Loh Kian Ping is at the Department of Chemistry, National University of Singapore, and works on the synthesis and modification of functional carbon materials for advanced technological applications.

1. What made you want to be a chemist?

First of all, the study of chemistry as a subject interests me because it is immediately relevant in many ways. There seems to be a set of intuitively easy to understand rules behind the game that chemists play. Chemists explain how the universe operates in a language that is appealing to the pragmatic mind. I believe if the human civilization is destroyed by some natural disasters and need to be rebuilt, the chemists will be the most needed group of people to put the basic infrastructure of human civilization back to place, which is why the first scientist or magician on earth is the alchemist.

I am also inspired by the positive image of the creator in the chemist. A chemist is basically a creator, a cook, an artist and a crafsman combined into one. He can create new molecules from simple building blocks, and some of these molecules can reduce pain and save life, others can be transformed into useful things like plastics and clothings.

2. If you weren’t a chemist and could do any other job, what would it be – and why?

I would be a lawyer. I think I can be persuasive, since the same set of presentation skills and indirect thinking is needed. As a lawyer I probably would make more money than I make now, too.

3. What are you working on now, and where do you hope it will lead?

I am working on how to create geometrically well-defined nanostructures on an atomically-thin sheet of carbon. An atomically-thin sheet of carbon, called graphene, is a two-dimensional material. My team is working on how to create nanoscale periodic corrugations on this material. This has implication for changing the energy gap of graphene as well as increasing its surface area when used as a charge collection platform.

4. Which historical figure would you most like to have dinner with – and why?

I like to have dinner with Dmitri Mendeleev who wrote the volume “Principles of Chemistry” and who was credited with the discovery of periodic table. I am curious what is the thinking process going on in his mind that led him to the discovery, given the very limited information available at that time.

5. When was the last time you did an experiment in the lab – and what was it?

I have to confess that now I am a laptop or PC chemist, directing the reactions from a computer. The last time I did an experiment in the laboratory was one year ago when I helped my postdoctoral fellow fix up a furnace needed for the chemical vapor deposition of graphene.

6. If exiled on a desert island, what one book and one music album would you take with you?

I would take with me my diary to write my thoughts down and to record what I have for dinner on that deserted island – like grilled gecko or crab carpacio. For the music album, that would be my favourite oldies like the Carpenters.

7. Which chemist would you like to see interviewed on Reactions – and why?

I would recommend Professor Klaus Mullen, for his wonderful work on the bottom-up synthesis of graphene from designer molecules. This is a good example of the ingenuity of the chemists because they can make almost anything and everything using bottom-up strategy.

Edwin (Ed) Constable works in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Basel, and works on applied coordination and supramolecular chemistry.

1. What made you want to be a chemist?

Honestly, it was the gift of a chemistry set when I was 14. Although I had inspirational teachers, chemistry had never clicked with me until I could play with chemicals on my own. Almost certainly not an aproved strategy today! I went from the bottom of the class to the top in the space of one term. Before that, I wanted to be a writer or a historian.

2. If you weren’t a chemist and could do any other job, what would it be – and why?

Probably a wildlife photographer or science journalist. I have always felt that communication of what we are doing, why we are doing it and why it is important is an essential and often underrated part of our job. And wildlife photography? Because it is fun.

3. What are you working on now, and where do you hope it will lead?

Our primary work at present concentrates upon the major problem facing mankind in the upcoming hundred years – namely the development of sustainable and environmentally acceptable energy policies. We have large programmes in the development of photovoltaic cells, specifically dye sensitzed solar cells and OLED and light emitting electrochemical cells for efficient next generation lighting. Our aim is to replace scarce and expensive elements such as ruthenium and iridium by earth-abundant first row transition metals.

4. Which historical figure would you most like to have dinner with – and why?

Another good question. I thought long and hard about this and finally decided on Paracelsus (Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim). Not only was he a predecessor of mine at the University of Basel, but he was active at the cusp between alchemy, magic and science. He is arguably one of the first medicinal chemists and I would like to know what drove him. He was also apparently a very difficult person, so it would be an interesting dinner.

5. When was the last time you did an experiment in the lab – and what was it?

A very quick and dirty preparation of [Ru(dmso)₄Cl₂] about six months ago. Simply heating RuCl₃.3H₂O in dmso and collecting the crystals!

6. If exiled on a desert island, what one book and one music album would you take with you?

Oh dear, I never was one for Desert Island Disks! The book would need to be one that I could read repeatedly and always find something new. Disregarding the Bible and Shakespeare which are always present on desert islands according to my sources, I would chose the complete works of “Saki” ( H.H. Munro). He is a wickedly funny and often cruel writer of short stories from the Edwardian period who was one of the many talents lost in the global conflict 1914-1918. For music, it is much more difficult. Certainly nothing classical. I guess I am not allowed my iPod, so the choice ends up between Leonard Cohen, Dory Previn, Al Stewart, The Smiths and Pink Floyd. Very difficult to decide, but on balance it would be Pink Floyd “The Wall”.

7. Which chemist would you like to see interviewed on Reactions – and why?

Achim Mueller. I know Achim well and suspect that his answers would provide a unique insight to a unique mind!

Panče Naumov is at the Department of Material and Life Science at Osaka University, Japan, holds a position from the external staff of Ss Cyril and Methodius University in Macedonia, works on solid-state chemistry and photochemistry, and is particularly interested in unstable and “exotic” molecular species.

1. What made you want to be a chemist?

More than anything else, it was pure and simple curiosity that initially led me to chemistry. As a nerdy kid, this raw drive to find out about things compelled me to spend countless hours in a makeshift lab that I created out of my family’s storehouse. And throughout my entire career, my curiosity has never really waned. It grew stronger during my school days, when I managed the school lab, and remains just as strong even to this day in my very own laboratory. One particular quote by E. Einstein has always resonated with me ― “Curiosity has its own reason for existing.” To that I would add, “…and it will never cease to exist.”

2. If you weren’t a chemist and could do any other job, what would it be – and why?

I would most likely be an astronomer. As broad as the fields of biology, chemistry, and physics are, we can only begin to explore one side of the spectrum of infinity. We examine organisms, cells, tissues, molecules, atoms, quarks, and even tinier “particles”. However, there is a whole other side that is equally exciting and technically challenging. If I were an astronomer, the possibilities to study planets, stars, galaxies, galaxy clusters, and certainly much more beyond that would quite literally be endless.

3. What are you working on now, and where do you hope it will lead?

Throughout history, the problems that our world has had to deal with have been numerous and varied. However, it has become increasingly clear that our society today is faced with these three major problems: security, the environment, and energy. In my research group, we are interested in the molecular mechanisms underlying the processes of conversion among the light, chemical, thermal, and mechanical energies in the solid state. By elucidating the details of these mechanisms, we hope to arrive at a deeper understanding of the structural factors that govern energy transformation and improve its efficacy in the future.

4. Which historical figure would you most like to have dinner with – and why?

Actually, I would love to break bread with two historical figures. Having both Alexander the Great and Nikola Tesla at the dinner table would make for an exciting and incredibly stimulating evening. At the mere age of 30, Alexander the Great succeeded in uniting most of the known world at that time with his visionary approach. The wisdom that he displayed beyond his years and beyond his time has made our Macedonian nation very proud. In my view, Alexander the Great’s strategy of “conquer and unite” instead of “divide and conquer” was really a progressive concept not unlike the ones seen in contemporary unions such as the United States and the European Union. Perhaps along with Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla should have been awarded the Nobel Prize. If in 1893 Tesla could demonstrate a wireless energy transfer, there is no doubt in my mind that he would be able to make a profound contribution to our society’s endeavors today and even to our future undertakings, such as teleportation. He could change the world as we know it. I’d love to ask him how.

5. When was the last time you did an experiment in the lab – and what was it?

A couple of months ago, I was trying to crystallize an important antiviral compound. Unfortunately, being a group leader has prevented me from dedicating the time necessary to be directly involved in experiments of late.

6. If exiled on a desert island, what one book and one music album would you take with you?

I would undoubtedly take “The Little Prince,” a book that amazes me with its simplicity of narration. I love it now, but I haven’t always held it in such high esteem. When I was 7, I hated it. At 14, I still considered it a very ho-hum read. Then, at 21, something clicked and it became my favorite book. Eventually, at 28, I made sure most of my friends had a copy. If you don’t already have one, I highly recommend it.

As far as music is concerned, I would need something to soothe the soul. The Best of Nina Simone would probably do the trick with her “blue” moments under the “blue” skies. But, how would I play it on a deserted island? I guess the album could double as a fan or placemat!

7. Which chemist would you like to see interviewed on Reactions – and why?

Bart E. Kahr from New York University in New York would make an excellent choice for the innovative methods he uses in furthering our knowledge of solid state chemistry and supramolecular chemistry. I find his work enlightening and timeless.

Wilhelm Huck is at the Institute for Molecules and Materials at the Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands and works on picoliter droplets that can be used as artificial cells to study the influence that the crowded environment commonly found in living cells has on the ‘chemistry of life’.

1. What made you want to be a chemist?

I was fascinated by the way chemistry could present a molecular picture of how our body works. At the same time, I grew up next to one of the largest chemical sites in the Netherlands (DSM) and saw that this molecular picture can also be applied to the synthetic world around us.

2. If you weren’t a chemist and could do any other job, what would it be – and why?

Perhaps it would be fun to be a banker for a while. It can’t be that difficult, and if I turn out to be any good, I could go back to chemistry and wouldn’t have to write any grant proposals any more.

3. What are you working on now, and where do you hope it will lead?

I just started on a very new topic in my new lab at the Radboud University Nijmegen. I think that at a fundamental level, we don’t understand how a cell functions as a chemical reactor. We might have a complete ‘parts list’ and know where everything goes, but we don’t know much about how coupled chemical reactions behave in the crowded, stochastic environment in the interior of the cell. Using living cells is extremely fruitful, but will not allow us to retrieve kinetic and thermodynamic data because we can’t dilute or heat the cells. Therefore, I want to use picoliter droplets in microfluidic devices as artificial cells that can contain the machinery required to transcribe and translate DNA into RNA into proteins, and follow these processes with physical organic chemistry techniques.

4. Which historical figure would you most like to have dinner with – and why?

Fred Sanger. I would like to know how he conceived his strategies to tackle the daunting projects he worked on. In many cases, his chemistry is so deceivingly simple but works so amazingly well. He must be the most naturally gifted chemist ever.

5. When was the last time you did an experiment in the lab – and what was it?

I generally need someone to help me…. but we are currently building a new set-up to sort single cells in droplets and occasionally I help aligning the lasers…

6. If exiled on a desert island, what one book and one music album would you take with you?

Difficult question. Assuming I will be marooned for a long time, would I really like to read that one book over and over again? Perhaps it will give me time to finally read the Molecular Biology of the Cell. It is a gripping read!

As for the music: I can’t concentrate when listening to music. The background noise of the ocean will be fine.

7. Which chemist would you like to see interviewed on Reactions – and why?

Bartosz Grzybowski. He is working on some really clever chemistry, but most importantly, I would like to read what historical figure he would like to have dinner with.