A young French chemist who completed her PhD at UCD has won a prestigious prize for her research in pure and applied chemistry, writes Dick Ahlstrom.
A CURIOUS blue molecule of no apparent value enabled a PhD student here win two valuable awards, sparked a new line of research and may have helped her land a prestigious job.
Dr Emilie Banide is one of five winners of the 2008 International Young Chemists of the Year prize awarded by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC). She shares this distinction with students from Oxford, University of California Berkeley, Osaka University in Japan and Cornell University in New York state.
Her access to this competition in turn came by winning last year's annual Prize for Young Chemists, as selected and presented by the Royal Irish Academy and sponsored by The Irish Times.
The chain of events that led to these awards came when the student, from Rodez in southern France, began her PhD studies in University College Dublin's School of Chemistry and Chemical Biology.
Her research leader, Prof Michael McGlinchey, had received funding from Science Foundation Ireland that supported her work on that peculiar blue molecule.
Another student had been attempting a particular chemical reaction but things didn't quite deliver as expected. "They were trying to do a basic reaction and it didn't work. Instead they got a blue molecule," explains Dr Banide.
She was assigned to find out more about the unusual substance that was a vivid blue just after being made but quickly degraded when exposed to air or light. "They realised this blue colour was unstable in air. It went yellow. I was trying to understand this substance and find a way to stabilise it."
The work was a prime example of "fundamental chemistry" where the researcher tries to learn what is happening in a reaction rather than finding a way to deliver a particular product. It was a form of "blue skies" research, no pun intended, that Dr Banide found particularly stimulating.
"We had something very interesting with unusual properties that we wanted to understand."
It took some time to find ways to prevent the material from degrading, with storage in pure argon gas finally offering a way to prevent oxidation. Dr Banide then began the difficult task of testing a series of chemical additions that might help stabilise the substance.
"We tried different types of chemical groups that gave the molecule electrons or took away electrons to prevent it reacting with oxygen." Finally an addition was found that blocked oxidation.
A great deal of effort went into the research despite the fact that it remained unclear whether the substance had any downstream applications. But such is the nature of fundamental chemistry or any basic research that at the least adds to our deeper understanding of the world around us.
Encouragement for the study was aided however by the fact that the blue molecule was both long and flat and allowed the rapid transfer of electrons along its length, Dr Banide explains.
Molecules of this shape have potential for use as components in so called "chemical computers" which process information through chemical reactions. The molecule may also have application in electronic displays.
Dr Banide's IUPAC win delivered a cheque for $1,000 (€665) and an invitation to attend the 2009 IUPAC meeting in Glasgow.
Tomorrow, the RIA will present her with a cheque for €1,000 at a ceremony to mark her selection for having the best chemistry PhD thesis in Ireland in 2007.
She completed her PhD last December and has since taken up a post as process manager in pharmaceutical giant Novartis' Ringaskiddy production plant.