Colin Llewellyn Raston (born 1950) is a Professor of Chemistry of
Flinders University
Flinders University is a public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia, with a footprint extending across 11 locations in South Australia and the Northern Territory. Founded in 1966, it was named in honour of British navigator ...
in Adelaide, South Australia and the
Premier's Professorial Fellow in Clean Technology.
In 2015, he was awarded an
Ig Nobel Prize in "for inventing a chemical recipe to partially un-boil an egg."
In 2016, Raston was made an Officer of the Order of Australia for his services to science.
Research work
Early career
Raston undertook his early tertiary studies at
the University of Western Australia, taking a
bachelor degree in science with honours and a
doctor of philosophy under Professor Allan White.
Raston's work included looking at marine
organoarsenic compounds, isolating
arsenobetaine
Arsenobetaine is an organoarsenic compound that is the main source of arsenic found in fish. It is the arsenic analog of trimethylglycine, commonly known as betaine. The biochemistry and its biosynthesis are similar to those of choline and betaine ...
from the
Western Rock Lobster
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
* Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that i ...
and determining its structure and synthesis. This
zwitterionic substance turns out to be the main source of
arsenic in
fish and unlike other arsenic compounds (like
dimethylarsine and
trimethylarsine) it has comparatively low toxicity. Arsenobetaine is an
analog
Analog or analogue may refer to:
Computing and electronics
* Analog signal, in which information is encoded in a continuous variable
** Analog device, an apparatus that operates on analog signals
*** Analog electronics, circuits which use analo ...
of betaine (
trimethylglycine) and with similar
biosynthesis
Biosynthesis is a multi-step, enzyme-catalyzed process where substrates are converted into more complex products in living organisms. In biosynthesis, simple compounds are modified, converted into other compounds, or joined to form macromolecules. ...
to
choline and
betaines.
He later received a
higher doctorate (
Doctor of Science) from Griffith University.
Calixarenes
Resorcinarene
In chemistry, a resorcinarene (also resorcarene or calix esorcinarene) is a macrocycle, or a cyclic oligomer, based on the condensation of resorcinol (1,3-dihydroxybenzene) and an aldehyde. Resorcinarenes are a type of calixarene. Other types of ...
is a
macrocycle typically prepared by the
condensation
Condensation is the change of the state of matter from the gas phase into the liquid phase, and is the reverse of vaporization. The word most often refers to the water cycle. It can also be defined as the change in the state of water vapor to ...
of
resorcinol and
formaldehyde in an acidic environment. Multiple isomers are possible when any other
aldehyde is used and different conditions, including
Lewis acid
A Lewis acid (named for the American physical chemist Gilbert N. Lewis) is a chemical species that contains an empty orbital which is capable of accepting an electron pair from a Lewis base to form a Lewis adduct. A Lewis base, then, is any sp ...
catalysis have been employed to minimise
by-products. Raston and co-workers have developed an alternative
green chemistry solvent-free approach whereby resorcinol and the aldehyde are ground together with
''p''-toluenesulfonic acid in a
mortar and pestle and the product
recrystallised from the resulting paste.
:
Calixarenes are the general category of macrocycle
oligomer
In chemistry and biochemistry, an oligomer () is a molecule that consists of a few repeating units which could be derived, actually or conceptually, from smaller molecules, monomers.Quote: ''Oligomer molecule: A molecule of intermediate relativ ...
s formed by hydroxyalkylation of a
phenol and an aldehyde; Resorcinarenes are one example. Calixarenes resemble
chalices (calix in
Latin) with
hydrophobic cavities that can hold smaller molecules or ions, an example of
host–guest chemistry In supramolecular chemistry, host–guest chemistry describes complexes that are composed of two or more molecules or ions that are held together in unique structural relationships by forces other than those of full covalent bonds. Host–guest che ...
. Raston has demonstrated a green chemistry approach to pyrogallol
rene from
isovaleraldehyde (3-methylbutanal) and
pyrogallol (1,2,3-benzenetriol) with a catalytic amount of ''p''-toluenesulfonic acid.
He also produced a ball-and-socket
supramolecular complex
Supramolecular chemistry refers to the branch of chemistry concerning chemical systems composed of a discrete number of molecules. The strength of the forces responsible for spatial organization of the system range from weak intermolecular forces ...
where calix
rene hosts the C
70 fullerene. The five phenyl groups forming the walls of the cavity interact with the
aromatic fullerene through
Ï€ stacking.
Unboiling an egg
Ovalbumin is the protein which makes up around two-thirds of the white of an egg. When an egg is cooked, the ovalbumin
changes conformation from its
folded and soluble form to an insoluble all-
β-sheet structure with exposed
hydrophobic regions, leading to
aggregation
Aggregation may refer to:
Business and economics
* Aggregation problem (economics)
* Purchasing aggregation, the joining of multiple purchasers in a group purchasing organization to increase their buying power
* Community Choice Aggregation, the ...
. This is a classic example of
protein denaturation, defined as the loss of the
quaternary
The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). It follows the Neogene Period and spans from 2.58 million years ...
,
tertiary and
secondary
Secondary may refer to: Science and nature
* Secondary emission, of particles
** Secondary electrons, electrons generated as ionization products
* The secondary winding, or the electrical or electronic circuit connected to the secondary winding i ...
structures that are present in the protein's
native state
In biochemistry, the native state of a protein or nucleic acid is its properly folded and/or assembled form, which is operative and functional. The native state of a biomolecule may possess all four levels of biomolecular structure, with the s ...
, by application of some external chemical or radiative stress (including
heat). In order to "unboil" the egg, the individual protein strands must be separated from the aggregate and then re-folded back to their native form. Raston had the idea of using mechanical energy from spinning the aggregate to achieve this and developed
vortex fluidic technology to implement his idea.
Using it to unboil an egg (at least in part) was meant as a demonstration of the technology and won Raston and colleagues the 2015
Ig Nobel Prize in chemistry.
Applications of the technology include boosting the potency of anti-cancer drugs like
carboplatin and improving the production of
biodiesel.
Honours and awards
Raston was recognised for his professional achievements with Fellowships in the
Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI) and the
Royal Society of Chemistry.
On 13 June 2016,
Governor-General
Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy t ...
,
Sir Peter Cosgrove
General Sir Peter John Cosgrove, (born 28 July 1947) is a retired senior Australian Army officer who served as the 26th governor-general of Australia, in office from 2014 to 2019.
A graduate of the Royal Military College, Duntroon, Cosgrove f ...
announced that Raston had been made an Officer of the Order of Australia in the
Queen's Birthday Honours List
The Birthday Honours, in some Commonwealth realms, mark the reigning British monarch's official birthday by granting various individuals appointment into national or dynastic orders or the award of decorations and medals. The honours are present ...
, for "distinguished service to science through seminal contributions to the field of chemistry as a researcher and academic, and to professional associations."
Raston served as the Vice President of the RACI in 1995–96, winning the H. G. Smith Memorial Medal that year,
and went on to serve as President the following year.
He has received several RACI awards, including the Burrows Award in 1994, which is the premier award of the Inorganic Chemistry Division of the RACI. In 2002, he was recognised with the Green Chemistry Challenge Award and went on to take the Leighton Memorial Medal,
the institute's most prestigious medal given in recognition of eminent services to chemistry in Australia, in 2006. He was named an RACI Living Luminary and in 2013 was appointed as the
South Australia Premier's Professorial Research Fellow in Clean Technology.
In 2018 Raston was elected Fellow of the
Australian Academy of Science (FAA).
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Raston, Colin
Living people
Australian chemists
20th-century scientists
21st-century scientists
Officers of the Order of Australia
Flinders University faculty
1950 births
Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science