Issue 1, February 2015 IMPERIAL 10 74 16 Editor: Rex Manurung Article contributors: Maria Tor- CHEMISTRY telli and Patricia Poths. The Department of Ne W S Chemistry Newsletter Photo contributors: Nathaniel 20.180 183.84 32.065 Gallop and Andrew McKinley. A WELCOME FROM THE HEAD OF DEPARTMENT Welcome to the first issue of the new Chemistry Department news- letter! Thanks to Rex and the team for bringing together an intriguing compilation of what’s going on in Chemistry, ranging from academic news through to info on the exciting series of inspiring talks and social events organised by ChemSoc. We’d like to make this a regular production, so please do send any news, gossip or ideas for Department-related features through to the ChemSoc committee. Enjoy, and congratulations to every- Prof. Alan Armstrong one featured! IN THIS ISSUE: TOM’S WALK OF FLAME AND ALI’S BUNGEE In the Department JUMP: TOM AND ALI DO RAG! Pages 2-4 HIGH IMPACT PUBLICA- TIONS PRIZES AND AWARDS FELLOWSHIPS/GRANTS FoNS/INSTITUTE EVENTS Chemistry’s very own Prof. Tom Welton and Dr. Ali Salehi- Left: Tom walking over em- MAJOR PLENARY/ Reyhani took part in fundraising events during RAG week . bers burning at around 500 KEYNOTE TALKS Ali did the bungee jump on 10th February and Tom braved oC. Almost there…. the fire walk on the 12th February. So far, Tom has raised Right: Tom finishes the Fire OTHER NEWS £968 and still going. Well done to both Ali and Tom! Walk! OUTSIDE-DEPARTMENT ANTHONY MARCHANT JOINS THE EVENTS CHEMISTRY DEPARTMENT! The Department welcomes Anthony ChemSoc Marchant, who will be the new Faculty Safety Officer. Anthony is situated in the Pages 5-9 Chemistry Building, Office 242. CHEMSOC QUIZ NIGHT Anthony was previously at the University of 2014 Surrey, where he was a Teaching and Re- search Technician in the Chemistry depart- DEPARTMENT OF CHEM- ment, focusing on supporting analytical in- ISTRY CHRISTMAS PARTY strumentation. He holds a Biochemistry de- 2014 gree and an MSc in Toxicology. SEMINAR SERIES We look forward to Anthony’s help and assistance in keeping the Department safe! Welcome to the Department , Anthony! ISSUE 1, MARCH 2015 |IMP. CHEM. NEWS 2 |In the Department HIGH IMPACT PUBLICATIONS A paper featuring Prof. Tom Welton and Dr. Jason Hallett as "Ionic liquids: not always innocent solvents for cellulose" is co-authors is the 4th most downloaded article of 2014 in a “Hot” article “Green Chemistry”. Prof. Tom Welton, Dr. Patricia Hunt PRIZES AND AWARDS and their team, had a 'Hot' article Ben Sturgeon Lectureship highlighted in Green Chemistry enti- Prof. John Seddon was awarded the 2015 Ben Sturgeon Lec- tled "Ionic liquids: not always inno- tureship of the British Liquid Crystal Society. cent solvents for cellulose" - it was also featured on the front cover. MRS (Materials Research Society) Prizes Jess Shaw, a 3Rd year PhD in the Heeney group wins pres- Left: Front cover of Green Chemistry tigious Material Research Society (MRS) best presentation featuring the article by Prof. Wel- prize for her talk at the 2014 MRS Conference Symposium Q ton, Dr. Hunt et al. entitled ‘An Effective Strategy for Improving the Charge Carri- Nature Communications paper “Dip-pen patterning of poly er Mobility of n-type Polymers: Branch Point Manipulation’. (9,9-dioctylfluorene) chain-conformation-based nano- photonic elements” features on the College website Pierre Boufflet, a 3Rd year PhD in the Heeney group wins MRS poster prize at the 2014 MRS Conference for his work Dr. Sanjiv Sharma and Prof. entitled ‘The influence of backbone fluorination on polythio- Tony Cass are part of the phene properties’. team whose Nature Com- Both were recently presented with their awards. munications paper “Dip- pen patterning of poly(9,9- FELLOWSHIPS/GRANTS dioctylfluorene) chain- Congratulations to Dr. Kim Jelfs on the award of her EPRSC conformation-based nano- First Grant on “Evolutionary property prediction for molecu- photonic elements” was lar materials” featured on the College Above: Confocal PL image of a PI Dr. Laura Barter & Co-Is: Dr. Oscar Ces, Dr. Nick Brooks, website. DPN patterned β-phase stripe Dr. Rudiger Woscholski and Prof. Nick Long were awarded a element. Pathway to Impact award for work entitled “CO2 delivery device for crop plants, designed to increase photosynthetic Heeney group paper “Polythiophenes with vinylene linked yields for increased food and fuel production”. ortho, meta and para-carborane sidechains” is in the “top 20 most downloaded articles” from Polymer Chemistry Dr. Andrew Ashley has been awarded £19,952 from the Fac- ulty Strategic Research Fund in support of his proposal enti- An article entitled tled ‘Energy Efficient Catalytic Hydrogenation of Nitrogen to ‘Polythiophenes with Ammonia: Sustainably Feeding Our Future.’ vinylene linked ortho, meta and para-carborane Six Marie Curie Fellowships have been awarded with vari- sidechains’ by the group ous start dates (sponsors Prof. Ed Tate, Prof. Tom Welton, of Prof. Martin Heeney Prof. Martin Heeney, Dr. Joshua Edel, Prof. James Durrant Above: Energy minimised struc- was one of the top 20 and Dr. Mark Crimmin). tures of polythiophenes with car- most downloaded in Pol- borane side-chains. Prof. Anthony Kucernak was awarded an EPSRC UK-Korea ymer Chemistry. collaborative grant with colleagues at UCL and Loughbor- Article entitled “Deconstruction of lignocellulosic biomass ough, on Innovative concepts from Electrodes to Stacks. with ionic liquids” one of most downloaded from Green Chemistry FoNS/INSTITUTE EVENTS Left: Figure Sainsbury’s Farming Scholarship Programme illustrating uses In partnership with Sainsbury’s, Dr. Laura Barter and Dr. of products Rudiger Woscholski have created the Sainsbury’s Farming from lignocellu- Scholarship programme. This was launched at the Sains- losic biomass bury’s Farming conference in December. One of the aims of deconstruction. ISSUE 1, MARCH 2015 |IMP. CHEM. NEWS 3 |In the Department this programme is to create links between Imperial Academ- Winners Seminar showcasing the four chemistry staff who ics and end users (Farmers) to drive new research ideas. won prestigious RSC Awards in 2014 (Dr. Matt Fuchter, Prof. CDT Den Iain McCulloch, Prof. Milo Shaffer & Prof. Ed Tate). The Centre for Doctoral Training in the Institute of Chemi- MAJOR PLENARY/KEYNOTE TALKS cal Biology hosted the 'CDT Den' the Dragons’ Den-style event where doctoral students pitched their business ideas Chemistry Biology Interface Division Council Talk to a panel of judges. Dr. Laura Barter gave a talk to the Chemistry Biology Inter- face Division Council on Wednesday 21 January about the The final included four teams, from an initial cohort of 17, Plant Chemical Biology Research and the AGRI-net Landscape who pitched their ideas to the judging panel of Prof. James Document. Stirling, Prof. Jackie Hunter, Chief Executive of BBSRC; Dr Royal Society of Chemistry /IISERB [Bhopal] Symposium Alison Wall, Associate Director, Impact at EPSRC; and Paul Atherton, founder of Nexeon - a company specialising in On 3rd February Prof. David Phillips opened a joint Royal So- lithium-ion battery technology. ciety of Chemistry /IISERB [Bhopal] Symposium and delivered a keynote lecture 'Towards Targeted Photodynamic Therapy'. On 5th February he then opened the 9th CRSI/RSC Symposi- um, and later that afternoon delivered a keynote lecture in the Chemical Education Programme, entitled 'Light Relief' OTHER NEWS Outreach at the Linnean Society of London The country’s best-known glassblower, Chemistry’s Steve Ramsey, was recently at the Linnean Society of London demonstrating the techniques used to make models of sea creatures that were displayed in natural history museums across the world. 175 Faces of Chemistry Prof. Tom Welton was made one of the Royal Society of Above: Winners Angela de Manzanos and Kerry O’Donelly Chemistry’s “175 Faces of Chemistry”, celebrating diversity in Weaver. Photo from CDT website. science with a feature on the RSC website. The RSC said “ The winning team was ‘FungiAlert’ whose members Kerry aeroplanes of inspiration, not only is Tom gay and grew up in O'Donnelly Weaver and Angela de Manzanos have creat- a council estate but uses his leadership role to promote inclu- ed a device for the early detection of plant pathogens in sion into the chemical sciences”. fields, which could help tackle global crop loss. As well as the cash prize of £20,000 provided by Imperial Innovations, the team will also receive entrepreneurial training and sup- port from them as they further develop their idea. Other inventions presented included ‘Fat Filter U Bend’, a U-bend designed to remove fats and oils from pipes; ‘D- Vulch Tech’, a chemical process to de-vulcanise used rub- ber tyres and ‘Invisicat’, a pheromone based mouse repel- lent. RSC related events Imperial Business Partners Dinner Dr. Silvia Díez-González & Dr. Matt Fuchter organised the Prof. John de Mello and Dr. Bridgette Duncombe attended RSC regional meeting for the Organic Division hosted at Im- the Imperial Business Partners dinner on 3 February, John perial with 120 in attendance. represented the Department and Bridge the Education Strat- Dr. Silvia Díez-González organised the Imperial RSC Award egy working party which she leads and whose aim is to refine ISSUE 1, MARCH 2015 |IMP. CHEM. NEWS 4 |In the Department and embed graduate attributes to enable students to demon- OUTSIDE-DEPARTMENT EVENTS strate their achievements. Imperial College Malaysian Night Congratulations! Congratulations to: Dr. James Wilton Ely and his wife on the birth of their new baby in December 2014! Dr. Kevin Lovelock and his wife on the birth of their baby, Beth, weighing in at 6.12lbs, on 21st January! Wern, a 1st year Chemist is performing in a drama titled Dr. Rob Davies and his wife on the birth of their baby girl “Masked” as part of Imperial College Union Malaysian socie- Grace, weighing in at 5 lb 15 oz, during the early hours of ty’s annual show on March 7th and 8th.
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