Discoveringthe Texas molecule

摘要

What inspired you to become a chemist?rnMy love for chemistry started in the seventh grade at school when I had the chance to do some experiments as part of the curriculum. Also, my father was a physicist and we had a small laboratory in our house. I was able do experiments in there, such as making esters. These exploits finally came to an end when I successfully synthesised nitroglycerine and blew up half the lab!rnWhat is the most significant aspect of your work?rnOver the course of my career, it has been the use of new macrocycles for drug development. However, right now, it is the transition between supramolecular chemistry and polymer chemistry. We are particularly excited about a joint project with Chris Bielawski's group at The University of Texas. It combines the chemistry of various specific neutral anion receptors (these are more biocompatible than charged receptors) with polymeric materials. This is allowing us to couple the specificity of the receptors with the well controlled hydrophobic environment of polymers. We can extract ions into organic media using receptors that would never work by themselves.