Newsletter 236, 26th

April 2013

Chemistry Update

Calendar of Events

Pre-Grasmere Meeting

Date: Wednesday 8 May

Time: 1.15pm - 6.15pm

Location: A101, A102, A122

Researchers’ Day

Date: Tuesday 21 May

Time: 10.30am - 6pm

Location: A101 & A102

Physics Departmental

Seminar

Title: Chemical Reaction Rates

from Ring Polymer Molecular

Dynamics

Speaker: Professor David

Manolopoulos, University of

Oxford

Date: Wednesday 15 May

Time: 2.15pm

Location: TBC

Inside this Issue

Chemical InterActions

Forensics Lecture

Date: Wednesday 22 May

Time: 4.30pm - 5.30pm

Location: A122

Date of Next Issue: 31st

May 2013

York Chemist Awarded National

Medal

2-3

Pigeons 1 Pest Controllers 0 3

Bruker Poster Competition 4

York Continues Innovative

Medicines Initiative (IMI) Chem21

Collaboration

5

Prof Duncan Bruce’s Visit to Chile 6

New Display Screens 7

Researchers’ Day

Staff Interviews 8-10

Chemistry Graduation 10

York@50 Sporting Challenge 11

Atmospheric Group BBQ

Research in Planet Earth

@OxfordChemistry Inspired by

@ChemistryatYork

Dr Duncan Macquarrie’s Paper

Selected for RSC Publishing

Pack

12

Sue Walton’s Retirement 12-13

Building Work 14-15

New Starters 15

Prof James Clark at British

Science Festival

Chemical InterActions Forensics Lecture

16

Page 2

York Chemist Awarded Prestigious National Medal

Dr Isabel Saez has been awarded the Cyril

Hilsum Medal by the British Liquid Crystal

Society. The award is in recognition of the

quality and creativity of her work on

supermolecular liquid crystals, in particular

her work on liquid crystals based on clusters,

dendrimers and nanoparticles. She is the

eighth recipient of the medal. The medal is

awarded for overall independent

contributions to liquid crystal science and

technology made in the ten years preceding

nomination, therefore the award, open equally to those from academic and industrial

backgrounds, is made to mid-career researchers who have made notable contributions to the

subject over a number of years.

The Cyril Hilsum medal, which was first awarded in 2006, recognises the key role played by Cyril

Hilsum, Head of the Malvern Displays Group, in the development of liquid crystal materials and

displays.

Isabel received the medal and gave

a short, post-dinner address at the

Annual Conference of the Society in

Cambridge where she said she was

“absolutely delighted to receive such

high recognition from the Society”

and thanked the members of the

Liquid Crystal group for their support,

inspiration and continued hard work.

And...

The recipients of the 2013 Gray Medal (Prof. Gleeson), Hilsum Medal (Dr Saez) and Young

Investigator Award (Dr S. Kaur) with Prof. M. Wilson, Chairman of the BLCS.

We also had to do some work, so when we headed to Cambridge, from 25-28 March, to

attend the 27th British Liquid Crystal Society Annual Meeting, a wide sample of the work carried

out in the Liquid Crystal group was presented. Tingjun Zhong (Year 2 PhD student with

Professor John Goodby) presented a poster. David Stewart (4th Year PhD student with Dr

Isabel Saez) presented a talk on "Supermolecular liquid crystals based on carborane clusters"

and Dr Emily Bevis gave a talk on "The effect of the aspect ratio on the dichroic properties of T-

shaped benzothiazole derivatives". For the presentation of her work on "Controlling the director

configuration in liquid crystal polymer particles", Kirsty Holdsworth (Year 2 PhD student with Dr

Verena Görtz) won the prize for best talk of the conference. This was the first time that Kirsty had

given an oral presentation to a conference audience.

PS. Eddie opened his eyes eventually!

Pigeons 1 Pest Controllers 0

Bruker Poster Competition

Twenty seven posters from our 3rd year PhD students were on display in the Department for this

year’s Bruker Poster Competition which took place on 16th April.

The Competition requires participants to display a poster about their research which is scored by

a panel of judges based on presentation, scientific content, and student discussion. The judging

panel consists of member of academic staff and PDRAs as well our guests this year, Dr Melanie

Britton from the University of Birmingham, and Dr Andy Gibbs from Bruker.

The event was well attended with many people commenting on the very high standard of the

posters. The judging panel eventually decided on four winners who were each awarded £400 by

Bruker to spend on research related items or activities.

A departmental seminar was held in the afternoon and talks were given by Professor Stephen

Withers, who gave his RSC Award lecture, and Dr Melanie Britton, our guest judge.

Dr Andy Gibbs presented the prizes to our four winners:

Katrina Bakker (JWG)

Stephen Bromfield (DKS)

James Firth (PAOB)

Daniel Raines (AKD/KSW)

Thanks go to Bruker for their sponsorship of the event, all those members of staff on the judging

panel, and all the students for taking part.

Page 4

From left to right: Prof Duncan

Macquarrie, Alan Reay, Ryan

Gorman, Lyndsay Ledingham

and Dr Rob McElroy

Several members of the Department of Chemistry travelled to Frankfurt at the end of March to

take part in the first IMI work package 2 conference, hosted by Sanofi at their impressive site.

The purpose of this conference was to allow greater cooperation between the academic and

industrial partners in the project, as well as encouraging the sharing of ideas and resources to

allow exciting new developments to be made. Representatives from almost all of the 6

pharmaceutical companies, 10 universities and 5 Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs) involved

in Chem21 were in attendance at the two day event. York PhD students Ryan Gorman, Lyndsay

Ledingham and Alan Reay all presented their recent work to the consortium; this included new

green methodology for amide bond formation, investigations into palladium-catalysed cross-

coupling processes, and copper-catalysed routes to heterocyclic compounds. Presentations from

other universities and partner companies further highlighted the importance of collaboration

between industry and academia to solve the environmental and financial challenges of the future.

One example of an important future collaboration from York includes the use of the new pilot

plant facilities at Leeds University to synthesise stabilised palladium nanoparticles, which are

then intended for distribution to several industrial partners to test on their substrates. Another

example is to utilise the expertise of the company CatSci to optimise a novel route to

heterocycles, originally developed within the department at York. The next conference will be the

project’s yearly review held in Helsinki in September. There was even time for York’s

representatives to improve international relations with local business owners.

Page 5

York Continues Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI)

Chem21 Collaboration

Professor Duncan Bruce’s Visit to Chile

At the end of March, Professor Duncan Bruce visited the Universidad de Concepción in Chile,

where he delivered a postgraduate course entitled: 'Molecular Materials Chemistry: Structure-

Function Relationships and the Role of Non-covalent Interactions'. He also delivered a research

seminar: 'N-Heterocycles and their Metal Complexes in Liquid Crystals: Phosphorescence and

Heterogeneous Catalysis'.

The visit initiated a collaboration between Duncan's group and that of Dra Paulina Hidalgo in the

area of halogen bonding, and Dra Hidalgo will be visiting the group in July this year.

During the visit, he had the chance to visit the Nahuelbuta National Park, which is a forested area

full of araucania (or monkey puzzle) trees, some more than 2,000 years old.

Some of the students taking the postgraduate course.

A view in the Nahuelbuta

National Park.

Page 6

Page 7

Smart-eyed readers will have

already noticed that the display

screens in the foyer and at the

top of the stairs of the NMR

building have subtly changed.

The new displays are on the

University managed system

available in other departments

and colleges. The new displays

will show a mixture of centrally produced material and our own in-house material. Submissions

should still be made to either Tim Elsworth or Adrian Whitwood, however the content should

either be images (jpg, png, bmp, tiff format) or images and text. The clock is included

automatically by the controlling box, so there is no need to include it in submissions. We can

incorporate images which do not include a clock and images which may not have departmental

colours. As a guide images should have a height to width ratio of 1.78:1.

In the future we hope to be moving the foyer display to a larger screen above the porter's desk

and possibly adding additional displays in YSBL the coffee room and the undergraduate common

room.

New Display Screens

Researchers’ Day 21 May

Rob Thatcher and the Graduate School Office are organising the

upcoming Researchers' Day on the 21st May; an exciting opportunity

to see the variety of research going on in the department - be sure to

mark it in your diaries!

The first session will start at 10.30 and will include an introduction from Dr Andy Parsons (Deputy

Head of Department) and Professor Robin Perutz about a range of topics relevant to researchers

in Chemistry. The main focus of the day will be talks from post-doctoral researchers from across

the spectrum of chemistry. These will take place in two sessions, one in the morning and one in

the afternoon. There will also be a PhD poster session during lunch time, and a wine reception

following the talks.

Page 8

Group Administrator for the York Structural Biology Laboratory

Catherine Foster has joined the Department of

Chemistry as Group Administrator for the York

Structural Biology Laboratory, following Ruth

Wilkinson's departure in October 2012. Catherine's

University of York history started with two and a half

years in Physics, as a general administrator and PA

to the Head of Department. During this time she did

a wide range of admin and PA work, but focused

particularly on departmental communications and

support for the department's successful applications

for The Institute of Physics' Project Juno (a physics-

specific gender equality programme) and Athena SWAN Silver awards. Catherine was seconded

to Registry Services for most of 2012, working on statutory returns mostly for HESA and the

Student Loans Company, and delivering training to departmental users on the SITS student

record system. She started at YSBL in December 2012.

Prior to joining the University, Catherine's work history includes ten years in the law, and five in

the media, a highlight of which was working on the multiple-Oscar-winning "Shakespeare in

Love". Although only a lowly production assistant, she found her fifteen minutes (or rather fifteen

seconds) of fame when a shot of her hand made its way into the final version of the film. Let it

not be said we have no movie stars in the Department of Chemistry!

Interview with Catherine Foster

Interview with Dr Will P Unsworth

Research and Teaching Fellow (RJKT group)

I began working in York in November 2009, when I joined the RJKT group as a Postdoctoral

Research Associate. My exact role within group has evolved over the last three and a half years

but throughout this time the majority of my time has always been spent doing research in the lab.

I started out working on the total synthesis fiendish a natural product called ‘upenamide- a

molecule that I grew to love and hate in equal measure! Since the completion of this work I’ve

gone on to help start and develop a

number of new synthetic methodology

projects based on direct imine acylation,

rhodium-stabilised carbenoid reactions,

sigmatropic rearrangements and

spirocyclic quinone synthesis. As a

postdoc, the opportunity to develop and

realise these new ideas is without

question most enjoyable and exciting

aspect of the job. I have also been

fortunate to work with an amazing bunch

of people in the RJKT group and the

opportunity to supervise a number of talented PhD and MChem students is another real highlight.

This has involved co-writing project outlines, helping to shape the direction of the research and

generally putting out fires (not literally Moray!) when problems invariably arise. My other duties

include writing papers, proof-reading and making sure the lab runs smoothly - although my

colleagues in D216 may dispute the latter! I am also involved with the editing process for

Tetrahedron. I have recently taken on a new role, having accepted a position as ‘Research and

Teaching Fellow’ in March. In addition to the roles mentioned above I will have a number of

teaching responsibilities including teaching tutorials and workshops and supervising/marking

MChem students in York, industry and abroad. Having changed roles just as term was ending I

don’t yet know how I’ll balance the teaching and research aspects of the job but am excited to

find out what the new term brings. I have recently taken over from Vil as post-doc representative

on the Board of Studies so please contact me if there is anything you want to raise.

I was born and brought up in Coppull, a village near Chorley in Lancashire. I completed my

undergraduate chemistry degree at the University of Oxford and was fortunate enough to stay on

and complete my PhD with Dr Jeremy Robertson, working on Rhodium-nitrenoid methodology

and total synthesis. After 7 years down south I decided to move back up north and, despite being

on the wrong side of the Pennines, York seemed like a perfect fit for me and my wife Hayley. We

live across the city in Holgate and since moving to York the Unsworth family has expanded by

one, with the birth of our son Billy, who is now two. Away from work I enjoy relaxing with my

family, playing football for the Organic Chemistry 6-a-side football team and pub quizzes. I am

also quite partial to the occasional beer with friends.

Page 9

Page 10

Interview with Dr Alison Parkin

Anniversary Research Lecturer in Chemistry

I am a bioinorganic chemist and I joined the

Department as an anniversary lecturer in

October in order to establish my own group. I

am currently bringing electrochemistry,

enzymes and biochemistry research to life in

the basement of A block. In particular I am

fascinated by how bacteria derive energy from

unusual fuel sources like hydrogen. York is

proving to be an excellent place to conduct

these studies: I have found colleagues in

Chemistry, Biology and Physics who have complementary interests in how we can harness

biological catalysts to achieve green chemistry and I’m just getting some very interesting joint

projects off the ground. The departmental technical staff have also been fantastically supportive

and ingenious in helping me assemble my kit for electrocuting enzymes in glove boxes. Initially I

have a small teaching load, and will mostly be interacting with students in teaching labs, hopefully

inspiring them with the wonders of d-block chemistry and redox reactions

Having grown up in East Yorkshire, I am enjoying my return ooop North after 12 years in Oxford.

I was an undergraduate and graduate student at Jesus College, before becoming a Junior

Research Fellow and Inorganic Chemistry Tutor at Merton College. My husband, Chris, has just

started as a lecturer in Material Science in Sheffield and we are enjoying exploring the

restaurants and bars of York, and being inundated by friends and family who want to stay so they

can visit the Railway Museum.

Chemistry Graduation 10 July 3pm

A reminder for any staff members wishing to attend the Chemistry

graduation ceremony on Wednesday 10 July at 3pm, to please let Luiza

know by *Wednesday 1 May*.

Don’t forget the Degree Day Drinks will take place after the ceremony between 5pm and 6pm.

Page 11

York@50 Sporting Challenge

The York@50 Sporting Challenge is part of the University’s 50th anniversary. It is a staff, student

and alumni collaboration aiming to fundraise for the Snowball Plantation, a Scout outdoor activity

centre at Stockton on the Forest and Achieving Excellence Bursaries to ensure that students

from lower income families, where no other support is available, get a helping hand to make the

most out of the York experience. For more information see http://www.yorkspace.net/york50

Angela Longman has entered for the 10K Fun Run. Helen Burrell

and Adrian Whitwood are entering the 52 mile cycle ride as a team.

There is also a 25 mile cycle ride, family cycle rides and a 5K Fun

Run. These are sponsored events and the aim is for each

department to raise £250. Rather than try and get individual

sponsorship, would anyone else be interested in joining us as part of

a Chemistry Team? If so, please contact either Adrian or Angela.

Atmospheric Group BBQ Research in Planet Earth Article

Oxford Chemistry have tweeted their admiration of the

ChemistryatYork twitter account and have made it their

goal to get as many followers!

@OxfordChemistry Inspired by @ChemistryatYork

Planet Earth Online have published an article about the Atmospheric Chemistry

Group’s recent paper (D. Kocak, M.Z. Ozel, F. Gogus, J.F. Hamilton & A.C.

Lewis, ‘Determination of volatile nitrosamines in grilled lamb and vegetables

using comprehensive gas chromatography - nitrogen chemiluminescence

detection’, Food Chemistry, 2012, 135, 2215-2220) showing that chargrilling

meat over badly prepared coal may contaminate it with dangerous levels of

chemicals that can cause cancer.

Page 12

Dr Duncan Macquarrie’s Paper Selected for RSC

Publishing Pack

Dr Duncan Macquarrie has had a paper selected to be featured in the RSC Publishing Pack and

Chemistry World, the RSC online news section.

Dr Duncan Macquarrie's article ‘Alkali silicates and structured

mesoporous silicas from biomass power station wastes: the

emergence of bio-MCMs’ has been identified as suitable for inclusion

in the weekly RSC Publishing press pack, which is sent to science

journalists. A news item about the research has also been included in

the online news section of Chemistry World.

Dr Duncan Macquarrie researches in Materials Chemistry in the Green Chemistry Centre of

Excellence.

Sue Walton’s Retirement

Sue Walton, long-time technician in the teaching labs and also previously in the research labs,

retires at the end of April 2013. A small celebration took place at coffee time on 17 April

Several of the presents reflected Sue's liking for cuddly toys.

We all wish Sue a long and

happy retirement.

Fellow teaching lab technician Emma

Dux had drawn some cartoons

depicting some of the humorous

incidents in Sue's teaching lab career,

and several of these were mounted in

a poster-size picture.

Building Work

Work progresses on the Chemistry building sites. On the new F-block site, steelwork has

been going up very quickly...

Page 14

...while on the IGAC site footings have been completed (since this photo was taken steelwork

has appeared).

New Starters

Helen Parker, Green Chemistry PhytoCat PDRA, working for Prof James Clark.

Extension number: 4547, Room: B020, Email: h.parker@york.ac.uk

Dr Jon Agirre, Postdoctoral Research Assistant, working for Prof Keith Wilson and Dr Kevin

Cowtan in YSBL on the 'automated building of carbohydrate models' project.

Extension number: 8253, Room: B/K264, Email: jon.agirre@york.ac.uk

Dr Ana Casas Garcis, Process Development Unit Technician, working for Dr Mark Gronnow in

the Biorenewables Development Centre (BDC).

Extension number: 565361, Room: BDC 2.52, Email: ana.casas@york.ac.uk

Juliet Burns, External Relations Officer, working for Dr Fabien Deswarte in the Biorenewables

Development Centre (BDC).

Extension number: 561578, Room: BDC 2.89, Email: juliet.burns@york.ac.uk

Dr Leonie Jones, Green Chemistry Education and Training Associate, working for Prof James

Clark and Louise Summerton.

Extension number: 4478, Room: B016, Email: leonie.jones@york.ac.uk

Page 15

Professor James Clark at the British Science Festival

About My Planet and Chemistry World (RSC) reported on a presentation by Professor James

Clark (Chemistry) at the British Science Festival which showed how food waste can be turned

into useful chemicals when subjected to high levels of microwaves.

Page 16