Fraser Stoddart

Fraser Stoddart
Sir Fraser Stoddart at Northwestern University October 2016, by Jim Prisching
Born
James Fraser Stoddart

(1942-05-24) 24 May 1942 (age 82)
NationalityBritish
CitizenshipUnited Kingdom
United States
Alma materUniversity of Edinburgh (BSc, PhD)
Known forMechanical Bond in Chemistry
Molecular shuttles and Molecular switches
Artificial Molecular Machines
Template-Directed Synthesis
Chemical Topology
Stereochemistry
Metal-Organic Frameworks
Cyclodextrin Chemistry
Spouse
Norma Agnes Scholan
(m. 1968; died 2004)
[5][6][7]
ChildrenTwo[5]
Fiona Jane McCubbin
Alison Margaret Stoddart
Awards
Scientific career
FieldsPhysical Organic Chemistry
Lock-and-Key Chemistry
Unnatural Product Synthesis
Molecular Nanotechnology
InstitutionsQueen's University (1967–1969)
University of Sheffield (1970–1990)
ICI Corporate Laboratory, Runcorn (1978–1981)
University of Birmingham (1990–1997)
University of California, Los Angeles (1997–2007)
Northwestern University (2008– )
Tianjin University (2014– )
University of New South Wales (2018– )
University of Hong Kong (2023– )
Theses
Doctoral advisor
Other academic advisors
  • J K N (Ken) Jones FRS
  • W David Ollis FRS
Notable studentsDavid Leigh Narayanaswamy Jayaraman[4]
Douglas Philp
Websitestoddart.northwestern.edu
President Barack Obama greets the 2016 American Nobel Prize winners in the Oval Office, 30 November 2016, Sir J. Fraser Stoddart (Right), Laureate of the 2016 Nobel Prize in Chemistry from Northwestern University,
Crystal structure of a rotaxane with a cyclobis(paraquat-p-phenylene) macrocycle reported by Stoddart and coworkers in the Eur. J. Org. Chem. 1998, 2565–2571.
Crystal structure of a catenane with a cyclobis(paraquat-p-phenylene) macrocycle reported by Stoddart and coworkers in the Chem. Commun., 1991, 634–639.
Crystal structure of molecular Borromean rings reported by Stoddart and coworkers Science 2004, 304, 1308–1312.

Sir James Fraser Stoddart FRS FRSE HonFRSC[1] (born 24 May 1942[5]) is a British-American chemist who is Chair Professor in Chemistry at the University of Hong Kong.[8] He has also been Board of Trustees Professor of Chemistry and head of the Stoddart Mechanostereochemistry Group in the Department of Chemistry at Northwestern University in the United States.[9] He works in the area of supramolecular chemistry and nanotechnology. Stoddart has developed highly efficient syntheses of mechanically-interlocked molecular architectures such as molecular Borromean rings, catenanes and rotaxanes utilising molecular recognition and molecular self-assembly processes. He has demonstrated that these topologies can be employed as molecular switches.[10] His group has even applied these structures in the fabrication of nanoelectronic devices and nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS).[11] His efforts have been recognized by numerous awards, including the 2007 King Faisal International Prize in Science.[12][13][14] He shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry together with Ben Feringa and Jean-Pierre Sauvage in 2016 for the design and synthesis of molecular machines.[2][15][16][17][18]

Education and early life

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Fraser Stoddart was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on 24 May 1942, the only child of Tom and Jean Stoddart.[19][20] He was brought up as a tenant farmer on Edgelaw Farm, a small community consisting of three families. Sir Fraser professes a passion for jigsaw puzzles and construction toys in his formative years, which he believes was the basis for his interest in molecular construction.[21] Fraser Stoddart was a shy and serene boy and young man.[19][20]

He received early schooling at the local village school in Carrington, Midlothian, before going on to Melville College in Edinburgh.[22][23] He started at the University of Edinburgh in 1960 where he initially studied chemistry, physics and mathematics[19] He was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry in 1964 followed by a Doctor of Philosophy in 1966[24] for research on natural gums in Acacias supervised by Sir Edmund Langley Hirst and D M W Anderson[3] from the University of Edinburgh.[25]

Career

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In 1967, he went to Queen's University (Canada) as a National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow. In 1970 he moved to the University of Sheffield as an Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) Research Fellow, before joining the academic staff as a lecturer in chemistry. In early 1978 he was a Science Research Council Senior Visiting Fellow at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Later in 1978, he was transferred to the ICI Corporate Laboratory in Runcorn, England where he first started investigating the mechanically interlocked molecules that would eventually become molecular machines.[26] At the end of the three year secondment he returned to Sheffield[27] where he was promoted to a Readership in 1982.

He was awarded a Doctor of Science degree from the University of Edinburgh in 1980[28] for his research into stereochemistry beyond the molecule. In 1990, he moved to the Chair of Organic Chemistry at the University of Birmingham and was Head of the School of Chemistry there (1993–97) before moving to UCLA as the Saul Winstein Professor of Chemistry in 1997, succeeding Nobel laureate Donald Cram.[14][29]

In July 2002, he became the Acting Co-Director of the California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI). In May 2003, he became the Fred Kavli Chair of NanoSystems Sciences and served from then through August 2007 as the Director of the CNSI.[29]

In 2008, he established the Mechanostereochemistry Group and was named Board of Trustees Professor in Chemistry at Northwestern University.[30] He went on to be the Director of the Center for the Chemistry of Integrated Systems (CCIS) at Northwestern University in 2010.[31]

In 2017, Stoddart was appointed a part-time position at the University of New South Wales to establish his New Chemistry initiative at the UNSW School of Chemistry.[32]

In 2019, Stoddart introduced a skincare brand called Noble Panacea.[33]

In 2021, he co-founded a startup called H2MOF, dedicated to solving the challenges associated with hydrogen storage and transportation.[34]

In 2023, he joined the University of Hong Kong as Chair Professor of Chemistry.[35]

During 35 years, nearly 300 PhD students and postdoctoral researchers have been trained in his laboratories.[22]

Research

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Stoddart is one of only a few chemists of the past quarter century to pioneer a new field in organic chemistry. By establishing a new field where the main feature is mechanical bonds he has paved the way for molecular recognition, self-assembly processes for template-directed mechanically interlocked syntheses, molecular switches, and motor-molecules. These advances have formed the basis of the fields of nanoelectronic devices, nanoelectromechanical systems, and molecular machines.[36][2]

One of his major contributions to the development of mechanically-interlocked molecular architectures such as rotaxanes and catenanes has been the establishment of efficient synthetic protocols based on the binding of cyclobis(paraquat-p-phenylene) with electron-rich aromatic guests.[37] His group reported the synthesis of an advanced mechanically interlocked molecular architecture called molecular Borromean rings through the use of dynamic covalent chemistry.[38] The efficient procedures developed to synthesize these molecular architectures has been applied to the construction of molecular switches that operate based on the movement of the various components with respect to one another. These interlocked molecules have potential uses as molecular sensors, actuators, amplifiers, and molecular switches, and can be controlled chemically, electrically, and optically.[39]

His work bridges the gap between chemistry and the scientific and engineering challenges of nanoelectromechanical systems."[40]

Stoddart has pioneered the use of mechanically interlocked molecular architectures to create nanomechanical systems.[41][42] He has demonstrated that such devices can be fabricated using a combination of the bottom-up approach of molecular self-assembly and a top-down approach of lithography and microfabrication.[43]

The credit for making molecular machines attractive to chemists goes to Fraser Stoddart, ... He had the vision to realise that these architectures gave you the possibility of large amplitude-controlled motions, and that that could be the basis of molecular machines. David Leigh[41]

Presentation style

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External videos
video icon "Fraser Stoddart: Mingling Art with Science", STE[+a]M Connect
video icon "The Beauty and Promise of Molecular Nanotechnology", PSW Science
video icon "Fraser Stoddart on Molecular Assembly", 1990, University of Birmingham

Stoddart's papers and other material are instantly recognizable due to a distinctive "cartoon"-style of representation he has developed since the late 1980s. A solid circle is often placed in the middle of the aromatic rings of the molecular structures he has reported, and different colours to highlight different parts of the molecules. The different colours usually correspond to the different parts of a cartoon representation of the molecule, but are also used to represent specific molecular properties (blue, for example, is used to represent electron-poor recognition units while red is used to represent the corresponding electron-rich recognition units). The distinctive colouring has led to coining the term 'little blue box' for cyclophane, an important π-acceptor used to synthesize mechanically bonded structures.[26] Stoddart maintains this standardized colour scheme across all of his publications and presentations, and his style has been adopted by other researchers reporting mechanically interlocked molecules based on his syntheses.[44][45]

ISI ratings

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As of 2022 Stoddart has an h-index of 175.[46] As of 2016 he had published more than 1000 publications and holds at least ten patents.[47] For the period from January 1997 to 31 August 2007, he was ranked by the Institute for Scientific Information as the third most cited chemist with a total of 14,038 citations from 304 papers at a frequency of 46.2 citations per paper.

The Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) predicted that Fraser Stoddart was a likely laureate of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Chemistry along with George M. Whitesides and Seiji Shinkai for their contributions to molecular self-assembly.[48] However, the Prize eventually went to Peter Agre and Roderick MacKinnon.[49]

Awards and honors

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Stoddart was appointed a Knight Bachelor in the New Year's Honours December 2006, by Queen Elizabeth II for Services to Chemistry and Molecular Nanotechnology.[27][50]

In 2007, he received the Albert Einstein World Award of Science in recognition for his outstanding and pioneering work in molecular recognition and self-assembly, and the introduction of quick and efficient template-directed synthetic routes to mechanically interlocked molecular compounds, which have changed the way chemists think about molecular switches and machines.[51]

In 2016, he shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry together with Ben Feringa and Jean-Pierre Sauvage for the design and synthesis of molecular machines.[2][12]

Memberships

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Other awards and honours

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Personal life

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Stoddart is an American and British citizen. Stoddart was married to Norma Agnes Scholan from 1968[5][6][7] until her death in 2004 from cancer.[26] Norma Stoddart obtained a PhD in biochemistry and helped support the research efforts of her husband at the Universities of Sheffield, Birmingham, and California, Los Angeles.[72] Stoddart has two daughters; Fiona and Alison.

Philanthropy

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The Fraser and Norma Stoddart Prize for PhD students has been established at their alma mater, the University of Edinburgh.[6] It was given for the first time in 2013.[73]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Anon (1994). "Sir James Stoddart FRS". royalsociety.org. London: Royal Society. Archived from the original on 15 August 2016. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where:

    All text published under the heading 'Biography' on Fellow profile pages is available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License." --"Royal Society Terms, conditions and policies". Archived from the original on 25 September 2015. Retrieved 9 March 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)

  2. ^ a b c d Staff (5 October 2016). "The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2016". Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 5 October 2016.
  3. ^ a b c "James Fraser Stoddart: Curriculum Vitae, Full Version" (PDF). stoddart.northwestern.edu. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 October 2016.
  4. ^ "2009 winner of the RSC Merck Award". Royal Society of Chemistry. Retrieved 6 October 2016.
  5. ^ a b c d "STODDART, Sir (James) Fraser". Who's Who. Vol. 1997 (online Oxford University Press ed.). Oxford: A & C Black. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  6. ^ a b c "Alumnus Presents New Prize for PhD Students". University of Edinburgh. Archived from the original on 1 July 2016. Retrieved 27 May 2016.
  7. ^ a b "Norma Stoddart (Obituary)". The Scotsman. 16 February 2004. Retrieved 27 May 2016.
  8. ^ "Nobel Laureate Professor Sir Fraser Stoddart joins HKU as Chair Professor of Chemistry - All News - Media - HKU".
  9. ^ "Nanotechnology Star Fraser Stoddart to Join Northwestern". NewsCenter. Northwestern University. 16 August 2007. Archived from the original on 4 July 2019. Retrieved 17 August 2007.
  10. ^ A. Coskun, M. Banaszak, R. D. Astumian, J. F. Stoddart, B. A. Grzybowski, Chem. Soc. Rev., 2012, 41, 19–30
  11. ^ A. Coskun, J. M. Spruell, G. Barin, W. R. Dichtel, A. H. Flood, Y. Y. Botros, J. F. Stoddart. Chem. Soc. Rev., 2012, 41 (14), 4827–59.
  12. ^ a b The Scientists' Channel. "Sir James Fraser Stoddart". www.thescientistschannel.com. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
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  14. ^ a b c "Fraser Stoddart is awarded the 2007 King Faisal International Prize for Science". California NanoSystems Institute. 17 January 2007. Archived from the original on 10 February 2007.
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  19. ^ a b c Capecelatro, Alex N. (2007). "From Auld Reekie to the City of Angels, and all the Meccano in between: A Glimpse into the Life and Mind of Sir Fraser Stoddart" (PDF). The UCLA USJ. 20. Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 March 2016. Retrieved 27 May 2016.
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  23. ^ "It's all Kids Stuff". FP News, The magazine and Annual Review of The Stewart's Melville FP Club. Daniel Stewart's and Melville College Former Pupils Club. December 2014. pp. 13–14. Retrieved 29 July 2015.
  24. ^ Stoddart, James Fraser (1967). Studies on plant gums of the Acacia group (PhD thesis). University of Edinburgh.
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  27. ^ a b Marcus, Jennifer (4 January 2007). "UCLA's J. Fraser Stoddart Adds Knight Bachelor to His List of Honors". UCLA Newsroom. Archived from the original on 18 February 2019. Retrieved 27 May 2016.
  28. ^ Stoddart, James Fraser (1980). Some adventures in stereochemistry (DSc thesis). University of Edinburgh. hdl:1842/14487. OCLC 605975820. Open access icon
  29. ^ a b Wolpert, Stuart (6 November 2003). "UCLA Chemist Fraser Stoddart Named Director of California NanoSystems Institute". UCLA Newsroom. Archived from the original on 6 October 2016. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
  30. ^ "Sir Fraser Stoddart is awarded Nobel Prize in Chemistry". news.northwestern.edu.
  31. ^ "James Fraser Stoddart: Curriculum Vitae, Full Version" (PDF). stoddart.northwestern.edu. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 October 2016.
  32. ^ "UNSW appoints 2016 Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry, Professor Sir Fraser Stoddart". UNSW Newsroom. 15 December 2017. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
  33. ^ "Skin-Care Line Noble Panacea Launched with a Glitzy, Model-Heavy Gala at the Met". 23 October 2019.
  34. ^ "Our founders". H2MOF. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  35. ^ "Nobel Laureate Professor Sir Fraser Stoddart joins HKU as Chair Professor of Chemistry - All News - Media - HKU".
  36. ^ "Fraser Stoddart – Stoddart Mechanostereochemistry Group". stoddart.northwestern.edu. Retrieved 19 November 2018.
  37. ^ Stoddart, J. Fraser (2009). "The chemistry of the mechanical bond". Chemical Society Reviews. 38 (6). Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC): 1802–1820. doi:10.1039/b819333a. ISSN 0306-0012. PMID 19587969.
  38. ^ Chichak, K. S. (28 May 2004). "Molecular Borromean Rings" (PDF). Science. 304 (5675). American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS): 1308–1312. Bibcode:2004Sci...304.1308C. doi:10.1126/science.1096914. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 15166376. S2CID 45191675.
  39. ^ "UCLA's J. Fraser Stoddart on Switching to Molecular Electronics" (PDF). Science Watch. 16 (5). 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 March 2016. Retrieved 27 May 2016.
  40. ^ a b "Award Winners Davy Medal". The Royal Society. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
  41. ^ a b Richards, Victoria (16 February 2016). "Molecular Machines". Chemistry World.
  42. ^ Madou, Marc J. (2009). From MEMS to bio-MEMS and bio-NEMS : manufacturing techniques and applications. Boca Raton, Fla.: CRC. pp. 131–133. ISBN 978-1-4200-5516-0. Retrieved 27 May 2016.
  43. ^ Stoddart, J. F.; Tseng, H.-R. (12 March 2002). "Chemical synthesis gets a fillip from molecular recognition and self-assembly processes". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 99 (8): 4797–4800. Bibcode:2002PNAS...99.4797F. doi:10.1073/pnas.052708999. PMC 122671. PMID 11891314.
  44. ^ "Fraser Stoddart: Mingling Art with Science". Ste(a)m Connect. Archived from the original on 23 June 2016. Retrieved 27 May 2016.
  45. ^ Brough, B.; Northrop, B. H.; Schmidt, J. J.; Tseng, H.-R.; Houk, K. N.; Stoddart, J. F.; Ho, C.-M. (30 May 2006). "Evaluation of synthetic linear motor-molecule actuation energetics". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 103 (23): 8583–8588. Bibcode:2006PNAS..103.8583B. doi:10.1073/pnas.0509645103. PMC 1482623. PMID 16735470.
  46. ^ "1040 Highly Cited Researchers (h>100) according to their Google Scholar Citations public profiles". Ranking Web of Universities. Retrieved 27 May 2016.
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  48. ^ "Leading Information Solutions Provider Predicts Nobel Laureates; Thomson ISI Citation Laureates are Contenders for 2003 Nobel Prizes". BusinessWire. 29 September 2003. Retrieved 27 May 2016.
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  50. ^ a b "Ma'am to the Rescue". Stoddart Mechanostereochemistry Group. 13 June 2007. Archived from the original on 12 June 2010. Retrieved 19 January 2009.
  51. ^ a b "Prof. Sir Fraser Stoddart". World Cultural Council. 24 November 2007. Retrieved 6 October 2016.
  52. ^ "Sir J. Fraser Stoddart, Professor Emeritus of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UCLA, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS)". UCLA. 1 May 2014.
  53. ^ Anyaso, Hilary Hurd (18 April 2012). "Faculty Members Named AAAS Fellows". Northwestern News. Archived from the original on 28 July 2016. Retrieved 27 May 2016.
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  64. ^ Fellman, Megan (3 August 2010). "Sir Fraser Stoddart Honored With Royal Medal". Northwestern University. Archived from the original on 7 October 2016. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
  65. ^ "Arthur C. Cope Award". American Chemical Society. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
  66. ^ "2007 Foresight Institute Feynman Prize". Foresight Institute. Archived from the original on 17 March 2016. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
  67. ^ "Tetrahedron Prize for Creativity". Elsevier. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
  68. ^ "2005 – Professor J Fraser Stoddart". The University of Edinburgh. 21 April 2015. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
  69. ^ "The Nagoya Medal of Organic Chemistry" (PDF). Nagoya University. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
  70. ^ "Arthur C. Cope Scholar Awards". American Chemical Society. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
  71. ^ "Izatt-Christensen Awards". Brigham Young University. Archived from the original on 3 May 2014. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
  72. ^ "Obituary – Norma Agnes Stoddart". Los Angeles Times. 14 January 2004. Retrieved 18 November 2018.
  73. ^ "First Ever Fraser and Norma Stoddart Prize". University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
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