Serendipity in science
175 minutes for chemistry
University of York PhD student Lewis Gooch found himself profoundly moved by Nobel Prize winner Sir Fraser Stoddart’s plenary lecture, at the RSC Carbohydrate Group’s 50th anniversary meeting.
There was no long and drawn out introduction for the legend. It was concise and to the point. The Group Chair Bruce Turnbull simply stated, "Our next speaker has had countless awards over his career and far too many for me to list. But at the end of the day there are only two awards that actually matter: in December Fraser will receive the Nobel Prize for Chemistry and most importantly, tonight he receives the Haworth Memorial medal".
When the chuckling had subsided Sir Fraser Stoddart took centre stage with a lecture themed around serendipity in science – the notion of a chance accident leading to discovery, most notably Alexander Fleming with penicillin. Sir Fraser’s talk initially focussed on his beginnings as a carbohydrate chemist, and the evolving beauty and utility of cyclodextrins in "mechanostereochemistry" (a concept very much of his own creation).
He showcased recent publications that were "stumbled upon" through serendipitous discoveries, including a recent JACS paper and a Nature Communications paper, whereby a chance reaction led to the spontaneous assembly of supramolecular structures using KAuBr4 and cyclodextrins, and the subsequent application of this assembly in the recovery of pure gold from alloys and scrap metals.
"Bob's your uncle chemistry"
Sir Fraser then continued with the theme of serendipity to discuss the origins of his metal–organic framework hierarchical structures, assembled from benign ingredients, in what he describes as "Bob’s your uncle chemistry" by simply adding salt, alcohol and sugar. This work was even incorporated into a menu at a top NYC restaurant, although Sir Fraser did not comment on how the meal tasted!
Following this, the lecture moved on to security printing technologies with built-in supramolecular encryption. Initially this work was purely synthetic, focussing on the development of hetero rotaxanes. However, once more in keeping with the theme of the day, through another serendipitous discovery, during synthesis via cooperative capture, the team were able to produce a broad spectrum of fluorescent inks. They went on to use these inks to print a version of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers that only became visible under UV.
As he powered from slide to slide he constantly referred back to this theme of serendipity and how it had dominated many of his publications. All the while he recounted several anecdotes of his experiences over the years, the rough and the smooth, all of which testified to his relentless work ethic and approach to science.
"Prioritising creativity and fun"
In addition, he spoke of continual discoveries that had come about through allowing his team to pursue their own inspirations in the lab, doing the science they found fun, exciting and interesting. Prioritising creativity and the fun of science has seemingly driven his research forward apace, perhaps more quickly than sticking to restrictive project outlines would have done.
I felt I was not the only one who became emotionally invested during the narration of his journey in science. It gave me an honest and increased confidence for the future and for life in academic research, during a time when funding and job opportunities have never been so sparse or the queue of potential applicants so long.
"A second chance"
His final slide simply read "Thank you for giving me a second chance". Now what on earth did Sir Fraser mean? Through a choked up voice he explained how he had been offered the Haworth Memorial Lectureship in 1997... but had refused on the grounds of being about to leave the country, not thinking he was deserving of the award and most of all because his wife was unwell at the time. The journey had clearly brought back a lot of memories and it had connected with everyone in the audience also.
It is not very often one participates in a standing ovation in science because they genuinely wanted to show respect, but this was one such occasion. Here’s to Sir Fraser and another 50 years of RSC Carbohydrate Group meetings (and all things sweet and serendipitous along the way)!
175 minutes for chemistry
As the oldest chemical society in the world, we celebrated our 175th anniversary in 2016. We wanted to mark this milestone by recognising the important contributions our community makes to the chemical sciences. We asked our members and supporters to dedicate 175 minutes to chemistry in 2016 and share their stories with us. We featured these stories throughout the year on our website, in print in RSC News, and on social media using #time4chem.
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