Students and professors gathered in Dabney Hall on Friday to hear Richard Schrock, Nobel Prize recipient and MIT professor, speak about his groundbreaking research in inorganic and polymer chemistry.
Walter Weare, assistant professor in chemistry, thosted Schrock as a part of the chemistry department’s seminar series in which researchers from across the country are invited to lecture about their cutting edge explorations.
Weare said he has hosted many speakers before, but this one in particular holds personal significance.
“Dick was my graduate advisor,” Weare said. “I was actually a member of his group when he won the Nobel Prize. That day was a blur, a lot of exciting things happened.”
In 2005, Schrock won the Nobel Prize in chemistry for his involvement in the development of catalysts for a reaction known as olefin metathesis. These catalysts are now extensively used in synthetic chemistry to produce pharmaceuticals, fuels, and other materials.
However, the variability in the structure of the products fabricated during a metathesis reaction hinders the capabilities of the discovery. The molecule can hold either a cis or trans configuration but only cis is viable. Because the reaction produces both, this greatly lowers its efficiency.
Not satisfied with this inadequacy, Schrock set out to better his already Nobel Prize-winning reaction and has since developed a new catalyst that almost solely yields the viable configuration. The development process was described in great detail at his lecture on Friday.
“Broadly speaking, synthetic chemists are interested in making architecturally rich molecules,” said Jonathan Lindsey, Glaxo Distinguished University Professor of chemistry. “He found a really simple and versatile method for doing so, which has enormous scope.”
According to the MIT News Office, scientists have found great potential for these catalysts in controlling the structure of natural compounds as well as a use in cancer treatment drugs.
Additionally, in his catalyst Schrock utilizes tungsten, a metal that is much more abundant and inexpensive than its popular counterpart, ruthenium. Ian Sullivan, a third year graduate student in chemistry, said he speculates about the significance of using tungsten as a replacement to ruthenium.
“That’s a pretty important aspect, because as we go into technology, we need things to be cheaper, more renewable, much easier to recycle,” Sullivan said.
Students and professors in attendance were able to see not only the importance of the reaction, but also the care involved in its development.
“You listen to his talk, and you can tell that his love is chemistry,” Lindsay said. “He’s spent his life trying to understand these valuable catalysts. He’s created a whole new area of chemistry.”
Schrock’s lecture represents one of the many seminars the chemistry department provides for its students.
“Our colloquium series covers all areas of chemistry,” Weare said. “We have additional smaller talks for specific specialties, but in general I think it’s important for people to see a wide variety of all the different possibilities in chemistry in order to inform what they’re doing now, but also what they’re going to do in the future.”
