RSC NEWS

23 January 2006

Vol 37 :   Issue No. 1

Editors -- Marilyn Holloway and Sue Riches

A Happy New Year to all staff and scholars and welcome back. This editorial will be brief, because this issue is a «double bunger» and the RSC annual cricket match report is too good to compete with. We wish to a successful and prosperous 2006. As of this year, the RSC News will be issued on or around the second payday of the month.


WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS

CONGRATULATIONS

To the following completing PhD scholar:

Mr Mark Donald Mulcair BSc Monash
Mechanism of DNA Replication Termination in Escherichia coli
Supervisor:     Professor N E Dixon
Admitted to the PhD Degree 04/01/06

The following students had their degrees conferred at the graduation ceremony on 15 December 2005:

Brendon Barratt
Elizabeth Barrett
Elizabeth Krenske
Rebecca Taylor

Congratulations also go to Michael Smith who celebrated his marriage to Sarah Chapman on Friday 16 December at Nara Gardens. Our very best wishes for the future go to Sarah and Michael.


RECENT ARRIVALS

A sincere welcome is extended to the following people who have joined us since our last issue:

Dr Sergey Varganov who has joined Professor Peter Gill's research group as a postdoctoral fellow (room E117, ext. 53573)

Mr Gavin Perri who has commenced a position as administrative assistant with the Inorganic Chemistry Group (room 136, ext. 54401)

DEPARTURES

Farewell and best wishes to the following who have left the School since our last issue:

Dr Muriel Bonnet has left RSC to take up a position at ICES in Singapore, working with Dr Christina Chai

Mr Norm Easton retired in December from his position as Chief Storeman. Norm had worked at RSC for 15 years.

Mrs Carole Hogan also retired in December from her position as Laboratory Attendant after 31 years at RSC.

A farewell morning tea for Norm and Carole will be held in the tea room on Monday 30 January at 10.30 am.


Annual RSC/Dept. of Chem. All Stars Cricket Match Report

By your roving reporter, Ray Withers

Thursday January 12 dawned cloudy and overcast but gave way to a brilliant day heralding the onset of a titanic (well at least for a few overs!) struggle between the Organic also-rans and the Rest-of-the-World supremos (not that I have the slightest bias at all in my impartial assessment of the talent available). The toss was tossed and the Organics batted. After an inspired first opening partnership the Organic tally stood at -10!! And things didn't improve! Nick Kanazaj scored an impressive -2 while Delphine blasted an even more impressive +2! Ryan Dawson starred with a spectacular top score (for both sides) of +16. Michael Carland improved things with a massive whack for 6 (see below) before BJ showed us all how it was done. We'll be expecting big things in years to come from the Botswanan ladies cricket team. Of course, what could you expect when they were facing bowling of the calibre of Michael John (see below)! Refreshments were regularly cycled around the ground enabling the spectacular fielding efforts to continue. Moving chairs onto the ground at one stage also helped fielder's concentration. After the abject failure of the male organics, impressive partnerships from Amy and Lorna, from Jackie and Natalie (see below) rescued some miserable Organic pride but as they say in the vernacular " .. it was too little, too late" .. and at the regulation lunch break (thanks Valeska and Adam and R(SC)2 for organizing the pizzas) the final Organic score stood at the Herculean total of +27, obviously an outstanding return from 31 bats-people!!

After the luncheon break, hostilities resumed with an outstanding opening partnership of +19 from Crusher Carberry and Killer Collins. As can be seen from the attached photo, Michael's technique is truly unique! The style and panache of the Rest-of-the-World clearly stood out as the score mounted. Aaron Oakley showed us all what could be done if only the damn ball would stay still!! (see below). Lusty hitting by Adam Perriman and Jo Hughes kept the score ticking along. Adam top scored for the rest of the world with an impressive +13 while Don and Mark Mulcair were also in top form. The incomparable Rest-of-the-World batsmen ground out an extremely impressive final total of 115 for 34 bats-people completing what could only be described as a complete and utter massacre of the In-Organics! Thanks to all for coming and to Elmars for his terrific photos!















 

Lee Welling can always be depended upon to provide something from his infinite repertoire of stories and quotes. Here is the latest:

ACTUAL WRITINGS from hospital charts:

  1. The patient refused autopsy.
  2. The patient has no previous history of suicides.
  3. Patient has left white blood cells at another hospital.
  4. Note: patient recovering from forehead cut. Patient became very angry when given an enema by mistake.
  5. Patient has chest pain if she lies on her left side for over a year.
  6. On the second day the knee was better, and on the third day it disappeared.
  7. The patient is tearful and crying constantly. She also appears to be depressed.
  8. The patient has been depressed since she began seeing me in 1993.
  9. Discharge status: Alive but without permission.
  10. Healthy appearing decrepit 69-year old male, mentally alert but forgetful.
  11. Patient had waffles for breakfast and anorexia for lunch.
  12. She is numb from her toes down.
  13. While in ER, she was examined, x-rated and sent home.
  14. The skin was moist and dry.
  15. Occasional, constant infrequent headaches.
  16. Patient was alert and unresponsive.
  17. Rectal examination revealed a normal size thyroid.
  18. She stated that she had been constipated for most of her life, until she got a divorce.
  19. I saw your patient today, who is still under our car for physical therapy.
  20. Examination of genitalia reveals that he is circus sized.
  21. The lab test indicated abnormal lover function.
  22. Skin: somewhat pale but present
  23. Patient has two teenage children, but no other abnormalities.

 

Staff Publications since last issue as at 18 January 2006:

2005

Advances in Organometallic Chemistry, Vol. 53. West R, Hill A F, Eds. Academic Press: San Diego, USA (2005), pp. v-324.

Barr L, Lincoln S F, Easton C J A cyclodextrin molecular reactor for the regioselective synthesis of 1,5-disubstituted-1,2,3-triazoles. Supramol. Chem. (2005), 17(7), 547-555. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10610270500329131

Evans D J The fluctuation theorem and its implications for materials processing and modeling. In Handbook of Materials Modeling, Yip S, Ed. Springer: Dordrecht (2005), pp. 2773-2776.

Francis P S, Barnett N W, Smith T A, Spizzirri P G, Wang X, Krausz E Near-infrared chemiluminescence from the oxidation of ammonia in aqueous alkaline solution. Luminescence (2005), 20(6), 442-444. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/bio.870

Gibaud A, Henderson M J, Colas M, Dourdain S, Bardeau J-F, White J W Comparative study by X ray reflectivity of mesoporous silica thin films templated by F127 and P123 surfactants. AzoNano (2005), 1, a0109/1-7. http://www.azonano.com/Details.asp?ArticleID=1462

Goossens D J, Welberry T R, Heerdegen A P Modelling dynamic disorder in 3,3'-dimethoxybenzil, C16H14O4. In Proceedings of the 16th Australian Institute of Physics Congress (2005), ARSP PMO 66/1-4. http://aipcongress2005.anu.edu.au/Goossens_DJ_AIP_ASRP_CD1.pdf

Jackson C J, Liu J-W, Coote M L, Ollis D L The effects of substrate orientation on the mechanism of a phosphotriesterase. Org. Biomol. Chem. (2005), 3(24), 4343-4350. http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/b512399b

John M, Park A Y, Pintacuda G, Dixon N E, Otting G Weak alignment of paramagnetic proteins warrants correction for residual CSA effects in measurements of pseudocontact shifts. J. Am. Chem. Soc. (2005), 127(49), 17190-17191. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/ja0564259

Namazian M, Kalantary-Fotooh F, Noorbala M R, Searles D J, Coote M L Møller-Plesset perturbation theory calculations of the pKa values for a range of carboxylic acids. THEOCHEM (2005), 758, 273-276. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.theochem.2005.10.024

Oakeshott J G, Devonshire A L, Claudianos C, Sutherland T D, Horne I, Campbell P M, Ollis D L, Russell R J Comparing the organophosphorus and carbamate insecticide resistance mutations in cholin- and carboxyl-esterases. Chem.-Biol. Interact. (2005), 157-158, 269-275. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cbi.2005.10.041

Petravic J Shear stress correlation length at constant pressure. Fizika A (2005), 14(2), 179-186. http://fizika.hfd.hr/fizika_a/av05/a14p179.htm

Swiegers G F, Wild S B Temperature-dependent cooperative coiling of helical conformers of enantiopure oligo(tertiary phosphines). Aust. J. Chem. (2005), 58(12), 831-833. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/CH05253

Wilson K F, Goossens D J, James M Magnetic properties of Gd1–xSrxCoO3-δ (x = 0.67, 0.90 and 0.95). In Proceedings of the 16th Australian Institute of Physics Congress (2005), CMMSP PWE 112/1-4. http://aipcongress2005.anu.edu.au/pdf/PAPERS-3.pdf


2006

Baxter R H G, Krausz E, Norris J R Photoactivation of the photosynthetic reaction center of Blastochloris viridis in the crystalline state. J. Phys. Chem. B (2006), 110(2), 1026-1032. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jp053697p

Crossley I R, Hill A F, Willis A C Metallaboratranes: tris(methimazolyl)borane complexes of rhodium(I). Organometallics (2006), 25(1), 289-299. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/om050772+

Gill P M W, Crittenden D L, O'Neill D P, Besley N A A family of intracules, a conjecture and the electron correlation problem. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. (2006), 8(1), 15-25. http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/b511472a

Graham S C, Lilley P E, Lee M, Schaeffer P M, Kralicek A V, Dixon N E, Guss, J M Kinetic and crystallographic analysis of mutant Escherichia coli aminopeptidase P: insights into substrate recognition and the mechanism of catalysis. Biochemistry (2006), 45(3), 964-975. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/bi0518904

Hill A F, Smith M K Dihydrobis(methimazolyl)borate and methimazolyl complexes of titanium. Dalton Trans. (2006), (1), 28-30. http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/b513251g

Petrie S, Stranger R, Rae A D, Willis A C, Zhou X, Wild S B Tertiary arsine adducts of iodoarsines: a structural and theoretical investigation. Organometallics (2006), 25(1), 164-171. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/om0580396

Willis A C, Mahdi W K, Humphrey M G (OC-6-32)-Bis[5-bromo-2-(4-bromophenyldiazenyl)phenyl]dicarbonylruthenium(II). Acta Crystallogr., Sect. E (2006), 62(1), 116-117. http://dx.doi.org/10.1107/S1600536805041322

Willis A C, Mahdi W K, Humphrey M G (OC-6-13)-Bis[5-bromo-2-(4-bromophenyldiazenyl)phenyl]dicarbonylruthenium(II) with mutually trans N-donor atoms. Acta Crystallogr., Sect. E (2006), 62(1), m118-m119. http://dx.doi.org/10.1107/S1600536805041358