Memorial Symposium for Prof Istvan Marko

On 12 and 13 September 2019 RSC Belgium was proud to sponsor a memorial symposium for our good friend and supporter Professor Istvan Marko at the Universite Catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain) in Louvain-La-Neuve. Presentations at the symposium entitled 'Organic Chemistry and The Synthesis of Complex Molecules - A tribute to István Marko' featured contributions from Istvan's many friends and colleagues including two Nobel Prize winners. It was followed by a reception and a dinner on Friday evening.

Istvan E Marko was born in Hungary in 1956 but his family fled the Soviet invasion of that year and settled in Belgium. After schooling in Wavre, István studied for a Licence en Sciences Chimiques at UCLouvain (Belgium) from 1974 to 1978 and then obtained his PhD in 1983 under the supervision of Professor L. Ghosez on the 'Semi-synthesis of Tricyclic Penicillins'. Between 1983 and 1985 he undertook postdoctoral studies in Ghosez's group on Intramolecular Keteniminium Cycloadditions: A New Route Towards Prostaglandins.

Then between 1985 and 1987, he moved to Burlington (University of Vermont, Vermont, USA), working in the group of Professor M.E Kuehne ("Biomimetic Total Synthesis of Monoterpene Indole Alkaloids and Binary Vinca Alkaloids") before joining in 1987 the research group of professor Barry Sharpless (MIT, Massachusetts, USA) working on the Catalytic Asymmetric Osmylation of Olefins. Barry Sharpless later won the 2001 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his work on Olefins and sent a video contribution to the symposium. Istvan also collaborated with 2016 Nobel Prize winner Ben Feringa who gave an outstanding presentation at the symposium (See photo below).

In 1988, Istvan decided to move back to Europe to take up a lecturer position in the University of Sheffield (United Kingdom), where he stayed for 5 years. In 1993 he had the opportunity to come back to his alma mater, where  he was in charge of the Laboratoire de Chimie Organique et Médicinale for 24 years until his untimely death in 2017.

As a professor, Istvan gave courses to bachelor's and master's students of chemistry and bio-engineering (Organic chemistry, Medicinal chemistry, Applied organic chemistry, Biosynthesis and total synthesis of natural products and Industrial chemistry…).

The main research areas in his laboratory included: Short, efficient and stereocontrolled total synthesis of natural products; Extraction, purification and structure identification of novel natural products; Development of new methodologies based on multiple bonds and ring formation; Asymmetric catalysis with and without metals; New organometallic reagents; Anionic polycyclisation reactions; Electroorganic synthesis; Development of ecological processes; Botanochemistry; Use of enzymes and microorganisms in organic chemistry; and Use of CO2 as a basic 1- carbon unit.

In the course of his career, Professor Markó supervised 39 post-docs, 66 PhD students, 92 master's students and 58 bachelor's students.

In January 1995, a group of young chemists including István Markó, launched the European Chemical Society (ECS), which at its inception, anticipated working together with the existing national chemical societies to promote chemistry at the European level. 

He was the author of over 250 publications, more than 200 of them in refereed journals, 19 patents and 16 reviews for books, as well as 38 articles in Belgian newspapers on "Chemistry in our Society". He delivered more than 20 general public lectures on "the key-role of chemistry in our modern society" and gave more than 350 conferences worldwide.

István regularly took part in television broadcasts (RTBF and RTLtvi) to popularise science in order

to make it more accessible, notably in collaboration with RSC Belgium, in order to encourage younger pupils to get excited about science, and in particular Chemistry. He was particularly active, together with his faithful technician Fabio Lucaccioni, in performing chemistry shows for schools.

Professor Marko was able to generate the desire to do chemistry among many students, even those outside of organic chemistry. We are proud to salute a truly great Scientist, Professor, Mentor and Friend! Thank you Istvan!

You can access Istvan's full biography here and download a commemorative booklet produced for the symposium here.

Chemistry Challenge 2019 Results announced!

The results of the RSC Belgium Chemistry Challenge 2019 have been announced and the talented prize winners picked up their winnings at a special RSC Belgium event on the evening of 18 September just before our public Kitchen Chemistry demonstration lecture. The prizes were presented by Prof. Stephen Ashworth (aka The Kitchen Chemist) at the British School of Brussels (BSB).

Once again we received around 100 entries from international and European schools in Brussels and beyond for this testing challenge of young people's chemical knowledge and initiative. This year a particularly strong performance was noted for the winner of the Keith Price Prize for best overall performance in terms of chemical knowledge.

The RSC Belgium Chemical Challenge has three sections:

1. A chemistry multiple choice paper
2. A structured questions on chemistry, and
3. A 'Thinking Matters' paper that is not chemistry based

And the top results were as follows:

Section A: Multiple choice

First place was taken by Maxwell Michalec from St Johns International School (St. Johns), with second place going to Rutvi Shah of the British School of Brussels (BSB). Third place was a tie between Ewan Cook from BSB and Paul Spence-Rechard of the European School Brussels I at Uccle (EEB1). Some of the prize winners are pictured below with our special guest Prof. Stephen Ashworth and Section Chairman Prof Bob Crichton.

Section B: Structured Questions

In this section first prize was again won by Maxwell Michalec from St. Johns with Ewan Cook and Robbie Goodall both from BSB tied for second place. Thrid prize was also a tie between Aaryan Metha of BSB and Dillen Lee from the European School at Mol.

Section C: Thinking Matters

Here first place was awarded to Pippa Hartog who picked up her prize at a seperate ceremony when the Kitchen Chemist visited her school - Antwerp International School - on Friday 20 Spetember. Osobel Peppiette of Uccle European School took second place and the third-prize winner was Aura Sofia Ortega Claici from European School Brussels IV in Laeken.

Keith Price Prize

By winning both chemistry sections, Maxwell Michalec of St. Johns also recieved the prestigious Keith Price Prize for the best best overall score. A remarkable effort!

First prize winners in each section received €50, second €25 and third places €10 with the winner of the Keith Price Prize receiving an additional €100.

Well done to everyone who took part in this year's Chemistry Challenge! Every student that entered the competition receives a certificate of participation. We will be running the Challenge again in 2020 and look forward to widening participation!