is a PhD student and together with Prof. Konstatin Kraghiosoff has contributed to the February NJC issue with article that present new chiral heterophospholes. …”Which should be an excellent starting point for the synthesis of chiral phosphines with a broad range of possible applications. For me NJC is the ideal journal to publish my work due to broad readership and great variety of different topics covered by the journal”, she commented on their work.

Her research interests are Phosphorus chemistry, Organophosphorus Compounds, Functionalized Phosphines, Heterophospholes. She likes to investigate compounds at the borderline between inorganic and organic chemistry as well as the combination of practical (laboratory) work and theory.

What is the most exciting moment during her research? The moment when the molecular structure of a new compound appears on the screen.”

In her spare time Christina likes horse riding, motorcycling and reading.

Konstatin Kraghiosoff is Professor of Inorganic chemistry. His research covers broad areas of Phosphorus Chemistry and Multinuclear NMR spectroscopy.

Why you choose this type of position and how you motivate yourself? “To teach students and to explore the mysteries of nature with a young, dynamic and motivated team is the most exciting thing in the world. At school I was fascinated by biochemistry, later on, however, I discovered inorganic chemistry and in particular the element phosphorus…”

Why did you decide to submit this work to NJC? “Our paper on chiral heterophospholes published in NJC is a continuation of our studies on heterophospholes and a continuation of tradition of phosphorus chemistry, which has its roots in Europe. NJC is a journal with an excellent reputation and a very broad readership, thus providing the best platform for making phosphorus chemistry popular.”

What is the most exciting moment during your research? Mounting a crystal after having searched for a long time in the sample for a suitable one.

In his free time Konstantin likes solving crystal structures while enjoying the music of Bruce Springsteen and playing with his cat.

New anellated 4H-1,4,2-diazaphospholes by Wolfgang Betzl, Christina Hettstedt and Konstantin Karaghiosoff, New J. Chem., 2013, 37, 481-487, DOI: 10.1039/C2NJ40709D

We would like to thank to our authors for making time in their busy schedules to answer these questions for us.

Why not submit your high impact research to us today!

 

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Where to meet the NJC team in 2013

Will you be attending one of the following conferences at which one of the NJC Editors will also be present? 

 Symposium on Foldamers — 10–12 April, Paris (France) — meet Laurent
Journées Scientifiques SCF: Section PACA — 11 April, Nice (France) — meet Ling
4th Georgian Bay International Conference on Bioinorganic Chemistry —21–25 May, Parry Sound (Canada) — meet Denise
96th Canadian Chemistry Conference — 26–30 May, Quebec City (Canada) — meet Denise
GECOM-Concoord — 26–31 May, Cap d’Agde (France) — meet Yannick
5th European Conference Chemistry for Life Sciences (5ECCLS) — 10–12 June, Barcelona (Spain) — meet Eva
The 8th International Dendrimer Symposium (IDS-8) — 23–27 June, Madrid (Spain) — meet Ling
20th EuCheMS Conference on Organometallic Chemistry (EuCOMC) — 30 June–4 July, St Andrews (UK) — meet Denise
18th European Symposium on Organic Chemistry (ESOC) — 7–12 July, Marseille (France) — meet Ling
International Conference on Advanced Complex Inorganic Nanomaterials — 15–19 July, Namur (Belgium) — meet Denise
XIV European Symposium on Organic Reactivity (ESOR) — 1–6 September, Prague (Czech Republic) — meet Eva
Organometallic & Coordination Chemistry: Fundamental and Applied Aspects — 1–7 September, cruise on Volga & Sheksna Rivers from Nizhny Novgorod (Russia) — meet Yannick
International Conference on Nanoscience & Technology (ChinaNANO) — 5–7 September, Beijing (China) — meet Ling
5th BBBB Drug Delivery — 26–28 September, Athens (Greece) — meet Ling
ILMAT 2013 — 18–20 November, Montpellier (France) — meet Yannick 

More details on what we’ll be doing at these meetings will be posted on the blog in the coming months — keep an eye on this space to find out more.
 

Do drop us a line if you’ll be there too — we’d enjoy meeting you!

Denise Parent (Editor), Eva Balentova (Deputy Editor), Yannick Guari, Ling Peng and Laurent Vial (Assistant Editors)

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Three new members named to the NJC Editorial Board

New Journal of Chemistry is proud to welcome three new Board Members. They will take part in the future development of the journal with their colleagues on the board. To get to know them, here is some information about our new members.

 

Dai-Wen Pang from Wuhan University, PR China

Dai-Wen PANG (庞代文) was born in 1961 in Songzi, China. Luojia Professor of Chemistry and Director of the Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Biology and Medicine at Wuhan University, his research interests focus on the development of new nanobioprobes and nanobioprobe-based methodologies for biomedical research and clinical diagnosis, especially quantum dot-based dynamic biotracking and bioimaging for virus invasion, tumor metastasis and cancer diagnosis. Dai-Wen has over 200 publications in peer-reviewed journals.

 

Dai-Wen earned both his B.S. in Chemistry (1982) and Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry (in 1992, under the direction of Profs. Chuan-Sin CHA and Zong-Li WANG) at the University of Wuhan. Appointed in 2011 as Chief Scientist by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China to work on the Project of National Basic Research Program of China, he will bring to the Board all of his experience and knowledge. Among his various distinctions, Dai-wen received the First Award of the Natural Science Prize of the Ministry of Education of China (2006) and most recently the distinction of National Outstanding Scientist (2012).

 

Dai-Wen’s reaction on accepting his nomination: “It is really my honor to be an NJC Editorial Board member. In my opinion, chemistry should intercross with other disciplines, especially, it should get into life sciences. We chemists should be able to contribute to the fight against diseases such as viruses, cancers and so on. We have great opportunities at the interfaces among chemistry, biology, and nanoscience. I will try my best to promote interdisciplinary study of chemistry with biology, medicine, and nanoscience etc..”

 

Christina Moberg of KTH, Stockholm, Sweden

Christina MOBERG was born in 1947. Full Professor at the KTH School of Chemical Science and Engineering, Organic Chemistry Department in Stockholm since 1997, she obtained her B.Sc. at the University of Stockholm and her Ph.D. at KTH (Royal Institute of Technology) in Stockholm with Prof. Martin Nilsson. Her research interests are centered on asymmetric metal catalysis and concern mainly the development of selective synthetic methods. Christina’s special interests are to determine the role of symmetry in asymmetric reactions and in the design of self-adaptable ligands.

 

Christina has received several awards, such as the “Göran Gustafsson Prize” from the Swedish Academy of Sciences, the “Sixten Heyman Prize” from Gothenburg University and the “Ulla and Stig Holmquist Prize” from Uppsala University; Christina was also awarded the Rosalyn Franklin Lecture tour in Britain in 2005. She has been “knighted” by the French President into the French National Order of Merit in 1999. Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences, Christina served as vice-President of the former academy until mid 2011.

 

Christina feels that Board members and play an important role in today’s scientific community: “As the borders between the traditional sub-disciplines of chemistry are becoming less pronounced, a broad-based forum such as the New Journal of Chemistry has an important role to fulfill. As a member of the Editorial Board I will be happy to assist in future development of the journal. Strict adhesion to ethical guidelines is a prerequisite for the promotion of science, and the Board, together with the authors, reviewers, and Editors, should do its best to ensure that strict ethical rules are obeyed.”

 

Sijbren Otto from Groningen University, The Netherlands

Sijbren OTTO was born in Groningen in the Netherlands in 1971. Associate Professor in the Stratingh Institute for Chemistry at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, he received his M.Sc. (1994) and Ph.D. (1998) degrees cum laude from the same university, working in the group of Prof. Jan B. F. N. Engberts. After his Ph.D. he moved to the United States for a year as a postdoctoral researcher in the group of Prof. Steven Regen, investigating synthetic systems mediating ion transport through lipid bilayers. In 1999 he received a Marie Curie Fellowship and moved to the University of Cambridge, where he worked for two years with Prof. Jeremy Sanders on dynamic combinatorial libraries. Sijbren then embarked on an independent research career in Cambridge as a Royal Society University Research Fellow.

 

 

Sijbren moved back to the University of Groningen in 2009 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2011. His research interests are broad and range from supramolecular chemistry to systems chemistry, embracing topics like catalysis, molecular recognition, self-assembly and self-replication. Sijbren was awarded an ERC starting grant in 2011, a VICI grant in 2013 and currently coordinates a Marie Curie Initial Training Network on Systems Chemistry.

Regarding NJC, Sijbren has these thoughts: “I think it is important to support a general chemistry journal carried by non-profit chemical societies in order to maintain the balance between commercial and non-profit journals. At the same time, it is important to safeguard the quality of such journals at a time of an ever-increasing quantity of manuscripts that are produced throughout the world. “

 

We extend a warm welcome to our three new Board members on behalf of all the actors of the journal! We look forward to collaborating with them in the coming years.

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NJC’s new Associate Editor is from Brazil

  

Jairton Dupont

Prof. Jairton Dupont, NJC's new Associate Editor

We are delighted to announce the appointment of Jairton Dupont as NJC‘s Associate Editor for the Americas. He is a professor of the Institute of Chemistry at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) located in Porte Alegra in Brazil’s southernmost state. He replaces Prof. Michael Scott (formerly at the University of Florida and now at NSF). 

Jaïrton has close ties to France and the UK (NJC‘s two “homes”), having received his Ph.D. degree from the Université Louis Pasteur of Strasbourg (France). After a period as a post-doc at the University of Oxford (UK), he joined the UFRGS, taking up his current position in 1992. His research interests are mainly centered on ionic liquids with special emphasis in catalysis, nanomaterials and alternative energies. Jaïrton has authored well over 200 scientific works, including an organometallic chemistry textbook. 

 Among his various distinctions, Jaïrton is a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences and he has received many awards such as the Humboldt Research Award, the Conrado Wessel Award, the TWAS Award and the Brazilian Gran Cruz. He has returned to the “Old World” on numerous occasions, including as an invited professor at ULP, the University of Nuremberg-Erlangen (Germany) and Universidad de Alcala de Henares and Rovira i Virgili (Spain). Click here to see his CV (in Portuguese).  

Jaïrton’s commitment to excellence in scientific publishing is based on the following: “The worldwide dissemination of scientific achievements relies mostly on periodicals and therefore reputable professional journals are the most significant platform tool in this process. New Journal of Chemistry is certainly one of the platforms for the dissemination of the most important scientific global achievements in chemistry in their whole diversity.”  

I extend a warm welcome to Jaïrton on behalf of the NJC Editorial Board, the editors of NJC, RSC Publishing and the CNRS.  

To submit your work to NJC, click here (or paste this link into your browser: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/njc). 

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Meet Our Authors from the January 2013 Issue of NJC

Prof. George Gokel

Our first author is George Gokel, a former NJC Associate Editor, who is Distinguished Professor of Science and Director of the Center for Nanoscience at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. George’s research is in the field of supramolecular and biological chemistry of membrane active and channel-forming compounds.

The article by George and his co-authors looks into the little-studied branched-chain chemistry of pyrogallolarenes. These compounds have led to at least one remarkable nanotube structure. The group’s NJC paper addresses the membrane behavior of resorcinarenes that have hard-to-obtain, very long chains that are aligned (rccc). The typical synthesis of pyrogallols depends on crystallization of a single product from a complex mixture. Long-chain pyrogallols or resorcinarenes crystallize poorly owing to their extended hydrocarbon chains. Jochen Mattay had previously prepared and characterized very long chain compounds containing varied headgroups. The collaboration with the group of Gokel probed the monolayer behavior (Langmuir trough) and membrane activity (bilayer clamp) to obtain new information about the amphiphilic behavior of these difficult-to-obtain derivatives.

One of George’s favorite films is KPAX. In this film, Kevin Spacey claims to be a tourist from the planet KPAX. Jeff Bridges plays the psychiatrist who seeks conventional explanations for a range of phenomena that point to Spacey’s alien origins. George applies the moral of this film to science: “It humbles one to think that we often try to make our data fit our preconceived notions rather than applying Sherlock Holmes’ advice in the Sign of the Four that ‘when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.'”

Properties of long alkyl-chained resorcin[4]arenes in bilayers and on the Langmuir trough by Priyanka Ogirala, Saeedeh Negin, Ceno Agena, Christian Schäfer, Thomas Geisler, Jochen Mattay and George W. Gokel, New J. Chem., 2013, 37, 105–111. DOI: 10.1039/C2NJ40337D

Luca (on the right) indulging in one of his passions with two friends.

The second NJC board member is Luca Prodi, who is a Full Professor in the Chemistry Department “G. Ciamician” of the University of Bologna.

Luca explains how his research interests have expanded over the years, while remaining centered on light: “I have been always fascinated by luminescence-related processes. Because of this curiosity, I directed my interest to the design of luminescent chemosensors and labels, especially for biological applications. The advent of nanotachnology has allowed the design of brighter systems, and for this reason I have recently started the study of nanoparticles, in particular those possessing a silica core. The possibility to design multicomponent systems opens up a huge number of strategies to improve the analytical signal. It is not possible to get bored studying these materials!”

All of these topics come together in the Focus review contributed by the Prodi group. “The design of chemosensors able to give information about the concentration of a given analyte can have a tremendous impact on many disciplines, such as medical diagnosis, molecular biology, and environmental monitoring, to cite only a few. Since the use of chemosensors based on silica nanoparticles is, to our opinion, very promising for obtaining systems featuring better performances, we have reviewed some interesting examples of what is reported in the literature indicating also some perspectives in the field.”

Reading is one of Luca’s favourite activities besides chemistry (and cyclingsee the photo!). He notes that he is a  “curiosity-driven reader” so his interests span many areas but in particular he likes detective stories by northern Europe writers, while one of his favourite Italian authors is Andrea Camilleri; Luca particularly enjoyed reading the first novel by this author, introducing Inspector Montalbano in La Forma dell’Acqua (The Shape of Water—sounds quite fitting for a chemist!).

Luminescent chemosensors based on silica nanoparticles for the detection of ionic species by Marco Montalti, Enrico Rampazzo, Nelsi Zaccheroni and Luca Prodi, New J. Chem., 2013, 37, 28–34. DOI: 10.1039/C2NJ40673J

David visiting Mgarr in Malta, with a view of the harbor and church.

Lastly let us meet David C. Magri, a recently appointed Senior Lecturer in the Department of Chemistry, University of Malta (Malta is a small archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea, with a long and fascinating history, having been ruled by a succession of powers going from the Phoenicians to the British crown). Getting back to David, his research is in the area of luminescent sensors and molecular logic gates.

In their NJC paper, David with student Thomas report the first examples of molecular AND logic gates that can simultaneously measure the pH and the pE (redox ability of a solution). In honour of Marcel Pourbaix, a formerly renowned electrochemist, they have named them Pourbaix sensors. Such probes could be useful in environmental monitoring, and also in cell biology and medicine, for example, as high concentrations of protons and redox active metal ions, such as iron, have been linked to certain types of cancer.

With a background in both photochemistry and electrochemistry David often contemplated how to intertwine elements from both to the field of molecular information processing.  Fluorescent logic gates for pH and pE was the result.

A book that has left its mark on David from his graduate training is The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas S. Kuhn (published in 1962 by the University of Chicago Press).  David explains: “The book explores the psychology of science dealing with the acceptance of new paradigms.  I would recommend all researchers give it a read.”

‘Pourbaix sensors’: a new class of fluorescent pE–pH molecular AND logic gates based on photoinduced electron transfer by Thomas J. Farrugia and David C. Magri, New J. Chem., 2013, 37, 148–151. DOI: 10.1039/C2NJ40732A

We hope you enjoyed meeting some of your fellow chemists. Check back next month on the NJC blog to see who we’ll interview next!

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Meet Our Authors – November 2012

This month again, we are delighted to introduce you to authors from NJC’s latest issue. Many thanks to them for sharing with us.

Our first author is Dr Kenta Adachi, who is Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental Science & Engineering at Yamaguchi University, Japan. His current research interests focus on the optical and spectroscopic properties of organic/inorganic hybrid nanoparticles and clusters, along with the design, assembly, and use of nanoparticle-tagged biomolecules as analytical tools for sensing, imaging, and diagnosis. In his NJC letter, an approach is presented for the first time to induce chirality in aggregates of achiral organic dyes by chiral amino acid molecules pre-adsorbed on the metal oxide colloid surface. The authors believe that these findings, together with the possibility of fine-tuning both amino acids and organic dyes on the metal oxide colloid surface, open new promising ways towards the design of efficient chiral supramolecular sensors and devices.

“NJC covers various areas of chemistry, and is a high quality multidisciplinary journal for all chemists. This study is focused on the interfacial phenomena of organic/inorganic hybrid materials, that is, is of broad interest to all organic, inorganic, and physical chemists”, commented Dr Adachi on choosing the NJC journal.

Besides his research activity, Kenta greatly enjoys travelling around the world with his wife, especially visiting world heritage sites. Together, they have already been to Machu Picchu, Nazca Lines (Peru), Chichen Itza, Calakmul, Palenque (Mexico), Hawaii Volcanoes, Statue of Liberty (USA), Uluru (Australia), Giza Pyramids (Egypt), Angkor (Cambodia), Sigiriya (Sri Lanka), Changdeokgung (South Korea), Suzhou (China), Himeji Castle (Japan), and Sri Lanka.  His most favorite world heritage site is Machu Picchu (see photo), and he is now planning to go to Indonesia to visit Borobudur Temple.

When asked for an alternative career path, Kenta replied: “In my childhood, I really wanted to become archaeologist. I’m still hanging in there. My dream will definitely come true if I don’t give up”.
“Chirality induction and amplification in methylene blue H-aggregates via D- and L-phenylalanine pre-adsorbed on the tungsten oxide nanocolloid surface” Kenta Adachi, Shohei Tanaka, Suzuko Yamazaki, Hideaki Takechi, Satoshi Tsukahara and Hitoshi Watarai, New J. Chem.2012, 36, 2167-2170. DOI: 10.1039/C2NJ40415J.

Dr Cyrille Monnereau is Assistant Professor at the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon (France). Dr Monnereau is interested in molecular engineering of chromophores and fluorophores, especially for biophotonics applications. In recent years, the authors have been trying to develop two-photon absorbing chromophores for fluorescence bio-imaging and photodynamic therapy, which could be easily and efficiently delivered into cells or target organs. The simple and adaptable ATRP methodology used in their NJC paper allowed the authors to progress significantly towards this aim, with minimal synthetic effort.

The ambitious and open-minded editorial line of NJC that promotes interdisciplinary and innovative works from all disciplines across chemistry, made NJC a logical choice in the authors’ eyes. In addition, they appreciate “The RSC not-for-profit motto, which ensures that science is the only criterion for papers’ acceptance or rejection”.

Outside of the lab, Cyrille’s favorite activity is listening to music and desperately trying to introduce his 4 and 2 years old kids to more or less obscure and experimental rock and jazz acts from the past 50 years. If he could not be a scientist, Cyrille would be a professional musician, although he admitted: “I have honestly never seriously thought about it”.

“Water-soluble chromophores with star-shaped oligomeric arms: synthesis, spectroscopic studies and first results in bio-imaging and cell death induction” Cyrille Monnereau, Sophie Marotte, Pierre-Henri Lanoë, Olivier Maury, Patrice L. Baldeck, David Kreher, Arnaud Favier, Marie-Thérèse Charreyre, Jacqueline Marvel, Yann Leverrier and Chantal Andraud, New J. Chem., 2012, 36, 2328-2333. DOI: 10.1039/C2NJ40407A.

Our last chemist for this month is Dr Marina Lezhnina, who is Research Fellow in the Institute for Optical Technologies at Münster University of Applied Sciences, Germany. Her research activity focuses on the synthesis of luminescent species in non-classical matrices, with applications in lighting technologies and analytics. Her NJC paper contributes to the search for efficient luminescing rare earth complexes with versatile potential for linkage to secondary substrates. The authors demonstrated that tris-ß-diketonate-Europium complexes could readily be co-ligated with epoxyphenanthroline, yet widely retaining the advantageous optical properties of higly efficient phenanthroline or bipyridyl analogues, while the epoxy group provides a fascinating prospect for coupling to polymer backbones, activated surfaces, and last but not least to biologically relevant substrates like proteins and peptides (see the glutathione model in the present publication).

Dr Lezhnina’s opinion of NJC is that:”The journal has published numerous articles on novel compounds with intriguing luminescent properties in the past. While claiming “a new direction in chemistry” based on our complexes would sound overstated, we yet believe that our work has some noteworthy implications, which may be acknowledged by the readership of the journal”.

In the non-lab world, Marina is fascinated by the true naturalness of Nature. At home, she likes to relax with Delta blues, to take an interest in social criticism and politics, and to see through crime stories. When asked for an alternative career path, Marina answered: “I would be getting on other people’s nerves with never-ending and obtrusive questioning”.

“Luminescence of a novel Eu(diketonato)–epoxiphenanthroline complex and covalent coupling to peptides via the epoxigroup” Marina M. Lezhnina, Diana Hofmann, Beatrix Santiago-Schübel, Peter Klauth and Ulrich H. Kynast, New J. Chem.2012, 36, 2322-2327. DOI: 10.1039/C2NJ40505A.

Check back next month for more profiles of NJC authors!

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NJC Poster Prize awarded at Chirality conference

 

Dr Flavia Pop (University Angers)

Dr Flavia Pop

At the recent Journées André Collet de la Chiralité conference, the jury selected Dr Flavia Pop for her poster entitled “Hierarchical Self-Assembly of Chiral C3-Symmetrical Tetrathiafulvalenes”. Flavia, who is now a teaching/research assistant at the University of Angers, carried out this work in the group of Narcis Avarvari in the Moltech Laboratory, in collaboration with the group of David Amabilino in Barcelona and with the contribution of Mathieu Linares at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.

Her winning poster presents compounds of C3 symmetry based on electroactive TTF grafted onto a 1,3,5-tris(amido-2,2’-bipyridine-amido)benzene core. Stereogenic centres attached to the TTF units provide self-assembled homochiral architectures (see Figure 1), like helical aggregates of preferential helicity twist. Different chiral alkyl branches were used (isopentyl, citronellyl and dihydrocitronellyl), leading to the formation of fibres or croissants whose helicity was connected with the nature of the alkyl chain, its stereochemistry and the employed conditions.

 

Self assembly of a TTF-grafted C3 core

Figure 1. Self assembly of a TTF-grafted C3 core

Flavia obtained her Ph.D. degree in 2009 from the Universities of Babes-Bolyai, Cluj-Napoca (Romania) and Angers (France) under the joint supervision of Prof. Ion Grosu and Dr. Jean Roncali. She has continued her research since then at the University of Angers in the field of molecular materials based on electroactive  tetrathiafulvalene as the donor in radical cation salts, covalent donor-acceptor systems and chiral disk-shape molecules.

Congratulations to Flavia for her NJC Poster Prize from the NJC team!


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Meet our authors of the October issue of NJC

We are pleased to present a selection of our authors of the October issue of NJC. We thank each of them for accepting our invitation and having kindly taken some of their time to answer a few questions for us.

Our first author is Khaleda Banu who is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of California San Diego (USA). Her current research interests are mainly focused on the synthesis of metal and semiconductor nanoparticles and their application in the fields of renewable energy and microbial fuel cells. In her NJC paper, Khaleda and co-workers report on how a simple modification to the solid-matrix method could generate large-scale transparent gold nanosheets up to 50 mm in size that are attractive for the development of new biosensors.

When asked what led to the publication of this article at NJC, Khaleda responds: “The present paper is an extension of previous work published in NJC. Our intention was to publish a series of papers on the proposed electroless method for the deposition of various metal nanoparticles which can receive the attention of the interested readers”.

Out of the lab, Khaleda enjoy kid’s gymnastic activities, teaching students and reviewing papers.

If Khaleda could not be a scientist, she would probably like to be an actress or a professional chess player.

Synthesis of large-scale transparent gold nanosheets sandwiched between stabilizers at a solid–liquid interface
by Khaleda Banu and Takayoshi Shimura, New J. Chem., 2012, 36, 2112-2120; DOI: 10.1039/C2NJ40478H.

Our next author is Huanshun Yin, Lecturer at the Shandong Agricultural University (China). Huanshun’s research interests focus on electroanalytical chemistry, electrochemical biosensors and electrochemical immunoassays.

In this issue of NJC, Huanshun has authored the article MicroRNA-21 detection based on molecular switching by amperometry by Yunlei Zhou, Zhaoyan Zhang, Zhenning Xu, Huanshun Yin and Shiyun Ai, New J. Chem., 2012, 36, 1985-1991; DOI: 10.1039/C2NJ40253J. “We developed an assay method that can discriminate complementary base mismatched microRNA sequences. More importantly, this biosensor assay reveals that microRNA-21 is highly expressed in human HeLa cells and in normal human hepatic cells. We think that such a method would be valuable in clinical diagnostics”, explains Huanshun who chooses NJC for publication of this article as NJC is an RSC important international journal.

In his free time, Huanshun loves spending time doing car rides. If Huanshun was not a scientist, he would have been a teacher.

Dyanne Cruickshang is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Cape Town (South Africa).

Her current research interest is the beneficiation of both agrochemicals and other active pharmaceutical ingredients using supramolecular methods such as co-crystallisation and cyclodextrin inclusion which has been her focus over the last few years.

In this NJC issue paper, Dyanne and co-authors highlight the ability of highly toxic and persistent agrochemical to form cyclodextrin inclusion complexes. The work presented focuses mainly on the single crystal structure of the complex between dimethylated b-cyclodextrin and endosulfan. It also shows how the potential of cyclodextrins in the agrochemical industry and how these molecules could be used for sequestering the insecticides from contaminated areas.

A solid-state study of the inclusion of endosulfan in native and derivatised cyclodextrins using X-ray diffraction and thermoanalytical methods by Dyanne L. Cruickshank, Susan A. Bourne and Mino R. Caira, New J. Chem., 2012, 36, 2007-2013; DOI: 10.1039/C2NJ40364A.

NJC was chosen as it contains articles spanning a wide spectrum of interests to the scientific community. This journal seemed like an ideal way to demonstrate the relatively new area of cyclodextrin inclusion of agrochemicals and the potential applications of these complexes.”

Cycling, running or swimming along the Cape Peninsula in preparation for various triathlon events are Dyanne’s favourite activities. She also enjoys travelling and trying the local foods. If she could not be a scientist, Dyanne would probably be involved in some sort of teaching career.

Closing this month’s author selection, Marian Davolos is Full Professor at the Sao Paulo State University (Brazil).

Her current research interest is investigating optical properties of inorganic materials. She has authored in this NJC issue the paper Synthesis of a functionalized europium complex and deposition of luminescent Langmuir–Blodgett (LB) films by Renata D. Adati, Felippe J. Pavinatto, Jorge H. S. K. Monteiro, Marian R. Davolos, Miguel Jafelicci and Osvaldo N. Oliveira, New J. Chem., 2012, 36, 1978-1984; DOI: 10.1039/C2NJ40199A. “An anionic europium complex stabilized by and amphiphilic cation was proven amenable to deposit as LB films with relatively intense luminescence and good stability” says Marian.

Out of the lab, Marian’s favorite activity is to grow and to care for orchids and if she was not a scientist, she would be a florist or a gardener.

Marian also says that “To grow and care for plants is fantastic, especially when they give beautiful flowers and fruits. Teaching, lecturing, advising scientific work of students and guiding them to work and to make scientific research part of their life is highly satisfactory compared to growing delicate plants. Renata D. Adati, a co-author in this paper, that is part of her thesis, was one of my specials PhD students.”

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