Calendar of Events

Newsletter 211, 25th March 2011

Chemistry Update

Inside this issue:

Date of Next Issue: 29th April 2011 Page 1

Anna Barnard Receives Award 2

Dave Smith Wins Research Award 3

Chem Highlights Newsletter

Potential Drugs Developed 4

James Clark’s Global Travels 5

Synthetic Chemistry and Catalysis News

6

Hotplate Stirrer Safety Warning 7

Biochemical Society Early Career Research Award Winner

8

YSBL Staff Update

Discovery Days 9

It’s not all flat caps and chimneys! 10

Promises Auction 11

Abby Passes Glassblowers Exam 12

Sporting Events 13

Nanotools Designed for Surgical Recovery

14

New Starters

Newborn Babies and Suggestion Box

15

Essential Work Scheduled for Chemistry A Block

16

Publications 18

Graduation & Degree Day Drinks

Funding Opportunities 19

From the Archives 20

Chemistry at Work 2011

Date: Date: 29th - 30th March

Salter’s Festival of Chemistry

Date: Tuesday 5th April

Location: A & BTL

Start of Summer Term

Date: Tuesday 26th April

Pre-Grasmere Symposium

Date: Wednesday 4th May

Location: TBA

Third year PhD student, Anna Barnard, working in the research team of Professor Dave Smith

was recently awarded a bronze medal at the prestigious SET for Britain event at the Houses of

Parliament. Her prize-winning poster, 'An Amicable Break-Up? Liaisons Between Degradable

Dendrons and DNA', was presented to a mixture of MPs, government science advisors and policy

makers. Anna's research focuses on developing a fundamental understanding of synthetic

nanoscale molecules which are capable of delivering genetic material into cells. After winning

her award, Anna said 'the MPs were particularly interested, in the International Year of

Chemistry, to see how fundamental chemistry research may eventually underpin the

development of nanomedicines to treat a range of diseases, including genetic disorders such as

cystic fibrosis.'

Anna Barnard Awarded SET for Britain Bronze Medal

Page 2

Professor Dave Smith has been awarded the 2011 'Bob Hay Lectureship'.

This prestigious Royal Society of Chemistry award is given to a

younger chemist working in the field of supramolecular

chemistry. As well as the award of a trophy, the lectureship

involves the recipient giving a plenary lecture at the International

Symposium of Macrocyclic and Supramolecular

Chemistry. Dave's research into self-assembly using tailor-

made molecular-scale building blocks has provided fundamental

insights into the way in which the nanoworld can be created

from the 'bottom up'. His research has applications in diverse

areas - from self-assembling nanoscale delivery vehicles for gene therapy, to self-assembling gel

-phase materials which can be used to enhance the formulation of paints. Dave points out that

the most important kind of self-assembly is the assembly of his team of talented PhD students

and post-docs who have done most of the hard work which has been recognised.

Successful Assembly - Dave Smith Wins Research Award

Page 3

Chem Highlights Newsletter

The department has compiled a newsletter, called Chem Highlights, for our undergraduate

students.

Chemistry at York has had a very successful

year and the newsletter highlights some of

the many recent achievements and exciting

developments in our teaching and research.

This includes sections on the University of

the Year, Royal Society Honours, new

facilities and teaching initiatives.

The National Student Survey (NSS), which

runs until 29 April 2011, is also mentioned -

this year the Student Hardship fund will

receive £1 for every survey completed.

Page 4

Worked carried out by Dr Anne Duhme-Klair and her group at York has discovered potent

Xanthine Oxidase Inhibitors.

Since the recent discovery that xanthine oxidase (XO) is

not only implicated in hyperuricemia and gout but also a

suitable target for drugs designed to alleviate tissue

damage caused by oxidative stress, the search for novel

XO inhibitors has attracted renewed interest. Potent non-

purine based inhibitors, however, are still rare despite the

urgent need for novel drugs with enhanced efficacies and

improved safety profiles. By investigating a focused library

of Schiff bases derived from hydroxybenzaldehydes, PhD

students Maria Leigh, Daniel J. Raines and Carmen E.

Castillo from the Duhme-Klair group have identified a versatile scaffold for the development of

potent non-purine based XO inhibitors. Under the assay conditions employed, the XO inhibitory

activity of five of the thiosemicarbazones made was found to be significantly higher than that of

allopurinol, the drug most commonly prescribed for the treatment of gout. In addition, the SAR

study revealed how the position and the nature of the substituents on the aromatic amine moiety

of the Schiff bases can be explored in the future to further enhance inhibitory activity. The struc-

tural characterisation of molybdenum(VI) model complexes revealed the potential othe inhibitors

to coordinate to the molybdenum-containing active site of XO (figure 1).

The work was sponsored by Sareum Limited, a structure-based drug discovery company based

in Cambridge. Sareum hosted Anne-K. Duhme-Klair’s EPSRC-funded industrial secondment and

are supporting a BBSRC CASE PhD studentship for Maria Leigh. The results of our work are

reported in the April 2011 issue of ChemMedChem.

Potential Drugs Developed by Chemistry Group in York

Figure 1

Professor James Clark of the Green Chemistry Centre continued his global travels with an invited

lecture at the AAAS event in Washington on Green Chemistry and the Biorefinery. The high-

profile meeting featured excellent talks from some of the worlds leading scientists including

George Whitesides and Frances Arnold as well as the Chief Scientific Advisor to the President

John Holdren. From there he went to Amsterdam and Industrial Biotech World where he gave a

talk and chaired a discussion panel on developing new green and sustainable supply chains for

future consumer products. Since then James travelled to the University of Cordoba where he

gave an invited lecture to a full house as part of the International Year of Chemistry and was the

guest of the Dean of Science and Vice Chancellor. The visit also included a trip to a local

biodiesel company which turns food waste into fuel : remarkably the Spanish thirst for biodiesel is

such that their own industry can only produce 1% of the demand with the bulk coming all the way

from Argentina (so maybe not so green!). He also visited a landfill site which is showing the way

with uses of waste - they sell a range of products including compost, PET, HDPE and mixed

plastics. Even the residues that end up in the landfill are not forgotten with emitted gases used to

produce electricity.

Page 5

Professor James Clark’s Global Travels

Maite Roldán, Manuel Blázquez, James Clark and Rafael Luque at the

University of Cordoba

Page 6

Synthetic Chemistry and Catalysis News:

The Fairlamb Group Unveil a Novel Multidentate

Thiophosphine-Alkenyl Ligand

Amanda Jarvis, a PhD student in the Fairlamb

research group, has prepared and characterised

a new multidentate conformationally flexible

ligand based on the dibenzylidene acetone core

structure. The ligand, aka dbathiophos, has a

high affinity for cationic and neutral Cu(I) species.

Three unique Cu(I) complexes have been

synthesised which demonstrates that the ligand backbone of dbathiophos is hemilabile, and able

to adopt different 1,4-dien-3-one conformational geometries around Cu(I). Cu complexes con-

taining dbathiophos effectively catalyse the cyclopropanation of styrene with ethyl diazoacetate

at low catalyst loadings (1 mol% Cu), showing activity commensurate with that reported in a

recent independent study (J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2010, 132, 10665).

This study has been reported as a full paper in Dalton Trans., DOI: 10.1039/C0DT01612H, and

can be accessed by clicking the following link:

http://pubs.rsc.org/en/Content/ArticleLanding/2011/DT/C0DT01612H

Dr. Adrian Whitwood assisted in the production of an image to publicise the research

(see below):

Page 7

Hotplate Stirrer Safety Warning

Safety should have first priority for everyone working in a laboratory, especially when working

with open beakers, vessels or high temperatures utmost caution is required. It has come to the

chemistry electronic workshops attention that the early models of the IKA® RCT basic hotplate

stirrer can overheat if the control relay burns out. The particular hotplates affected are blue and

have two controls on the front panel one for stirring and the other for heating. The RCT basic can

be used with a fuzzy logic temperature probe accessory (ETS-D4) but this does not offer any

additional protection from over heating should the control relay in the hotplate burn out. It is

therefore strongly recommended that these hotplates should not be operated in unattended

situations such as overnight. On the other hand Heidolph stirrer hotplates have a cut out should

the control circuit fail and should be used for all research work requiring unattended heating and

stirring. If you have any concerns about your hotplate stirrer please get in touch with Chris

Rhodes in the electronics workshop (Tel: 2510, A011).

Photo 1

IKA® RCT basic hotplate stirrer

Photo 2

A) Top view of control relay from an over-

heated IKA RCT basic stirrer hotplate

B) Bottom view of control relay showing burn

damage leading to a permanently

switched on hotplate.

Following the retirement of a significant number of long serving employee's, the Department

undertook a review of all support staff. As funding for replacements was limited, it was evident

there were some areas that would need support from existing staff. YSBL staff have been

particularly flexible over the last year in providing support to the main Chemistry department in

both technical and administrative areas.

More recently, the following arrangements have been agreed:

Simon Grist is working 1 day per week in Richard Douthwaite's research laboratory in

Chemistry (usually Tuesday).

Sam Hart will be working 1 day per week helping Adrian Whitwood in the

small molecule X-ray facility (usually Wednesday).

Tim Kirk will be working 1 day per week on IT projects but will undertake this work from

SBL.

Work for YSBL will always take precedence over these arrangements.

Page 8

Biochemical Society Early Career Research Award Winner

Tracey Gloster won the Early Career Research Award

of the Biochemical Society in the area of Molecular

Structure and Function. The award, which is given

every 2 years, recognizes the impact of research

carried out by early career scientists within 5 years of

obtaining their PhD.

Tracey worked in Gideon Davies’ group in the York

Structural Biology Laboratory before obtaining one of

the prestigious Sir Henry Welcome Fellowships of

the Welcome Trust. She is currently at Simon Fraser University, as part of her Fellowship,

working in the area of chemical genetics. She recently had a paper in Nature Chemical Biology

on the development of cell-active glycosyltransferase inhibitors that hijack the cells’ biosynthetic

pathways to yield exciting cellular probes that work in vivo (Gloster et al., 2011, Nat Chem Biol 7,

174-181).

YSBL Staff Update

Page 9

Discovery Days at the National Railway Museum

About 1,200 key stage two pupils from 34 primary schools attended the National Railway

Museum’s Discovery Days from Thursday 10 March to Saturday 12 March, and took part in a

range of interactive workshops on scientific subjects. The Green Chemistry Centre ran a

workshop on ‘Making Glue from Milk’ , in which children were invited to watch and learn how the

glue is made, before trying out the glue themselves. The children enjoyed making their own

artistic creations using the milk glue and tissue paper, and meeting the Fabs the Green Chemist.

Page 10

‘It’s not all flat caps and chimneys you know!’

Nicky Waller, CIEC Promoting Science Advisory Teacher for the North East, recently had an

article published in Primary Science about the perceptions of industry held by teachers and pupils

in primary school, and CIEC’s crucial role in changing them. The article, entitled ‘It’s not all flat

caps and chimneys you know!’ is being well received at a time when encouraging children to

broaden their horizons and ensure they are suitably qualified for the labour market is topical.

Subsequently the Open University has requested permission to use the article in their course

(E207) Primary Subject Knowledge and Practice.

Nicky Waller talking to a group of CIEC’s industrial partners in the North East.

Page 11

Promises Auction

Following from the November edition with the Promises Auction, we have some photos of Paul’s

Sunday lunch, Abi walking Charlie in the snow and Nigel Lowe’s home brew.

Not all favours have been called in yet, we hope to get you some more photos soon!

Page 12

We are pleased to congratulate Abby Storey on passing with a distinction the British Society Of

Scientific Glassblowers Hand Burner examination. This examination took place in the Chemistry

Glassblowing Workshop on Friday 25th February and the examiner was Willie McCormack, the

Chief Glassblower at Newcastle University. This is the second BSSG Qualification that Abby has

attained and continues to develop her career by studying for further BSSG Qualifications.

Abby Passes Scientific Glassblowers Hand Burner Exam

Page 13

Social Badminton

Tim Kirk, Computer manager at YSBL, runs a badminton group in YSBL and would

be happy to welcome any Chemistry people who would be interested in joining

all levels welcome).

They play at Noon on Wednesday, 5pm Thursday and 9-11am on Saturdays and

cater for a wide range of player from beginners upward.

Sunday Social Bike Rides

Johan Turkenburg and Tim Kirk are also organising some Sunday

social bike rides and would be happy to have anyone from Chemistry

who is interested.

Please email Tim at kirk@ysbl.york.ac.uk to get on the mailing list!

Chemistry 6-a-Side Football League

A league of 6 teams from the department runs twice a year - games are played on the Sports

Centre Astro-turf on Fridays 17.00-18.00. The next league will be starting in the new University

term.

Is there a new group of 6-9 people (girls and boys from a

research group/section/block etc) who would like to enter a team?

Is there anyone who would like to play with an existing team?

The competition is a fun and relaxed affair at the end of the week! If you are interested in getting

involved then please contact either James Lee (james.lee@york.ac.uk) or Richard Doveston

(rd548).

Marek Brzozowski Lecture

Marek Brzozowski gave an invited lecture on Gordons Research Confrerence "IGF signalling in

health and disease" in Ventura, CA, USA (27 Feb - 4 March) on "Molecular crossroads of insulin

and IGFs".

Recent work published by Professor Dave Smith’s research group has reported new nano-

systems which may eventually help patients recovering from surgery.

There is no doubt that the skill of surgeons plays a remarkable role in transforming the lives of

hospital patients – from seriously injured victims of road traffic accidents to the recipients of heart

and lung transplants. However, without the use of a range of different chemical drugs, surgeons

would not be able to operate. One important drug is heparin, which thins the blood and allows

surgeons to operate without clotting taking place. However, once surgery is finished, it is

essential to remove the heparin and allow clotting to occur so the patient can recover. This is

currently done by giving the patient a second drug, protamine. However, because protamine is a

natural product arising from shellfish, some patients exhibit serious allergic responses.

In their recent work, published in Angewandte Chemie, the Smith group have developed

synthetic molecules which are capable of binding heparin. These molecules are designed to self-

assemble into nanometre-sized structures with similar dimensions to protamine and containing

multiple heparin binding units. It was shown that these nanosystems could bind to heparin just

as effectively as protamine. ‘Clearly there is lots of fundamental work still to be done before

clinical application,’ says Smith, ‘but we hope that this approach may eventually yield

biocompatible and degradable heparin binders, which will help surgical recovery without any of

the side effects which can be caused by protamine’.

Nanotools Designed for Surgical Recovery

Page 14

Jenny Hudson commenced employment on 7 March 2011 as Administrative Assistant. Jenny is

a replacement for Helen Fagan and will be supporting NCAS projects and providing other

administrative support within the Department. She was previously employed as

Departmental Administrator for the National Foundation for Educational Research based on the

Science Park and also has a lot of other relevant administrative experience.

Extension number: 2609, Room: A142, email: jenny.hudson@york.ac.uk.

New Starters

Suggestion Box

Reminder: there is a Suggestion Box located next to the pigeon

holes in the foyer of A Block and one outside Room K167 for YSBL

staff. Suggestions from staff are most welcome.

Twin Girls for Avtar Matharu

Dr Avtar Matharu and his wife, Suki, have become the proud parents of twin girls, born on

Thursday, 24 February. The first twin weighed 2.5 kilos and the second weighed 1.9 kilos. Mother

and babies are doing well.

Baby Girl for Nick Abbott

Nick Abbot and his wife also became the proud parents of a daughter, Rachael Cathy Elizabeth,

at 10.30 on the morning of Tuesday 8 March. The baby weighed six pounds twelve ounces. Mum

and baby are doing well.

Page 15

Page 16

Essential Work Scheduled for Chemistry A Block:

Timetable of Work for the April/May Period

Asbestos removal and new ceilings to the lower A Block corridor

This work will be in two phases:

Following the previous email I now have a timetable of work.

Container arrives in the car park outside the Glass Workshop on the 11th April to house the

Workshop contents. The Glass Workshop will be closed on the 18th, April to the 3rd of May.

Between these dates asbestos will be removed and workshop refurbished. New lower corridor

entrance doors will be installed during this time.

Phase One

The lower corridor from the back entrance door (adjacent to Glass shop) up to A027: Asbestos

removal will begin on the 25th April and re-instatements of the ceiling completed by 10th May.

Scaffolding will be present along this corridor for the duration of the work but access maintained

throughout the programme, except for the removal of asbestos which will take place during the

weekends and evenings. At these times corridor access will be denied to all staff.

Phase Two

The lower corridor from A024 along and up to A001: Asbestos removal will begin on 10th May

and completed on 23rd of May. Scaffolding and access will be as Phase One.

ELECTRICAL WORK

The removal and replacement of the main Electrical Distribution Panels

Both upper and lower A-Block Distribution Panels

This work will also be carried out in two Phases. Fire alarms systems will be maintained and

active in all areas throughout the work. The Emergency lighting will function as normal but

will only last for the duration of the batteries, approx. three hours. Therefore taking Health

&Safety guidance, these A-Block areas of the Department will be closed to all students and

Staff during power down times.

GREEN SHADED AREAS WILL BE UNAFFECTED BY ELECTRICAL ISOLATION DURING

BOTH PHASES

Computing

A temporary power supply will be provided to the data wiring centre for the duration of the

work. The network will be fully operational and accessible to those areas with an electrical

supply.

Page 17

Phase One: Lower A- Block The lower areas of A-Block indicated on the diagram below in

RED will have the electricity supply switched OFF and isolated at 7am on 22nd April. There

will be no power or lighting in these areas. Electrical power will return onMonday 25th

April.

Phase Two: Upper A-Block

The upper areas of A-Block indicated on the diagram above in BLUE will have the electricity

supply switched OFF and isolated at 7am on 30th April. There will be no power or lighting in

these areas. Electrical power will return on Monday 1st May.

UPPER ‘A’ BLOCK

Page 18

Publications

Atomic resolution-Environmental TEM (ETEM) for observing gas-solid reactions at the

atomic level

P L Gai and E D Boyes : in Handbook on Nanoscopy, eds: G Van Tendeloo, D Van

Dyke and SJ Pennycook, 2011 (in press)

Self-assembly and Shape Morphology of Liquid Crystalline Gold Metamaterials,

M Draper, IM Saez, SJ Cowling, PL Gai, B Heinrich, B Donnio, D Guillon and JW

Goodby, Advanced Funct. Materials, 2011 (in press).

Three-dimensional Nanostructure and Specific Surface Area Measurements of Porous

Titania Photocatalysts by Electron Tomography and Their Relation to Photocatalytic Ac-

tivity

K Yoshida, M Makihara, N Tanaka, E Nishibori, M Sakata, E D Boyes and P L Gai,

Microscopy and Microanalysis, 2011.

In-situ atomic scale electron microscopy in the development of pharmaceuticalNSAIDS:

NR Shiju, K Yoshida, E D Boyes, D R Brown and P L Gai,

Catalysis Science and Technology (Royal Soc. Chem.), 2011 (in press).

The location of gold nanoparticles on titania: A study using aberration corrected electron

microscopy and 3D tomography,

J H Garrido, K Yoshida, C Christensen, E D Boyes, P Midgley and P L Gai,

Catalysis Today, 2011, 160, 165.

Graduation & Degree Day Drinks

The Chemistry Graduation Ceremony will take place on Wednesday 13

July at 09.30am, and the graduation lunch between 11:45am and

2:15pm.

There will also be the Degree Day Drinks in the department after the

ceremony between 11:30am and 12:30pm - more details to come soon.

Page 19

Brian Mercer Award

Closing date: 4 May 2011

Aim: The Brian Mercer Award for Innovation provides funding for individuals or groups to

develop an already proven concept or prototype through to the creation of a near-market product

for commercial exploitation, i.e. to a stage where an approach for venture capital becomes a

reality.

If the idea or concept is at an earlier stage of development (i.e. proof of concept/early prototype

not yet developed) you should apply for the Brian Mercer Feasibility Award which provides initial

support to test the feasibility of a project. They enable holders to investigate the technical and

economical feasibility of commercialising an aspect of their scientific research, possibly in

conjunction with a third party, and to such a point where an industrial or commercial collaboration

can be established.

Subjects covered: The award is designed to promote possible commercial exploitation of existing

research in the built environment, energy, clean technology and nanoscience/ nanotechnology

and is intended to fill the funding gap between the scientific research and the exploitation of the

idea through venture capital.

Eligibility: The awards are open to applicants of any nationality who have a PhD (or are of

equivalent standing in their profession), who hold a substantive post in a UK university and will be

in post at the host organisation for at least the duration of the project. The project must

commence within three months of the date of notification.

Full details available from:

http://royalsociety.org/grants/schemes/brian-mercer-innovation/

Expression of interest: Pilot call, to support EPSRC Fellowships in Manufacturing who may

become future research leaders in their field.

Closing Date: 2 September 2011

Full details from:

http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/funding/calls/open/fellowmanufacturing/Pages/default.aspx

Funding Opportunities -

EPSRC and Royal Society (Mercer Award)

Page 20

This edition of From the Archives goes back to 2005.

From the Archives

This picture was taken at the

retirement of long-time

Departmental photographer John

Olive – how many people can you

recognise?

In summer of 2005 the teaching

laboratories were given an extensive

refurbishment. This photo shows the

instrument room with NMR behind

the black plastic in the background.

This photo shows a social meeting of the

Department's International Club – how

many people do you remember?