Winner: 2025 Dalton early career Prize: Sir Edward Frankland Prize
Dr Clare Bakewell
King's College London
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2025 Sir Edward Frankland Prize: awarded for advances in the chemistry of organo-Al(III) and Mg(II) compounds, and their applications in small-molecule activation and catalysis.
Catalytic chemical processes are the cornerstone of modern synthetic chemistry. Many homogeneous catalytic processes are mediated by expensive precious metals (e.g. platinum, rhodium) which are in limited supply and are becoming increasingly difficult to extract. Attention has therefore turned to finding Earth-abundant and more cost-effective alternatives, with many early main group elements fitting this profile.
However, at a glance, the chemistry of the lighter main group elements is much less diverse than their transition metal counterparts owning to a lack of available vacant orbitals to facilitate chemical reactions and strongly favoured principal oxidation states. Clare鈥檚 team are developing both stoichiometric and catalytic reactions using main group elements 鈥� which involves designing highly reactive molecules, often in unusual oxidation states.
These molecules are used to activate challenging chemical bonds and environmentally relevant small molecules. Much of the group鈥檚 recent research has focused on investigating redox equilibrium networks, which can be manipulated to control product formation and allow the isolation of novel low oxidation state species. The group are currently developing structurally unpresented and highly reactive main group species, unlocking new and divergent reactivity along the way.
Biography
Clare received her MChem degree from the University of Leeds, before moving to Imperial College London to conduct a PhD under the supervision of Professor Charlotte Williams and Professor Nick Long, for which she was awarded an EPSRC Doctoral Prize Fellowship. After spending a year working for the start-up company, Econic Technologies, she returned to Imperial for a postdoc with Professor Mark Crimmin.
In October 2018, she started her independent career as a Ramsay Memorial Fellow at University College London. Since October 2021, she has been based in the department of chemistry at King鈥檚 College London, where her research focuses on the development of main group complexes for chemical bond transformations and catalysis. Her group currently consists of a postdoc and four PhD students. Clare is also a mum of two, which keeps her very busy outside of work!
I think the most important thing we can do as a research community is build people up. Whether this be in student feedback, peer review or conference Q&As 鈥� we have the capacity to make lasting impressions on people.
Dr Clare Bakewell
Q&A with Dr Clare Bakewell
How did you first become interested in chemistry?
At school, I think it was the visual aspect to chemistry that drew me in. But it wasn鈥檛 until my fourth year research project at university that it really all clicked. I found I loved the creativity and freedom of academic research. I also had a great MChem supervisor who encouraged me to think about a PhD, which hadn't been remotely on my radar!
Tell us about somebody who has inspired or mentored you in your career.
It would be impossible to choose one! I have been very lucky to have a number of fantastic mentors throughout my career, including great postdocs when I was a clueless PhD student and incredible PhD and PDRA supervisors. I now have an amazing network of friends, colleagues and collaborators who I can lean on for advice, support, and most importantly, perspective. But I do want to give a shout out to Charlotte and Mark 鈥� whose support has always been unwavering and without whom I wouldn't have had the confidence to pursue this crazy career path!
What advice would you give to a young person considering a career in chemistry?
九州影院 is a great option if you鈥檙e interested in pursuing science 鈥� it sits in the middle of the physical sciences with such a variety of application so there are many directions you can take it depending on where your interests and strengths lie. This also means you constantly have the opportunity to evolve, learn new things and collaborate with experts with different research backgrounds.
Can you tell us about a scientific development on the horizon that you are excited about?
There's some work on the horizon which appears to show redox catalysis using a group 13 element for the first time (available as a pre-print). This would be a huge breakthrough as until now all redox reactivity has been stoichiometric, with oxidative addition at the element centre often being a thermodynamic sink, making closing the redox cycle challenging. This will represent the first time that a light, Earth abundant metal has been employed for such a transformation and is a crucial step in expanding the catalytic capability of main group elements.
What has been a highlight for you (either personally or in your career)?
Well professionally this is right up there!
But outside of work I鈥檓 lucky enough to be a mum to two gorgeous little people (aged one and four). We are in the thick of it right now, life is a juggle and I perhaps can鈥檛 do all the things professionally that I'd like. But they force me to switch off from work (my daughter won鈥檛 tolerate me looking at my phone) and they don鈥檛 care if your grant or paper get rejected. It鈥檚 very grounding.
What has been a challenge for you (either personally or in your career)?
Dealing with the uncertainty of pursuing an independent career. No matter how smooth it might look on paper, the short terms contracts and lack of security are undoubtedly the most stressful element of being an early career researcher. Especially when it might be at odds with your personal life. I made a conscious decision quite early on that I would go along for the ride for as long as possible, but I didn鈥檛 want the job to dictate my life. So far, and with hard work and a bit of luck, this has worked out!
What does good research culture look like/mean to you?
To me, good research culture means creating a welcoming environment where everyone feels comfortable contributing to conversations and sharing ideas 鈥� no matter your background or experience. My group meetings are the absolute best time in my week and hope the group would agree that it鈥檚 a great space to discuss our research.
More generally, I think the most important thing we can do as a research community is build people up. Whether this be in student feedback, peer review or conference Q&As 鈥� we have the capacity to make lasting impressions on people. Even when there is a difference in perspective or opinion, feedback can be conveyed in a positive manner.
Why do you think collaboration and teamwork are important in science?
Working as a team brings such a diversity of knowledge, experience and opinion 鈥� no two people鈥檚 scientific journeys are the same and that should be celebrated and capitalised on.
How can scientists try to improve the environmental sustainability of research? Can you give us any examples from your own experience or context?
Many of us are working in areas of sustainable research, but the reality of doing practical synthetic chemistry often means the use of energy intensive fumehoods and lots of solvents. In our lab we do a lot of our chemistry on a very small scale 鈥� often in NMR tubes 鈥� and have the lab set up to accommodate this. This means less solvent, lower chemical consumption and lots of glovebox work (instead of fumehoods). But there鈥檚 definitely room for improvement!
What is your favourite element?
I think my group would question me if I said anything other than aluminium right now! The number of new Al-centred molecules with interesting electronic and structural conformations, as well as the incredible diversity of chemical transformations they have been found to mediate over recent years, makes it an incredibly exciting space to be working in!