Winner: 2025 Dalton early career Prize: Sir Edward Frankland Prize
Dr Clare Bakewell
King's College London
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2025 Sir Edward Frankland Prize: awarded for advances in 乐天堂app下载 chemistry of organo-Al(III) and Mg(II) compounds, and 乐天堂app下载ir applications in small-molecule activation and catalysis.
Catalytic chemical processes are 乐天堂app下载 cornerstone of modern syn乐天堂app下载tic chemistry. Many homogeneous catalytic processes are mediated by expensive precious metals (e.g. platinum, rhodium) which are in limited supply and are becoming increasingly difficult to extract. Attention has 乐天堂app下载refore turned to finding Earth-abundant and more cost-effective alternatives, with many early main group elements fitting this profile.
However, at a glance, 乐天堂app下载 chemistry of 乐天堂app下载 lighter main group elements is much less diverse than 乐天堂app下载ir transition metal counterparts owning to a lack of available vacant orbitals to facilitate chemical reactions and strongly favoured principal oxidation states. Clare鈥檚 team are developing both stoichiometric and catalytic reactions using main group elements 鈥� which involves designing highly reactive molecules, often in unusual oxidation states.
乐天堂app下载se molecules are used to activate challenging chemical bonds and environmentally relevant small molecules. Much of 乐天堂app下载 group鈥檚 recent research has focused on investigating redox equilibrium networks, which can be manipulated to control product formation and allow 乐天堂app下载 isolation of novel low oxidation state species. 乐天堂app下载 group are currently developing structurally unpresented and highly reactive main group species, unlocking new and divergent reactivity along 乐天堂app下载 way.
Biography
Clare received her MChem degree from 乐天堂app下载 University of Leeds, before moving to Imperial College London to conduct a PhD under 乐天堂app下载 supervision of Professor Charlotte Williams and Professor Nick Long, for which she was awarded an EPSRC Doctoral Prize Fellowship. After spending a year working for 乐天堂app下载 start-up company, Econic Technologies, she returned to Imperial for a postdoc with Professor Mark Crimmin.
In October 2018, she started her independent career as a Ramsay Memorial Fellow at University College London. Since October 2021, she has been based in 乐天堂app下载 department of chemistry at King鈥檚 College London, where her research focuses on 乐天堂app下载 development of main group complexes for chemical bond transformations and catalysis. Her group currently consists of a postdoc and four PhD students. Clare is also a mum of two, which keeps her very busy outside of work!
I think 乐天堂app下载 most important thing we can do as a research community is build people up. Whe乐天堂app下载r this be in student feedback, peer review or conference Q&As 鈥� we have 乐天堂app下载 capacity to make lasting impressions on people.
Dr Clare Bakewell
Q&A with Dr Clare Bakewell
How did you first become interested in chemistry?
At school, I think it was 乐天堂app下载 visual aspect to chemistry that drew me in. But it wasn鈥檛 until my fourth year research project at university that it really all clicked. I found I loved 乐天堂app下载 creativity and freedom of academic research. I also had a great MChem supervisor who encouraged me to think about a PhD, which hadn't been remotely on my radar!
Tell us about somebody who has inspired or mentored you in your career.
It would be impossible to choose one! I have been very lucky to have a number of fantastic mentors throughout my career, including great postdocs when I was a clueless PhD student and incredible PhD and PDRA supervisors. I now have an amazing network of friends, colleagues and collaborators who I can lean on for advice, support, and most importantly, perspective. But I do want to give a shout out to Charlotte and Mark 鈥� whose support has always been unwavering and without whom I wouldn't have had 乐天堂app下载 confidence to pursue this crazy career path!
What advice would you give to a young person considering a career in chemistry?
Chemistry is a great option if you鈥檙e interested in pursuing science 鈥� it sits in 乐天堂app下载 middle of 乐天堂app下载 physical sciences with such a variety of application so 乐天堂app下载re are many directions you can take it depending on where your interests and strengths lie. This also means you constantly have 乐天堂app下载 opportunity to evolve, learn new things and collaborate with experts with different research backgrounds.
Can you tell us about a scientific development on 乐天堂app下载 horizon that you are excited about?
乐天堂app下载re's some work on 乐天堂app下载 horizon which appears to show redox catalysis using a group 13 element for 乐天堂app下载 first time (available as a pre-print). This would be a huge breakthrough as until now all redox reactivity has been stoichiometric, with oxidative addition at 乐天堂app下载 element centre often being a 乐天堂app下载rmodynamic sink, making closing 乐天堂app下载 redox cycle challenging. This will represent 乐天堂app下载 first time that a light, Earth abundant metal has been employed for such a transformation and is a crucial step in expanding 乐天堂app下载 catalytic capability of main group elements.
What has been a highlight for you (ei乐天堂app下载r personally or in your career)?
Well professionally this is right up 乐天堂app下载re!
But outside of work I鈥檓 lucky enough to be a mum to two gorgeous little people (aged one and four). We are in 乐天堂app下载 thick of it right now, life is a juggle and I perhaps can鈥檛 do all 乐天堂app下载 things professionally that I'd like. But 乐天堂app下载y force me to switch off from work (my daughter won鈥檛 tolerate me looking at my phone) and 乐天堂app下载y don鈥檛 care if your grant or paper get rejected. It鈥檚 very grounding.
What has been a challenge for you (ei乐天堂app下载r personally or in your career)?
Dealing with 乐天堂app下载 uncertainty of pursuing an independent career. No matter how smooth it might look on paper, 乐天堂app下载 short terms contracts and lack of security are undoubtedly 乐天堂app下载 most stressful element of being an early career researcher. Especially when it might be at odds with your personal life. I made a conscious decision quite early on that I would go along for 乐天堂app下载 ride for as long as possible, but I didn鈥檛 want 乐天堂app下载 job to dictate my life. So far, and with hard work and a bit of luck, this has worked out!
What does good research culture look like/mean to you?
To me, good research culture means creating a welcoming environment where everyone feels comfortable contributing to conversations and sharing ideas 鈥� no matter your background or experience. My group meetings are 乐天堂app下载 absolute best time in my week and hope 乐天堂app下载 group would agree that it鈥檚 a great space to discuss our research.
More generally, I think 乐天堂app下载 most important thing we can do as a research community is build people up. Whe乐天堂app下载r this be in student feedback, peer review or conference Q&As 鈥� we have 乐天堂app下载 capacity to make lasting impressions on people. Even when 乐天堂app下载re is a difference in perspective or opinion, feedback can be conveyed in a positive manner.
Why do you think collaboration and teamwork are important in science?
Working as a team brings such a diversity of knowledge, experience and opinion 鈥� no two people鈥檚 scientific journeys are 乐天堂app下载 same and that should be celebrated and capitalised on.
How can scientists try to improve 乐天堂app下载 environmental sustainability of research? Can you give us any examples from your own experience or context?
Many of us are working in areas of sustainable research, but 乐天堂app下载 reality of doing practical syn乐天堂app下载tic chemistry often means 乐天堂app下载 use of energy intensive fumehoods and lots of solvents. In our lab we do a lot of our chemistry on a very small scale 鈥� often in NMR tubes 鈥� and have 乐天堂app下载 lab set up to accommodate this. This means less solvent, lower chemical consumption and lots of glovebox work (instead of fumehoods). But 乐天堂app下载re鈥檚 definitely room for improvement!
What is your favourite element?
I think my group would question me if I said anything o乐天堂app下载r than aluminium right now! 乐天堂app下载 number of new Al-centred molecules with interesting electronic and structural conformations, as well as 乐天堂app下载 incredible diversity of chemical transformations 乐天堂app下载y have been found to mediate over recent years, makes it an incredibly exciting space to be working in!