DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY

It is with profound sadness that we share the news of the passing of Sir Fraser Stoddart, a giant in the world of chemistry and a cherished member of our Northwestern community.

Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and raised in the close-knit village of Carrington, Fraser's journey from his early schooling in Carrington and Melville College to earning his Bachelor of Science, Doctor of Philosophy, and Doctor of Science at the University of Edinburgh set the stage for a lifetime of groundbreaking achievements.

Fraser’s distinguished career is marked by his pioneering contributions to the field of organic chemistry, where he introduced the concept of mechanical bonds. His innovations in molecular recognition, self-assembly processes, and mechanically interlocked syntheses laid the foundation for fields as diverse as nano-electronic devices, molecular switches, and molecular machines.

Among his many accolades, Fraser shared the 2016 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Professors Sauvage and Feringa for their development of molecular machines. His work on rotaxanes, where molecular rings are threaded onto axles and manipulated, gave rise to revolutionary innovations such as molecular lifts, muscles, and computer chips.

Throughout his career, Fraser received countless honors, including the Royal Medal, the Davy Medal, the Nagoya Gold Medal in Organic Chemistry, and knighthood as a Knight Bachelor in 2007. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences, underscoring his global impact on science.

Seventeen years ago, thanks to the vision of Northwestern President Emeritus Henry Bienen, Fraser joined Northwestern as the Board of Trustees Professor of Chemistry and Director of the Center for the Chemistry of Integrated Systems. His leadership and scholarship elevated our department’s standing and inspired countless students, researchers, and colleagues.

Beyond his scientific brilliance, Fraser was a steadfast friend and mentor, always generous with his time, wisdom, and encouragement. His contributions to our community went far beyond his accolades, as he supported and elevated each of us through his boundless energy and spirit.

Fraser’s legacy extends globally, including the recent establishment of a state-of-the-art laboratory at Hong Kong University, a testament to his vision and commitment to advancing science worldwide.

As we reflect on his remarkable life and career, let us honor Fraser by continuing to pursue our work with the passion and curiosity that he exemplified every day.

We will miss him dearly. May he rest in peace.

With profound sorrow,

Omar K. Farha

Image from the "Around the World in 80 Years" event celebrating the life and work of Sir Fraser Stoddart

Selected Publications

Semiconducting single crystals comprising segregated arrays of complexes of C60 (Barnes JC, Dale EJ, Prokofjevs A, Narayanan A, Gibbs-Hall IC, Juríček M, Stern CL, Sarjeant AA, Botros YY, Stupp SI and Stoddart JF), J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2015, 137, 2392–2399.

Carbohydrate-mediated purification of petrochemicals (Holcroft JM, Hartlieb KJ, Moghadam PZ, Bell JG, Barin G, Ferris DP, Bloch ED, Algaradah MM, Nassar MS, Botros YY, Thomas KM, Long JR, Snurr RQ and Stoddart JF), J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2015, 137, 5706–5719.

Tunable solid-state fluorescent materials for supramolecular encryption (Hou X, Ke C, Bruns CJ, McGonigal PR, Pettman RB and Stoddart JF), Nat. Commun. 2015, 6, Article 6884.

Design and synthesis of non-equilibrium systems (Cheng C, McGonigal PR, Stoddart JF and Astumian RD), ACS Nano 2015, 9, 8672–8688.

Allosteric modulation of substrate binding within a tetracationic receptor (Henkelis JJ, Blackburn AK, Dale EJ, Vermeulen NA, Nassar MS and Stoddart JF), J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2015, 137, 13252–13255.

Induced-fit catalysis of corannulene bowl-to-bowl inversion (Juríček M, Strutt NL, Barnes JC, Butterfield AM, Dale EJ, Baldridge KK, Stoddart JF and Siegel JS), Nature Chem. 2014, 6, 222–228.

Lock-arm supramolecular ordering: A molecular construction set for cocrystallizing organic charge transfer complexes (Blackburn AK, Sue AC-H, Shveyd AK, Cao D, Tayi A, Narayanan A, BS Rolczynski, Sarko JM, Bozdemir OA, Wakabayashi R, Lehrman JA, Kahr, Chen LX, Nassar MS, Stupp SI and Stoddart JF) J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2014, 136 B, 17224–17235.

Electron sharing and anion–π recognition in molecular triangular prisms (Schneebeli ST, Frasconi M, Liu Z, Wu Y, Gardner DM, Strutt NL, Cheng C, Carmieli R, Wasielewski MR and Stoddart JF), Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2013, 52, 13100–13104.

Selective isolation of gold facilitated by second-sphere coordination by α-cyclodextrin (Liu Z, Frasconi M, Lei J, Brown ZJ, Zhu Z, Cao D, Iehl J, Liu G, Fahrenbach AC, Farha OK, Hupp JT, Mirkin CA, Botros YY and Stoddart JF), Nature Commun. 2013, 4, Article 1855.

A radically configurable six-state compound (Barnes JC, Fahrenbach AC, Cao D, Dyar SM, Frasconi M, Giesener MA, Benítez D, Tkatchouk E, Chernyashevskyy O, Shin WH, Stern CL, Sarjeant AA, Hartlieb KJ, Liu Z, Carmieli R, Botros YY, Choi JW, Slawin AMZ, Ketterson JB, Wasielewski MR, Goddard WA III and Stoddart JF), Science 2013, 339, 429–433.

ExBox: A polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon scavenger (Barnes JC, Juríček M, Strutt NL, Frasconi M, Sampath S, Giesener MA, McGrier PL, Bruns CJ, Stern CL, Sarjeant AA and Stoddart JF), J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2013, 135, 183–192.

Room temperature ferroelectricity in supramolecular networks of charge-transfer complexes (Tayi AS, Shveyd AK, Sue AC-H, Szarko JM, Rolczynski B, Cao D, Kennedy TJ, Sarjeant AA, Stern CL, Paxton WF, Wu W, Dey SK, Fahrenbach AC, Guest JR, Mohseni H, Chen LX, Wang KL, Stoddart JF and Stupp SI), Nature 2012, 488, 485–489.

Large pore apertures in a series of metal–organic frameworks, Deng H, Grunder S, Cordova KE, Valente C, Furukawa H, Hmadeh M, Gándara F, Whalley AC, Liu Z, Asahina S, Kazumorio H, O’Keeffe M, Terasaki O, Stoddart JF and Yaghi OM, Science 2012, 336, 1018–1023.

Great Expectations: Can artificial molecular machines deliver on their promise? (Coskun A, Banaszak M, Astumian RD, Stoddart JF and Grzybowski BA), Chem. Soc. Rev. 2012, 41, 19–30.

Selected Honors

• 2015 Honorary Professorship (Nottingham University)
• 2014 Membership of the National Academy of Sciences
• 2012 Fellowship of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, USA
• 2011 Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Society of Chemistry, UK
• 2010 Honorary Doctor of Science Degree (St Andrews University, UK)
• 2010 Honorary Doctor of Science Degree (Trinity College Dublin, Ireland)
• 2009 Honorary Doctor of Science Degree (University of Sheffield, UK)
• 2008 Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, UK
• 2007 Appointed Knight Bachelor by HM Queen Elizabeth II
• 2006 Honorary Doctor of Science Degree (University of Twente, The Netherlands)
• 2005 Fellowship of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, USA
• 2005 Honorary Doctor of Science Degree (University of Birmingham, UK)
• 1999 Fellowship of the German Academy (Leopoldina) of Natural Sciences
• 1994 Fellowship of the Royal Society of London, UK

Selected Awards

• 2016 Nobel Prize in Chemistry 
• 2014 Centenary Prize of the Royal Society of Chemistry
• 2013 IChemE North America Chemical Engineering Project Award for Innovation
• 2012 Distinguished Citizen Award, Illinois Saint Andrew Society, Chicago, USA
• 2010 Royal Medal of the Royal Society of Edinburgh presented by Duke of Edinburgh
• 2008 Davy Medal of the Royal Society of London
• 2008 Arthur C Cope Award (American Chemical Society)
• 2007 Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology (Experimental)
• 2007 Albert Einstein World Prize in Science
• 2007 Tetrahedron Prize for Creativity in Organic Chemistry
• 2007 King Faisal International Prize in Science
• 2007 Jabir Ibn Hyyan (Geber) Medal (Saudi Chemical Society)
• 2004 University of Edinburgh Alumnus of the Year 2005 Award
• 2004 Nagoya Gold Medal in Organic Chemistry
• 1999 Arthur C Cope Scholar Award (American Chemical Society)
• 1993 International Izatt-Christensen Award in Macrocyclic Chemistry