Volume 82, No.3, July 2018 ISSN 0110-5566

ISSN 0110-5566

Volume 82, No.3, July 2018

Trace element partitioning during calcite growth: implications for climate reconstruction studies from New Zealand caves

Flavour and aroma analysis by solid-phase microextraction (SPME) and gas chromatography Obituary: Michael Philip Hartshorn FNZIC, FRSNZ Obituary: Kevin Russel Tate FNZIC, FRSNZ Death from the sky: the role of chemistry and chemists in understanding biological extinctions The Periodic Table: revelation by quest rather than by revolution Book review: Mendeleev to Oganesson. A multidisciplinary Perspective on the Periodic Table Some Unremembered Chemists: Francis Brian Shorland

Published on behalf of the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry in January, April, July and October.

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Disclaimer

Dr Catherine Nicholson

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Volume 82, No.3, July 2018

Arꢀcles and features

109

Trace element partitioning during calcite growth: implications for climate

reconstruction studies from New Zealand caves

Ingrid I. Lindeman

114

Flavour and aroma analysis by solid-phase microextraction (SPME) and gas

chromatography

Bruce Morris

118 119 120
Obituary: Michael Philip Hartshorn FNZIC, FRSNZ Obituary: Kevin Russel Tate FNZIC, FRSNZ Death from the sky: the role of chemistry and chemists in understanding biological extinctions

Peter Hodder

128

The Periodic Table: revelation by quest rather than by revolution

Peter Hodder

134 139
Book review: Mendeleev to Oganesson. A multidisciplinary Perspective on the Periodic Table

Some Unremembered Chemists: Francis Brian Shorland

Brian Halton

Other columns

98 99
From the President July news
145 147
Dates of note Chemeca 2018

97

Chemistry in New Zealand July 2018

Comment from the President

Welcome to the July issue of Chemistry in New Zealand.

Hopefully you have all had a chance to go to the new NZIC website and use it to renew your membership. It is hoped that the modern and up-to-date website will become a hub for chemistry informaꢀon for both members and the public alike. I want to thank Paul Plieger and Joanna Dowle for all their hard work geꢁng the website operaꢀonal.

In other NZIC news there has been an applicaꢀon to Council to form a new Educaꢀon Branch of the Insꢀtute. As many of you will know, the membership of the Insꢀ- tute has been falling over the years and it is hoped that the formaꢀon of the new Educaꢀon Branch will make membership more aꢂracꢀve to school teachers. This, coupled with the fact that one of the more important roles of the Insꢀtute is chemical educaꢀon, has led to Council thinking that the new branch would be a posiꢀve change. The formaꢀon of a new branch requires a vote by the whole membership. So later in the year, once the details of the structure of the new branch are ﬁnalised, you will all be asked to vote (probably via an online form) as to whether or not you approve of the formaꢀon of the new Educaꢀon Branch.

2019 is the 150^thanniversary of Dmitri Mendeleev’s ﬁrst report of the periodic table. As I menꢀoned previously, it was announced by the IUPAC and United Naꢀons that 2019 will be the Internaꢀonal Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements (IYPT 2019: hꢂps://iupac.org/ united-naꢀons-proclaims-internaꢀonal-year-periodic-table-chemical-elements/). A New Zealand commiꢂee involving the NZIC, MacDiarmid Insꢀtute, IUPAC and RSNZ has now been established to try and organise events for 2019. If you have any great ideas of things that could be done to celebrate IYPT 2019, please let myself or Joanna Dowle know and we can pass on the informaꢀon to the commiꢂee, as this represents a huge opportunity to get chemistry out into the public eye.
RSC and RACI and her work has been honoured by numerous awards including the NZIC Easterﬁeld Medal and Chemical Sciences Prize and the Rutherford Medal of the Royal Society Te Aparangi. In addiꢀon to this brilliant research, Professor Brimble has also provided strong leadership in our discipline over many years including acꢀng as the President of the IUPAC Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry Division, as an associate editor of

the RSC journal Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry and

as a Marsden Panel Convener. The same week as being elected FRS, Professor Brimble was also awarded the RSC George & Chrisꢀne Sosnovsky award for cancer therapy. So on behalf of the NZIC I would like to congratulate Professor Brimble on her spectacular success and thank her for showing what can be achieved as a chemist in New Zealand.
There are a couple of chemistry-related conferences, MOF2018 (hꢂp://mof2018.com/) and AMN9 (www. amn9.co.nz) that will be held in New Zealand in December 2018 and February 2019 respecꢀvely. In addiꢀon, the Canterbury branch, led by Sarah Masters, are busy organising the next NZIC conference and are just trying to ﬁnalise the dates but the conference will be held in December 2019 so please keep that ꢀme free.

James Crowley NZIC President

Finally, I want to congratulate Disꢀnguished Professor Margaret Brimble CNZM, MNZM who was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS). This is a richly deserved award, with less than 50 New Zealanders having ever been elected as Fellows and very few chemists having achieved this honour. Professor Brimble has made extensive contribuꢀons to organic chemistry including the synthesis of bioacꢀve natural products and pepꢀdes, and the development of new small molecule drugs such as troﬁneꢀde (NNZ-2566). She is also a Fellow of the NZIC,

98

New Zealand Institute of Chemistry

supporting chemical sciences

July News

Internaꢀonal Day of Light, Historic one-day event featured two minute

AUCKLAND

Science Fair

1^styear PhD talks, 8 senior PhD student talks, a poster session, compeꢀ- ꢀons, a high-proﬁle keynote lecture

by Carla Meledandri, and was fol-

lowed with a recepꢀon to bring together students, staﬀ, industry, and government researchers. Watch this space for photos from the event and an announcement of the prize winners!

The University of Auckland

Cather Simpson and the Photon Fac-

tory coordinated an event on 13 May for the Internaꢀonal Day of Light (the actual day to celebrate the invenꢀon of the laser was on 16 May). The event included an all-day science fair with fantasꢀc demonstraꢀons of 3D photoprinꢀng, photonic crystals in nature, natural radioacꢀvity, ﬂuores-

Welcome

We have welcomed Michael Groom as our new Group Services Manager. Michael joins us from the Department of Exercise Sciences where he just completed his term as Business Operaꢀons Manager. We look forward to working with you, Michael. cence, and many other light-related ANZNMF 2018

phenomena, together with a panel

Farewell

The 2018 Australia and New Zealand discussion by women scienꢀsts in-

cluding Dr Erin Leitao and Dr Mi-

chel Nieuwoudt, Cinnamon Laꢀmer,

Ankita Gangotra, chaired by Cather. School children from all over the city aꢂended. A big thanks to Cather, Andy Wang, Rakesh Arul and Rachel Ou as well as a number of other volunteers who made the event possible.
We recently said farewell to Professor Lynda Pitcaithly, who has moved to a new posiꢀon at the Liggins Insꢀtute. Lynda was our first Group Services Manager. Lynda was a very posiꢀve influence, both in her outlook and her impact on the School. She played a key role in such acꢀviꢀes as preparaꢀon of our three year plans and monthly budget planning, as well as managing
Nano and Microfluidics (ANZNMF) meeꢀng took place from 27 – 29 June at the University of Auckland. The conference covered all areas of microfluidic and nanofluidics, from theory, fundamentals and engineering developments, through to bionanotechnology and the latest innovaꢀve technologies – so there is good alignment with some research in the

the Group Services team. We wish Inaugural lecture by Professor Brent School of Chemical Sciences. On 27

her well in her new role.

Copp

June there was a student workshop aimed at developing skills for graduate student researchers. The 28^thand 29^thwere research sessions, with keynote speakers Professor Sandra Troian (CalTech) and our own Profes-

sor Jadranka Travas-Sejdic.
On 16 May, Professor Brent Copp

gave his inaugural lecture enꢀtled,

From natural products to zombie drugs: chemicals with biological ef-

fects. Natural products are molecules produced by living organisms. These

Events

Chemistry Olympiad

The Chemistry Olympiad camp finished on 4 May and the team was selected. Team members were Stephen Ma from Auckland Grammar School, Stefan Ivanov from Westlake Boys on the shore, Callun Loomes from Auckland Grammar School and Russell Boey from St Andrews College in Christchurch. There was a lot of excitement in the group who travelled first to Braꢀslava and then to Prague for the internaꢀonal compeꢀꢀon. This was the 50^thanniversary of the Olympiad which originated in Braꢀslava. The students, accompanied by Sheila Woodgate, Jan Giffney, and Buck Rogers (from St Peter’s College Epsom) worked really hard before mid-July in order to prepare for the 5 hour theory and 5 hour pracꢀcal exam. We would like to thank Katrina Graaf and her team for helping us out with the pracꢀcal training. so-called secondary metabolites are Visitors thought to improve the survival fit-
On 7 March, Dr Peter Canfield from ness of the producer. These same

natural products, or derivaꢀves, have also been uꢀlised by humanity for millennia, providing posiꢀve beneﬁts as medicines (examples include morphine and penicillin) and negaꢀve eﬀects such as misused drugs (which include cocaine and heroin). Brent’s lecture was well aꢂended and entertaining. the University of Sydney gave a semi-

nar on The last fundamental form of

isolable conformaꢀonal isomerism

demonstrated in a B(F)OB(F)-quinox- alinoporphyrin.

On 28 March, Professor Scoꢂ McIndoe from the University of Victoria (Canada), gave a colloquium enꢀtled,

Catalyꢀc reacꢀon mechanism eluci - daꢀon via real ꢀme analysis.

Research Showcase

On 29 March, Professor Vasantha Rupasinghe from Dalhousie University, Nova Scoꢀa, Canada, gave a seminar

enꢀtled, Flavonoids and biological

acꢀvity: exploring the value-added opportuniꢀes for cool climate fruits.

Professor Elliot Gilbert from the Aus-
On 6 June, the School of Chemical Sciences held its 10th Annual Research Showcase. This event provided an excellent opportunity for PhD students to showcase their research and network with the New Zealand chemistry community. The exciꢀng,

99

tralian Centre for Neutron Scaꢂering developing a novel innovaꢀve chem- Disꢀnguished Professor Margaret also gave a seminar on Small angle istry plaꢃorm to generate fully-syn- Brimble and her PhD student Sheng-

X-ray and neutron scaꢁering: natural theꢀc, self-adjuvanꢀng cancer vac- ping Zhang with Paul Harris and

tools for food science and technology cines for the treatment of diﬀerent Ivanhoe Leung, and colleagues, have research.

cancers.

just had their work published as a

“VIP” in leading chemistry journal

Angewandte Chemie. Together, they

completed the ﬁrst ever synthesis of callyaerin A, a challenging natural product with strong potenꢀal as an agent for combaꢁng tuberculosis.
Dr Koro de la Caba and Dr Pedro We congratulate Margaret Brimble, Guerrero from the BIOMAT research Jon Sperry, and Paul Harris who group in Spain were hosted for a have been invited to submit full stanthree week visit to the Biocide Tool- dard proposals to the Marsden Fund box and School of Chemical Sciences along with their collaborators, and in March. On 16 March they gave a Paul Hume and Ivanhoe Leung who joint seminar enꢀtled, A sustainable have been invited to submit full Fast- Congratulaꢀons to the Food Waste

approach towards the producꢀon of Start proposals.

Diversion Trial team, who were awarded the Vice-Chancellor’s Excellence Award – Environmental Sus-

tainability Award. Anoma Ratnayake

played a key organisaꢀonal role in this trial, and other SCS contributors

were Courtney Davy, Mansa Nair,

Shaheena Shaheem, and Kristel Mae

Casꢀllo.

biopolymeric materials.

Congratulaꢀons to Megan Jamieson

On 24 April, Professor Wei Zhang (PhD student in Margaret Brimble’s from Dalian University of Technol- group) for the publicaꢀon of a review ogy, China, presented a seminar on on the isolaꢀon and synthesis of a

Magneꢀc inducꢀon hyperthermia for new family of sesterterpenoids iso-

cancer treatment.

lated around the Paciﬁc rim. The review was featured on the front cover

of Natural Product Reports (impact

On 30 April, Dr Buddy Ratner from the University of Washington, USA, gave a seminar enꢀtled, Plasma de-

posited thin ﬁlms: biomaterials ap - plicaꢀons.

factor = 11) and was a collaboraꢀve Congratulaꢀons to our 200 School eﬀort with Professor Chris Bray from of Chemical Sciences graduates who Queen Mary University London. Har- graduated on 11 May, including 13 ry Shirley (former postdoc in Brimble PhD graduates, 18 MSc and MProf

group) was also a co-author.

students, 17 BSc Hons and 37 PGDip

Sci or PGDip Forensic graduates. The School of Chemical Sciences held a morning tea to celebrate graduaꢀon which included a short prize giving to award the LH Briggs prize for the most disꢀnguished research worker who has submiꢂed a thesis for the degree of PhD from the School of Chemical Sciences during the calendar year. The winner was Benjamin

Frogley (Supervisor: Professor James

Wright). Benjamin has made several fundamental discoveries in the chemistry of metallaaromaꢀcs, speciﬁcally those that contain iridium.
On 8 May, Dr Jonathan Kitchen, newly appointed lecturer at the Insꢀtute for Natural and Mathemaꢀcal Sciences, Massey University, Auckland, gave an NZIC seminar on Responsive

metallosupramolecular materials.

Congratulaꢀons to Benjamin Frog- ley, Lakshika Perera and James

Wright who had their paper enꢀtled,

Syntheses of amino-subsꢀtuted irida -

benzofurans and subsequent selec-

ꢀve N-funcꢀonalisaꢀon” nominated

as a “Very Important Paper” (VIP) and highlighted on the front cover

of Chemistry – A European Journal,

2018, 24, 4304–4309. Benjamin also had one of his papers (Chem. Eu. J. 2018, 24, 2025 –2038; DOI:10.1002/

Congratulaꢀons

A

big congratulaꢀons to Disꢀn-

guished Professor Margaret Brimble

who was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society. Margaret was also awarded the Royal Society of Chemistry 2018 George and Chrisꢀne Sosnovsky Award in Cancer Therapy for chem.201704888) featured on Fronꢀspiece in the same journal. a

Food Waste Diversion Trial team – winners of the Vice-Chancellor’s Excellence Award for Environmental Sustainability

Benjamin Frogley receiving the LH Briggs prize from Gordon Miskelly

100

Benjamin’s PhD research has already visit to the SAXS beamline at the Ruth Cink travelled to the University

resulted in several world-class publi- Australian

Synchrotron.

These ofHongKongtoperformexperiments

caꢀons. The runner-up this year was experiments will provide insight in the lab of Professor David Lee WanTing Chen (Supervisor: Associate into the relaꢀonship between the Phillips. Time-resolved spectroscopic Professor

Geoﬀ

Waterhouse). structure and concentraꢀon of data were collected for the Brasch
WanTing’s research aimed to diluents, and the nanostructure of group’s photoacꢀve HNO donor develop and understand new low- ionic liquids, which will aﬀect the use molecules, giving insights into the cost methods to get fuels such as of nanostructured ionic liquids as ultrafast photochemical events that hydrogen from sunlight. Her research solvents and as soﬅ materials. has already been cited 440 ꢀmes, occur upon their excitaꢀon. Her which indicates the internaꢀonal interest in her results.

PhD candidates who successfully presented and defended their PhD

theses were Daniel M. Ayine-Tora -

thesis ꢀtle: In silico design and dis-

covery of anꢀfungal, anꢀcancer and

malaria drug candidates (supervised

by Jóhannes Reynisson) and Zhao Li

(jointly supervised by Associate Pro-

fessor Yacine Hemar, Dr Don Oꢂer

from University of Wisconsin-Madison and Dr Ken Scoꢂ who is reꢀred from the School of Biological Sciences).

Auckland University of

Technology

Richard Dawkins, Allan Blackman and Mikey Havoc at the Isaac Theatre Royal

New faces

We have welcomed a new PhD student, Navneet Kaur, who will be

working with Dr Cameron Weber

and a new MPhil student, Sabeena, who will both be working with Dr

Jack Chen.

Two French interns have joined us to work with Dr Jack Chen. William Poleꢁ is visiꢀng us from École Naꢀonale Supérieure de Chimie de Rennes, Rennes and Yasmine Fares is from Naꢀonal Polytechnic Insꢀtute of Chemical Engineering and Technologie (INPENSIACET), Toulouse.

Cameron Weber, Paul Jun and Emma Matthewman at the SAXS beamline of the Australian Synchrotron

Events and invited talks

Professor Allan Blackman was

thrilledtobeaskedtoappearonstage with Professor Richard Dawkins in the Aotea Centre (Auckland) and the Isaac Theatre Royal (Christchurch) in May. Both shows were sold out, with Professor Dawkins giving his views on both science and religion to appreciaꢀve audiences.

Emma Maꢁhewman, Paul Jun

(University of Auckland) and Dr

Cameron Weber had a producꢀve

Ruth Cink (sitting in the centre) together with Professor David Phillips’ research group

101

travel was funded by the Dodd-Walls Centre and the Photon Factory.

Congratulaꢀons

Dr Jack Chen and his collaborators were successful in the concept stage of the MBIE Smart Ideas scheme with his project invited to the full proposal stage.