- Title: J. Fraser Stoddart elated by Nobel prize win in chemistry
- Date: 5th October 2016
- Summary: EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, UNITED STATES (OCTOBER 5, 2016) (REUTERS) J. FRASER STODDART, A PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY AT NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY, LISTENING TO REPORTER'S QUESTION (SOUNDBITE) (English) J. FRASER STODDART, A PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY AT NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY, REACTING TO WINNING THE NOBEL PRIZE FOR CHEMISTRY AND SAYING: "I was very surprised...and uh...elated because of my strong support that I have had from a large number of young scientists over the best part of 45 years, including, of course, my present group which we have yet to see this morning." WHITE FLASH (SOUNDBITE) (English) J. FRASER STODDART, A PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY AT NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY, REACTING TO WINNING THE NOBEL PRIZE FOR CHEMISTRY AND SAYING: "My work, along with Jean-Pierre Sauvage, has been to find ways of making a new bond in chemistry called a mechanical bond and this new bond in chemistry is almost 25 years old but in chemical terms, it is very new. It is more of a physical bond than a chemical bond. It allows component parts of molecules to move with respect to each other. So, either two rings moving with respect to each other or a ring moving along, a rod section of a dumbbell type component. This forms the basis for the construction of a small, sub-nanometer, very, very small machines and, so, we have made switches that have been put into molecular electronic devices and used in drug delivery systems. We continue to advance the fundamental work in this area, using different types of so-called molecular recognition of the elements and the molecules that bring the pieces together and make it possible to make these mechanically interlocked molecules or 'mims' as we call them with remarkable efficiency."
- Embargoed: 20th October 2016 14:06
- Keywords: Nobel chemistry Stoddart Northwestern
- Location: EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, UNITED STATES
- City: EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Science
- Reuters ID: LVA00152QBXHJ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: ***EDITORS NOTE: AUDIO QUALITY AS INCOMING****
J. Fraser Stoddart said he was "elated" to receive a phone call on Wednesday (October 5) alerting him that he and two others chemists, Jean-Pierre Sauvagea of France and Bernard Feringa of the Netherlands, had won the Chemistry Nobel prize win for their work developing molecular machines that could one day be injected to fight cancer.
"I was very surprised...elated," Stoddardt said at his laboratory at Northwestern University. Stoddart gave credit to the "strong support" he said he has received over the years from "a large number of young scientists."
Stoddart, who is Scottish is a professor of chemistry at Northwestern University.
Sauvage, Stoddart and Feringa developed molecules that produce mechanical motion in response to a stimulus, allowing them to perform specific tasks, the Nobel Academy said on Wednesday in awarding the 8 million Swedish crown ($931,000) prize.
Such molecular machines can be developed in smart medicines that seek out disease or damage and deliver drugs to fight or fix it, and in smart materials that can adapt in response to external triggers such as changes in light or temperature.
"This forms the basis for the construction of a small, sub-nanometer, very, very small machines and so we have made switches that have been put into molecular electronic devices and used in drug delivery systems," Stoddart said.
The Nobel committee's statement said the science of molecular machinery was now "at the same stage as the electric motor was in the 1830s" - when scientists displayed various spinning cranks and wheels, unaware that they would lead to electric trains, washing machines, fans and food processors.
Chemistry is the third of this year's Nobels. Japan's Yoshinori Ohsumi won the medicine award on Monday (October 3), while three British-born scientists, including two Scots, took the physics prize on Tuesday (October 4). The prizes are named after dynamite inventor Alfred Nobel and have been awarded since 1901 for achievements in science, literature and peace, in accordance with his will. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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