Phil Norcott
What’s the purpose of your current research?
I am currently working on expanding a field of chemistry known as "on-water" catalysis. Most reactions in synthetic organic chemistry are conducted in a range of organic solvents, which vary in their toxicity, hazards and cost. However certain reactions show a significant rate increase when normal water is used instead, such that the reaction is in an aqueous dispersion - that is, even when the reactants are completely insoluble. My research is specifically aiming to extend how we use these reactions in organic synthesis, which may enable us to produce synthetic targets - natural compounds, pharmaceuticals, organic catalysts and so on - in a cheap, clean and safe way using water.
So water is a green solvent? How do you get your desired molecules out of the water?
Yes, well a lot of the chemistry that goes on in the environment around us is in water: in rivers, oceans, processes like erosion and the nutrient cycles, and biological processes at large and within the living cell. We couldn't find a more benign solvent for the environment; it has been designed with water in mind! Practically though, for many reactions in chemistry that are done in water other, harsher solvents must be used to extract the desired product out of the water so that they can be isolated, which somewhat defeats water's "green solvent" status. However, the reactions I am developing are not "in water"; they are "on-water". These reactions are initiated at the interface between a group of reactant molecules and water, so those molecules must be insoluble for that strong interface to exist. The well-known fact that oil and water don't mix helps us get our product easily. Ideally, our desired products will be an oil that can be separated from the water, or an insoluble solid that can be filtered out of the water.
Sounds interesting - are you working on a particular reaction, or understanding how the "on water" effect works?
There have been a variety of ideas for how the "on-water" effect works, including just last year from our group here. However, I'm mainly working on a few specific reactions to try and determine under what conditions, and with which different chemical substrates, we can see on-water catalysis. We envision that these particular reactions - if they work - will open up new ways to synthesize chemical targets; which will hopefully be via a cleaner, more efficient and high yielding process. Of course though, due to the nature of science, investigating a range of different reactions helps to build up experimental evidence for our proposed mechanism of how on-water catalysis works.
Do you have plans for after your Honours year?
Gaining an Honours degree in chemistry will help greatly in widening my opportunities for next year. At the moment I am considering starting a PhD in chemistry either here at Sydney or elsewhere. I have greatly enjoyed the insights and challenges of Honours this year, as well as that feeling of working at the frontier of science and being immersed in an environment where there is so much innovative and cutting edge research being undertaken. At the moment I can't think of many other workplaces that can offer this as much as research does.
Did you always want to do scientific research?
I had various interests in past years, but I always wanted to do something that wasn't static or merely routine. I enjoyed the investigative nature of physics and chemistry through my undergraduate degree, and was fascinated as it progressively revealed the way nature works, as we understand it. However, a summer research scholarship with the School of Chemistry at the end of my second year and a final year research project with the Physics department showed me the way real research is done, and that what I was learning did actually extend beyond the lecture theatre! I think it is this that draws my attention to research: there is so much that we know, which is fascinating; and there is so much we don't yet know, which is exciting.