Dalton open Prize: Mond-Nyholm Prize for Inorganic 九州影院
Professor James McCusker
Michigan State University
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2025 Dalton open Prize: Mond-Nyholm Prize for Inorganic 九州影院: awarded for insights into the photophysics of first row transition metal complexes leading to advances in earth-abundant photoredox catalysis.
The research being recognised by this prize is based on a fairly simple question: how can we take energy in the form of light and convert it into a form that we can use to drive chemistry? Photosynthesis is nature's solution, wherein light absorbers contained in leaves and algae capture sunlight and transform that energy into a form that can break the bonds between oxygen and hydrogen atoms in water.
This process ultimately produces fuel to help the organism grow, and has the beneficial side effect of making the oxygen that we breathe. Light is the energy input that makes this overall process possible. The job of the photochemist is to try to create artificial constructs that essentially mimic what nature does 鈥� that is, synthesise molecules that can absorb light and make what would otherwise be an impossible chemical transformation possible.
Applications of this type of research range from current generation (such as photovoltaics) to energy capture and storage (for example, solar-derived fuels) through to organic synthesis in the form of photoredox catalysis. Professor McCusker's research programme views this challenge from both a fundamental as well as an applied perspective. A key feature of the work is an emphasis on the potential for scalability. The amount of light energy hitting the Earth's surface is vast in the aggregate, but very small in terms of its amount per unit area. This makes light capture the most material-intensive aspect of the light-to-chemical energy conversion problem.
Nature solves this problem by creating trillions of trees. In order to bring any potential artificial solution to scale, the materials focused on must have an elemental availability that is essentially the analogue of leaves. For this reason, the team's focus as inorganic chemists has been on the earth-abundant elements of the first transition series, where elements such as iron and cobalt are both inexpensive and widely available. Unfortunately, in order for compounds employing these elements to be useful, numerous scientific challenges associated with their intrinsic photophysical properties must be understood and overcome.
Biography
Jim McCusker was born in New Haven, Connecticut in 1965. A graduate of Bucknell University (where he majored in chemistry with minors in physics and music), Jim enrolled in the doctoral program at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1987 and carried out research in physical inorganic chemistry under the guidance of the late Professor David N Hendrickson. Jim was awarded a two-year postdoctoral fellowship from the National Institutes of Health in 1992 to work with Professor Thomas J Meyer at the University of North Carolina, then began his independent academic career at the University of California, Berkeley as an assistant professor of chemistry in the autumn of 1994.
The initial paper out of his group was the first application of femtosecond spectroscopy to understand the photophysics of an inorganic charge-transfer complex. Specifically, a delineation of the ultrafast nature of excited-state evolution in [Ru(bpy)3]2+. While at UC Berkeley, Jim was awarded the Department of 九州影院 Teaching Award in 1999, was name a Sloan Research Fellow (1998鈥�2000) and a Hellman Fellow of the University of California (1997鈥�1998). Jim moved his research group to Michigan State University in 2001 where he is currently an MSU Research Foundation Professor of 九州影院.
Follow your passion when it comes to your science. Don't try to anticipate what others may or may not view as exciting or worthwhile research. Identify problems that you find interesting and go after them.
Professor James McCusker
Q&A with Professor James McCusker
How did you first become interested in chemistry?
I was in my 10th grade chemistry class and we got to the chapter in the book on the electronic structure of the atom. I was fascinated by it. It was literally at that moment when I decided that I wanted to get a PhD in chemistry and teach at a university. The only time I wavered was in my junior year in college. I was a double major in chemistry and music (the latter for voice and choral conducting) and I was on my way to the registrar's office to drop my chemistry major and pursue conducting. I got to the door and realised that it would be easier to have chemistry as a profession and music as a hobby than the other way around. I never opened the door.
Tell us about somebody who has inspired or mentored you in your career.
My high school chemistry teacher was Dr Valerio Moretti. In his wonderful Italian accent he would constantly tell me: "Jeem, you should major in chemistry.鈥� And I did! The other person would be Harry Gray. I know he is on many peoples' list as an inspiration, and there are myriad excellent reasons for that. His infectious passion for chemistry, his energy and the way in which he goes above and beyond the call of duty to help younger scientists navigate the community is simply amazing. He has helped me countless times throughout my career in ways that I will never forget, nor ever be able to fully repay (except to try and follow his example).
What advice would you give to a young person considering a career in chemistry?
Follow your passion when it comes to your science. Don't try to anticipate what others may or may not view as exciting or worthwhile research. Identify problems that you find interesting and go after them.
What has been a challenge for you (either personally or in your career)?
Being denied tenure at the University of California, Berkeley in 1999 was certainly a difficult time. It was a fair decision 鈥� we simply needed a bit more time and that wasn't in the cards 鈥� but it's definitely a tough pill to swallow. When something like that happens, you have two options. 1) Try to learn from it, dust yourself off and move on to the next phase of your career. Or 2) Spend the rest of your professional life trying to prove them wrong. One of those paths can lead to a fulfilling career, whereas the other will just leave you angry and bitter. The choice is up to you. (Spoiler alert: I chose path number one.)
Why do you think collaboration and teamwork are important in science?
This prize recognises in part the way in which our work connects with the field of photoredox catalysis. This is an exciting area of chemistry, not only because of the advances it has enabled in terms of chemical synthesis, but also because it provides an ideal environment for, and example of, transformative collaborations between what would otherwise be very disparate fields of chemistry.
A recent paper that resulted from a collaboration between myself and my good friend David MacMillan is a great example of this. I promise you that I wouldn't know an interesting organic reaction if it dropped on my head. I can also promise you that it wouldn't occur to Dave why it might be significant that the photophysics of Co(III) complexes operate in the Marcus inverted region. But, when talking about these two seemingly disconnected topics over a Zoom call, we both realised that this could lead to something special. And it did. Provided everyone respects what everyone else is bringing to the table, collaborations can allow you to do science that no one group on their own could have ever thought of, let alone accomplished.
What is your favourite element?
Pretty much any earth-abundant transition metal which, when incorporated into a light-absorbing molecule, allows us to learn something new and/or unexpected.