chemistry and life; the unesco courier; vol.:jan.-mar. 2011; 2011

January-March 2011

Chemistryand Life

The science and art of matter

JeanMarie Lehn

How it all started

Michal Meyer

I love laser

Tebello Nyokong

Pact against cancer

Anlong Xu

From dark to green ages

Jens Lubbadeh

Synthetic trees

Klaus Lackner

Letter to a young chemist

Akira Suzuki

Topics:

Like hooked atoms

RolfDieter Heuer

Touki Boukis new life

Souleymane Ciss

United Nations Educational, Scientific and

Cultural Organization,

ISSN 2220-2285

CourierTHE UNESCO

IYC 2011The International Year of Chemistry 2011 (IYC 2011)was proclaimed by the United Nations GeneralAssembly following a proposal by Ethiopia. It aimsto celebrate the contributions made by chemistry tothe wellbeing of mankind. Under the banner ofChemistry: our life, our future, the Year willhighlight the role that science is expected to play insuch varied fields as health, food, the environment,energy and transport. The Year is especiallyaddressed at youth and non-specialists, inviting

them to join in a whole range of interactive,entertaining and educational events across theworld (www.chemistry2011.org/).

The year 2011 also marks the centenary of theaward of the Nobel Prize for chemistry to MarieSklodowska-Curie and of the establishment, in Paris,of the International Association of ChemistrySocieties, which changed its name in 1919 to theInternational Union for Pure and Applied Chemistry(IUPAC).

With its headquarters in Zurich (Switzerland),IUPAC was founded by chemists from bothuniversities and industry, with the aim ofencouraging international cooperation in chemistryand as a means to bridge the divide betweenscientific research, industrial applications and thepublic sector. It is because of IUPAC that chemists allover the world share a common language, in termsof nomenclature, symbols, terminology, standardatomic weights, etc. Fifty-four National AdheringOrganizations and Associate National AdheringOrganizations are members.

UNESCO and IUPAC are jointly organizing IYC2011, along with industrial partners. TheInternational Year of Chemistry 2011 will belaunched on 27 January 2011 at UNESCOheadquarters in Paris, with the participation ofseveral leading scientists and researchers.

Jean-Marie Lehn(France)

Klaus LacknerStephen Humphreys

(USA)

Vanderlan da Silva Bolzani (Brazil)

Fatemeh Farjadian (Iran)

Marko Viski(Croatia)

Vicki Gardiner (Australia)

Ole John NielsenJes Andersen(Denmark)

Jens LubbadehRolf-Dieter Heuer(Germany)

Michal Meyer(Israel)

Tayra Lanuza-Navarro(Spain)

Souleymane Ciss (Mali)

Bhagwan Singh Chandravanshi Shimalis Admassie

(Ethiopia)

Anlong Xu (China)

Gabrielle Lorne(Martinique - France)

Sunil ManiShiraz SidhvaSomnath Das (India)

Tebello Nyokong(South Africa)

Akira SuzukiNoriyuki Yoshida(Japan)

Philip W. Boyd (New Zealand)

OUR AUTHORS

Ana Alejandra Apaseo Alaniz (Mexico)

Kufre Ite (Nigeria)

DR2 . T H E U N E S C O C O U R I E R . J A N U A R Y M A R C H 2 0 1 1

http://www.chemistry2011.org

Editorial Irina Bokova, Director General of UNESCO 5

DOSSIER: CHEMISTRY AND LIFE

Chemistry: The Science and Art of Matter Jean-Marie Lehn 7

Chemistry quite a story 10Chemistry: How it all started Michal Meyer 11

The misfortunes of an over-materialistic alchemistTayra M.C. Lanuza-Navarro 13

Chemistry in everday life 17I love laser its my guiding lightInterview with Tebello Nyokong by Cathy Nolan 18

Monitoring the countrys health Bhagwan Singh Chandravanshi 21

Herbs and metal: a pact against cancer Anlong Xu 22

The primacy of nature Vanderlan da Silva Bolzani 24

Indias pharmaceutical boomAn interview with Sunil Mani by Shiraz Sidhva 25

Seaweed for health Vicki Gardiner 28

The new face of chemistry 29New diet for the ozone eatersJes Andersen meets Ole John Nielsen 30

Global warming: Plan BIron tonic for the oceans anaemia Philip W. Boyd 32Synthetic trees Katerina Markelova meets Klaus Lackner 33Venus to the rescue Jasmina opova 34

From dark to green ages Jens Lubbadeh 35

Letter to a young chemistAn interview with Akira Suzuki by Noriyuki Yoshida 39

Young chemists around the globe 42

Studying chemistry in Ethiopia Shimalis Admassie 44

POSTSCRIPT

Science without borders Susan Schneegans 46

UNESCO and CERN: like hooked atomsJasmina opova meets Rolf-Dieter Heuer 48

Art as a bridge between cultures Stephen Humphreys 51

Touki Boukis new lifeAn interview with Souleymane Ciss by Gabrielle Lorne 53

T H E U N E S C O C O U R I E R . J A N U A R Y M A R C H 2 0 1 1 . 3

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L Barium single-crystal fibres. Barium is mainly used in thepetroleum industry, as well as medecine (x-rays of the digestivetract) and construction industry (anti-radiation heavy concrete). SPL

CourierTHE UNESCOJanuary-March 2011

United Nations Educational, Scientific and

Cultural Organization

http://www.unesco.org/couriermailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]

4 . T H E U N E S C O C O U R I E R . J A N U A R Y M A R C H 2 0 1 1

In this issueIn 1932, the German physician, Gerhard Domagk,confirmed the anti-bacterial action of a new dyedeveloped by the company, IG Farben. Seven yearslater, Prontosil earned him the Nobel Prize, but,because of the Nazi regime, he was unable to acceptit. Today, a South African, Tebello Nyokong, isdeveloping new treatments for cancer usingsubstances usually used for dying denim jeans. Thesediscoveries are not mere anecdotes; they mark a newphase in a highly colourful science chemistry. Thearticles in this latest issue of the UNESCO Courier willenable everyone to form a more complete picture ofprogress in this science.

Chemistry is so all pervading in our lives, that itoften passes unnoticed, says Jean-Marie Lehn, FrenchNobel Prize laureate in chemistry in 1987. A worldwithout chemistry, he says, in our Introduction,would be a world without synthetic materials, andthat means no telephones, no computers and nocinema [] without aspirin or soap, shampoo ortoothpaste, without cosmetics, contraceptive pills, orpaper and so no newspapers or books, glues, orpaints (p.8).

After tracing the early history of chemistry, whichbegan the moment our ancestors became human,(pp. 11-16), we take a look at its applications,particularly in medicine. This is an opportunity toinquire about the interactions between nature,

research and industry, from South Africa to Australia,Brazil, China, Ethiopia and India (pp. 17-28).

Chemistry, though, is Janus-faced: one faceembodies the prodigious benefits to humanity; theother the harm caused by pollution. The disaster thatstruck Hungary last October sounded the alarm onceagain (p. 35). All the more reason to focus on thesolutions chemistry can offer to the pollution it hascaused. Once again, we can travel from China, andEurope, to the USA and New Zealand, to discover, inthe company of Philip W. Boyd and Klaus Lackner,some attempts to tackle climate change (pp. 32-33).

An encouraging sign is that industry is actingmuch more responsibly (p. 31), according to Ole JohnNielsen (Denmark), a member of theIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).Chemistry is becoming this new science that AkiraSuzuki (Japan), Nobel laureate in Chemistry in 2010, isdreaming of (pp. 39-41). New generations of youngchemists will undoubtedly steer it on the right course(pp. 42-43).

As a supplement to these special features, theCourier also gives a glimpse of the UNESCO WorldScience Report 2010, commemorates the anniversaryof the creation of CERN and looks at culture, as theInternational Year for the Rapprochement of Cultures(2010) draws to a close. Jasmina opova

L Historical vacuum line,

formerly used for gas phase

synthesis / From the

collections at the University

of Copenhagen

Mikal Schlosser


Chemistry, and our ability to master its secrets, isfundamental to our understanding of thematerial world. The chemical elements are at thecore of all known matter. They are involved in allliving processes. We owe most of the 20thcenturys advances in medicines, the foodindustry and technology to modern chemistry.This science has revolutionized the manufactureof drugs, clothing and cosmetics, as well as thedistribution of energy and the manufacture oftechnological equipment. Chemistry iseverywhere in our daily lives and if we are tomake the best use of it, we have to understand itbetter.

At the initiative of Ethiopia, the UnitedNations declared 2011 International Year ofChemistry (IYC 2011) and entrusted itsorganization to UNESCO. It provides a specialopportunity to improve our knowledge of thisscience and the contribution it has made to ourability to understand, control and transformmatter. It is also an opportunity for UNESCO tofurther its efforts in its areas of competence,namely, development and diplomacy throughscience, strengthening the research capability ofMember States and quality science education forall where chemistry is an essential component.

IYC 2011 also celebrates the centenary of theaward of the Nobel Prize in chemistry to MarieCurie, providing us with the perfect frameworkfor paying homage to and promoting thecontribution of women to science. And thishomage starts the same day the InternationalYear is launched, with a visit to UNESCOheadquarters by Hlne Langevin-Joliot, scientistand grand-daughter of Marie Curie and daughterof Irne Joliot-Curie, to speak at a conference onthe role of women in chemistry.

The latest World Science Report, published byUNESCO in November 2010, demonstrated theimportance of science and science diplomacy forpeace and development. Basic research on thebuilding blocks of matter requires colossalresources and the participation of a great manyresearchers, from all over the world. This calls, inparticular, for a strengthening of internationalcooperation and a more even global distributionof research resources. Through initiatives such asthe SESAME research centre in the Middle East,where chemistry is a major component, UNESCOis endeavouring to help meet this need.

The future science of chemistry must, aboveall, be responsible. It will undoubtedly be playinga major role in the development of alternative

EditorialIrina Bokova

I Irina Bokova, Director

General of UNESCO with the

Canadian astrophysicist

Hubert Reeves, at a

conference on the loss of

biodiversity, at the

Organizations headquarters

on 3 November 2009.

UNESCO/M. Ravassard

It provides aspecialopportunity toimprove ourknowledge ofthis science andthe contributionit has made toour ability tounderstand,control andtransformmatter.


energy sources and in feeding an ever-growingglobal population. Discoveries made in chemistrycan help to meet the challenges raised by globalclimate change without chemistry there wouldbe no solar panels, no biofuels Thesediscoveries can also help provide access to non-polluted water supplies. The International Year ofChemistry follows on from the International Yearof Biodiversity (2010) and takes on its fullmeaning within the context of the United NationsDecade of Education for SustainableDevelopment (2005-2014).

The chemistry of the future must also be ascience that is more evenly shared. The quasi-absence of a general culture of chemistry,compared to the culture of astronomy ormathematics, prevents the general public fromhaving access to aspects of the world that affectour daily lives and hampers our collective abilityto have a say in this. This lack of understandingalso fuels the publics stereotyped view ofchemistry as diabolical, toxic and dirty. We need toimprove and to accelerate the teaching ofchemistry, training the chemists of tomorrow and

giving everyone, everywhere, the possibility ofunderstanding chemical processes and measuringtheir impact. Interest in this fascinating science is aresource for development. It is up to us to makegood use of it.

In order to attract young people to take aninterest in chemistry, UNESCO and theInternational Union of Pure and AppliedChemistry its main partner in organising theIYC, celebrating its centenary this year arelaunching a global experiment, the first of itskind, to help schoolchildren gain a betterunderstanding of our most precious resource water. All across the world, schools will be testingwater for its quality and purity and will then beable to share their results.

It is a priority for the years to come that we allimprove our understanding of science in generaland of chemistry in particular. As the UnitedNations agency specializing in education, scienceand culture, UNESCO will do its utmost to see thatthis is achieved. It is our collective duty to makedecisions that are fully informed if we are to actresponsibly on the world around us.

A POOR SHOWING FOR WOMEN NOBEL LAUREATES

The first woman to receive a Nobel Prize in chemistry was Marie Curie.That was a century ago. Since then, the list of women laureates inchemistry has not grown much longer. Just three names have beenadded: Irne Joliot-Curie, Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Hodgkin and AdaYonath.

Since it was created in 1901, the Nobel Prize has been awarded to 40women, across all disciplines, Marie Curie having been honoured twice. Bornin Warsaw (Poland) in 1867, Maria Skodowska (married name Curie) receivedthe Nobel prize in Physics in 1903, with her husband, Pierre Curie and HenriBecquerelle, before being rewarded herself, in 1911, in recognition of herservices to the advancement of chemistry by the discovery of the elementsradium and polonium.

In 1935, it was to be the turn of her daughter, Irne, to share thisprestigious award with her husband, Frdric Joliot-Curie, in recognition oftheir synthesis of new radioactive elements.

It was nearly a further three decades before another woman was toattract the attention of the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences, whenDorothy Mary Crowfoot Hodgkin (United Kingdom), was honoured in 1964,for her determination by X-ray techniques, of the structures of importantbiochemical substances.

Finally, 45 years later, Ada Yonath (Israel) shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with VenkatermanRamakrishnan (India) and Thomas Steitz (USA), for studies of the structure and function of theribosome. The year before, Ada Yonath had received the LOral-UNESCO Award for Women inScience (2008).

Since it was launched in 1998 by LOral and UNESCO, the Women in Science Programme hasbeen supporting women who are carrying out scientific research, designating one laureate for eachcontinent, every year. Also, 15 international fellowships have been awarded each year since 2000, toyoung researchers, whose projects have been accepted by renowned research laboratories outsideof their country of origin. J..

1. Chemistry, 4; Physics, 2;Medicine, 10; Literature, 12;Peace, 12.

L In 1967, the UNESCOCourier devoted an entire

issue to Marie Curie.

UNESCO

The quasi-absenceof a generalculture ofchemistry,compared to theculture ofastronomy ormathematics,prevents thegeneral publicfrom havingaccess to aspectsof the world thataffect our dailylives and hampersour collectiveability to have asay in this.


E D I T O R I A L

Chemistry has a pivotal role to play, as muchbecause of its place within the natural sciencesand knowledge as a whole, as through itseconomic importance and its omnipresence inour daily life. But, because it is everywhere, weoften forget about it, and could even notmention it at all. Chemistry doesnt flaunt itself,but without it, some truly spectacularachievements would never have been made,

such as breakthroughs in the treatment of illness,space exploration, and marvels of technology. Itmakes an essential contribution to humanity infood and medicines, clothes and housing, energyand raw materials, transport andcommunications. It supplies materials for physicsand industry, models and substrates to biologyand pharmacology, and properties andprocedures to the sciences and technology.

Chemistry : the science and art of matter Jean-Marie LehnThe science of chemistry is not just about discovery. It is also, and especially, about creation. It

is an art of the complexification of matter. To understand the logic of the latest discoveries in

nanochemistry, we have to take a 4-billion year leap back in time.

May your searchbe guided by thehighest dreams Roland Barthes

L Chemistry is intrinsic to life.Original drawing by Sejung

Kim (Republic of Korea).

Sejung Kim


A world without chemistry would be a worldwithout synthetic materials, and that means notelephones, no computers and no cinema. Itwould also be a world without aspirin or soap,shampoo or toothpaste, without cosmetics,contraceptive pills, or paper and so nonewspapers or books, glues, or paints.

And we must be careful to remember thatchemistry helps art historians delve into thesecrets behind paintings and sculptures inmuseums, and helps forensic scientists toanalyse samples taken from a crime scene andquickly track down the perpetrators, as well asrevealing the molecular basis of dishes thatdelight our taste buds.

While physics decodes the laws of theuniverse and biology deciphers those of theliving world, chemistry is the science of matterand its transformations. Life is its highest form ofexpression. Chemistry plays a primordial role inour understanding of material phenomena, inour ability to act upon them, to change themand control them.

For almost two centuries now, molecularchemistry has put together a vast array ofincreasingly sophisticated molecules andmaterials. This discipline has not ceased to assertits power over structure and the transformationof material, from the synthesis of urea in 1828 which started a veritable revolution, byproviding the proof that it was possible to obtainan organic molecule from a mineral component to the synthesis of vitamin B12 in 2006 after aquest that had started in 1948.

The molecule as Troy horseAbove and beyond molecular chemistry there isthe vast area of what is called supramolecularchemistry, which is not so much interested inwhat happens within molecules, as whathappens between them. Its objective is tounderstand and control the manner in whichmolecules interact with one another, transformthemselves, bind to one another, while ignoringother partners. Emil Fischer (the German Nobellaureate for chemistry in 1902) used the image ofthe lock and key. Today we refer to molecularrecognition.

It is in the field of biology that the role ofthese molecular interactions is most striking:protein units group together to formhaemoglobin; white blood cells recognize anddestroy foreign bodies; the AIDS virus finds itstarget and takes it over; the genetic code istransmitted by reading and writing the alphabetof protein bases. In the vivid example of the selforganisation of the tobacco mosaic virus: nofewer than 2130 simple proteins join together toform a helical tower.

A chemist finds the efficacy and elegance ofthese natural phenomena so fascinating that heis tempted to reproduce or invent novelprocesses to create new molecular architectures,with a panoply of applications. Why not imaginemolecules that can transport a fragment of DNAto the very centre of a target in gene therapy, forexample? These molecules would be Troyhorses which would, in turn, cross supposedlyinsurmountable barriers, like cell membranes.

A great many researchers around the globeare patiently creating designer supramolecularstructures. They observe how molecules that arejumbled with no apparent order can find andrecognize one another and then graduallyassemble themselves spontaneously, but in aperfectly controlled manner, to reach the finalsupramolecular edifice.

So, inspired by phenomena that nature haspresented to us, the idea was born of elicitingand guiding the appearance of supramolecularassemblages in other words, molecularprogramming. The chemist conceives the basicbuilding blocks (molecules with certainstructural and interactional properties), thenapplies the cement (assembly code) to linkthem together.

This yields a superstructure via selforganization. The synthesis of molecular blockscapable of self organization is much more simplethan synthesizing the final edifice. This line ofresearch opens vast horizons, notably in the fieldof nanotechnology instead of fabricatingnanostructures, we let the nanostructuresfabricate themselves by self organization, thusmoving from fabrication to self-fabrication.

Even more recently adaptive chemistry hasemerged, where the system, in order to constructitself, makes its own selection among theavailable building blocks, and becomes able toadapt its objects to the demands of theenvironment. This form of chemistry, which I calldynamic constitutional chemistry, hassomething of a Darwinian flavour to it!

From matter to lifeIn the beginning there was the originalexplosion, the Big Bang, and physics reigned.Then came chemistry, with more clementtemperatures. Particles formed atoms, which

Where Nature ceases to produce itsown species, Mankind begins, usingnatural things, and with the aid of thisvery Nature, creates an infinity ofspecies Leonardo da Vinci

Satis utilitas catelli

corrumperet lascivius

apparatus bellis. Utilitas

syrtes insectat chirographi,

utcunque plane verecundus

umbraculi praemuniet

pessimus quinquennalis

agricolae.

united to form increasingly complex molecules,which, in turn, grouped together in aggregatesand membranes, giving rise to the first cells, aslife emerged on our planet, 3.8 billion yearsago.

From divided matter to condensed matter,then organized, living and thinking matter, theunfurling Universe is nudging the evolution ofmatter towards increasing complexity throughself organization, under the pressure ofinformation. The task of chemistry is to revealthe pathways of self organization and to tracethe paths leading from inert matter, via a purelychemical, prebiotic evolution, to the creation oflife, and beyond, to living and then thinkingmatter. In this way, it offers the means tointerrogate the past, to explore the present andto build bridges towards the future.

Through its subject matter (the moleculeand material), chemistry expresses its creativeforce, its power to produce new molecules andmaterials, that never existed before they werecreated by the rearrangements of atoms intooriginal and infinitely varied combinations andstructures. Chemistry is, in some ways,analogous to art, through the plasticity of thechemical objects forms and functions. As artist,the chemist imprints matter with the productsof his imagination. Just as stone, sounds andwords do not contain the work that thesculptor, composer or author shapes with them,so the chemist creates original molecules, newmaterials and unknown properties from theelements that make up matter.

The particularity of chemistry is not only todiscover, but to invent and, above all, to create.The Book of Chemistry is not only to be read,but to be written. The score of Chemistry is notonly to be played, but to be composed.

J A N U A R Y M A R C H 2 0 1 1 . 9

Jean-Marie Lehn, is a chemist specializing insupramolecular chemistry, Emeritus professorat the University of Strasbourg (France), Nobellaureate in 1987 with Donald Cram and CharlesPedersen. Honorary professor at the Collge deFrance and member of the French Academy ofSciences, Jean-Marie Lehn founded the Institutde Science et dIngnierie Supramolculaires(ISIS) in Strasbourg. http://www-isis.u-strasbg.fr/

J Witherite in crystal form. The crystal makes it possible to shedlight on the relationships between the properties, chemical

composition and arrangement of atoms in materials. Chemists

cultivate crystals in order to study and visualize them and to

imagine new ones. This allows them to discover new materials,

with a wide range of applications. SPL

http://www-isis.u-strasbg.JANUARY%EF%9A%BAMARChttp://www-isis.u-strasbg.JANUARY%EF%9A%BAMARChttp://www-isis.u-strasbg.JANUARY%EF%9A%BAMARC

1 0 . T H E U N E S C O C O U R I E R . J A N U A R Y M A R C H 2 0 1 1

Chemistry quite astory

Rather like Molires Monsieur Jourdain, who

spoke in prose without knowing it, we all practice

chemistry, usually without being aware of it. Since

the dawn of time, all living beings, including

animals and plants, have manufactured the

organic compounds necessary for life. Then, with

the help of intuition, our ancestors invented

potions, dyes and alloys. They extracted elixirs,

scents and medicines. There is vast evidence of the

sometimes drastic transformations to which Man

has subjected matter, long before knowing the

laws of chemistry from iron in Niger and tapirage

for American Indians, to paper in China.

Increasingly sophisticated methods were

employed, albeit sometimes bizarre, but always

inspired by nature, until the birth of modern

chemistry in the 18th century.

Engraving of Robert Boyles air pump. An aspiring alchemical

adept, Boyle was also one of the pioneers of experimental

science (New Experiments Physico-Mechanicall, Touching the

Spring of the Air, and Its Effects, 1660.

Courtesy of Roy G. Neville Historical Chemical Library

(Chemical Heritage Foundation)

Chemistry:how it all started Michal MeyerIn the very early 1700s the Elector of Saxony andKing of Poland, August the Strong, locked analchemist in his laboratory and told him to makegold. The young alchemist, Johann FriedrichBttger, failed in his royally-appointed task.Instead he helped create a substance far morebeautiful and useful than gold porcelain. Andin a happy fairy-tale ending, the king waspleased. For this was no longer a feudal world,but a growing commodity-driven society, anduntil that time porcelain had to be imported atgreat expense from a technologically moreadvanced China to feed a growing Europeanappetite for beauty and luxury. Wealth flowed tothe king, for the new Meissen porcelain soonproved popular and a grateful king made Bttger,originally a pharmacists apprentice, a baron.

One more story, this one beginning in thegutter: Around 1669 Hamburg resident HennigBrandt believed he might have discovered thefabled Philosophers Stone, which could turnlead into gold and open up the secrets of thecosmos. An ex-soldier with experience in makingglass, Brandt began with old urine and boiled itup and heated the residue until glowing vapours white phosphorous reacting with oxygen filled his glassware. Within a few years, Brandtsold his secret and soon phosphorous was wellenough known that the secretive alchemist IsaacNewton could begin a recipe for it with theinstructions, Take of urine one barrel. (Though Ido wonder where one could easily procure abarrel of urine). From urine to art anothertransformation the moment of discovery was

L James Gillrays satiricaletching shows a public lecture

at Londons Royal Institution

in the early 19th century.

Courtesy of the Chemical

Heritage Foundation

Collections

Photograph by Gregory Tobias

Chemistry beganthe moment ourancestors becamehuman.

T H E U N E S C O C O U R I E R . J A N U A R Y M A R C H 2 0 1 1 . 1 1


THE TOAD AND THE PARROTThe Achagua tribe living in the upperreaches of the Meta River (Colombia)know how to make their parrots growfeathers of different colours, thusincreasing their value when used inceremonies, or their price when sold.They obtain this result in the followingmanner: they first catch a live toad andprick it several times with a thorn until itbleeds. They then put the animal into apot and cover its wounds with pepperand ground pigment. Enraged by thiscruel treatment, the toad distils the mostactive ingredients in its humours, whichget mixed with the poison and blood.They add to this a certain red powder,which they call chica and, by mixingthese extraordinary ingredientstogether, obtain a varnish. They thenpluck out the parrots feathers andanoint it with the varnish, introducing itinto the holes left by the feather, withthe aid of a pointed stick. The parrot

does not seem happy with thistreatment, acting for days like a sickchicken, all ruffled and sad. After a while,its feathers grow back. But this time theyhave become so splendid that theirbeauty and elegance is the object ofgreat admiration. A variety of featherswith red spots on a yellowbackground stand out mostadmirably against thebackground of greenfeathers.

We owe this picturesquedescription of tapirage carriedout by an indigenous tribe fromColombia to the Spanish Jesuit,Juan Rivero (Historia de lasmisiones de los llanos deCasanare y los Rios Orinoco yMeta, written in 1728 andpublished in 1883). It was cited byAlfred Mtraux, an Americananthropologist of Swiss originand former staff member at

UNESCO, in his article (in French)entitled A biological discovery by SouthAmerican Indians: artificial discolorationof feathers on living birds. (Journal de laSocit des Amricanistes. Volume 20,1928. pp. 181-192.)

By plucking the feathers they needfrom living [birds] kept in captivity, the

Indians spare themselves the troubleof hunting and the risk of

damaging the feathers by killingthe birds with a number ofarrow wounds, explains the

anthropologist, whoattributes the spread

of tapirage inAmazonia to theArawak peoples,who beganmigrating some

three thousandyears ago.

J..

immortalized in the eighteenth century in apainting by Joseph Wright of Derby, andrecorded again as a mezzotint by William Petherin 1775 as The Discovery of Phosphorous. Inthis work, the alchemist kneels in awe before theglowing wonder in his alchemical laboratory.Many years later, in 1943, in anothertransformation, Brandts city burned whenthousands of pounds of phosphorous fell in theform of bombs.

Homo chemicus We turn clay into porcelain, urine intophosphorous, phosphorous into bombs, flourinto bread, grapes into wine, minerals intopigments. There is almost no limit to the ways inwhich we transmute matter. Biologicalanthropologist, Richard Wrangham (UnitedKingdom), believes that it is cooking that madeus human -- by making more energy available tofeed our growing brains. If that is so, chemistry

L An alchemist presentsliquid gold to amazed

courtiers. The alchemists

dream of turning lead into

gold remained alive until the

18th century.


Heritage Foundation

Collections


DR


began the moment our ancestors becamehuman. Homo chemicus to be human is totransform matter. And the materialtransformations we being human make willreflect the best and the worst of us.

We cannot go back to that first chemicalmoment when raw food turned into cookedfood, but we can go back to prehistoric humansand their desire for beauty. Philippe Walter, of theCentre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musesde France, studies chemical processes andsubstances in the ancient and prehistoric world.While he says these prehistoric peoples did nothave an understanding of how or why processesworked, they still produced practical chemistswho could mix natural ingredients to producepigments whether to adorn themselves or thewalls of caves. Four thousand years ago theancient Egyptians, says Walter, synthesized newchemicals to treat eye diseases. Their lead-basedcosmetics think Cleopatra and her kohl eyeliner[see box] stimulated the wearers immunesystem in an early health and beauty regimen.

Al-kimiaIn Hellenistic Egypt, the refining of metals wasknown as chemia. With the rise of early Islamiccivilization, Muslim scholars translated manyGreek texts, including ones on chemia, whichthey called al-kimia. How matter changed, howto purify substances, how to colour metals, allcame under al-kimia. A side benefit of this newfascination was the refinement in practicalknowledge such as distillation and

The misfortunesof an over-materialisticalchemist

In 1603, Giraldo Paris had already beenliving in Madrid for 33 years, as advisorto Philippe II on Flemish affairs. He hadgrown up in Anvers and made hisfortune in the spice trade. Heentertained all the Flemings at the Spanish court, surrounding himselfwith ambassadors and dignitaries, as well as pharmacists, doctors andscholars. Having retired from commerce with an immense fortune,Paris maintained a passion for alchemy. He was interested in the skillsand knowledge of diamond cutters, apothecaries, distillers andherbalists.

That year, some known enemies of Paris denounced him to theInquisition, accusing him of heresy. During the ensuing trial, it wasclaimed that the Fleming extracted quintessences, flowers of metaland herbal salts. It was also claimed that he was a great naturalphilosopher, being interested in the secret art of chemistry. Paris wascondemned to one year of seclusion in a monastery and made to pay aheavy fine.

Told in this way, his story sounds like one of a man pursued by theSpanish Inquisition because of his activities as an alchemist. But thereality is more complex. The distillations, the experiments with metalsand the herbal extracts were not what his Inquisitors were reallyconcerned about. The reason for the sentence lay in the alchemistsexplanations for certain religious questions. Giraldo Paris, for example,explained the Virgin Birth by comparing it to an alchemical procedurewhere a pure substance is mixed with another, finding, at the end ofthe operation, that the former had remained intact without havinglost any of its virtue [] immaculate as it was in the beginning.

So the Inquisition took issue with Giraldo Paris not for his occultactivities but for his mistaken theses. At the time, Madrid had manyalchemists who were not persecuted for their practices, butnonetheless, many of their works turned up on the Index LibrorumProhibitorum (list of banned books). Also on the list was the TheatrumChemicum, the most complete compendium of alchemical knowledgein 17th century Europe. The work was so important that the Inquisitionhad to lift its ban, but did not omit to censor it.

So, unless proven otherwise, it seems the Inquisition did notpersecute alchemists for their acts, but for their convictions onmaterial affairs, which were contrary to the dogma.

Tayra M.C. Lanuza-Navarro is a Spanish historian of science. She iscurrently working on a project on books on alchemy at thebeginning of the modern era.

l La Pharmacie Rustique, 1775. Thefamous Swiss medical practitioner Michel

Schuppach examines a patients urine in his

pharmacy.

Courtesy of the Chemical Heritage

Foundation Collections


J The hanging alligator shown in this scenewas commonly found in alchemical

laboratories.

Courtesy of the Chemical Heritage

Foundation Collections

U

niversitat de Valncia. Photo : T. Lanuza 2010

Tayra M.C. Lanuza-Navarro

crystallization, still important skills in twenty-first century labs. On a more theoretical level,Muslim scholars built on earlier Greekunderstandings of matter the four elementsof air, earth, fire, and water and its behaviour,including the transmutation of one metal intoanother. Al-kimia arrived in Europe in thetwelfth century, along with some knowledge ofal-iksir (elixir, which became known as thePhilosophers Stone).

Unsurprisingly, alchemy ran into the samekinds of problems that still occasionally plaguemedicine hucksters hawking miracle curesand charlatans, etc. Even less surprising, thiscaught the attention of both rulers and thelegal profession, if for different reasons. Later, inEngland, it became illegal to succeed in turninglead into gold, for this was considered asdebasing the currency.

Some claimed that, since humanmanipulation of matter was essentially inferiorto what nature does, naturally (an early versionof the still running natural versus artificialdebate check back next century for anupdate) human attempts at transmuting metalswere doomed. Despite such criticisms, therewere those who believed that human art waspowerful enough to transform the world. Butthese were discussions for the elites at


L An Alchemist at Work,Mattheus van Helmont,

Flemish, 17th century. Seated

in a disorderly workshop, the

alchemist appears as a figure

of folly.


Heritage Foundation

Collections

Photograph by Will Brown

I Robert Boyle, by JohannKerseboom, 1689 (United

Kingdom).


Heritage Foundation

Collections

Photograph by Will Brown

Every time you boilan egg youchange the verynature of matter,in this case theshape of the eggproteins.

universities. And matter in all its manifestationswas on the move through all social strata. Wedont know who first created kohl or a clay pot,who first tanned leather or brewed beer, andwe dont know the names of the medievalartisans who mixed sand, wood ash, and metalsalts to create the great stained-glass windowsof medieval cathedrals. But these people alltransformed matter and our lives.

By the early modern period, the status ofpainters, goldsmiths and artisans with anintimate association with matter, was on therise. Science, long associated withunderstanding rather than doing, and withelites rather than common folk, was nowturning to the practical makers of things forknowledge and power. Such an approach,where matter was central, found its expressionin Sir Francis Bacons 1620 manifesto NovumOrganum, and the origins of modern science.Doing poking, prodding, changing thematerial world would now be allied withunderstanding, and our world of art, science,and the everyday, would never be the same.Robert Boyle (Ireland), of Boyles Law fame which connects the pressure, volume andtemperature of a gas epitomized this newexperimental approach. An inheritor of thealchemical tradition, (almost by definition,

alchemists were experimentalists and carefulmeasurers) and an aspiring alchemist, Boyle isconsidered a founding figure of modernchemistry, in the 17th century

. A colourful scienceMany chemists believe chemistry became aproper science in the eighteenth century. Theinvestigation of air by Antoine Lavoisier (France),the discovery of oxygen by Joseph Priestly(England), and the new scientific language ofchemistry, all played a part. But chemistry, or atleast its results, could not be confined to theworld of scientific research. The craze for hot-airand hydrogen ballooning in the late eighteenthcentury and the ballooning-related fashions inclothes, playing cards, and ceramics were onlypart of the story. Priestleys invention ofcarbonated water, as the poor mans alternativeto the sickly rich drinking the waters at expensivespas, continued chemistrys association withhealth that had begun with alchemy. On theother hand, the Victorian craze for green-coloured (courtesy of arsenic) wallpaper helpedcreate what might be the worlds first recognized(and reported as such) environmental hazard.

In 1856, an eighteen-year old Englishman,William Henry Perkin, tried to turn coal tar intothe malaria-preventative quinine (a materialtransformation worthy of an alchemist). LikeBttger, he failed, and in his failure he launched acolour revolution and inadvertently helpedfound the German dye and pharmaceuticalindustry. Perkin had created mauve, the first ofthe synthetic aniline dyes that brightened theworld from the 1860s. Queen Victoria, before herblack phase, wore the new chemistry and starteda fashion for that shade of purple. A rapidlyindustrializing Germany adopted the colourfulanilines and made them its own, incidentallycreating the first strong link between chemistryas a modern science and industry. A Germanphysician, Gerhard Domagk, working for I.G.Farben, found, in 1932, that a modified red dye

L The French hot-airballoon, Le Tricolore, taking

off, on 6 June 1874, in Paris.

Library of Congress

(Tissandier collection)

DARKEYED CLEOPATRAEveryone knows about Cleopatras famous eyeliner and her greeneyelashes. But what we didnt know is that she used her makeup formedicinal reasons, a detail left out of the history books.

A recent study published in the science journal Analytical Chemistry (15January, 2010) shows that the ancient Egyptians makeup contained leadsalts, which produce nitric oxide. This dilates the blood vessels and opensthe way for macrophages immune cells that devour foreign particles.

The French research team analysed residues found in makeup bagsin the Egyptian collection at the Louvre. With the help ofnanochemistry, they found that when lachrymal fluid is in contact withthe very low doses of lead found in ancient cosmetics, it creates a milieuthat is toxic for microorganisms. J..



killed bacteria and so the first true antibiotics,the sulfa drugs, came into use. The link betweenfashion and medicine remained, for the skin ofpatients sometimes turned red, an indicationthat the drug was working.

The very roots of the German chemicalindustry lie in fashion, but the same industry thatbegan with the worlds brightest colours went onto produce Zyklon B the poison gas of choice inthe Nazis extermination plans. World War II isknown as the physicists war for the developmentof the atomic bomb, but every war has been achemists war from the time humans learned tosmelt metal. Just before World War II, LiseMeitner (an Austrian-born, later Swedishphysicist) showed that the alchemists were right-- we can transmute one metal into another, inthis case via nuclear reaction, and, by the end ofthe war, uranium 238 was transmuted intoplutonium.

The hallmarks of the old alchemists, thegrandiose goals and sometimes secrecy,continue today in our chemical quests thecreation of synthetic life, a cure for aging. At thesame time, every time you boil an egg youchange the very nature of matter, in this casethe shape of the proteins in the egg.

The rise of modern science and its growingprestige, especially the professionalization ofscience in the nineteenth century, pushed outthe non experts. Weve lost that sense ofchemistry as the art and science of theeveryday, and of ordinary people. But we canget it back. Recently, as part of the ChemicalHeritage Foundations museum programme, Iasked a glass artist to give a talk andpresentation of her work. She was a littlenervous at first, saying she had never studiedchemistry and didnt know anything about it.But after speaking about what she did -- hertools, the furnace, how she pulled molten glassabout, the metals she added, what happened tothe glass at different temperatures she turnedto me in surprise and said, I am a practicalchemist.

Near the beginning of this essay I wrote: Tobe human is to transform matter. Id like to endit with a variation. To transform matter is to be

Mendeleevs periodic table The Man Who Brought Law and Order to Chemistry. This is the titleof an article in the June 1971 issue of the UNESCO Courier devotedto Dmitri Mendeleev, the man who enabled the passing of thestudy of chemistry from almost medieval trial-and-error methods toa modern science.

What, then, was Mendeleev's theory all about? Briefly, thearticle goes on, he proposed arranging the elements in lines andcolumns (also called periods and groups) inside a rectangle, withtheir atomic weights rising in number from left to right along thesame line, one line following the other down the page. The columnswere determined by elements possessing analogous properties, thesame kind of combining oxide, for example.

So what was so revolutionary about this table? The theory of theperiodic classification of the elements according to their atomicweights, that the 35 year-old Siberian presented to the RussianChemical Society, in March1869, was in fact the discovery of anatural law. The method he used not only made it possible tocorrect a large number of calculation errors, but also to predict theexistence of hitherto unknown elements, such as gallium, scandiumand germanium (which were given these names later, in honour ofthe countries in which they were discovered).

The great discoverers and inventors stir peoples imagination.There is the apocryphal story of Newton discovering the law ofgravitation when an apple fell on his head, or that a boiling potinspired James Watt to come up with the idea for the steam engine.Similarly, some say that Mendeleev saw the periodic table in a dream!

Man tends to overlook that while scientific truth may suddenlystrike one man's mind as a flash of lightning, the article goes on,that same scientist may have spent years of arduous research onhis subject. Indeed, it was Pasteur who later commented thatchance favours only the prepared mind. If we take a look atMendeleev's activities before 1869, it becomes fairly clear that theemergence of the periodic table was no mere accident.

Apart from the periodic table, one of Mendeleevs statementsabout petroleum will remain forever graven in the memory ofhumanity: This substance is too precious to be burned; when weburn it, we burn money; it should be used as a raw material forchemical synthesis. K.M.

Michal Meyer was born in Israel. She hasworked as a meteorologist in New Zealandand Fiji and as a journalist in Israel. She has aPh.D. in the history of science and has workedfor the Chemical Heritage Foundation sinceSeptember 2009. She is the editor in chief ofChemical Heritage magazine(http://www.chemheritage.org/discover/magazine/index.aspx)index.aspx

DR

http://www.chemheritage.org/discover/magazine/index.aspxhttp://www.chemheritage.org/discover/magazine/index.aspx


Chemistryin everyday

life

Since the birth of modern chemistry in the 18th

century, the full list of services that it has

rendered humanity would be long indeed. And

equally impressive is the list of solutions it

promises to offer our planet as the 21st century

begins, especially in the field of medicine.

Analytical chemistry is forever pushing back the

thresholds for detecting toxic substances. And

nanochemistry is performing miracles, even

though its potential dangers are yet to be

conquered. Meanwhile, new generations of

drugs offer increasingly effective treatments for

cancer.

Even though we live in an age of combinatory

chemistry, with high-speed screening and

molecular engineering, we still continue to turn

to nature for new substances. And ancestral

knowledge is as valuable as ever.

DR

I love laser its my

guiding light


What is the common thread that could possibly link denim jeans, cancer and pesticides?None is evident. Yet when South African chemist Tebello Nyokong describes her

fascinating research, the link that emerges is light. Nyokong, a specialist in nanochemistry,loves laser, and is using it in ways that could have a revolutionary

impact on medicine and the environment.

Professor Nyokong, you are currently involvedin research on a new cancer diagnosis andtreatment methodology, intended as analternative to chemotherapy. Can you give us asimple explanation of your work?

As chemists, we are designers. My research dealswith the development of drugs from compoundscalled phtalocyanines. We call them dyesbecause their molecules are similar to those ofdyes you use in colouring blue jeans. They areused in a treatment of cancer calledphotodynamic therapy, or PDT. Its amultidisciplinary approach chemists, biologists,biotechnologists are working together. As achemist I am in the centre of it because I makethe molecules. I have a big team, about 30people. And then I have other people all over theworld who are doing the preclinical testing.

Molecules that dye blue jeans can also treatcancer?

Look at a plant - leaves are green because ofchlorophyll. Blood is red because ofhaemoglobin. Those molecules are actuallyalmost the same, except the one in leaves hasmagnesium in the centre, the one in blood hasiron in the centre. A small change like that canmake the difference between non-medicine andmedicine. The molecule in the jeans is the sameas mine, with a slight change, a different metal,to make it do what you want it to do.

PDT is a new treatment?

No, what is new is the drugs we are making. PDTis already available for some cancers, in America,Europe and Russia. It works with light. The drug isintroduced into the body and activated withlight. The problem is that right now the sideeffects are very strong. The drug must beintroduced into the body and it must go to thecancer tissue. If it goes to healthy tissue, which isthe case with the drugs now available, thepatient has to stay indoors out of the sun or thehealthy tissue also begins to get killed, likechemotherapy.

Your molecules are safer?

This is the whole aim. We are making moleculesthat are cancer specific targeted to cancer. Also, with my own drugs, you need very little inorder to absorb light. And I have gone muchfurther because I am now combining my drugswith drug delivery, which has never been donebefore. This is the nanotechnology aspect. Themolecules have nanomaterials called quantumdots attached to them that can penetrate very

easily any part of the body. They are good atdrug delivery and secondly they also give offlight, so we can see more easily where the canceris. So it is just beautiful what we do.

Can this treatment be used for all kinds ofcancer?

This treatment cannot replace surgery. The light(to activate the drug) is transported with tubes we are using laser and fibre optics. If the cancer isspread throughout the body, this cannot work.Its localized treatment. You have to direct thelaser exactly where the cancer is.

How did you come to choose this domain foryour research?

It was accidental thats the beauty of chemistry.Once you have the interest, you are alwaysthinking: what more can I do with molecules?The bottom line for me is that I started workingwith laser, because I just really love light. I lovelaser. Its bright, direct and it has differentcolours. I started finding different applicationsfor it. That was wonderful for me. My interest waslaser, not cancer.

Is nanochemistry dangerous?

I am afraid it is. Because something that canpenetrate and enter any part of the body isdangerous. Secondly, the molecules that wehave made so far, the nanoparticles, in the centreof them there are heavy metals. If they leak out,they can attach themselves to yourhaemoglobin, to other parts of the body and canbe dangerous to you. With the help of biologists,we are testing to see how toxic they are andtrying to develop those that are least toxic. Wedo research both on applications and theirtoxicity.

How long do you think it will take before yourdrugs are in general use?

There are many variables when it comes to usingthese drugs on people. One thing which isproblematic for oncologists is that lasers areexpensive and difficult to maintain. I can donothing on my own. I am a chemist - we candevelop things but collaboration is whatsimportant to see if they work. The Centre forScientific and Industrial Research is doing pre-clinical testing for me in South Africa. Beyondthat, a group in Switzerland has developed a veryinteresting way to test using egg embryos. Youinject the dye into the veins around the embryoand test its activity.


PROFESSORNYOKONG answersquestions put byCathy Nolan,UNESCO

Micheline Pelletier

for LOral Corporate

Foundation


Your research also has environmentalapplications.

These molecules are really magic. They can do somany different things. The process can be usedto purify water that has been polluted,particularly by pesticides. In our countries,people still have to have water from opensources run-off from the fields ends up inhousehold water, and we have to deal with that.Throughout time, light has been used to purifywater. You expect bacteria and so on to be killedby light. But if you put these molecules in thewater, that process is made faster. And also theproducts that are formed are less toxic. If you doit just biologically just the sun - they can formmolecules that are more harmful to the body. Wehave managed, by using this drug and light, tomake molecules that are no longer toxic at all tohuman beings. This is much closer to success we have just patented how to do it.

Your goal is to develop a product?

That is my mission. It will come more quicklyfrom the pollution side. Dealing with people hasso many rules, it will take much longer. But Iwould like to do it so that young people can seethat, in South Africa, they can take science anddevelop a product. They cannot imagine this,they believe things come from somewhere else.

Did you imagine when you were younger thatchemistry would be your lifes work?

Not in a million years, no. We had no role models.But I was always ambitious I always thought Icould be a doctor or a dentist. And teachers arevery important. I met a lecturer when I was in myfirst year at the University (of Lesotho) He was inthe Peace Corps from America. He just madechemistry so much fun. He made me feel thatchemistry is the place to be, and then I was

I can do nothingon my own. I am achemist - we candevelop things but collaborationis whatsimportant to see ifthey work.


J Lasers have a host of scientific applications. Shown here is

Reflections and drops of water, an illustration of the Giant Laser

Fountain experiment at the Laser Physics Laboratory (CNRS/Paris

13). It reveals the functioning of optical fibres while demonstrating

the fundamental principles of optics.

See www.fontainelaser.fr

K. Penalba/INP-CNRS

hooked. I also had opportunities. The university I originally come from Lesotho gave me theopportunity to be trained as an academic. I wona scholarship to train in Canada. I took thatopportunity and managed to complete mymasters and doctorate. And I am doing the samefor others now. I have lecturers from all overAfrica from all over the world, in fact - trainingwith me for their universities.

As the first woman in your department atRhodes University, you have said you getchallenged by doing the impossible.

This is the reality it was very difficult for me toprogress with very little support. Many womengive up because of this. Youve got to be a littlemad to do what I have done. But what I vowed isthat I will help other women as much as I can.Their confidence levels are not as high. I dontknow why, but men are confident even whenwhat they are saying does not make much sense!

As a trailblazer, would you say this is a goodtime to be a woman scientist in South Africa?

Yes, its a good time. I have a lot of girl students. Iattract them like bees, even though Im a little bittough!

To be honest, I think people dont take theopportunities that are provided for us. We are ina very lucky country. South Africa is both a firstand a third world country. There are very poorpeople, eating from bins out there, and very rich.The infrastructure is there and the governmenthas made a conscious decision that they are notjust going to combat poverty, they will alsodevelop science and technology. People mustreally take advantage of this and work hardbutapparently hard work is not very popular.Funding is available for us to get equipment, toget more students Im applying, Im grabbing.

Tebello Nyokong, 59, is a Professor ofMedicinal Chemistry and Nanotechnology atRhodes University (South Africa) and Directorof the Nanotechnology Innovation Centre forSensors (Mintek). She was one of the fiveLaureates of the 2009 LOral-UNESCO Awardsfor Women in Science.

Monitoring thecountrys healthChemistry can provide information about thethorny question of heavy metal contamination,playing an important part in decision-making inEthiopia, where the idea of making 2011International Year of Chemistry first arose.

Heavy metal contamination of the food chain is becoming a seriousissue, globally. Cadmium, lead, mercury and arsenic are polluting the air,water and soil and turning up in foods. Meanwhile, rapid industrialgrowth, the widespread use of chemicals in agriculture, and increasingurbanization are all contributing factors.

Heavy metals are present in nature in trace quantities, eveninfinitesimally small amounts. In order to detect them, a range ofsophisticated analytical methods is needed, with three broad steps:sampling, pre-treatment of the sample and analysis. The choice ofmethod depends on several factors, including cost, sensitivity (limits ofdetection), speed and availability of equipment. The samples foranalysis can come from water, soil, fish, plants (especially khat, tea andcoffee), vegetables and fruit.

While heavy metals occur naturally in small quantities in agriculturalsoils, their capacity to accumulate makes them toxic. By detecting them,we can identify their harmful effects, not just on the development ofcrops, but also on human health.

The research we are carrying out in Ethiopia provides baseline dataon the concentrations of heavy metals, enabling us to keep governmentand the public informed of any potential risks. According to ouranalyses, the concentration of heavy metals is still relatively low inEthiopia, but, because of human activity, may rise above natural levelsfrom time to time. Chemistry, then, is helping us to monitor the healthof our country.

Bhagwan Singh Chandravanshi is professor in the Department ofChemistry, Faculty of Science, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia..

D

R

Bhagwan Singh Chandravanshi

http://www.fontainelaser.fr

Anlong Xu


Although significant advances have been madein cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment,cancer remains one of the leading causes ofdeath in all societies. Until the 1960s, cancer wastreated by surgery and radiation therapy. But, inthe last fifty years or so, as people gain furtherunderstanding of the molecular basis of thedisease, and with the rapid development of newchemical agents in the treatment of cancer,chemotherapy has become one of the mostpowerful weapons against the illness.

The first modern antitumor drug, nitrogenmustard, was discovered by chance during WorldWar II. Researchers accidentally noticed thatmustard gas which got its name from its yellowcolour and was used as a chemical weapon in theFirst World War can reduce white blood cellcounts. In 1942 a team of Yale pharmacologists,including Louis Goodman and Alfred Gilman,used it to treat advanced lymphomas and foundthat it could induce tumour regression ifadministered systemically. In 1949 the U.S. Food

New chemotherapy cancer treatments aim to target the affected cellswithout harming healthy tissues. Easier said than done, though.Researchers are following a number of promising paths, including age-old herbal remedies. One herb that has been used in traditional Chinesemedicine to treat digestive tract tumours is opening new horizons formodern medicine.

and Drug Administration (FDA) authorizednitrogen mustard to be put on the market. Thisgave a boost to the development of a number ofother chemotherapeutic drugs for the treatmentof various types of cancer.

But, as we know, these chemotherapy drugscan cause serious side effects. We had to waituntil the beginning of the third millennium forthe dawn of a new era of molecular targetedcancer therapy. This consists of a new generationof drugs that are not dispersed throughout thebody (damaging healthy tissue as they go) buttarget precisely tissues where the cancer cells areto be found.

Avoiding collateral damageMost of the drugs applied in clinic for thetreatment of cancer are organic compounds, butthere are also drugs based on inorganiccompounds, particularly metals. The use ofmetals to treat human disease can be tracedback to Antiquity. For example, 2,500 years ago,

Herbs and metal: a pact against cancer

L Fragments ofcancerous cells.

INSERM/J. Valladeau

the Chinese discovered that gold could be usedas a medicine. More recently, platinum, anotherprecious metal, has become the basis for one ofthe most frequently used anticancer treatmentsin the world, cisplatin, shown in 1965 by anAmerican chemist, Barnett Rosenberg and hiscolleagues, to block the spread of cancer cells.

Once again, though, the side effects weretoxic, which encouraged researchers to developdrugs based on other metals, such as ruthenium.Thanks to the pioneering work of chemists likeMichael J. Clarke (USA), Bernhard K. Keppler(Austria), Peter J. Sadler (UK) and their colleagues,ruthenium seems to be a particularly attractivealternative to platinum. Like iron, it is able to bindto transferrin, the blood serum protein thattransports iron to the organs. But, instead ofspreading throughout the body, it accumulates intumours, attracted by cancer cells, which haveapproximately 515 times more transferrinreceptors than normal cells. In this wayruthenium directly targets the cancer cell anddestroys it. Apart from their great precision,compared with their platinum counterparts,certain ruthenium complexes have the capacityto inhibit tumour metastasis in other words toprevent the spread of cancer to other parts of thebody.

A novel strategyBroadening its field of research to rutheniumcomplexes, our research group has recentlyreported that the combination of ruthenium andthe active ingredients of a Harmel (Peganumharmala) may provide a novel strategy fordeveloping anticancer drugs. The powderedseeds of this plant have long been used in herbalformulas of traditional Chinese medicine to curetumours of the digestive tract. Today, some of thechemical complexes formed by the alliance ofmetals and herbs are able to halt the spread ofcancer cells much more effectively than cisplatin.What is more, we have noticed that thesecomplexes can simultaneously induce apoptosisand cytoprotective autophagy in human cancercells (see below). To our knowledge, this is thefirst time this dual action has been demonstrated.

Apoptosis, sometimes known asprogrammed cell death is a normal process thatresults in the death of certain damaged cells, at agiven moment. But with cancer cells, apoptosis isswitched off or deregulated, which may explaintheir continuous proliferation. So, some of thelatest research in oncology is focusing onmolecules that can induce the suicide of cancercells.

Autophagy, on the other hand, which literallymeans eating oneself, is a mechanism thatenables a cell partially to digest its own contents,in order to survive. But it is a double-edgedsword, as, although it can mean the survival of

healthy cells to the detriment of ailing cells, theinverse can also be true. The molecules we areworking on aim to activate autophagy as a way todestroy cancer cells that are resistant toapoptosis. This is a new approach in thetreatment of cancer, which should help combatthe disease.

According to statistics provided by the U.S.National Cancer Institute (NCI), the survival ratesof some types of cancer have been greatlyimproved in the last few decades. Even so, curerates for certain types of cancer remain very low.For example, the overall 5-year survival rate forliver cancer is less than 10%. The United NationsInternational Agency for Research on Cancer(IARC) estimates that approximately 760 millionpeople died of cancer in 2008, and the numbercould reach 1320 million in 2030. The war is notover yet.

The molecules weare working onaim to activateautophagy as away to destroycancer cells thatare resistant toapoptosis. This is anew approach inthe treatment ofcancer, whichshould helpcombat thedisease.


L Cell culture: apoptosis in adopaminergic neuron.

INSERM/P. Michel

Anlong Xu is Vice-president for Research andDevelopment, and Professor of MolecularImmunology and Biology at Sun Yat-sen(Zhongshan) University, Guangzhou, China. Heis the Director of State Key Laboratory ofBiocontrol, and serves on the expertcommittee on new drugs at the State Foodand Drug Administration of China (SFDA). Heis also a member of the PharmacopoeiaCommission of China.

scientific relations between countries whichpossess not only most of the organic substances,but also the knowledge often non-scientific surrounding these resources, and those countrieswishing to use them for industrial purposes. Anew page has turned in the history of theexploitation of the extraordinary chemodiversityof so-called megadiverse countries.

Chemodiversity is one component ofbiodiversity. Secondary metabolites alkaloids,lignans, terpenes, phenylpropanoids, tanins, latex,resins and the thousands of other substancesidentified so far which have a whole host offunctions in the life of plants, are also playing acrucial role in the development of new drugs.

And, although we are living in the era ofcombinatory chemistry, with high-speedscreening and molecular engineering, we stillcontinue to turn to nature for the raw materialsbehind many medically and economicallysuccessful new treatments. Nature has providedover half of the chemical substances that havebeen approved by regulatory bodies across theworld over the past 40 years.

Vanderlan da Silva Bolzani is Professor ofChemistry at the Institute of Chemistry-UNESP,(Araraquara, Sao Paulo, Brazil) and PastPresident of the Brazilian Chemical Society(2008 - 2010)


Since the Earth Summit (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,1992), the exploitation of natural resources and thesocio-economic benefits of bioprospecting havebecome increasingly poignant issues. One of theprincipal goals of the Convention on biologicaldiversity, which was adopted at the Summit, is theconservation of biological diversity, the sustainableuse of its components, and the fair and equitablesharing of the benefits arising from the utilizationof genetic resources. But bioprospecting, whichconsists of making an inventory of thecomponents of biodiversity with a view toensuring their conservation and sustainable use,has, on the contrary, not ceased to be misused tofurther the interests of industry, which oftenpatents the substances as they are found.

The tenth Conference of Parties to theConvention, held in Nagoya (Japan) in Octoberthis year, will change the picture, though, as itreached a legally binding agreement on the fairand equitable use of genetic resources. As from2012, this Protocol will regulate commercial and

Nature hasprovided over halfof the chemicalsubstances thathave beenapproved byregulatory bodiesacross the worldover the past 40years.

The primacy ofnature

Vanderlan da Silva Bolzani

L The Kallawaya are anitinerant community of healers

and herbalists living in the

Bolvian Andes. The Andean

Cosmovision of the Kallawaya

was inscribed in 2008 on the

Representative List of the

Intangible Cultural Heritage of

Humanity.

UNESCO/J. Tubiana

What explains the phenomenal growth ofIndias pharmaceutical industry, which hasbecome synonymous with the production ofhigh-quality, low-cost generic drugs in the lastfew decades?

One of Indias foremost science-based industries,Indias pharmaceutical industry has wide-rangingcapabilities in the complex fields of drugmanufacturing and technology. Industrialturnover has grown from a modest US$ 300million in 1980 to about US$ 19 billion in 2008.India now ranks third worldwide after the USAand Japan in terms of the volume of production,with a 10% share of the world market. In terms ofthe value of production, it ranks 14th for a 1.5%global share.

Several factors have contributed to the industrysdynamic growth. In 1970, the governmentintroduced the Indian Patents Act to reduce thehold of foreign multinationals (which haddominated the Indian market since the countrysIndependence in 1947). Favourable to

intellectual property rights, this policy allowedIndian pharmaceutical companies to come up

with cost-effective processes for imitatingknown products, by not recognizing

international product patents forpharmaceutical products.

In three decades, Indias pharmaceutical industry hasbecome the third most important in the world. Almostself-sufficient in medicines, it holds first place for thenumber of factories approved by the US Food andDrug Administration (FDA). Specializing in themanufacture of generics atunbeatable prices, itsindustry boasts some5000 factories,employing 340,000workers. What is thekey to this incrediblesuccess? And what is the downside?

Interview with SUNIL MANI, by Shiraz Sidhva, correspondent for the UNESCO Courier

Indias pharmaceutical boom

DR


This afforded the industry a long learning period,which allowed Indian drug producers to becomeexperts in reverse engineering (or the copying ofpatented foreign pharmaceuticals drugs), ordeveloping technologies locally and in anextremely cost-effective manner.

Another factor that has fuelled the industrysgrowth is the copious supply of sciencegraduates. Indias higher education system isbiased in favour of natural sciences compared toengineering and technology. During the 1970sand 1980s, and even up to the 90s, the ratio ofscience graduates to engineers was about 8:1(eight science graduates for every engineerproduced). This gave India a comparativeadvantage in science-based industries like thepharmaceuticals industry.

The Indian state also gave research grants andtax incentives for setting up R&D facilities.

How has the industry changed after 2005, whenIndia ended its protectionist policy andamended its patent laws to comply with itsWorld Trade Organization (WTO) Trade RelatedIntellectual Property Agreement (TRIPS)obligations? Does the emphasis remain onexports, even though the Indian domesticmarket has doubled in the last decade?

Much of industrial growth is fuelled by exports,with exports growing by an average rate of 22%between 2003 and 2008. India currently exportsdrug intermediates, bulk drugs, APIs [ActivePharmaceutical Ingredients], finished dosageformulations, biopharmaceuticals and clinicalservices. The top five destinations in 2008 were,in descending order, the USA, Germany, Russia,the United Kingdom and China.

The industry is made up of about 5,000 licensedIndian and foreign manufacturers, which directlyemploy about 340,000 individuals. It isdominated by pharmaceutical formulations theprocess of combining different chemicalsubstances to manufacture a drug and over400 active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) foruse in drug manufacture. India is self-sufficient in most drugs, as witnessedby a growing positive trade balance. Thepharmaceuticals industry is one of Indias mostinnovative, in terms of R&D and the number ofpatents granted, both in India and abroad. It isvery active in the global market for generics,supplying even developed countries. India accounted for one out of every fourabbreviated new drug applications (genericproduct approvals) from the US government'sFood and Drug Administration (USFDA) in 2007and 2008. The Indian pharmaceutical industry

A long learningperiod for thenations industryhas allowedIndian drugproducers tobecome experts inreverseengineering.

Sunil Mani is PlanningCommission Chair inDevelopmentEconomics at theCentre forDevelopment Studiesin Trivandrum (India).He is a contributingauthor to the UNESCOScience Report 2010. UNESCO/M. Ravassard

J Manufacturing drugswearing protective clothing

in India, one of the world

leaders in the pharmaceutical

industry.

Sinopictures/dinodia/Speci

alist Stock

also accounts for approximately 25% of drugmaster files with USFDA and has the highestnumber of plants approved by that agency, ofany foreign country.

Some Indian manufacturers who were at theforefront of producing generic drugs are nowkeen to formulate new drugs instead of copies.Is India poised to launch its first domesticallydeveloped drug?

To bring a new drug to the market is anextremely costly affair, sometimes involvingbillions of dollars. India also has regulations,which may not be as stringent as those of theUSFDA, but they are not easy, because,ultimately, the drugs are being used on people.Clinical trials are extremely costly, and the failurerates are extremely high. And the periodinvolved in these processes could easily takenine to ten years. Drug discovery on a small scaleis already going on, but if it wants to become anoriginator of the global drug manufacturingindustry, it will take quite a bit of time. It isunlikely this will happen on a very large scale. Itcalls for massive amounts of investment in R&D,which most Indian companies are not in aposition to do.

Could you elaborate on the recent emergenceof India as a hub for pharmaceutical researchand development, and a favoured destinationfor foreign pharmaceutical companies to holdclinical trials?

One spin-off of Indias innovative capability inpharmaceuticals is that it has become a populardestination for clinical trials, contractmanufacturing and R&D outsourcing. Thesecapabilities hold great promise for the Indianpharmaceutical industry, as an estimated US$ 103 billion of patented US drugs are at riskof losing patents by 2012. Furthermore, theglobal market for contract manufacturing ofprescription drugs is expected to grow from US$ 26 billion to US$ 44 billion by 2015 or so.

The costs of conducting clinical trials in India aremuch lower compared to Western countries.Another important factor is that there is a largesupply of treatment-nave patients, who havenever used drugs before the study of the drugbeing tested is much more effective on thesefirst-time drug users. The third factor is that thereare highly-skilled English-speaking doctorsavailable to conduct these trials (most highereducation is conducted in English in India). Also,the time taken to conduct clinical trials in India is

much shorter, because it is easier to get patientsto agree to these trials.

India continues to be a leading supplier of lessexpensive antibiotics, cancer therapy, and AIDSdrugs to the developing world. What has beenthe impact of generic drugs produced by Indiancompanies on health care in India? And for therest of the world?

This is difficult to measure because the Indianpharmaceutical industry has been moreinterested in exporting to other developingcountries and also to the West. Indianpharmaceutical companies have beeninstrumental in dramatically lowering the pricesof anti-retroviral drugs, and this has made AIDStreatments much more affordable. This is one ofthe most important recent contributions ofIndias pharmaceutical industry to India and therest of the world.

Unfortunately, however, the emphasis on exportsby Indian companies has prevented them frommanufacturing drugs for the so-called neglecteddiseases, like malaria and tuberculosis, whichWestern companies are simply not interested in,because the markets are very small, and patientssuffering from these diseases are usually poorand cannot afford to pay anything. There isntmuch money in these drugs. Indian companiesalso share the same ideology, so none of themhave any credible R&D projects to manufacturedrugs to combat these diseases.


The costs ofconductingclinical trials inIndia are muchlower compared toWestern countries.Anotherimportant factor isthat there is alarge supply oftreatment-navepatients, whohave never useddrugs before thestudy of the drugbeing tested ismuch moreeffective on thesefirst-time drugusers.


drugs can be encapsulated and released slowly.Similarly, alginates are used in dressings, to absorbwound fluids.

Marine algal extracts, such as fucoidan, havegreat potential for further development asproducts in the nutraceutical (from "nutrition" and"pharmaceutical") and pharmaceutical markets.However, one of the greatest challenges ahead forthe use of these types of ingredient, is sourcinghigh quality seaweed. With decreasing waterquality through heavy industrialization, it isbecoming increasingly difficult to find seaweedthat has low levels of toxins, such as heavy metals.The other great challenge is to use this resource inan environmentally sustainable way, so that thebiodiversity of the marine ecosystem ismaintained.

Vicki Gardiner is a member of the AustralianAcademy of Science and is Honorary GeneralSecretary of the Royal Australian ChemicalInstitute (RACI). She is Manager of Innovationand Product Development at Marinova Pty Ltdand is the RACI Convenor for the 2011International Year of Chemistry.

Soon after the archaeological site at Monte Verde(Chile) was discovered in 1977, samples of ninedifferent seaweeds were found in a healers hut,dating back over 14,000 years. And, 17,000kilometres away, in the Okinawa archipelago(Japan) the health benefits of a brown seaweedhave long been known. It turns out to containfucoidan, which is rich in sulphatedpolysaccharides (natural sugars).

Over the past 30 years, some 800 scientificpapers on fucoidan and other marinepolysaccharides have confirmed what theJapanese have known for centuries it is apowerful anti-inflammatory and anticoagulant,which blocks certain viruses and boosts theimmune system. And very recent research showsthat fucoidan-based products can also reduce thesymptoms of osteoarthritis of the knee.

Nowadays, a number of drugs and nutritionalsupplements contain algae or their extracts. Wholedried, milled kelp is used for its iodine content,while agars and alginates have gelling properties.Agars, which are extracts from red seaweeds, arealso commonly used as microbiological culturemediums for identifying infectious agents, and inproprietary laxatives. Alginate salts form gels, aproperty that makes them useful in patches, where

Seaweed for health Vicki GardinerVery recentresearch showsthat fucoidan-based productscan reduce thesymptoms ofosteoarthritis ofthe knee.

K Wakame, or sea fern, is anedible seaweed very popular

in Japan.

Ian Wallace

The newface of

chemistry

Chemistry is behind most of the innovations

that have improved our lives, but, for much of

the general public, it is still the devil in disguise,

conjuring images of black smoke from factory

chimneys. And it is easy to see why an

accumulation of drug scandals, toxic pesticides

and industrial disasters have tarnished its image

to such an extent that we often no longer see

the good it does.

But there are chemical solutions to chemical

pollution. Over the past two decades, university

researchers and industrial chemists have been

competing to find ingenious responses to

climate change and environmental degradation.

Green chemistry has the wind in its sails, in

developed, emerging and developing countries

alike. This is born out by the enthusiasm of the

students who wrote to us. And they are just a

tiny fragment of the worlds young people who,

having abandoned chemistry, are now

returning, reinventing it at the same time.


Mikal Schlosser

After the chemical gas industry ran into problems with both the hole inthe ozone layer and then global warming, research has been carried outto find less dangerous alternatives. Over the past few years, the potentialglobal warming effect of gases used in aerosol cans, refrigerators andair-conditioning units has been reduced by a factor of 350.

Anyone using a pressurized spray-can in 1973was effectively helping to kill the planet. But noone knew. A year later, the chemists MarioMolina and F. Sherwood Roland (1995 Nobellaureates in chemistry) had found the answer,discovering that the Freon gas powering aerosolsprays was destroying the ozone layer.

After that, a young graduate student, OleJohn Nielsen, developed a passion for predictingthe fate of chemicals in the atmosphere. He wasto go on to become a professor at the Universityof Copenhagen, a member of the

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC) and chemical fortune teller.

According to Nielsen, They were saying thatthese chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) were going toeat away the ozone layer protecting the planetfrom ultraviolet radiation. The increase inradiation would cause cancers They werepractically announcing the end of the world.And, being a young and nave student ofchemistry, I naturally felt I had to study thesecompounds, and how they affected theatmosphere.

New diet for the ozone eaters

Jes AndersenDanish journalist and

documentaryfilmmaker, meets

Ole John Nielsen


L It was not until the 1970sthat scientists discovered the

harmful effects of Freon gas,

used in aerosols.

iStockphoto.com/Franck

Boston

The idea that human activity could harm theEarths atmosphere may have been novel in1974. But by the mid-eighties it was confirmed CFCs were creating a hole in the ozone layerabove Antarctica.

With CFCs also being used in air-conditionersand refrigerators, millions of tons were beingreleased into the atmosphere. Back then, youjust didnt think about what might happen withthese compounds, or what their effect might be,remembers Ole John Nielsen.

Having said this, the United NationsEnvironment Programme (UNEP) was becomingconcerned and was preparing to plug everysuspect aerosol nozzle. As a result, the MontrealProtocol on Substances That Deplete the OzoneLayer was opened for signature on 16September, 1987. Today it has been ratified by196 states. In essence, this international treatydeclared all compounds threatening the ozonelayer illegal. The death knell had been soundedfor CFCs.

Meanwhile Nielsen had built a reputationwithin atmospheric chemistry. He was gettingready to tackle the ozone-eaters. In one year heand his group had published no fewer than 25articles on the subject. So, when chemicalmanufacturers approached him to test a newcompound that might replace CFCs, he wasntsurprised. We were the right people at the righttime, with the right competencies, says Nielsen.

The new compound was a hydro-fluorocarbon, known as HFC 134a. And it reallywas less dangerous for the ozone layer, even notdangerous at all. So, as from 1994, HFC 134areplaced CFCs in most applications. And for awhile Professor Nielsen thought that hed betterfind himself a new scientific field.

But the Danish scientist didnt have tohang up his atmospheric gloves. The productthat he had pronounced safe for ozonethreatened Earth in a different way.

It turned out that HFC 134a preventsinfrared radiation from escaping from theplanet, producing a greenhouse effect. Theozone-friendly compound turned out to havea global warming potential (GWP) some 1400times greater than CO2.

As it happened, the industry seemed opento the idea of testing and adopting a betterrefrigerant . I have seen a gigantic shift inattitude in my time, says Nielsen. Nowadays,if someone wants to produce a compound inlarge quantities, they will ask a specialist whatwill happen if it is released. That wasnt alwaysthe case. Of course we also see legislation toprotect the environment, but it is clear thatindustries, especially big corporations, areacting much more responsibly today.

From 2011, European automobile air-conditioning systems in Europe will have touse a refrigerant with a GWP below 150. HFC134a had a GWP of 1400. Nielsen and histeam, have tested a new compound, HFO-1234yf, which has a GWP of just 4. This shouldhelp car manufacturers meet Europeanregulations.

Next in line, says Nielsen, are bio-fuels. Itmay turn out that ethanol and butanol haveno effect on global warming but, in theatmosphere they might generate productsthat are harmful to man. If bio fuels are toreplace diesel and gasoline, wed better besure of what they do to the atmospherebefore we use them. And that holds for anycompound released into nature, he says.

Ole John Nielsen, is aprofessor at theUniversity ofCopenhagen and amember of theIntergovernmentalPanel on ClimateChange (IPCC), whichwas awarded the NobelPeace Prize in 2007. Heis a specialist inatmospheric chemistry. Jes Andersen

The idea thathuman activitycould harm theEarths atmospheremay have beennovel in 1974. Butby the mid-eightiesit was confirmed.


Geo-engineering is a hot topic within the scientific community. Trying to limitglobal warming by manipulating the environment is

chemistry and life; the unesco courier; vol.:jan.-mar. 2011; 2011

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