Spring 2006

The challenge of protein folding Free radicals in organic synthesis Laser spectroscopy of surfaces Energy efficiency and climate change As I see it...

Peter Spitz has spent his life in the chemical industry. He started out as a chemical engineer, and founded the consultancy Chem Systems, which was acquired by IBM in 1999. He continues to work as an advisor to chemical industry senior management, and spoke to Sarah Houlton about some of the current issues facing the sector

What scope is there with current Europe and the American Chemistry What will the long term conse - technology for replacing petro - Council (ACC) in the US to improve the quences be if they fail? chemicals with natural materials? industry’s image. I think the problem is I think there will be more banning of There has been a lot of talk about replac - that whenever they think they’ve gained certain products, some justified but not ing petrochemical hydrocarbons with a little PR ground, there’s another necessarily a good thing in all cases. natural materials, particularly making explosion or revelation of people being There is a lot of evidence to suggest that polymers from starch and intermediates adversely affected by some chemical. when DDT was completely phased out, based on ingredients such as corn. It’s impossible to avoid this sort of bad it led to a huge increase in the incidence Progress is being made, but it’s going to PR, and I don’t see how companies will of malaria in Africa and Asia, and there be a very long, slow haul. ever completely avoid it it – so they just are now second thoughts about whether While a number of companies have have to live with it. The problem is that it was a good idea, but it was done. said they intend to make more use of when it is translated into proposed action Now Greenpeace and some of the natural materials as feedstocks, it’s (or overreaction) by government bodies, more extreme environmental groups going to take another couple of decades it creates an enormous problem for the have proposed the elimination of chlo - for this to take off. The impetus isn’t chemical industry. The original proposals rine, which would be disastrous. Chlo- going to be so much that it can save oil, of the European chemicals evaluation and rine is essential for purifying drinking it’s more environmentally based. There testing programme, Reach, would have water. People say it could be replaced will be enough oil for petrochemicals been extremely costly, almost prohibi - with ozone, but that would be tremen - for a long, long time; the big replace - tively so, and fortunately the proposed dously expensive, and ozone only persists ment incentive is much more on the testing requirements have been cut back. for a short time and does not inhibit bac - fuel side where a great deal of effort is The industry associations try to do terial growth in the pipes downstream of being made with biodiesel and ethanol. their best to educate the public with the treatment plant. When the conse - examples, and I think it helps a lot. The quences are properly considered, a ban Is it mainly the big companies American Plastics Council ran a wonder - would make no sense at all. that are working in the area? ful campaign several years ago on the Yes, because it requires huge new invest - basis of ‘Plastics make it possible’, which The chemical industry has changed ments without achieving breakthrough improved that industry’s perception by greatly since you began your economics. But many chemical compa - the public substantially. Industry has to career. Why is industrial chemistry nies have said – and I believe they mean figure out how to best present their pos - still an attractive career option? it – that they’re in favour of sustainable itive contribution to society to the public. When I graduated, industrial chemistry development. There’s a PR aspect. I’m I think the better a job they do there, the was glamorous. Petrochemicals were not cynical about their motives, though. better the image is going to be. They just growing rapidly, with many new inven - I just think companies have to be eco - haven’t done the best job so far. tions being made. Now the industry is nomically driven, regardless of whether mature, and image problems and a lack they are altruistically inclined or not. Are they getting better? of seemingly exciting new developments I think most processes using natural The recent campaign started by the ACC, make industrial chemistry of less interest raw materials are more complicated or I think, is a lot better than what it has to graduate students who are more likely less direct, for example fermentation. done in the past – it does a good job of to choose areas like pharmaceuticals, There are a number of products that presenting to the public how chemicals biochemistry or nanomaterials. have been made from natural materials are necessary to shape their lives, and To me, the exciting part of the chemi - for a long time, such as citric acid and how people can’t do without them. I cal industry was taking an invention from high fructose corn syrup plus, of course, think the next step will have to be adver - the lab to a commercial plant, making the ethanol but, in general, processes are not tising by industry groups to try and get product for a dollar a kilo rather than the that economical, and difficult to scale up. people to buy into the facts. thousands of dollars it would cost in a They have to understand that, like any test-tube. That opportunity still exists. It’s In what other ways can compa - industry, the chemical sector is subject to still thrilling to walk through a large nies address the bad image of certain hazards which are outweighed by chemical plant and realise a product is the chemical industry? the good that they enjoy every day from being made there on a hundred million I don’t think there are any easy answers. the products it makes. That’s going to be pound a year scale. There’s an excitement A lot of money has been spent by difficult, but we have to continue to try being in a large chemical plant I think industry organisations such as Cefic in and educate the public. can’t be matched anywhere else in industry.

CV Peter Spitz Born: Vienna, Austria consultants, which has among its clients some of the Education: Peter attended schools in Austria and largest multinational chemical firms andmerchant banks. France, high school at Germantown Friends School in Interests: Author of two books on the chemical Philadelphia, and graduated in chemical engineering industry. He is a founding member of Chemical Heritage from MIT. Foundation, which is involved with the history of Career: After several years at Esso Engineering, he chemistry from alchemy to the present. Peter is also an joined Scientific Design Company where he was in avid skier and golfer. charge of designing and starting up new petro chemical Did you know? Peter and wife Hilda have three sons, plants. He left to found Chem Systems, a management all with MBAs from highly-rated universities, who are consulting firm that eventually had offices in New York, respectively a chief financial officer of a large firm, a London, Paris, Tokyo and Bangkok. More recently, Peter high yield bond analyst and an investment banker. Still, founded a strategy boutique in partnership with other Peter says, it’s not yet time to retire.

2 Chem@Cam Spring 2006 Reluctant reactions Letters

Dear Editor, the reaction proceeded ‘extraordinarily temporarily blind and have to go home. The letter from Antony Barrington readily’. One began to wait for the Antony was responsible for the defin - Brown ( Chem@Cam 25) rang a bell phrase every time, in case a particular ing moment in my scientific career. with me as I was probably a contempo - reaction was somewhat reluctant! B. Lythgoe was delivering a tedious lec - rary of his (I regret to say that I cannot Yours sincerely, ture on unlikely organic reactions and remember him after all these years). Keith Parsons had reached the contribution from a I well remember Dr Saunders’ remark Solihull, West Midlands Dr. Lössen. Antony brightly called it the [that it’s both the malodorous element Dead Loss Rearrange ment. I knew then in human excrement, and the straw - that I would never be a narrow special - berry flavour in strawberry ice-cream], Footballs and atoms ist chemist, but a generalist or even a polymath. Dear Editor, When I discovered it was easier to As chemistry gets more and more spe - make money than work I entered on a cialised I had been considering drop - new profession as a chartered layabout. ping Chem@Cam . Fortunately you I decided to endow some scholarships have now published some delightful and wrote to Chem@Cam asking why contributions from Vincent Gray and scientists did PhDs. Despite reminders, I Antony Barring ton Brown. only received one charming letter from I did not meet Vincent at Emmanuel a non-doctorate. I instructed the because I spent several years swanning trustees that awards should not be made around the smouldering wreck of the to postgraduate students. Drittes Reich. We did work together on My most recent foray into science coal during which he imparted his con - was when I wrote to David King at the siderable skills in colloid science. After DTI explaining why on thermodynamic he left, I did some work on the high grounds atomic power stations should temperature flash pyrolysis of coal. I not be built. Only the gullible fall for

identified a form of carbon which the CO 2 ploy. Moreover, no responsible formed deep violet solutions in certain industrialist would build and operate a solvents. I called this material ‘atypical plant producing an untreatable and char’. My boss insisted it should be highly toxic effluent. ‘non-typical’. I reminded him of the I received a reply from a non-scientist editor if the Manchester Guardian who, DTI bureaucrat telling me King does not in 1936, pronounced on ‘television’, read letters (polymaths do) and giving ‘The word is half Greek and half Latin – me several dense paragraphs of Blairite no good will come of it.’ spin on the Kyoto agreement. and I have not forgotten the commercial Some years later, when I was working What is sad is that the biggest sink for

use of Skatole since then. In fact, I have for an oil company, a physicist at Sussex CO 2 is marine vegetation. This has a used the fact several times over the years university produced this soluble car - biomass many times greater than that of to shock people who like strawberry bon. With the aid of a mass spectrome - terrestrial vegetation. I have yet to meet ice-cream. ter and other equipment he showed it a botanist with a deep understanding of I wonder whether he, or any other was made of two sizes of football mol - diatoms and marine algae. Of course undergraduates of that time, remem - ecules. I was glad he won a Nobel prize Nobel understood diatoms, which he bers another interesting phrase which I as no chemist would be fool enough to used in dynamite and which formed think Dr. Moelwyn Hughes used repeat - try dissolving carbon in a solvent. the basis of his prize funds. edly in his lectures. Having outlined on I do remember Bernard Saunders Yours sincerely, the board a particular chemical reac - telling us of his work on nerve gases, John Mainhood tion, he would elaborate by saying that and how by 2pm he would have gone Tonbridge, Kent

Cover This newsletter is published three times a year by the University of Cambridge Chemistry Department. Opinions are not necessarily those of the editor, the department, or the university. Editor-in-Chief: Steve Ley Editor: Sarah Houlton Photographers: John Holman, Nathan Pitt Editorial Board: Contents Brian Crysell, Jonathan Goodman, Rosemary Ley, Jeremy Sanders News 4 Address: Chem@Cam , Department of Chemistry Research 8 , University of Cambridge, Lensfield Sally Boss, a postdoc in Brian Road Alumni 12 Johnson’s group, at work in Cambridge CB2 1EW the third floor inorganic lab Phone: 01223 763865 Fax: 01223 336362 Chat lines 16 e-mail: [email protected] website: www.ch.cam.ac.uk Puzzle corner 19 Photograph: John Holman and Nathan Pitt This publication is supported by Cambridge University Press Chem@Cam Spring 2006 3 News £6m microdroplet funding boost

A collaboration led by Chris Abell has development, studying protein–protein been awarded around £6 million in interactions and ‘genome mining’ to research grants to investigate microflu - find novel enzyme catalysts. idic microdroplet reactors. Following on The project is in two parts. First, the from £400k EPSRC Life Science interface aim is to build devices that will enable Chris (left) shows off his platform grant last year, the bulk of the the team to make the droplets, then white tie and fancy hat new money comes in the form of a £4.6 manipulate and detect them. It will also in Swedish newspaper million Basic Technology grant from fund a large amount of experimentation Vsterbottens Folkblad Research Councils UK. It will be backed into carrying out science within the up by a further 1.6 million NEST grant droplets, such as protein evolution. It from the EU. will allow many experiments at an The large RCUK grant has been extremely small scale to be carried out Prizes for Chris awarded to Chris, Wilhelm Huck and very quickly. Chris Dobson has been busy picking up Top download Carol Robinson here in the chemistry Three PhD students are already work - awards over the past few months. He department, plus Florian Hollfelder in ing on the project, and 19 postdocs are recently collected the Royal Society’s Davy Chris was one of biochemistry and Andrew deMello at being recruited, the majority of whom Medal, and has been elected a Fellow of the authors ofthe Imperial College in London. will be based here in Cambridge. the Academy of Medical Sciences. most downloaded The project is based on the fact that ‘It’s a bit unreal!’ says Chris. ‘I’ve He was also awarded an honorary paper from the when water is mixed with oil to make spent the past five or six years getting degree in medicine from the university of Journal of the an emulsion, it forms microdroplets of venture capital money to carry out big Umea in Sweden, and rather than robes, American water within the oil. These tiny droplets science. Now the government has given he was required to dress up in white tie, Chemical can be used as miniature reactor cells, us the chance to do big science with tails and a top hat for the ceremony. Societylast year. with a vast array of potential applica - research council money – it will be Between all these, he’s managed to fit a The paper involves tions such as drug screening, catalyst interesting to see how it goes!’ few lectures in. These include the Sir John a combination of Ken drew lecture at the Weiz mann Inst - itute in Israel and the William H. Stein NMR experiments, memorial lecture at Rockefeller Univ - plus theoretical ersity. He also gave the 50th anniversary techniques carried lecture of the Int er national Union of Bio - out by Michele chem istry and Molecular Biology. Vendrusculo. CRUK to fund medicinal PhDs Microdroplets of water in oil can be used as miniature reactor cells

Cancer Research UK is putting £10 mil - lion into training new medicinal chemists, and about £3 million of that Library access expanded is coming to Cambridge. The rest is going to Oxford, Imperial, Edinburgh Three important electronic resources are been wanting for some time, but it’s and Newcastle. now available in the department library expensive,’ says librarian Judith Battison. The plan is to train 60 new medicinal for the first time: SciFinder Scholar, and ‘It has relevance to disciplines other chemists over the next five years, 20 of full electronic access to the entire jour - than chemistry, however, and we’re them in Cambridge. Under principal nal archives of both the American encouraging other departments to look investigator Shankar Balasubramanian, Chemical Society and Elsevier journals at it as well, We hope it will be a univer - the students will spend the first year of via Science Direct. sity resource, not just for chemistry.’ their four-year programme taking Chemistry has funded university- The extension of access to the ACS taught courses. The remainder will con - wide access to SciFinder Scholar, a archives now means the department has sist of a research project with two major resource from Chemical Abstracts full online access to its full journal back supervisors, one in chemistry and the that enables chemical data to be files. This is being funded through the uni - second in one of the other departments searched by structure, substructure and versity’s chemical, biological and medical involved in the project – the MRC can - reaction, as well as name. It also allows coordinated journal purchasing scheme. cer cell unit, pharmacology, biochem - bibliographic information to be The ScienceDirect access is a university istry and obstetrics & gynaecology. searched. Training sessions are being library initiative. Previously, for both of The first students are being recruited organised to bring people up to speed these we only had electronic access to the now, to start this October. with how the database works. most recent years; now all the journals are More information can be found at www-medchem.ch.ac.uk ‘It’s something the department has available back to volume 1.

4 Chem@Cam Spring 2006 www.ch.cam.ac.uk RSC landmark plaque unveiled

RSC president invented the chemical synthesis of Simon Campbell nucleotides, which led to the elucida - presents the tion of the chemical structure of DNA.’ historical plaque The plaque was presented by the to Jeremy Sanders RSC’s president Simon Campbell to and Sandy Todd head of department Jeremy Sanders, and Lord Todd’s son, Sandy, following a talk on Todd’s work by one of his for - mer students, Dan Brown. Many other luminaries in the DNA field were also present on the day, including Nobel prize winner Sydney Jeremy poses with Brenner, which gave Jeremy a great Nobel prizewinner opportunity to add to his collection of n a Sydney Brenner photos with Nobel laureates! m l o H n h o J

: s o t o h P

The department is now the proud This is the 15th such plaque the RSC owner of a Historical Chemical has awarded in the past five years, and Landmark plaque. celebrates the work of Lord Todd on din - The plaque, on display in the main ucleotide synthesis. reception area, was unveiled in The citation reads, ‘Research in the December in a ceremony following the department of chemistry at Cambridge Royal Society of Chemistry’s nucleotide over more than 50 years has established symposium celebrating the 50th the structures and many principles of anniversary of the seminal paper pub - the synthesis of molecules that control lished by Michelson and Todd on the first the processes of life. Notably, Lord chemical synthesis of a dinucleotide. Alexander Todd FRS and his co-workers Medal-winning undergrads Generous bequest endows Brian’s Every year, the Chemistry Olympiad is picture of an oxygen generator that held in a different country, and the UK makes the air supply for aeroplanes.’ former chair team meets up in Cambridge for pre- Finding a picture to illustrate a ques - match training before the event. For tion about the synthesis of Viagra Thanks to a generous bequest, the chair Chris Kerr of Winchester College, this proved a little more difficult. Manufac- recently vacated by Brian Johnson now was a prelude to getting to know the turer Pfizer couldn’t help because it has an endowment. The Moorehouse- place rather better, as he’s now an would break strict rules about promot - Gibson chair is named for Geoffrey undergraduate here. ing licensed medicines. Pete’s sugges - Moorehouse-Gibson, who was a stu - Chris did really well, and won the tion (a no left turn sign!) was vetoed in dent at Trinity College and the depart - UK’s first gold medal since the favour of a black blob saying ‘Censored’. ment in the late 1930s. Melbourne Olympiad in 1998. He also I The 2009 Olympiad is to be held Geoffrey died some years ago, and on became the first UK student to take part here in Cambridge. It will be the first the death of his wife last year, the estate in the Olympiad twice. time it’s been held in the UK since the left a £2.6 million legacy to Trinity for He isn’t the only Olympiad alumnus event started in the 1960s. the support of research in chemistry. in the first year here – Nicholas Patriotic Chris Trinity has donated £2 million of this Sofroniew represented the US, and won shows off his to the university as part of the 800th a silver medal. gold medal anniversary campaign to establish the Teaching fellow Pete Wothers reports Geoffrey Moorehouse-Gibson chair in that preparations for this year’s chemistry. It will generate an endow - Olympiad in South Korea are well under ment for the benefit of the holder, and way. Pete is involved in setting the the recruitment process is under way. examination paper that goes out to I Another professorial search is also schools around the country. under way – for a new 1920 professor ‘The photos were interesting to assem - of physical chemistry in succession to ble,’ he says. ‘We had pictures of sherbet Dave King. Much of Dave’s time these lemons and a cutaway catalytic converter days is taken up with his work in gov - thanks to the engineering department. I ernment as chief science advisor, but he also headed out to Hangar 9 at Marshalls remains actively and enthusiastically with photographer Nathan Pitt to take a engaged in his research.

Chem@Cam Spring 2006 5 News JP’s third edition

A new, completely revised, edition of ‘Since then, the amount of work has Jean-Pierre Hansen and Ian McDonald’s grown rapidly, for two main reasons. book, ‘Theory of simple liquids’, is Neutron beam scattering techniques can

about to hit the shops. Ian retired from be used to see fluctuations in liquids at n a m the university in 1999, but popped in to the scale of a few angstroms, and l o H see Jean-Pierre recently and our photog - increases in computing power have made n h

raphers were on hand to snap the pair of large scale simulations a possibility.’ o J

: them with an advance copy of the tome. The earlier editions are widely s o t

The first edition came out in 1976 and regarded as the standard text in the field o h the second in 1986, and the authors of liquid state theory, and have more P claim they’ve been working on the third than 6,000 citations in the literature. Ian and Jean-Pierre: was 50% thicker than the first because for the best part of the past decade. A simple liquid is one that is made up reunited in print interest in the field expanded so much,’ ‘When we wrote the first edition, it was of fairly simple molecules – ironically, Ian adds. ‘We have cut it back for the a very new discipline, and few people water isn’t a simple liquid because of its third, and now include the basic con - worked in the field,’ Jean-Pierre explains. hydrogen bonding. ‘The second edition cepts plus those recent developments we believe will be important, such as interfaces and supercooled liquids.’ The concepts and techniques developed in the study of “simple” liquids are now being widely applied to complex fluids, including colloidal dispersions and polymer solutions. Jean-Pierre claims that they may con - template writing another book together, because they get on so well, having col - laborated on research since the early 1970s when he was in France and Ian at Cambridge. ‘However, it wouldn’t be another text book – it would be some - thing more pedagogical,’ he says. Schlumberger lecturer Crystal prize for Graeme Graeme Day has been chosen as the winner of this year’s CCDC Young wows the crowds Scientist award from the British Crystallographic Association. This year’s Schlumberger lecturer, Teresa cerning the structure of water. How many The award has been made in recogni - Head-Gordon from the University of hydrogen bonds does each water mole - tion of his ‘outstanding work’ in the California at Berkeley, spoke to a packed cule form? She has been working on spec - field of crystal structure prediction, house in February. The room wasn’t just troscopic and diffraction methods to find notably his recent research on the inclu - filled with chemists, though – she out, as well as theoretical simulations. sion of dynamic effects in calculations. attracted an audience from all over Teresa is spending a year in the depart - It will be presented at the BCA’s Cambridge, including physicists, mate - ment, along with her husband Martin, a spring meeting in April, which is being rials scientists and biologists. distinguished quantum chemist who is held in Lancaster, and Graeme will have She talked about the controversy con - also a professor at Berkeley. to give a lecture at the meeting. ‘The email telling me about From the left: the award came completely Demos Pafitis, head out of the blue,’ he says. ‘It of research at arrived on my birthday, Schlumberger in and I didn’t realise I was Cambridge, Teresa still young!’ Head-Gordon and Graeme’s been a Royal Jean-Pierre Hansen Society research fellow in the department since Graeme Day: October, following on delighted from a postdoc with Bill to receive Jones. He’s originally the award from Halifax in t t i Canada, and P

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a came to the h t

a UK for a N

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h Sally Price P at UCL.

6 Chem@Cam Spring 2006 www.ch.cam.ac.uk

David receives his leaving cheque from head of department Jeremy Sanders, and poses with the ‘SAS’ who keep him in order – receptionist Sheila Bateman, secretary Anne Railton and technical assistant Sue Johnson t t i P

n a h t a N

: s o t o h P End of an era as David retires After an astonishing 47 years of contin - work on the department since 1999. ‘facilities consultant’ to ensure the uous service here in chemistry, David Current and retired members of the department continues to run smoothly Watson retired at Christmas. department donated a total of more than in the interim. He was initially appointed as a junior £5,000 to his retirement present. This ‘I thought about spending all my time technician, and steadily rose through magnificent sum indicates the huge on the golf course,’ David says. ‘But the ranks over the years, ultimately affection and respect felt for David by Jeremy asked me to come back to help becoming secretary of the department everyone in the department. out while the new secretary is recruited. Sue Johnson hands of organic and inorganic chemistry in ‘Successive heads of department have How could I say no?’ over his leaving card 1987. He was made the first secretary of relied for many years on David’s inti - the newly merged chemistry depart - mate knowledge of the building, his ment in 1988. appreciation of how chemists use (and Typically, David didn’t want any fuss to abuse) laboratories and his sympathetic mark the retirement, but of course he yet sometimes hard-nosed understand - was never going to get away with that. ing of all the staff,’ says Jeremy. Paying tribute during his annual pre- ‘He knows how to deal with requests, Christmas speech to staff, head of depart - large and small, reasonable and unrea - ment Jeremy Sanders praised David’s ded - sonable, in a way which was always ication, humanity and wisdom. friendly but firm. Without him, the He highlighted David’s two major department would have been a much achievements during his time in the less successful place.’ department – the successful merging of However, we’ve not seen the last of the two separate chemistry depart - him just yet. While we recruit a new ments, and then the management of technical secretary, David has agreed to more than £50 million of refurbishment pop in for a couple of days a week as Physical covers David Klenerman and Paul Davies have both had their work featured on the front covers of respected journals recently. David’s graced the front of Angewandte Chemie in November. Along with Kit Rodolfa, Andreas Bruckbauer, Yuri Korchev and Dejian Zhou, he used a double-barreled nanopipette to create the Cambridge University crest, a pic - ture of Sir Isaac Newton and an image of a Degas painting – all a mere 60µm across. The pixels are filled with labelled DNA or rhodamine green to create the microscopic images. Paul’s cover was on the American Chemical Society’s Journal of Physical Chemistry B . The paper, by Paul and Jasper Holman from Cambridge plus collaborators in Japan and the US, was about sum frequency generation from Langmuir–Blodgett multilayer films on metal and dielectric surfaces. You can read more about Paul’s work on SFG spec - troscopy on page 12.

Chem@Cam Spring 2006 7 News Steve celebrates his 60th in style

Steve Ley was 60 in December, and to celebrate, many of the hundreds of stu - dents, postdocs and visitors who have worked in his group over the years came to Cambridge for a symposium and dinner. The speakers were all former Ley group members who had worked with Steve at various points in his career, and who now hold posts in both academia and industry. The day was rounded off by Steve’s talk, entitled ‘Champagne: an important catalyst for organic synthesis’. Dinner in the evening was held at St John’s college, where he was presented with a magnificent birthday cake deco - rated with a spiroketal and fireworks.

Clockwise from the left: Steve gets a standing ovation; giving his champagne- inspired talk; the BMS theatre was packed; and that chemical birthday cake Chemistry pilots computing project Switch that In an attempt to make use of the ‘dead’ time developed at the University of Wisconsin. kettle off – and when computers aren’t being used, the ‘We have made extensive modifications to university’s computing service has been the original Condor programme over the make more tea piloting a scheme where idle centrally- past year to make it work better in the managed computers can be put to work. Cambridge environment,’ explains Bruce In the autumn, the university held a Over Christmas, James Spencer and Alex Beckles, e-science specialist at the com - ‘Switch Off’ day to try and raise aware - Thom from Ali Alavi’s group used the sys - puting service. ness of how much energy is wasted by tem, PWF Condor, to test a new quantum There are currently around 320 lights and electrical appliances being electronic structure method to calculate machines in the pool, including 51 within left on unnecessarily. the optimal geometries of many small the chemistry department The idea was that if everyone made a molecules. Alex was able to run calcula - ‘At the moment, it’s still in the experi - concerted effort on one particular day tions for 125 geometries of acetone, each mental stage, so only PC machines run - to turn anything off that could be taking a day. He would otherwise only ning Linux are being used,’ Bruce adds. turned off, it would show just what a have been able to run a fifth as many cal - ‘Depending on demand, we plan to roll it difference it could make to the amount culations in that timeframe. out to Macs and Windows machines as of electricity we consume. PWF Condor is based on a programme well in the future.’ Here in chemistry, in the week fol - lowing the switch off day we saved 0.8% of the electricity we had used the Double Pfizer poster triumph week before. This may not sound like much, but Stephen Dalby from Ian Paterson’s group It turned out to be a good day for by university energy manager Paul won the annual Pfizer poster competi - Cambridge, as Andy McNally’s poster on Hasley’s calculations, that’s enough tion in December, with his poster enti - organocatalytic sigmatropic rearran ge - electricity to make 9,460 cups of tea. tled ‘Studies towards the stereochemical ments was one of the runners-up. Andy, University-wide, around 5% was determination and total synthesis of spi - who works for Matt Gaunt, adds that the saved. That’s enough electricity to make rastrellolide’. The molecule is a marine- work he presented has just been pub - more than 300,000 cups of tea – derived antitumour agent. He spent the lished in Angewandte Chemie , and was enough for 11 cuppas each for every cash prize on a new bike. singled out as a ‘hot paper’. student and member of staff.

8 Chem@Cam Spring 2006 Research

CV Jonathan Burton

Born: Croydon, Surrey. Radical thoughts Status: His partner, Nick Bampos, is also an academic in the department. Free radicals have great potential in Education: School in Surrey was organic synthesis, as their reactivity can Jonathan Burton is trying to unlock followed by a chemistry degree at be quite different from the more com - the potential of free radicals in New College, Oxford, with a Part 2 monly used ionic reactions, but their research year in George Fleet’s use is often limited by the way they are organic synthesis by finding cleaner group. ‘That was the most generated. While the radical reactions ways of making them in reactions productive research year I’ve ever themselves can be clean and specific, had, even though it was only nine the reagents used to make the radicals months!’ he says. He came to in the first place frequently make the ‘The other main benefit is, frankly, Cambridge for a PhD with Andy reactions very messy. The top culprit is that it’s not tin,’ Jonathan claims. ‘The Holmes in 1993. also the favourite reagent – tributyltin manganese is really easy to get rid of by Career: After a postdoc with hydride. It’s toxic and smelly, and chromatography.’ However, there are Alexandre Alexakis at the Université removing the tin residues from the drawbacks. It’s nowhere near as well Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris, reaction mixture is rarely straightfor - understood, and it can result in Jonathan returned to Cambridge, ward because it loves to stick to other unwanted side-reactions. first as a research fellow at Corpus components in the reaction mixture. We found from the literature that it’s Christi. He’s been a Royal Society Radical chemistry would be much possible to use manganese in the pres - Research Fellow since 2000. more use in real life industrial processes ence of copper salts, such as copper if a simpler, cleaner way of creating acetate,’ he says. ‘In these examples, the Interests: Jonathan is a keen squash them were available. And this is the result is an alkene, so we wondered if, player, and loves cooking. ‘I find it focus of much of Jonathan Burton’s instead of forming an alkene by oxida - very relaxing after a day’s work!’ he work. ‘I spotted EJ Corey’s synthesis of tive elimination, we could make substi - says. He’s also got three godchildren, the natural product paeoniflorin, where tution products.’ two of whom (aged 2 and 1) live in the first step was a manganese-medi - Rather naïvely, he claims, he got a Cambridge so he spends a lot of his ated reaction I’d never seen before,’ he summer student to try it – and it time at weekends with them. says. ‘I wondered how it worked, as it worked. ‘Since then, we’ve also intro - Did you know? In the 1920s, his seemed incredibly powerful.’ duced copper triflate and copper triflu - grandfather, John Trevan, FRS, This curiosity led Jonathan to try oroacetate as co-oxidants for these reac - introduced the LD50 test that’s still generating radicals using manganese. tions,’ he says. ‘When it works well, it’s essential for drug registrations today. ‘The best thing about it is that it makes brilliant. But it’s not as predictable as ‘He died in 1956, so I never knew the radical oxidatively, which means we’d like it to be. We can get some reac - him,’ Jonathan says. ‘But I remember that – unlike tin – you keep the func - tions that are essentially quantitative, his wife, Margaret Llewellyn Smith, tionality.’ In tin-mediated radical reac - but there’s no guarantee that this will my grandmother, extremely well. She tions, you typically start with an iodide happen. We’re trying to work out condi - got a first in Chemistry from Bedford group, which ultimately is replaced by a tions that will mean we can approach College in 1926, followed by a PhD hydrogen atom in a reductive process. Jonathan Burton: more reactions with more confidence. in botany. She was very helpful when The oxidative nature of the manganese looking for more For certain substrates, the dream of I was doing my chemistry A-level!’ reactions means that a useful functional predictable free predictability is close to being realised. group remains within the molecule. radical reactions ‘If we are trying to trap our radical with a carboxylic acid, then we can pretty much say that we’re going to get a yield of at least 70%, which is great. But if we trap our radical with an alcohol, we could get 70% – or we could get 20%.’ As a bonus, he discovered by charac - terising a side product from the reac - tion that he’d found an easy way of making cyclopentanes. ‘This has great potential, as these feature in numerous natural products like prostaglandins,’ he says. ‘All you have to do is add mangan- ese acetate to your substrate in ethanol, heat it up, and leave it overnight. It gives you a 70–80% yield of the cyclopen - tane, and it’s really easy to isolate.’ Jonathan is already applying the tech - nique to natural product synthesis. He’s also trying metals other than manganese to generate radicals, such as lead tetraacetate. ‘We could, potentially, t t i

P make substitution products from those n a reactions by using co-catalytic copper h t a triflate,’ he says. ‘And then this leads on N

: o to another field that we’d like to investi - t o h gate – how to get rid of lead tetraace - P tate. It all melds together beautifully.’

Chem@Cam Spring 2006 9 Research

place in the body including development and movement. A number of human dis - eases are associated with mutations in immunoglobulin-like proteins. If the effects these mutations have on the way proteins act in the body can be predicted, then it is likely to give an insight into the diseases and conditions they cause. Another aspect of Jane’s work is trying to explain the differences between two proteins that, on the face of it, are very similar, but have rather different proper - ties. ‘We’re using computer simulations alongside our experiments,’ she says. ‘Our experiments are used to benchmark molecular dynamics simulations. When the these give a good prediction of the experimental results, we can use the computer simulations to look at the atomic detail of what’s happening to the protein under experimental conditions.’ t t i

P An example involves the dynamic n a behaviour of proteins, and how they dif - h t a fer between the similar structures. ‘When N

: s you look at a protein’s crystal structure it o t o looks very well defined, but in reality we h P know from NMR studies that the proteins are highly flexible and mobile, and it Jane Clarke: seems that the dynamics of the protein model proteins can can be intrinsic to its activity within a cell. predict the effect ‘We’ve been looking at two cell adhe - Catching up of mutations in sion proteins involved in cell develop - other proteins ment and cancer growth whose struc - tures are very similar, but have extraordi - narily different dynamic properties. Could our simulations explain all the with evolution dynamics, based on the differences in their compositions? Small differences in protein sequence were having a big

Born: London, to Welsh parents, so if pushed she’d Jane Clarke is using chemical tools to find answers claim to be Welsh. ‘Certainly not English – I support to a number of fundamental biological questions Wales at rugby, so I’d fail Norman Tebbit’s cricket test!’ Status: Husband Chris is a banker with the Royal e

k Bank of Scotland in London. Their daughter Hannah r

a is a medic, currently working in A&E in Gateshead, Proteins are long, complex molecules yet, applied to all members of that family. l and son David is a physiotherapist who’s just started C amazingly, nature folds them up with ‘We’ve recently shown that you can use a medical degree in Leicester. extraordinary precision. How does a lin - well-characterised model proteins to pre - e n Education: She moved to Cambridge when she was ear sequence of amino acids fold to a spe - dict the effect of disease-causing muta - a 10, and went to the former Cambridge High School cific 3D shape? How does it specify that tions in other members of the same pro - J for Girls. A degree in York was followed by a PGCE one particular structure, and not one of tein family,’ she explains. Around 80% of at Cambridge. A masters degree in applied biology the myriad other structures it could fold mutations in humans that are known to from Georgia Tech in the US was led to a PhD with V

up into – and how does the folding take cause disease affect either protein stability C Alan Fersht here in Cambridge. place in a matter of seconds, rather than or protein folding. Career: Her first career was as a schoolteacher. Her the very many years a random search for ‘The problem with studying these is second, as an academic, started at Cambridge, first the best arrangement would take? These that proteins of interest are often difficult as a postdoc in MRC Centre for Protein Engineering are some of the questions that protein to express, purify and analyse. But with a with Mark Bycroft and Alan Fersht in protein NMR. folding chemists like Jane Clarke are try - well-characterised model protein that’s She moved back to chemistry with a Wellcome Trust ing to answer. similar to – but easier to work with than career development fellowship in 1986, and four ‘It’s a really challenging intellectual – the protein we’re interested in, we can years later was made a Wellcome Trust senior problem,’ Jane says. ‘Evolution has make the same mutations and predict research fellow, a position she still holds today. solved it, but even with fast computers exactly what effect that mutation would Interests: Jane loves cooking (‘it’s just chemistry, we find it extraordinarily difficult to have on the human protein.’ really!’) and travelling, as well as visiting friends. design the simplest structures.’ The Jane believes that using model proteins Did you know? There is a collection of holiday human genome encodes around to predict what’s going on in proteins is souvenirs in her lab, all of them really rather awful. 30,000 different proteins, and studying going to be a powerful technique. Her Jane’s glorious contributions to the hall of shame each one of them individually is a group has been focusing largely on include a couple of Christmas tree decorations – one rather tall order. Instead, Jane is taking immunoglobulin-like proteins – proteins of Elvis, complete with guitar and swinging hips, and families of structurally related proteins, that include antibodies and proteins that one of Santa delivering presents on a military tank. and trying to work out rules that can be control a variety of processes that take

10 Chem@Cam Spring 2006 www.ch.cam.ac.uk

effect. It turned out that our simulations atomic force microscopy to study the could predict complex dynamic behav - A career less ordinary… unfolding of these proteins. If we lower a iour of the core of the proteins.’ Jane has taken a career path that’s a little different from tiny microscopic tip repeatedly into a A third project is looking at the activity the normal academic route. After she graduated in bio - mixture of the protein in water, we can and evolution of multidomain proteins. chemistry at York in 1972, she trained as a teacher. She pick up a single protein on the tip. We ‘Around 80% of the proteins in the spent 13 years as a biology and chemistry teacher in sec - get a trace with a number of peaks, each human genome have more than one ondary schools, ultimately becoming head of science at a of which is the signature of the unfolding independently folding subunit or school in London, having two children and going part-time of a single protein molecule.’ By making domain,’ Jane explains. ‘Evolution has along the way. mutations to the protein and repeating mixed and matched different proteins to the exercise, it helps pinpoint which build activity, putting different domains Her husband is a banker, and in 1986 his job took them to regions of the protein are important for together. Protein folding scientists tend to Atlanta in the US. ‘I couldn’t teach there because I didn’t maintaining mechanical stability.’ focus on small proteins, because they’re “have” Georgia history and college English,’ Jane says. While Jane is keen to point out that easier to understand. ‘But I’m not a stay-at-home sort of person, so I went to she’s not claiming her group’s research ‘We’ve started to look at multidomain Georgia Tech and did a masters degree in applied biology. will directly lead to a cure for cancer or proteins, where two or more are together And I suddenly realised that, however much I’d loved any other known disease, it is providing in the same molecule. Can we take what teaching, I should be doing research instead – and working important information that may be of we know about the domains and say, on proteins.’ help in the discovery of those cures. therefore, that we know about the whole By the time the family returned to Cambridgeshire four ‘We’re developing tools that will allow protein? Or do the two have some form of years later, Jane had decided that she wanted to do a PhD. us to study biomedical proteins,’ she says. synergistic effect and affect each other?’ ‘I visited the biochemistry department, and they essentially ‘These are all tools based on physical Her group has been able to show that told me that I was 40, with two children and a really old organic chemistry, along with analytical in some cases the domains may be essen - degree, so they weren’t interested,’ she recalls. ‘But a men - methods. We’re just developing the basic tially independent, but in other cases the tor from Georgia Tech had given me a letter to Alan Fersht, understanding of how some proteins opposite is true, and one protein domain so I figured I might as well get turned down by the best! I fold, which will enable us to go on to can have a significant effect on its neigh - cold-called on him, and he said, “OK, start in October.” I understand how they all work – and bours. ‘You get cooperativity between the owe him an awful lot because of that chance he took on a what’s going on when they don’t. domains, and I’d suggest that in evolu - middle-aged mother!’ ‘If I were to tell someone at a dinner tionary terms this could be highly advan - party that I work on protein folding, tageous. Some of these multidomain pro - are elastic,’ she says. ‘When you stretch their eyes would glaze over and they’d teins are huge, and if they go wrong out a muscle, for example, it will spring reach for another drink. But if I tell them when they’re being synthesised in the back into place when it relaxes, just like that diseases of protein folding are very body, it’s very biologically costly. an elastic band. That wouldn’t work if the common – Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, ‘With some multidomain proteins, muscle proteins unfolded when you cystic fibrosis, CJD, the list goes on – I when one domain is made and folded, it pulled on them. How have proteins might just manage to keep them inter - speeds up the folding of the next. As the evolved to withstand the forces that are ested for a little bit longer! protein is in much more danger of being put on them?’ ‘These diseases can only ever be degraded by enzymes or aggregating Jane’s group have been studying two understood if we can work out precisely with other proteins before it has folded, such proteins – the muscle protein titin, what’s going on in the protein. We are the faster it can be made and folded, the and spectrin (which ensures that red never going to be able to discover what’s less likely something is to go wrong.’ blood cells spring back into shape once going on in the disease state without Elastic proteins are another field of they’ve squeezed through tiny capillar - doing the sort of academic fundamental interest. ‘Many of the proteins in the body ies). ‘We’ve been using single molecule basic research my group is carrying out.’

Jane’s group, from the left: Matt Kitching, Sarah Batey, Sean Ng, Adrian Nickson, Julia Forman, Annette Steward, Jane, Ilkka Lappalainen, Lucy Randles, Ross Rounsevell, Beth Wensley, Kate Billings, Martina Gärtner and Mike Hurley. ‘Working with such a fantastic group of people is the best part of the job,’ Jane says

Chem@Cam Spring 2006 11 Research

What’s going on at the interface between a Studying surfaces biocompatible polymer and the water that n a m l

surrounds it? Research o H

n

being carried out by h o J

:

Paul Davies means it’s o t o h

possible to look at the P interactions between the two more closely

After starting out as a kineticist, Paul Davies has spent most of his career as a spectroscopist. Back in the mid 1970s, not long after returning from a postdoc at Harvard, Paul was involved in the first successful laser magnetic resonance (LMR) experiments in the UK. Micro wave spectroscopy is the high - est resolution technique there is, but at that time it could not be used to detect a variety of important free radicals because they were outside the range of microwaves. Spectroscopists were des - perately sear ching for new light sources with different frequencies were shone at Paul Davies: the and Gamble, Castrol and Kodak, all of that could bring these free radicals into a surface, then light was generated with technique can whom have provided us with research range. ‘Then Ken Evenson, a gifted a wavelength that was the sum of those even be used to grants,’ he explains. ‘It’s proved to be a experimentalist in the US, hit on the of the two beams,’ Paul explains. ‘This look at how the very exciting method – not least because idea of using far infrared lasers and tun - light only comes from the surface itself surfactants in it’s now being used in quite different ing the transitions into range with a – there is no interaction with the bulk shampoo behave ways from those we’d first envisaged.’ magnetic field, and LMR was born.’ material above or beneath the surface.’ on the hair SFG is now commonly used to look at Since then, LMR has been superseded The new technique made it possible to polymer surfaces, and also to probe the by tunable far infrared frequency investigate a multitude of surfaces and structure of water in the vicinity of bio - sources, like the one that resides in Paul’s interfaces. ‘One of the great things about surfaces. ‘We’ve been looking at such basement labs here in the department. SFG is that it can provide industrially use - fascinating questions as how biocom - His old LMR magnet has found its way ful answers to companies such as Procter patible polymers affect the structure of into the lab of a former student in China. the water films that surround them,’ Paul says. ‘This is particularly important PULSED LASERS Born: Rhondda, Wales for the development of artificial organs. Paul took another major change of Education: Paul attended Cowbridge Grammar The great advantage of SFG is that it can direction back in 1990. He had been School, now defunct in the age of comprehensive probe the interface between the poly - looking at short-lived molecules in the education. A degree in chemistry at Liverpool was mer and the water at a molecular level, gas phase using lead salt diode lasers, followed by a move to Cambridge for a PhD with without any interference from the bulk but following a chat with scientists at Brian Thrush water above the polymer.’ Unilever, he started to investigate the Career: Paul remained at Cambridge, first with an possibilities of non-linear laser spec - SRC Fellowship and then a Research Fellowship at POLYMER LAYERS troscopy. This is based on the fact that a Corpus Christi, interrupted by a very exciting year at Further projects are emerging, such as powerful pulsed laser can produce Harvard with Bill Klemperer. using SFG to study polymer layers on effects that normal light cannot, and bone and teeth. Hydroxyapatite pro - Status: Wife Liz is a research immunologist, running Unilever thought it might have poten - vides a laboratory mimic of these sur - the equine orthopaedic research group, and her tial for looking at surfactants under faces which has led Paul’s group collaborations include one with Melinda Duer here in ambient conditions. towards collaborations with materials the department. Their son Matthew studied quantity This was a major undertaking as no- scientists, and the technique has enor - surveying at APU, and is now a project manager. one in his group had any experience of mous potential for investigating biolog - the technique but, spurred on by sub - Interests: Paul’s a keen skier, so don’t look for him ical membranes. It could, for example, stantial funding from Unilever, they s on Friday at the end of the Lent Term! He’ll have be used to help understand the dynamic e began to look at molecules at wet sur - i sloped off to the slopes. He’s also started to play behaviour of lung surfactant, which v golf, and is already being challenged by Richard

faces, with the help of Colin Bain, a a operates with the aid of four different Lambert, who claimshe is also a novice. Royal Society research fellow newly D proteins that enable the surfactant to arrived at Cambridge from George l Did you know? Paul claims that Liverpool was an fold and unfold as we breathe. u

Whitesides’ group at Harvard, and now a exciting place to be a student in the early 1960s, not ‘This could be done by recording SFG a prof at Durham. The outcome was the P least because it was just before the Beatles achieved of a lipid monolayer on a Langmuir UK’s first sum frequency generation fame. ‘They used to play regularly at the Student trough with moving end barriers,’ Paul (SFG) spectrometer. Union dances,’ Paul recalls. ‘We used to say, “Oh no, believes. ‘Applying SFG to biological ‘Ron Shen at Berkeley had shown a V not them again!”’ membranes like these is one of the most few years earlier that if two laser beams C exciting ideas for our future research.’

12 Chem@Cam Spring 2006 Alumni The 1960s revisited

On the weekend of 1 and 2 October last year, 17 of those who obtained PhDs from the Department of Physical Chemistry in the 1960s were reunited in Cambridge. The weekend was organised, through the wonderful medium of email, by John Connor, who obtained his PhD with Tony Callear, and Zig Hathorn, who was supervised by David Husain. Fifteen others showed up, several with partners or wives (physical chem - istry was almost exclusively a male pas - time in those far-off days!) Several The photo, taken outide the department, shows the following (with PhD supervisors’ initials in brackets (ABC – Tony Callear; BAT – Brian Thrush; DH – David Husain; IWMS – Ian Smith): Ian Smith (ABC), Sue Smith, Rick Oldman (ABC), Diana, Ross Dickson attendees travelled from North America (ABC), Gordon Williams (ABC), Adrian Tuck (BAT), Gus Hancock (IWMS), Ross Norstrom (ABC), Mike Pilling (ABC), Tom Banfield to be present. The company included (DH), Robert Donovan (DH), Les Kirsch (DH), John Connor (ABC), Zig Hathorn (DH), and John Billingsley (ABC). Others who several Professors, a number of distin - attended but are not in the photograph were: Revd Tom Broadbent (ABC), Elaine Connor, Paul Davies (BAT), Marian Donovan, guished professional scientists, past and Rosie Hancock, Jan Hathorn, Margot Kirsch, Chris Morley (IWMS), Christine Morley, Margaret Oldman and Gwen Pilling present captains of industry, and one minister of the church. the department and an unscheduled sufficient stamina (most of the com - The participants gathered at the visit from the newly anointed Senior pany) met at Ian and Sue Smith’s house department at noon on the Saturday, Proctor (Nick Pyper), the party moved in Grantchester Road. Happily, they and were shown some of the develop - to the Panton Arms for lengthy and were joined there by Anne Callear who ments in the Department in the inter - unashamed reminiscences. was delighted to see so many ex-mem - vening 40 years by Ian Smith and Paul The main event of the weekend was bers of Tony’s research group – all of Davies. Much fun was had trying to the dinner held in Churchill College on them scarcely changed despite the pas - locate where individuals’ experimental the Saturday evening which was sage of the years! benches had once stood before the attended by a total of 26 guests. The The company dispersed with many extensive redevelopments on the sec - food and wine were excellent and the promises of repeating the re-union, but ond floor of the North Wing. atmosphere convivial in the extreme. agreed that they should not wait so long After a pause for photographs outside On the Sunday morning those with next time. Ian Smith

Fifties style preparative chemist I ever met. small ampoule, sealed under vacuum, However, were he to be told of this, he now half full of a water-white liquid. He would probably deny it in favour of announced phosphine. The other Dear Editor W.G. Palmer. promptly ducked under the nearest table. Thank you for sending the Lensfield Lab One day in Cambridge, we were ‘Oh, it’s quite safe,’ said the first. If magazine. Here are some stories and greeted by a horrible smell, spread all there’s a moral to this story, I don’t know pensées from 1955-61, illustrating over town. It was persistent and inti - what it is. Nor can I guess who knew technique, knowledge, and I’m not sure mately organic, a cross between garlic more chemistry. The pressure in the about the others. and faeces. It got worse as you ampoule was at least 30 atmospheres. Professor H.J. Emeléus stayed in his approached the Physical Chemistry It might be instructive to ask readers office on the top floor doing administra - department, then in Pembroke Street; what was the worst chemical they ever tion most of the time. He would some - and it got worse every time you washed. tasted (accidentally or on purpose); and times appear with a delegation of indus - It lasted a day or two and then dissi - what was the worst accident that ever trial chemists, having first passed word pated. We learned that a student had happened to them. The worst I ever tasted around not to tell them anything. broken a small tube of dimethyl tel - was decinormal iodine in carbon tetra - One of his grad students was once set luride, maybe 20 grams. chloride (my tongue is probably still vio - to making nitrogen sulfide. It’s a diffi - Many years later, I was back visiting let). And my worst accident? In 1960, cult prep involving ammonia, chlorine with my bride, and introduced her to wearing goggles was encouraged, but not and sulphur, and stirred flasks of sol - Emy, urbane and charming, as he always obligatory. Somewhere I still treasure a vents held at low temperature. The poor was. With old-fashioned gallantry and pair covered with a brown stain. This was student tried and failed over and over chauvinism, he had her pour the tea, ‘for caused by conc. sulphuric acid, when a again. I was scared. The hood with these the practice’. In the course of conversa - tube got pinched in a gas drying train. goings-on was right at the foot of my tion, I recalled the dimethyl telluride Yes, I was wearing them at the time. bench. If you mix things wrong, the incident, and the smell on the soap when My dear friend, the late Professor J.J. dangerously explosive nitrogen trichlo - washing. ‘Oh yes,’ he said. ‘What you have Zuckerman, used to tell his students that ride is possible. After several days of this, to do is drink lots of orange juice.’ Now he worked with Emy, and Emy worked Emy came down to help. I didn’t watch how did he know that? with Stock, and Stock worked with Moi- closely, though I wish I had. He effort - The next story involves two demon - sson, and Moisson worked with Frémy, lessly had everything working right first strators. I had the dubious honour to be and Frémy worked with Gay-Lussac. shot, and got a huge yield of the desired observer. We were in the overnight Sincerely, John A. White orange crystals. Emy was the best room. One of them presented us with a Rochester, NY, US.

Chem@Cam Spring 2006 13 Alumni

The money spent on advertising is important here, too. ‘We need to get people, particularly senior decision- Creating a low makers, to realise that climate change mitigation is something they need to be thinking about,’ Rosemary says. ‘It’s a business issue – not necessarily a key carbon economy business issue, because it’s unlikely to be the sort of thing that keeps a chief exec - utive awake at night – but it might make them realise that there are things they The UK government’s energy white can do, which are actually opportunities paper, published in 2003, set the aim Carbon emissions reduction can for them, and perhaps that they should for the UK to reduce its carbon emis - be employing someone who does stay sions by 60%, and create a low carbon save companies money in the long awake at night thinking about it!’ economy by 2050. One of the ways run. The Carbon Trust was set up to The Carbon Trust provides grant fund - government is hoping to enable this to encourage them to invest in energy ing for r&d projects but, Rosemary says, happen is by funding the Carbon Trust, it tries to fund only those projects that an independent company set up to help efficiency projects, and Cambridge have potential commercial applications. businesses and the public sector within chemistry graduate Rosemary Boot is ‘That’s really quite important to us – not the UK reduce their carbon emissions. only do they have to be innovative low Its finance director, Rosemary Boot, is part of its senior management team carbon technologies, but they must also a Cambridge chemist who, after 16 offer real practical benefits,’ she says. years working in the City, joined the should government money be helping Incubation support services are also company in its formative stages in 2001. big multinational corporations to help provided for companies that have been ‘The grand ambition when we were set them reduce their costs? Rose mary claims spun out of universities, to help them up was to take the lead in developing a that if it were left to the private sector move on from business case develop - UK low carbon technology industry,’ alone, very little would happen except in ment through helping the management Rosemary says. ‘Part of the deal when the most energy intensive sectors – and Rosemary Boot: team to develop properly so they are in the climate change levy was introduced it’s essential that time and effort are put providing support a position to go out and raise funding was that some of the money should go into reducing carbon emissions. for projects that of their own from venture capitalists back to organisations to ‘Our help is needed to reduce carbon and other investors. ‘It’s important that help them reduce their catalyse action,’ she says. emissions we help them get through to carbon emissions, and ‘We are helping them do this commercial funding invest in early-stage tech - things they wouldn’t oth - stage, not relying on nology that would help erwise have done, perhaps grant support.’ them reduce the amount because they didn’t think The company also of levy they would have to it was a priority, or has a venture capi - pay.’ because it may involve tal arm of its Defra – the govern - some capital expendi - own, investing ment’s department for ture that would require in equity in environment, food and rural affairs – making a business case. But it’s early stage funds the company from the climate important that we prod them into companies. change levy to the tune of £50 million action, for example by co-funding On a wi - a year, with additional money now some consultancy to identify emis - der scale, coming from the landfill tax. In future, sion reduction opportunities that can money is it will also receive funds from the also deliver bottom line savings. We use also put into department of trade and industry. a co-funding model for our larger cus - technology Further money is to come for public tomers because there’s pretty good evi - acceleration sector efficiency work, as announced in dence that if people have to put their projects that the recent pre-budget review. hands in their pockets themselves, they cover an entire The Carbon Trust essentially operates will value it more.’ sector such as, for in three areas, Rosemary explains. ‘We While there is a whole raft of things example, marine en- work with organisations to help them that can be done to reduce emissions ergy, where electric - reduce their carbon emissions today, and that don’t cost money, where invest - ity is generated to fund the development of new low car - ment is needed most energy efficiency from wave and ti - bon technology for the future,’ she says. measures have very short payback dal streams. Another important part of its work is times, she claims. And this is where the ‘The aim to raise awareness of the issues, both in consultancy that the Carbon Trust here is to government and within business. ‘We funds comes in. pro - give companies and organisations ‘It’s not that the financial pretty hands-on advice to help them case for making changes reduce their carbon emissions, with the can’t be made, but if a help of our own account managers and business has a choice external consultants. We provide advice between putting invest - to companies of all sizes – we also offer ment into something small and medium-sized companies that will cut costs or interest free loans and undertake public something that will sector energy efficiency activities.’ increase its sales, then Providing help to small companies and it’s likely to go for the local authorities is one thing. But why sales growth option.’

14 Chem@Cam Spring 2006 www.ch.cam.ac.uk

From chemistry to the City Rosemary came to Cambridge as an somewhere! I’d had enough of being undergraduate in 1981 to study natural called at all times of the day and night.’ sciences. ‘I chose chemistry because it She knew she wanted to something was a subject I liked, and I particularly that built on her skills, but she wasn’t enjoyed the practical,’ she recalls. ‘But I sure what. ‘I did a bit of consulting so I never had any intention of staying in wasn’t in a rush as I had some money chemistry after my degree, and when I coming in,’ she says. ‘And then I left Cambridge in 1984 I went to work spotted an advertisement for finance for the merchant bank SG Warburg in director at the Carbon Trust in the the City.’ Sunday Times, which sounded perfect.’ She started off on the banking side, She’d done the chemistry of the with a year of investment atmosphere course in her Part II year, management, before moving into and although that was back in the days corporate finance. ‘That was really before climate change was a known interesting,’ she says. ‘I was working on issue, it was enough to pique her look at that relative to the money we put mergers & acquisitions, takeovers and interest in the job. into it,’ Rosemary claims. ‘That saved disposals, and all the time I was there, I ‘It seemed to me to be something carbon is, effectively, our profit.’ When don’t think I directly used my chemistry where I could bring my skills to bear it comes to the development of new once! But I do think that an analytical and have an impact, as I could use the technology, it’s much more difficult degree, such as chemistry, is a fantastic skills I’d built up in my years in the City, because the carbon savings will come at starting point.’ talking to investors and senior figures in some point in the future. ‘We try to In 2000, a change of career beckoned big corporations. I’ve also had to dust assess it using a model, but it’s some - after 16 years in the highly stressful and off my chemistry as I’m part of the what challenging to try and work out pressured banking world. ‘It’s not a job investment committee that decides on how we can track the potential effec - that gives you much of a life – it’s very whether r&d projects should be tiveness of that five to 45 years ahead!’ demanding, with truly terrible hours. approved. So yes, I suppose I am here The company has around 135 direct When you find yourself in Tesco with because I did a chemistry degree, employees, with 100 or so based in its two small children in your trolley and because otherwise I wouldn’t have offices by the London School of you’re trying to have a conversation on thought to apply. Although things have Economics in central London. It also your mobile about bid defence tactics changed a lot, I’d been interested in has staff based in its small outposts in with the chief executive of a large chemistry when I was at school, and Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and corporation at the same time, you that interest in the subject has never the English regions. know that something’s gone wrong really left me.’ ‘We’ve grown quite fast, and I like to think we’re really making a difference,’ Rosemary says. ‘The challenge for us is vide material help with our money,’ she recently been set up to help get co-investors to ensure we put sufficient support into says. ‘Obviously, marine energy research into developing companies that are finding the development of low carbon tech - is far too big a field for us to fund alone ways to use existing low carbon technologies. nologies. It would be very easy to but it potentially offers a significant While these might not be particularly innova - spend all our money on helping organ - commercial opportunity for the UK, so tive in themselves, they represent niches in isations to save carbon today, but that we’ve focused our limited resources on the market that aren’t currently being would be at the expense of saving car - the main barrier to progress – the cost exploited. ‘We’re trying to say that we think bon tomorrow. of electricity generation. this has potential, we’ll put some money in, ‘While some projects may look ‘We’ve provided engineering support and we’ll try and get other organisations to expensive in the short term, if you look to a whole raft of companies in the put money into the project, too,’ she says. 10 or 20 years down the line, the sav - marine energy sector, with the objective It can be difficult to quantify the success ings could be enormous. We need to of establishing how and when these of the company’s work. Some things are make sure the technologies are devel - technologies can be cost-effective rela - simple to measure, such as the reduction of oped that will provide the really big tive to existing technologies.’ carbon emissions by a large corporation. ‘We carbon savings that will be needed in A small commercialisation unit has track the carbon that has been saved, and can the future.’

fourth floor tearooms. He left chemistry Obituary: Dennis Jacklin to become clerk of works & chief main - tenance engineer at Churchill College Dennis Jacklin, who was at one time Norfolk until 1958 when he was where he stayed until he retired. chief maintenance engineer here at demobbed and got married. Outside of work, Dennis was particu - Lensfield Road, has died of a heart Dennis returned to his old trade in larly well known in football circles. He attack, aged 70. Newmarket before moving to the began refereeing locally in the 1960s He was born at Denny Abbey, just department of physiology here in and then in the old Southern League, outside Cambridge but grew up and Cambridge in the early 1960s. before eventually officiating at two went to school in Harston. On leaving He moved to chemistry in the 1970s, events at Wembley. school he became an apprentice electri - and was responsible for overseeing He later became a referee’s assessor cian before being called up for National many internal building modifications, and was a leading light in the Service in the RAF. especially the conversion of the physical Cambridge FA right until to his death. After basic training in Yorkshire he chemistry teaching laboratory to res- He leaves a widow, two children and served his two years at RAF Marham in earch labs and helping re-design the old two grandchildren. Brian Crysell

Chem@Cam Spring 2006 15 Alumni

Cricket spotting Does anyone have any further suggestions to add to the identities we already have? Dear Editor The photo was taken in 1955, and is of Dr Geoff Liptrot (Selwyn) is the 10th the teams for the Cambridge v Oxford standing player from the right in the chemistry labs cricket match. photograph in Chem@Cam 24 [repor - The other names we know are Les duced on the left]. Johnson (seated, extreme left); Andy He had a distinguished schoolmater’s Holmes-Siedle (seated, third left); Peter career at Eton, and now lives in retire - Sykes (standing, eighth from right); and ment in Cambridge. Jeff Watkins, who sent the photo in, is sit - Yours sincerely ting in the centre. David Harrison Let us know if you recognise anyone else Cambridge in the picture!

Back on the beer what was being analysed – something precipitates some of the proteins, and the nitrogen containing I suspect. sodium molybdate another part of the pro - Dear Editor I look forward to the Spring issue, teins. Boiling with conc. sulphuric acid Antony Barrington Brown was quite perhaps someone will have the solution. oxidises the organic matter and converts the right about his ‘fragrant memories’ Incidentally, it’s almost exactly 50 years nitrogen to ammonium salts. The titration (Chem@Cam 24) – but I remember ago that I came up to Trinity for the and subsequent calculations lead to figures that it was F.G. Mann who gave the lec - Schol. Exams – a week of exams and for the Lundin fractions. ture in 1958/59, and I must admit that interviews – and it was bitterly cold. As I recall, these figures were of interest I thought it was 2-methyl indole! But Yours sincerely, Bill Collier because they relate to the head-retention I’m not sure. Seaton, Devon properties of the beer. The information put me off straw - We also analysed for dextrin, tannin, berry ice-cream for a long time after - We had no brilliant suggestions about amino-nitrogen, esters, sulphate, chloride, wards – and on the odd occasion that I the product that was the complex phosphate, copper, iron, calcium, magne - have something ‘strawberry flavoured’ analysis detailed by Pat in the letters sium, lead and arsenic. The last was also a now I remember the lecture too. page last time. So it’s back to Pat for long and interesting procedure, possibly a Incidentally, in Pat Lamont Smith’s letter the (rather surprising) answer… little out-of-date. there must either be a misprint or ‘elastic The product was beer. The idea was to In case you are wondering, there was sided’ 200ml flasks – but I’ve long since determine the ‘Lundin fractions’; in other the possibility of arsenic only because of lost my copy of Vogel and I wouldn’t know words, an indication of the proportions of the spray that might have been used on where to start now with trying to decide different proteins present. The tannic acid the hops. A peek into the past Brian Crysell’s extensive photo collection has yielded these gems. Names for the unidentified faces and reminiscences would be welcome – write to us at the address on page 3.

Left: Brian Crysell, Lesley Coad, Paul Skelton and Mykola Karabyn at a party in G19. Any suggestions who the faces in the background are? We’re pretty sure this shot was taken in the late 1930s on a teaching class technicians’ day out, probably to the seaside at Great Yarmouth. From the left: Wally Miller, Jack Fenning, Fred Munns, John Woodcock, Ernie Elborne, Harold Munns, a face we can’t put a name to, Les Hunt and (we think) Reg Gilbert Right: A youthful Brian Crysell poses on the lawn with Stephanie Ginn (now Thoseby). They’re surrounded by a selection of items bought by photographer John Constable, who was stocking up on Old Spice, razors and Colgate toothpaste for a trip to the A photo in the workshop. From the left: Mike Ladds, George Eastern Bloc! Watson, Ezra Chapman, Tim Meehan and Maurice Wilkin

16 Chem@Cam Spring 2006 Chat lines

Two for the price of one t t i P n a h t a N

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Faces past and present: Don Flory, Jim Watson, Brian Crysell, John Bullman, Melvyn Orriss and Pat Chapman, with Miss Cooper (front) and her old tea cosy, brush and sugar tin Lisa and Hannah: It only seems like five minutes ago that double the we reported the birth of Pete Clapham’s Miss Cooper pops in ‘aaaaah’ factor first daughter, Zoe. The smelly nappies and lack of sleep can’t have put him off too much as he’s had not one but two more. Well, wife Jenny did all the hard for a quick cuppa work, anyway! Identical twins Lisa Isobel and Until she retired 34 years ago, Miss ‘She’s 94 now, and looking remark - Hannah Maria made their appearance Cooper worked in the lecture rooms, able for her age,’ says Brian. ‘Pat on 13 December, weighing in at 2lb first in the old Pembroke Street labs and Chapman had found her old tea cosy 13oz and 3lb 3oz respectively. then here in Lensfield Road. No-one had and sugar tin, so we had to get them out Comings As they were so small, they stayed in heard from her for years, but then for - for the occasion.’ & goings hospital until the end of January. And mer technician Jim Watson told our Also lurking in the cupboard was the that’s when the fun really began for Pete NMR expert Brian Crysell that he’d seen old brush she used to use in the lecture Leavers: and Jenny. her in the village where he lived. theatres. Not for the floor – these were Sarah Brown ‘It feels like we’re spinning plates all Brian thought it would be lovely to the days before overhead projectors and Sarah Njage the time!’ Pete says of the new-style see her again – and for her to see how PowerPoint slides, and lectures were Helen Rayner domestic bliss in the Clapham house - different the labs are looking these days. chalk-and-talk on the blackboard. Miss hold. Big sis Zoe was 2 just after the So he brought her in to the department Cooper used the brush to ensure that Joiners: babies were born and, as Pete puts it, is for a wander around and, of course, the lecturers didn’t end up leaving the Keith Jenkins greatly enjoying Helping Out with her some tea and biscuits. theatres coated in chalk dust. Caroline Hancox new sisters. ‘They’re about the same size as her dollies,’ Pete claims, ominously. t t i P

n n a a h t m a l o N

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: o t o Sarah Brown, who worked with Mykola Karabyn in the lecture h P theatres, left us in the autumn to head to the US with her One evening in January, Cambridge was treated to a particularly dramatic sunset, and boyfriend, who had got a job there. She’s pictured receiving her photographer John Holman couldn’t resist preserving the view from the studio for posterity leaving presents from technical secretary David Watson

Chem@Cam Spring 2006 17 Chat lines A drop of Christmas spirit

The annual staff Christmas party is always a good excuse to catch up with a few faces from the past. John Holman was on hand with his camera

Left: Don Flory and Chris Sporikou

Left: Susan Begg and Julie Lee; above: David Watson and Liz Alan; below: Derek Edwards and Cyril Smith

From the top: Brian Crysell and Tiger Coxall; Mike Todd-Jones and Jaci Agarwala; Paul Davies and Sue Johnson; and Tim Layt with a drink, just for a change!

18 Chem@Cam Spring 2006 Puzzle corner Last issue’s winners

Chemdoku Helen Stokes, Peter Grice, Paul Cheshire, Just an average We’re onto a winner with this Chem - Roger Duffett, Mike Flower, Andrew Those dreaded gremelins have struck doku lark – once again the Chem@Cam Barling, Richard Brown, Peter Rose, again. As several readers pointed out, postbag and inbox were positively John Malone, Peter Ham, Eric Walther, this puzzle was impossible. Setter Keith bulging with correct solutions. Pete Kennewell, Neil McKelvie, Hilary Parsons had already spotted the error, The metaphorical hat this time was Ayshford, Annette Quartly, Steve but somehow his correction got sepa - another of Chem@Cam ’s fine collec - Blasdale, John Carpenter, Howard Clase rated from the original problem in tion of Sheffield Wednesday coffee and Derek Thornton. Phew! Chem@Cam’s normally impeccable mugs, this one featuring John Sheridan Worthy of a special mention are the archaeological filing system. scoring the winner against Manchester entries we also received from King Here it is again, with the correct total United in the League Cup Final at Edward VI school in Stratford-upon this time... Wembley in 1991 – the only time in Avon. Chemistry teacher Rachel Biggs Last season’s batting averages (all less her lifetime they’ve won a proper tro - picked up a copy when she was visiting than 100) for the regular players in the phy (last season’s League One play-off the department, and thought it would village cricket team at Much Stumping win was really a prize for coming fifth, make a good end-of-term activity for were somewhat unusual. One player’s however good the day out in Cardiff her pupils. ‘They thoroughly enjoyed average was zero for the third consecu - might have been). it!’ she says. tive season (in fairness, he is a demon Anyway, the first name to escape We were so impressed that we bowler!) and the other 10 players’ aver - from the safekeeping of Mr Sheridan decided to award an extra £20 prize to ages were all whole numbers, totalling and his dodgy knees was Hugh Aldred one of the students; Shezza was pressed 479, including one prime number. from Chester, who was at Downing in into action again and this time Mark Each of the top five averages was a £20 prizes are 1938. £20 is on its way. Brown’s entry came out first. (different) multiple of one of the bot - on offer for all Other correct solutions came from Entries were also submitted by tom averages. Moreover, when the aver - three puzzles. Alice Bull, Robin Pope (who expressed Rachel herself, and students James ages and their multipliers were written Send entries by his disappointment that none of the Frazier, Fred Gravestock, David Massey, down, as shown below, it became email to news@ rows and columns were in correct James Haseler, Ben Hansen, Hamish apparent that eight of the digits from ch.cam.ac.uk or atomic number order!), Mike Sleep, Paul Jackson, Dominic Grellier, Alex Mann, 1–9 appeared three times each. by snail mail to Chem@Cam Williams, Mark Booth, A.J. Wilk inson, Seb Wassell, Nathan Holdbrook, David Complete the table. , Donald Bush, Keith Parsons, Tony Pike, Eminton, Tristan Gretton, Roger A x B = C Department of F.W. Bennett (who says he’s probably Kingston, Alex Hatcher, James Butt and D x E = F Chemistry, best remembered for a failed attempt to Tom Hunt. G x H = I University of demolish the Downing Street labs in the There was also one final entry from J x K = L Cambridge, interests of fluorine chemistry – fancy someone who may possibly be called M x N = P Lensfield Road, telling us more?!), Jim Dunn, Ian Tom Wadell but has rather indecipher - Each of the letters A to P may repre - Cambridge Fletcher, John Salthouse, P.T. Keefe, able handwriting. sent either a one or a two digit number. CB2 1EW This issue’s puzzles

Elementary fun Chemdoku Imitation is the best form of flattery, they say. So Chem@Cam had to profess This puzzle comes from regular herself flattered when she spotted the Chem@Cam reader Annette Quartly. latest addition to the range of books Having randomly assigned the num - O sold by the Royal Society of Chemistry bers 1 to 26 to the letters of the alpha - – a whole book of chemical sudoku. bet, I noticed that by adding together Cl H In the face of such competition, it the values of the letters in the names of would have been rude not to supply certain elements, listed below, their Chem@Cam ’s loyal readers with atomic numbers were obtained. Ne F Ar N Kr another puzzle to test their brains. This Technetium = 43 time, we’ve come over all gaseous, and Ruthenium = 44 OHHe the grid needs to be filled with the first Tellurium = 52 nine gases in the periodic table. Caesium = 55 Kr NH In the unlikely event that you’ve Barium = 56 never seen a sudoku puzzle before (and Lanthanum = 57 if not, where have you been?) the idea Ytterbium = 70 Ar F He is to arrange the nine symbols in the Iridium = 77 grid in such a way that each row, col - Protactinium = 91 HN Cl Ar O umn and 3x3 square contains the nine Californium = 98 elements just once. Rutherfordium = 104 The usual £20 prize goes to the first If I were subsequently to discover a new Ne F correct solution out of whatever recep - element, and name it Chemistryfunium tacle is lurking in the Chem@Cam in accordance with the above system, He office when we do the draw. what would its atomic number be? Chemdoku – the original and best!

Chem@Cam Spring 2006 19 We thought he’d retired, but no! David Watson is back to save us!

Chem@Cam is written, edited and produced

by S ARAH H OULTON

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