On the 30th of December, former University of Sheffield professor and Nobel prize winner Professor Sir J. Fraser Stoddart died at the age of 82. Stoddart worked for the University of Sheffield for 20 years, from 1970-1990. During this time, he greatly advanced his career, going from being the first ever Imperial Chemical Industries Research Fellow to becoming a lecturer, and eventually earning the title of Associate Professor of Chemistry.
After his time at Sheffield finished he travelled to the other side of the Atlantic Ocean to lead his own research group at Northwestern University, known as the Stoddard Mechanostereochemistry Group, an institution that is still active to this day. This group mainly focuses on synthesising functionalized and mechanized molecules. Functionalized molecules include the presence of functional groups inside them, and mechanized molecules react to external stimuli to carry out a specific task.
It is incredibly rare for a chemist to create an entirely new field, but this is exactly what Stoddart did. Through his research group, he pioneered molecular recognition and self-assembly specifically for mechanically interlocked molecules which have been used in remarkable technologies such as molecular electronic devices and even nanosystems, with his research having an impact on NanoElectroMechanical Systems.
After America, he moved to the esteemed University of Hong Kong as the Chair Professor of Chemistry, a prestigious honour recognising a career full of excellent teaching, research and service to the field.
But Stoddart’s biggest achievement was not during his role in education. Alongside Ben Feringa and Jean-Pierre Sauvage, the three set out to create user-friendly and efficient approaches to supramolecular chemistry, a field looking at molecules where electrostatic charge, hydrogen bonding and Van Der Waals forces overrule stronger covalent forces. Using the field he created himself, Stoddard and his team were able to develop a “rotaxane”, where a molecular ring is threaded onto a thin molecular axle, and were able to show that this ring could move along the axle. This intricate molecule has applications, those being a molecular lift and even a molecule-based computer chip.
This research led to the team receiving the most prestigious and impressive award in chemistry, Stoddard’s, Feringa’s and Sauvage’s research led to being nominated for, and subsequently winning the 2016 Nobel Prize in chemistry to which Stoddart’s first response was that he was “overawed” and “in a state of shock”
A chemist like Stoddart is so rare to come across, and there is no overstating his impact both on research, but also the global chemistry community.
As Sheffield Professor Anthony Ryan put it:
“He will be missed by the large family of researchers he inspired. Not only in Sheffield, but all over the world, and his influence in the field of Chemistry will live on.
