Art and Chemistry. Molecules in the Heavens

Jacques Vicens 고신대학교 자연과학연구소 2008 고신대학교 자연과학연구소 논문집 Vol.15 No.-

To sump up, from the discovery of vant'Hoff and Le Bel that molecules are tri-dimensional chemist have represented the molecule as near as possible to the image they have of the molecules in the space. Not only molecular modelling by computer becomes more and more important to represent a molecule in 3D, but it is useful to understand and design new systems with functions. One of these representations is the design of a molecule hanging in the sky. Looking at art one can find similarities in the concept of the painting and one can assume that chemists use this model of drawing to enhance the vision of their molecule with a tendency to show them in a sacred way. This is coming from the collective memory we have of art and the possibility of computer technique to achieve similar representation.

The topochemical principie and Las Meninas of Velázquez

Jacques Vicens 고신대학교 자연과학연구소 2008 고신대학교 자연과학연구소 논문집 Vol.15 No.-

Science and art naturally overlap. Both are a means of investigation. Both involve objects, ideas, theories, and assumptions that are tested in places where mind and hand come together - the laboratory and studio. Artists, like scientists, study materials, people, culture, history, religion, mythology, and learn to transform information into something different. In ancient Greece, the word for art was techne, from which technique and technology are derived - terms that are aptly applied to both scientific and artistic practices. Exploring the similarities in their respective early work, Arthur I. Miller published an article1 entitled : 'Einstein, Pimsso' in which he proposed that the Spanish painter, Pablo Picasso, and, the German physicist, Albert Einstein, were both influenced at the beginning of the 20th Century by the book, La Science et l'Hypothi:se, published in 1902, by the French mathematician Henri Poincare. In his book, Poincare speculated that geometries different from the Euclidian classical geometry could be developed and represented in curved spaces and higher dimensions. Picasso exhibited Les Demoiselles d'Avignon in 1907, opening the way to Cubism, while Einstein published his Theory on Relativity in 1905. This is a rare example showing the birth of an idea in science and art from the same original problem: the nature of time and simultaneity resolved by realizing a new aesthetic. At the birth of creativity, boundaries dissolve between disciplines. Ideas come from objects and their representation, and one can assume that the same idea may come separately in science and art. This is often found when simply comparing images coming from science and art. For instance, the work of the Deutsch artist Maurits Comelis Escher has been referred to many times by crystallographers and mathematicians because of his ability to use and draw objects with original and uncommon symmetries. The same was done with the geometrical paintings of the Hungarian painter Victor Vasarely. With the development of computers, many scientific images in biology or physics have been compared with artistic digital paintings because they are similar in colour, shape and appearance. Many examples can be found in contemporary popular literature. The present paper is intended to expose an example of similarity in chemistry and in painting not based on shape or common origin but rather on the concepts they involve. I partly wrote this text in the 00' s. I was then learning solid state chemistry in the laboratory of Professors Meir Lahav and Leslie Leiserowitz at the Weizman Institute in Israel. At that time, it became evident to me that there was a possible link between a reaction in the crystalline state and one of the many interpretations of Las Meninas of Velazquez. More precisely, I asked myself if a relation might be found between an organic reaction in a crystal governed by the topochemical principle2 and the interpretation given by the French philosopher, Michel Foucau1d, in his book The Order cf Things,3 of Las Meninas in terms of the topology the gazes of the depicted figures. I decided to publish this text now after reading a text entitled: 'Eloge paradoxa] de Michel Foucauld a travers "Les Menines'" in which, the author, Daniel Arasse, a French critique of art declares that 'Foucauld Ivs launched such a theoretical engine tint anyone willing to write a theory on painting will be obliged, at a moment or another, to be interested in Las Meninas,.4 This was exactly what I felt at the moment when I started to write this paper. The present text, I will try to show how objects representative of an ensemble - the organic molecules for the crystal and the figures painted in Las Meninas - have relations that allow the elimination of their respective identities to lead to a common representation unique in the relations. This unique relational representation for the two ensembles allows the elimination of the objects forming these ensembles to give a purely topological interpretation or description.

Aesthetics in Chemistry. About an Article of Joachim Schummer

Jacques Vicens 고신대학교 자연과학연구소 2008 고신대학교 자연과학연구소 논문집 Vol.15 No.-

Abstract: This article invites supramolecular chemists to read the recent paper of Joachim Schummer on the origin of molecular nanotechnology.

Shuttling From Applied to Fundamental Research

Ji Young Choi,Jacques Vicens 고신대학교 자연과학연구소 2008 고신대학교 자연과학연구소 논문집 Vol.15 No.-

This commentary describes the development of a family of calixbiscrowns for nuclear waste treatment. The development has been world wide with the involvement of scientists and governments. This development previously devoted to application in nuclear wastes has sparked continuing fundamental works in chemistry. lbis is one striking example of an applied research that spanned and opened new fundamental research fields. In a more general point of view it is shown how supramolecular chemistry has reached nanochemistry.

Progress of calixcrowns chemistry

Kim, Jong Seung,Vicens, Jacques Springer-Verlag 2009 JOURNAL OF INCLUSION PHENOMENA AND MACROCYCLIC CHE Vol.63 No.1

Monosulfinyl Thiacalix[4]biscrown-5 and Its Crystal Structure

Lee, Jae-Kwang,Kim, Sung-Kuk,Lee, Seoung-Ho,Thuery, Pierre,Vicens, Jacques,Kim, Jong-Seung Korean Chemical Society 2003 Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society Vol.24 No.4

Hyperbranched calixarenes: synthesis and applications as fluorescent probes

Kim, Jong Seung,Lee, Su Yeon,Yoon, Juyoung,Vicens, Jacques Royal Society of Chemistry 2009 Chemical communications Vol.2009 No.32

<P>This feature article is a timely review of a portion of the authors’ work concerning the chemistry of dendrimers and subsequent related fluorescent probes. The design of supramolecular systems provides an original approach to nanoscience and nanochemistry. The construction of well-defined functional architectures of nanometric size represents a way of performing programmed engineering of nanomaterials. Among the nanomaterials, dendrimers are set apart, and very recently a large number of works have been devoted to the elaboration of molecular sensors. These two aspects will be developed in this article from the authors’ experience with calixarenes.</P> <P>Graphic Abstract</P><P>This feature article is a timely review of a portion of the authors’ work concerning the chemistry of dendrimers and subsequent related fluorescent probes. These two aspects will be developed in this article from the authors’ experience with calixarenes. <IMG SRC='http://pubs.rsc.org/services/images/RSCpubs.ePlatform.Service.FreeContent.ImageService.svc/ImageService/image/GA?id=b900328b'> </P>

Host–guest sensing by calixarenes on the surfaces

Kim, Hyun Jung,Lee, Min Hee,Mutihac, Lucia,Vicens, Jacques,Kim, Jong Seung The Royal Society of Chemistry 2012 Chemical Society reviews Vol.41 No.3

<P>The present <I>critical review</I> reports on recent developments of optical nanoparticles based on the association of gold, silver, silica and quantum dots and calixarenes. These hybrid organic–inorganic compounds characterized by a thick organic layer self-assembled on the surface of a core of mineral surface atoms take advantage of the supramolecular recognition of luminescent calixarenes to fabricate nanodevices of nanoparticle size, capable of detecting metal cations, polyaromatic hydrocarbons and pesticides. Also presented is an explanation of the involvement of such nanoparticles in biochemical systems. This <I>critical review</I> provides an overview of their preparation, the manner in which they are characterized, and their use (108 references).</P> <P>Graphic Abstract</P><P>Host–guest interaction leading to the formation of a complex between calixarene functionalized nanoparticles and different substrates has been highlighted. <IMG SRC='http://pubs.rsc.org/services/images/RSCpubs.ePlatform.Service.FreeContent.ImageService.svc/ImageService/image/GA?id=c1cs15169j'> </P>

From calix-dendrimers to fluorescent probes

Amel Ben Othman,Rym Abidi,Jong Seung Kim,Yang Kim,Jacques Vicens 고신대학교 자연과학연구소 2008 고신대학교 자연과학연구소 논문집 Vol.15 No.-

Supramolecular chemistry and nanotechnology are in close connection. The present paper is a timely review of some of our works dealing with the chemistry of dendrimers and subsequent related fluorescent probes.

Recognition of amino acids by functionalized calixarenes

Mutihac, Lucia,Lee, Jae Hong,Kim, Jong Seung,Vicens, Jacques Royal Society of Chemistry 2011 Chemical Society reviews Vol.40 No.5

<P>The calixarenic receptors exhibit remarkable host–guest properties towards biologically relevant guests. Aspects of complex formation reactions between both native and derivatized amino acids, di-and tripeptides with calixarenic (chiral or not) receptors are summarized in this <I>critical review</I>. Thus, the discussions emphasize the parameters that affect the molecular binding selectivity and efficiency of functionalized calix[<I>n</I>]arenes towards these substrates. A brief survey on their application in separation of amino acids is also considered (123 references).</P> <P>Graphic Abstract</P><P>The host–guest properties of calixarenic receptors towards biologically relevant guests are reviewed. <IMG SRC='http://pubs.rsc.org/services/images/RSCpubs.ePlatform.Service.FreeContent.ImageService.svc/ImageService/image/GA?id=c0cs00005a'> </P>