Colin Raston

Colin Llewellyn Raston

AO

Education BSc(Hons), PhD, DSc

Alma mater University of Western Australia

Griffith University

Occupation academic

Known for green, macrocyclic, and organometallic chemistry

Title Professor of Chemistry, Griffith University (19881994)

Profesor of Chemistry, Monash University (19952000)
Professor of Chemistry, The University of Leeds (20012002)
Profesor of Chemistry, The University of Western Australia(20032012)
Professor of Clean Technology, Flinders University (2013 )

Awards Burrows Award, 1994

H G Smith Memorial Medal, 1996
Green Chemistry Challenge Award, 2002
Leighton Memorial Medal, 2006
RACI Living Luminary, 2011
South Australia Premier'sProfessorial Research Fellow in Clean
Technology, 2013
Ig Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 2015
Officer of the Order of Australia, 2016
Colin Llewellyn Raston AO is a Professor of Chemistry of Flinders University 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

Chemical structure of arsenobetaine

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 from the Western Rock Lobster 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 of betaine (trimethylglycine) and with
similar biosynthesis to choline and betaines.
He later received a higher doctorate (Doctor of Science) from Griffith University.

Calixarenes
Calixarene with para-tert-butyl substituents and a hydrophobic cavity formed by the phenyl groups. Hydrogen
bonding between the hydroxyl groups stabilises the 'base' of the chalice.

Resorcinarene is a macrocycle typically prepared by the condensation of resorcinol and formaldehyde in an

acidic environment. Multiple isomers are possible when any other aldehyde is used and different conditions,
including Lewis acid 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 oligomers formed by hydroxyalkylation of a phenol and an
aldehyde; Resorcinarenes are one example. Calixarenes resemble chalices (calix in Latin)
with hydrophobiccavities that can hold smaller molecules or ions, an example of host-guest chemistry. Raston
has demonstrated a green chemistry approach to pyrogallolarene 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 where calixarene hosts the C70 fullerene. The five phenyl groups forming
the walls of the cavity interact with the aromatic fullerene through 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--sheet structure with
exposed hydrophobic regions, leading to aggregation. This is a classic example of protein denaturation, defined
as the loss of the quaternary, tertiary and secondary structures that are present in the protein's native state, 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 carboplatinand 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, Sir Peter
Cosgrove announced that Raston had been made an Officer of the Order of Australia in the Queen's Birthday
Honours List, 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 199596, 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.
References
^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h i j k "Professor Colin Raston". Flinders University. Retrieved 16 June 2016.

^ Jump up to:a b c d e f "Royal Australian Chemical Institute Awards and Office Bearers". Royal Australian Chemical
Institute. Retrieved 15 June 2016.

^ Jump up to:a b c "Improbable Research The 2015 Ig Nobel Prize Winners". www.improbable.com. 17 September 2015.
Retrieved 15 June 2016.

^ Jump up to:a b c "The Queens Birthday 2016 Honours List: Officer (AO) in the General Division of the Order of
Australia" (PDF). Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia. p. 41. Retrieved 14 June 2016.

Jump up^ Edmonds, J. S.; Francesconi, K. A.; Cannon, J. R.; Raston, C. L.; Skelton, B. W.; White, A. H. (1977).
"Isolation, crystal structure and Synthesis of arsenobetaine, the arsenical constituent of the Western Rock
Lobster Panulirus longipes cygnus George". Tetrahedron Letters. 18 (18): 15431546. doi:10.1016/S0040-
4039(01)93098-9.

Jump up^ Francesconi, K. A. (2005). "Current perspectives in arsenic environmental and biological
research". Environmental Chemistry. 2 (3): 141145. doi:10.1071/EN05042.

Jump up^ Bhattacharya, P.; Welch, A. H.; Stollenwerk, K. G.; McLaughlin, M. J.; Bundschuh, J.; Panaullah, G. (2007).
"Arsenic in the environment: Biology and chemistry". Science of the Total Environment. 379 (23): 109
120. PMID 17434206. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2007.02.037.

Jump up^ Adair, B. M.; Waters, S. B.; Devesa, V.; Drobna, Z.; Styblo, M.; Thomas, D. J. (2005). "Commonalities in
metabolism of arsenicals". Environmental Chemistry. 2 (3): 161166. doi:10.1071/EN05054.

Jump up^ Hgberg, A. G. S. (1980). "Two stereoisomeric macrocyclic resorcinol-acetaldehyde condensation

products". Journal of Organic Chemistry. 45 (22): 44984500. doi:10.1021/jo01310a046.

Jump up^ Hgberg, A. G. S. (1980). "Cyclooligomeric phenol-aldehyde condensation products. 2. Stereoselective

synthesis and DNMR study of two 1,8,15,22-tetraphenylmetacyclophan-3,5,10,12,17,19,24,26-octols". Journal of the
American Chemical Society. 102 (19): 60466050. doi:10.1021/ja00539a012.

^ Jump up to:a b Antesberger, J; Cave, G. W.; Ferrarelli, M. C.; Heaven, M. W.; Raston, C. L.; Atwood, J. L. (2005).
"Solvent-free, direct synthesis of supramolecular nano-capsules". Chemical Communications. 2005 (7): 892
894. PMID 15700072. doi:10.1039/b412251h.

Jump up^ Gutsche, C. D. (1989). Calixarenes. Cambridge: Royal Society of Chemistry. ISBN 085186385X.

Jump up^ Atwood, J. L.; Barbour, L. J.; Heaven, M. W.; Raston, C. L. (2003). "Association and orientation of C 70 on
complexation with calixarene". Chemical Communications. 2003 (18): 2270
2271. PMID 14518869. doi:10.1039/B306411P.

Jump up^ Huntington, J. A.; Stein, P. E. (2001). "Structure and properties of ovalbumin". Journal of Chromatography
B. 756 (12): 189198. PMID 11419711. doi:10.1016/S0378-4347(01)00108-6.

Jump up^ Hu, H. Y.; Du, H. N. (2000). "-to- Structural transformation of ovalbumin: Heat and pH effects". Journal of
Protein Chemistry. 19 (3): 177183. PMID 10981809. doi:10.1023/A:1007099502179.

Jump up^ Mosby's Medical Dictionary (9th ed.). Elsevier. 2009. Retrieved 14 June2016.

Jump up^ Yuan, T. Z.; Ormonde, C. F. G.; Kudlacek, S. T.; Kunche, S.; Smith, J. N.; Brown, W. A.; Pugliese, K. M.;
Olsen, T. J.; Iftikhar, M.; Raston, C. L.; Weiss, G. A. (2015). "Shear-stress-mediated refolding of proteins from aggregates
and inclusion Bodies". ChemBioChem. 16 (3): 393396. PMC 4388321 . PMID 25620679. doi:10.1002/cbic.201402427.

Jump up^ Seidel, J. (23 September 2015). "Over-cooked? Flinders University professor Colin Raston gets Ig Nobel Prize
for 'unboiling an egg'". news.com.au. News Corporation. Retrieved 14 June 2016.

Jump up^ Strom, M. (22 May 2015). "Machine that 'uncooks eggs' used to improve cancer treatment". Sydney Morning
Herald. Retrieved 14 June 2016.

Jump up^ Eacott, A. (22 May 2015). "Cancer drug more effective after use of vortex fluidic device invented by Australian
researcher". abc.net.au. ABC (Australia). Retrieved 14 June 2016.