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Chemistry of bonds Thema Chimica Acta Lugduni th Xe jaargang 55 volume - Derde First edition editie 2020-2021 20XX-20XX
Thema Praesidiaal 3 Katalise 4 Agenda 7 Chemisch Journaal 8 EJW 10 On Stage 12 Eerstejaars poster 16 CDL Integraal 18 Gadget 21 Science 22 BB 24 DIES 25 Lijn 43 27 In de toren 30 Onderwijs 31
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The Chimica Acta Lugduni is the magazine for the Chemisch Dispuut Leiden (CDL). Chemisch Dispuut Leiden is the study association of the bachelor Molecular Science & Technology and the master Chemistry.
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Editorial Board Christine Visser (Editor in chief)
Maartje Zweers
Lise van den Bos (Editor in chief)
Pepijn Lammers
Chemee Parree
Renate de Vreede
Renate de Vreede Sjoerd Rieken Thomas van Roeden
JoeriGoudart Erik Schoenmakers
Sterre de Lange Jasmijn Bergsma (QQ)
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Dear members, I am very excited to write my very first praesidiaal of the Chimica today. As some of you might already know, I have been writing for the Chimica for many years now. In my second year I joined the editorial board and I’ve been “Editor in Chief” for the second year now. Last year this was a lot of fun and I enjoyed it very much. This year the editorial board is as amazing as always and we have a lot of fun, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic it was very hard to finish this first edition of the Chimica Acta Lugduni. The editorial board was not allowed to come to the board room and adding to this misfortune the editing programs on the computers stopped working as well. This caused the Chimica to be delayed a lot, but I am still very proud to present the first Chimica published this year. This year is a special year for our association. For it is the year of the 95th birthday and thus the 19th lustrum. The theme for this lustrum is “Excited State”. I think I speak for the whole board and the lustrum committees when I say we are very excited for all the activities. The fact that this year is a lustrum year means there will be many big activities such as the symposium and all the activities in the lustrum weeks. Besides these activities another highlight of this year will be the publication of the new almanac and I am very proud that I took part in the almanac committee this year. I cannot wait to see the result in person. The last big thing that comes with a lustrum year is a lustrum trip. Unfortunately, this trip got postponed for a year, but hopefully we will be able to go on a big CDL trip in 2022. To make this year even more exciting, it is also the lustrum year of the Chimica Acta Lugduni! And to celebreate this the next edition of the Chimica will be dedicated to this lustrum. The theme of this editions Chimica is “Chemistry of bonds”. The bonds between people within this association are now even more important than ever. During this COVID-19 pandemic it is really easy to feel disconnected, since social distancing is the new normal. The past year we all did our best to keep the spirit of the association high and I am hopeful that we will be able to bond even more in the last couple of weeks of the academic year. Have fun reading this edition of the Chimica Acta Lugduni! Lise van den Bos h.t. praeses der Chemisch Dispuut Leiden
Dear reader, Corona, COVID-19, pandemic, vaccines – our daily newspaper, late night talk shows and social media are full of it. Understandably, we are looking for some distraction in these crazy times. Some of us have walked all the streets in their hometown, some started cooking or have diligently drawn paintings by number. Fortunately, CDL has also organized a lot of fun (online) activities, so everyone could keep in touch with their friends.
To help you more with a good distraction from all the daily rush, we present you a brand new Chimica edition! You can read about everything that the CDL has organized this year, educational matters and delighted articles. So, grab a (local) coffee to-go, and enjoy the spring sun with this exciting edition of the Chimica! Christine Visser Editor in chief Chimica Acta Lugduni
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Meet the 88th board
A new academic year means a new CDL board! After a beautiful year it is time for Lara, Jitske, Sjoerd, Chantal and Danique to transfer the baton. It was truly an “Exhilarating” year. Lise, Jasmijn, Joeri, Maartje and Pepijn will form the 88th board “Katalise”. On this page the new board will introduce themselves. We hope to see you all at the rest of the activities this year! Praeses - Lise van den Bos Hi! My name is Lise and I will be the praeses (chairman) of the Chemisch Dispuut Leiden this year. In my spare time I like to spend time with my family and friends. In the last couple of years I have been very active at the CDL doing a bunch of committees. Maybe you have seen me as the editorial board of the Chimica in the past two years. Last year I started being editor in chief of the Chimica which I still love to do and will continue doing the upcoming year. I am very excited to start this unpredictable and challenging year with the rest of my amazing board members.
Ab actis - Jasmijn Bergsma Heey. My name is Jasmijn and I will be the ab actis (secretary) of the 88th board of Chemisch Dispuut Leiden this year. I am very interested in doing stuff outside off my comfort zone and training myself and my mind to do new things. This is why I for example went to Canada to actually do my minor, why I’m doing some out-of-the-box courses this year; Spanish and Stars (from the Astronomy Bachelor) and why I’m going to be a board member this year. In Canada I discovered the added value of a study association and after coming back to the Netherlands I was determined to at least try to get on the new board of the Chemisch Dispuut Leiden. “Why Chemisch Dispuut Leiden?”, you may ask. The answer is quite easy: when arriving at the studies molecular Science & Technology in my first year this place is where I felt most at home. This exact same feeling is the one I want to pass onto everyone that comes in contact with us as a study association and I am extremely happy that I will get the opportunity to do this over the year.
Quaestor - Joeri Schoenmakers My name is Joeri and I will be the quaestor (the treasurer) of the 88th board of the Chemisch Dispuut Leiden. Last year I finished my bachelor degree of Molecular Science and Technology and therefore I will start with the master Chemistry. In my spare time I play field hockey and guitar. Furthermore I like to brew beer, which I sometimes do with the Brew masters of the CDL. Other activities that I organised with the CDL are the Dies, different activities with the AkCie and I almost succeeded to organise the VerO Open Mic Night. Sadly, this activity was cancelled last minute due to the corona pandemic. I am looking forward to organise a lot more fun and educational activities in my board year and I hope I will see you all this year!
KAT
LISE
Commissioner of external affairs - Maartje Zweers
Hi everyone! My name is Maartje and this year I fulfil the position of commissioner of external affairs. This means that I am in contact with companies to organise interesting career activities for the students. Besides being an active member at the Chemisch Dispuut Leiden for the past few years, I am also a member of a student association and I work as a tutor for the subject business economics. In my spare time I enjoy cooking a lot, especially now that I am the proud owner of a real pasta making machine!
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Commissioner of education - Pepijn Lammers Hi! I am Pepijn And I will be the commissioner of education this amazing interesting academic year. I just got 21 years old making me the happy youngest member of the board. After a relaxing first year of studying it just so happened that I started doing committees at the CDL. Besides being busy with studying and the CDL I decided to become a member of the student association NSL here in Leiden. Also, within my second year of studying I started to live in the beautiful city that is Leiden. Here I discovered another passion of myself, cooking very good food. Everybody must eat, so why not eat amazing. The main reason to become a board member of the CDL is that studying has to be enjoyable. If I can contribute to an awesome studying experience, then being a board member is in my opinion a very good place to start. See you soon!
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The first ALV’s of the year
General Members Meeting - 7 September
Committee General Members Meeting - 30 November
Monday the 7th of September was a day that I personally looked forward to for quite some time. That evening “the Wissel ALV” took place, which can be best translated to “the Board Change General Members Meeting”. At this annual meeting, the 87th CDL board passed over the baton to the 88th board, of which I am a proud member. I will tell you a bit more about this special evening!
Only a few months into the year, the first ALV (General Members Meeting) of the 88th board ‘Katalise’ was planned. Unfortunately this evening had to take place online via Zoom, because the corona pandemic made it very unwise to meet up with a large group. Even though we as the board would have preferred to see everyone in real life sitting before us in the Science Club, this did mean that we will end up in this history books as the very first board to host an online ALV. I guess every cloud has a silver lining, right?
Due to the coronavirus, we had to exchange our beloved Science Club for another location this evening. Luckily we found a room at the Leidse Lente that could house more than 30 people. This of course meant that all the ALV necessities had to be transported to this location. After everything was set up and all people present were seated, the ALV was opened by Iris and Sanne, who made up the CvV for that evening. This ALV was quite unique and out of range with the normal traditions that we have at the CDL. Usually the Candidate Board is elected as the f.t. board during the “VerkiezingsALV” (Election General Members Meeting) in May. However, due to the corona lock-down in the spring this ALV had never taken place. This means that by this time in September, we were still the Candidate Board, instead of the f.t. board! This evening was thus very special, because we were both elected as the f.t. board and installed as the h.t. board. As far as we know, this makes us the board with the shortest f.t. period in the history of the CDL, as we could have only called ourselves the f.t. 88th board for 1 hour, 2 minutes and 33 seconds! Besides the change of boards, this ALV also included the presentation of the settlement of Sjoerd’s financial year and the budget of Joeri’s financial year to come, which were both accepted by the ALV. Furthermore, a large range of committees were installed by Lise, so they can start organizing exciting activities this year!
The digital logistics of the ALV were new to all of us. The board was split up over different locations and our praeses Lise attended the ALV from the same location as the CvV. This way they could consult each other and share the gavel. And they sure needed the gavel this evening! The ALV in November is often referred to as the Committees’ ALV, as many of them are installed during this evening. This year did not differ from this tradition, and the members of no less than fifteen committees were officially installed to help organize amazing activities this year. Thanks everyone who wants to put their time and effort into a committee. You make that the CDL is running full speed, even during a pandemic! Lastly I will give you a little insight in the way we as the board experienced the ALV. Normally the ALV is quite a serious event, where the board dresses up in their suits and nice shoes. This evening however, we decided that we should take the full advantage of being comfortable at home during the ALV. Therefore we only wore the top half of our suits and wore our pyjama bottoms below, making it a pyjama ALV party! Another first I think. The ALV was finished off with everyone singing the CDL song. Singing online does not work that well as you might know, so this lead to more laughs than actual singing.
As the new h.t. board, we all really enjoyed seeing so many of our members turn up for this ALV. We hope to see you again at the next meeting in November!
After the ALV was closed, many stayed a little longer to play some fun rounds of Skribble and have a beer. Although our first ALV was very different than we would have excepted a year ago, we are happy that many of you took the time to hear and tell about what is going on within our association.
Maartje Zweers
Maartje Zweers
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CRISPRIn 2020 the Nobel prize for chemistry was won by Emmanuelle Charpentier of the Max Planck Unit for the Science of Pathogens in Berlin (Germany) and Jennifer A. Doudna of the University of California in Berkeley (USA). They won the prize for their research on CRISPR-Cas9. CRISPR is a Firure 1: Alfr. Nobel method of removing, adding and medallion replacing DNA to manipulate the genomes of cultured cells, animals, and plants. [1,2] To help you understand CRISPR a little better, five questions about CRISPR and CRISPR -Cas9 will be answered in this article.
What was the research of Charpentier and Doudna? When doing research on bacteria, Charpentier discovered the tracer-RNA (tracrRNA) in bacteria’s ancient immune system. She found out this was part of the CRISPR-Cas system that disarms viruses by cutting their DNA. This finding was unexpected, but she continued working on CRIPSR-Cas in her further research. After the discovery she started collaborating with Doudna, who had been doing research about RNA for a long time. The two bundled their knowledge resulting in a major breakthrough in the scientific world. They succeeded in recreating the bacteria’s CRISPR-Cas system and even making it more easy to use. This resulted in the sharpest tool in gene editing technology. [6]
What is CRISPR-Cas9 and what is CRISPR? CRISPR stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats.[3] CRISPR-Cas9 has been discovered in the immune system of bacteria, it is an enzyme that cuts double stranded DNA at a targeted location. The CRISPRCas9 complex consists of two main parts: the DNA unwinding and cutting protein called Cas9 and an RNA part functioning as a guide.[4,5] Firure 3: 3D model of the Crispr-Cas9 system
Firure 2: Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna
By inactivating the Cas9 cutting domain and adding deaminase enzymes the CRISPR complex can perform precise gene editing. The CRISPR complex can edit just one base in the DNA sequence. This precise gene editing disease causes sequences to be deactivated without messing with the rest of the harmless DNA. By adding different proteins to the CRISPR complex gene transcription and silencing can be accelerated.[4] The CRISPR complex can be edited in many other ways. Resulting in CRISPR-systems that can remove, add and replace part of the DNA.
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The CRISPR-Cas system was edited in such a way that it was able to cut double stranded DNA at a targeted place. While the CRISPR-Cas system in the bacteria was only able to cut the DNA of certain viruses and inactivating them, the CRISPR-Cas9 system was able to cut any DNA.[3] This way it is possible to rewrite the genetic code at any place in the DNA.[6] This discovery made the editing of the human genome possible, which is something scientists have been working on for a long time. The tool has contributed to important discoveries in cancer research and research about curing inherited diseases.[6] Besides, the CRISPR-Cas tool can also be used in agricultural research, creating crops that can withstand diseases and extreme weather conditions.[7]
How does the CRISPR-Cas9 system work? The CRISPR-Cas9 system contains of a Cas9 protein containing CIRSPR-RNA (crRNA). The Cas9 has helicases to unwind DNA and nucleases to cut DNA. The CRISPR part contains the information on where the cut should be made. The CRISPR part has crRNA that matches up with the corresponding DNA. In the CRISPR-Cas9 system that was found in the bacteria the crRNA is base paired to the tracrRNA, this holds the crRNA in place. In the CRISPR-Cas9 system created by Doudna and Charpentier the crRNA is attached to tracrRNA, forming a hairpin.[2]
What? In the CRISPR-Cas9 system that was found in the bacteria, the crRNA repeats were fixed sequences that could read the genetic code of viruses. Charpentier and Doudna replaced this RNA with the specific RNA sequence that Firure 4: Bacteria corresponded to the targeted under microscope DNA. The CRISPR-Cas9 system could now be used to cut any DNA at the desired place. The combination of the trcrRNA-crRNA was called guideRNA (gRNA). Charpentier and Doudna called this CRISPR part of the system the gRNA Chimera.[3] A Chimera is a mythological animal that is a combination of a variety of different species.
Is it possible to manipulate the DNA of humans by using CRISPR? Yes, CRISPR can be used to manipulate human DNA. This is possible in humans of any age and in embryos of unborn babies. An example of the first is the therapy of Victoria Grey’s sickle cell disease. This is a genetic blood disorder that causes patients a lot of pain. Victoria was the first person in the world to receive a CRISPR treatment for her genetic disease. [7]
Firure 5: Removing part of the DNA helix
The DNA manipulation of unborn babies is a little bit more of a sensitive topic. Researchers and news media like to refer to these gene-edited babies by using the term “designer babies”. In theory CRISPR-Cas creates the possibility to change the eye color of a baby or the thickness of their hair. But the CRIPR-Cas method can also be used to make the babies immune to certain diseases. In 2018 the Chinese researcher De He Jiankui came forward with the very unexpected news that he created the first two human designer babies: twins named Lulu and Nana. The genes of the embryos of the babies were edited so the babies would be immune to HIV. Many researchers in the field knew creating gene-edited humans would be possible, but no-one expected this to happen so soon. Mainly because of the bioethical controversy around these designer babies. [4]
How could CRISPR help with COVID-19? Doudna and many other scientists in the world are exploring the possibility to use CRISPR-Cas to make a quicker and more accurate test for COVID-19. CRISPR-Cas13 is used for this purpose, instead of the previously described CRISPRCas9. This system has a fluorescent marker that is cut of the Cas13 protein and becomes fluorescent when COVID-19 is detected. [8] In conclusion, the CRISPR-Cas9 system is found on accident by Charpentier in her research on bacteria. After rebuilding the complex, she and Doudna created the sharpest gene editing tool available. This finding creates many possibilities in curing diseases, boosting agriculture and many other purposes. The finding is relatively new, so it is to be seen what the future holds for this groundbreaking solution in gene editing.
References [1] Youtgenome, (2016, December 19), What is CRISPRCas9? Retrieved from yourgenome website: https://www. yourgenome.org/facts/what-is-crispr-cas9 [2] Knott, G. J., & Doudna, J. A. (2018). CRISPR-Cas guides the future of genetic engineering. Science, 361(6405), 866–869. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aat5011 [3] Jinek, M., Chylinski, K., Fonfara, I., Hauer, M., Doudna, J. A., & Charpentier, E. (2012). A Programmable Dual-RNA-Guided DNA Endonuclease in Adaptive Bacterial Immunity. Science, 337(6096), 816–821. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1225829 [4] Nature Video (2017), CRISPR: Gene editing and beyond, Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=4YKFw2KZA5o [5] Makarova, K. S., Haft, D. H., Barrangou, R., Brouns, S. J. J., Charpentier, E., Horvath, P., … Koonin, E. V. (2011). Evolution and classification of the CRISPR–Cas systems. Nature Reviews Microbiology, 9(6), 467–477. https://doi.org/10.1038/ nrmicro2577 [6] The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2020, (2020, October 7), Retrieved from NobelPrize.org website: https://www. nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/2020/press-release/ [7] Doudna, J. A., & Charpentier, E. (2014). The new frontier of genome engineering with CRISPR-Cas9. Science, 346(6213), 1258096–1258096. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1258096 [8] Fozouni, P., Son, S., Díaz de León Derby, M., Knott, G. J., Gray, C. N., D’Ambrosio, M. V., Zhao, C., Switz, N. A., Kumar, G. R., Stephens, S. I., Boehm, D., Tsou, C.-L., Shu, J., Bhuiya, A., Armstrong, M., Harris, A. R., Chen, P.-Y., Osterloh, J. M., Meyer-Franke, A., … Ott, M. (2021). Amplification-free detection of SARS-CoV-2 with CRISPR-Cas13a and mobile phone microscopy. Cell, 184(2), 323-333.e9. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.cell.2020.12.001
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EJW 2020 Despite the corona crisis, a very successful EJW was set up in 2020. The freshmen “weekend” took place fully online on Tuesday and Wednesday the 18th and 19th of august. The day before this there was a physical OWee day (the opening week of Delft). Here some of the students got the opportunity to meet each other and the EJWcie (the freshmen weekend committee) face to face. During this introduction period and the freshmen weekend the new students could get to know older students, the study associations CDL and TG and above all each other. This year’s theme was Casino Royale, which was reflected in every activity. The activities were mostly fun games like an escape room and a pubquiz. The perfect opportunity to get to know each other in an informal setting. To get the most accurate description of the EJW and all the great things that happened here, we have to ask the EJWcie and the freshmen themselves. So of course we have done this: follow the EJW through the eyes of these people and enjoy looking back to these great days.
The EJW through an EJWcie member’s eyes This year the freshmen introduction weekend (EJW) was a bit different than usual. Instead of a weekend full of singing songs while standing in a matrix, partying till late in the night and waking up early for the morning gymnastics, this EJW was completely online. Luckily, there was a physical afternoon with the freshmen, during the OWee. Even though we couldn’t sing songs with the freshmen, we did play the always fun dating game! For the online days, the activities were divided over two days with an afternoon activity block, an evening activity block and to finish it off, optional Discord drinks. This EJW was not what we thought it was going to be when we got asked to be the EJWcie in December. However, I think I can speak for everyone that these two days were a lot of fun and a great way to get to know the freshmen! The EJW was kicked off with a board members roulette, where the freshmen were divided into groups and played introduction games with several board members to get to know eachother and the board members better. In the evening James Bond had to be rescued! Every group had
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to solve puzzles and answer questions to solve the escape room and save James Bond. The evening ended with an amazing Discord borrel! Everyone had a lot of fun in the different rooms named after bars and clubs that can be found in Leiden and Delft, such as the Next and the Hut. A few people even stayed up until very late in the evening! The next day the freshmen were divided into different groups and did the funniest things for the crazy 20x4. Members of the EJWcie were imitated, a big mac was consumed in only two bites and some freshmen covered themselves in 20 layers of clothes! We as EJWcie have laughed our asses off, because of all of the funny pictures and videos. The EJW was ended with an amazing pubquiz, hosted by our very own Mr. de Roos and Mr. Hulshof and of course the second evening many drinks were consumed over Discord. As a member of the EJWcie I can look back on a very successful online EJW and I am very proud of all of my committee members, Thomas, Mariangela, Jisca, Bas, Wietse, Jitske and Lianne and what we have pulled off in such a short time and with such limited options!
Lucie Spek
Casino Royale The EJW through Joost’s Eyes
The EJW through Sophie’s Eyes
I really enjoyed the freshman weekend. The fun already started when I was reading through the freshman’s booklet. I laughed a lot while reading the songs and the glossary of student abbreviations and terms. Due to the corona pandemic the entire freshman weekend was online. Just reading this booklet took away my prejudice that an online event couldn’t be fun.
The freshman weekend, took place eight months ago already. The first time something like this would be given online and what a good job they did.
During the weekend we had many great activities like an escape room in James Bond style, a pubquiz and a crazy 20x4. Personally I liked the crazy 20x4 the most. It was a combination of weird and funny tasks and (in the case of my group) just a bit of chaos. My parents were extremely suprised and a bit weirded out when I ran through the house again, just to get something to complete another task. In addition to all these fun activities the most important thing for me was to meet my future fellow students. During each activity we were divided into different groups with different people. Before the activity began we would first get to know each other. This was really nice, because this way you could meet as many people as possible.
“...the most important thing for me was to meet my future fellow students.” When the planned program was finished it wouldn’t mean the party was over. We would have a drink with each other in the Discord server, often until very late at night. The first day I stayed up until around 3 o’clock still chatting and getting to know some people better. The second day I even stayed up chatting on this server until half past 6 in the morning! This was mainly because there were way more people up until late in this server on the second day.
It started in advance with a nice booklet and some other nice things from the goodie bag. In this booklet you could already read something about all the freshmen, with some bonus commentary from the EJWcie here and there. In addition to other information, we also were supplied with the well-known songs, which, if I would guess, nobody actually will remember from this year ... Then the online days were next. I enjoyed myself a ton during these two days. From an online escape room to the crazy 20x4, the EJW had it all! The first night I was so tired from a day’s worth of staring at my computer screen, that I went straight to sleep after the activities were finished. The second day I heard about all the fun that had continued until late the previous night. This is why the second day I decided to stay a little longer after the program ended. This ‘staying a bit longer’ turned out to be ‘staying a whole lot longer’ and at 4 o’clock it seemed sensible to go to sleep. I then got a very confused mom who stumbled upon me in the bathroom who couldn’t believe I’d been in the Zoom until 4am.
“...I heard about all the fun that had continued until late...“ This freshmen weekend was very different from usual, but I had a lot of fun and it was also very nice to be able to recognize some faces before we started AAC in the large lecture halls.
Sophie Kreuwel
In the end I got to meet many new people which proved, besides being very enjoyable, very handy when the lectures began. Just knowing a few faces and names was really nice. I would like to thank the EJW’cie and express my respect for organizing such a nice and fun online weekend in a quite difficult time. And of course I would like to end with: 20 ‘VO
Joost Lansbergen
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The Fate of Nitrate Industrial Environmental Electrochemistry for NOX Abatement Whereas usually CO2 is the culprit of trouble, a seemingly new facet of environmental action came to the attention of the public in 2019: the nitrogen crisis. In a nutshell, it was caused by discrepancies in the execution of a European legislative programme1 to reduce ‘nitrogen emissions’. Construction projects and cattle farms that were already approved had their permits withdrawn because no ecological assessments had been included. Understandably, this left many farmers feeling side-lined and resulted in a series of demonstrations. This socio-political event is a mere façade of a much greater environmental development that has been going on for over half a century: the disruption of the nitrogen cycle.
supply, indicating its global significance. From the invention of the Haber-Bosch process onward, although harvests were secured and people thrived, the natural nitrogen cycle met with excess reactive nitrogen.
“Without nitrogen compounds modern societies would not be where they stand today.” The natural nitrogen cycle is out of balance. As a chemist or engineer there are many interesting questions to be asked —perhaps even answered— in an effort to solve this environmental problem. What are these ‘nitrogen emissions’ that the nitrogen crisis is about? What does it mean for the cycle to be out of balance? What processes and chemistry are available to restore it? And ultimately: How can applying chemistry make steps to truly resolve this crisis? These are questions addressed in my master thesis work, which I carry out in the Catalysis Engineering group at the Chemical Engineering Department of TU Delft, under supervision of prof. Atsushi Urakawa. I propose to use membrane electrolysers to convert aqueous waste nitrate sources into value-added nitrogen compounds such as ammonia. By optimizing the setup using different metallic catalysts, cell potentials and electrolytes, I aim to present a scalable, industrially attractive technology for nitrate abatement. Without nitrogen compounds modern societies would not be where they stand today. Nitrogen is essential for all life on Earth as it is constituent in all its building blocks and energetic drivers, i.e. protein-forming amino-acids, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Although elemental nitrogen N2 is abundantly present in the atmosphere (79%), it cannot be directly incorporated in biomass as such by most species. Diazotroph microorganisms are among the few that can convert N2 into biologically reactive nitrogen Nr, in the form of nitrate NO3and ammonium NH4+. Through various processes, Nr makes it from this cradle into higher organisms, albeit very slow. Over time, fixated nitrogen decomposes back to N2 to close the cycle.[1][2] Anthropogenic influence started off-throwing this cycle at the beginning of the twentieth century. [3] Rising demand for sources of fixed nitrogen —food— were answered when Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch developed the chemical process to convert atmospheric N2 to ammonia, allowing it to be used as crop fertilizer (ammonium nitrate, NH4NO3). Currently, this process consumes 1-2% of the world’s energy 1
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Figure 1 Scheme of the electrochemical setup in acidic operation. At the cathode, nitrate solution is fed continuously to produce ammonia in the catholyte. At the anode, water is split to provide protons through the membrane, concurrently evolving oxygen gas.
The direct excess Nr from the Haber-Bosch process is evident, but other factors also add to the imbalance in the nitrogen cycle. In the Dutch nitrogen crisis, it is primarily ammonia from cattle manure that is magnified as the antagonist. This is an indirect effect of the Haber-Bosch process, considering cattle was probably fed with fertilizer-grown fodder. Ammonia runs-off to groundwater and is converted to nitrate. Combustion in fuel engines is also a large contributor. Nitrogen stored in fossil fuels is released as NOx emissions: a term for nitrogen oxide gasses that play a significant role in air pollution. Upon reaction with moisture in the air, these NOx compounds precipitate and are deposited as nitrate in the soil and groundwater.
“In the Dutch nitrogen crisis, it is primarily ammonia from cattle manure that is magnified as the antagonist.” Presence of high levels of nitrate (>50 ppm) poses implications to human health and the environment. Drinking water contaminated with nitrate is related to methemoglobinemia, the symptoms of which include shortness of breath, seizures and heart failure. Furthermore, nitrates are linked to the onset of cancers. In the environment nitrate poses a threat to biodiversity, as enriched waters are overtaken by algal blooms, which ‘suffocate’ other life-forms (so-called dead zones). Changes in soil quality also influence the types of vegetation that can grow. Take for example Hoge Veluwe National Park, where naturally occurring heath is being overtaken by grasses, because the soil is not poor enough anymore. Several state-of-the art methods to relieve nitrate levels in water include reverse osmosis, biological denitrification,
Natura 2000 programme. Specifically, in the Netherlands it concerned the Programma Aanpak Stikstof (PAS) legislature introduced in 2015.
and catalytic hydrogenation. Yet, these all have their shortcomings: the first leaves concentrated nitrate streams and does not strictly ‘solve’ the nitrate problem, the second is slow and requires complicated operation conditions that favour the microorganisms, and the third uses hydrogen which is still primarily generated from fossil resources2. In the past 20 years, electrochemical denitrification methods have received attention as well. These are promising for conversion of nitrate to environmentally benign N2 with renewable sources of electricity.[4] However, there is not much incentive to undertake action other than a moral duty. Fortunately, advances in the method have elucidated that in a range of electric potentials it is also possible to reduce nitrate to value-added products such as NH3 (in acidic electrolyte) or hydroxylamine NH2OH (in alkaline electrolyte).[5] Despite ammonia itself being not-so-benign, it must be stated that producing it from waste nitrate is far more environmentally friendly than producing it from harmless N2. Now denitrification can be speculated to become a technology that, in addition to being ‘green’, has an economical pushfactor. Recent studies in electrochemical nitrate reduction are generally performed in batch operation. Although essential for the fundamental understanding of the reaction mechanisms, batch operation is not suited for denitrification at industrial scale. Hence, continuous processes must be designed.[6] One approach taken in our group is to use a polymer-electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolyser flowcell setup, which can be operated continuously to convert nitrate to various products at the cathode. At the anode, water is split to provide the protons necessary in the cathodic reaction. Electrolyser technology is scalable and relies on the available area of membrane — crudely, one could say that as long as the size of the membrane can be handled, the electrochemical cell can be made. As such, continuous PEM electrolysers have promising industrial feasibility.
Figure 2 Diagram of the electrochemical flow cell. End plates are used to clamp the set-up together. Gaskets insulate the internals and prevent short-circuits. Current collectors are connected to an electrical power supply and computer. Gas diffusion layer protect the catalyst layer on the membrane from leeching. The catalyst-coated membrane catalyses the anodic and cathodic reactions and selectively allows ion cross-over, closing the electrical circuit. 2 3
My thesis work involves optimizing the electrolyser, by assessing the performance of the flow cell as parameters are changed. In the first half (4 months) of my project, the influence of various metallic catalysts, catalyst support materials, electric potentials and electrolyte concentrations was investigated in an acidic cell3. Depending on the catalyst that is present on the membrane, product selectivity and electrical character of the cell can be fine-tuned. At the time of writing the second half of my project is yet to start, but the plan is to assess the unexplored characteristics of alkaline flow-cells and their denitrification performance. Additionally, I aim to make a computational model of the set-up using the physics simulation software COMSOL. Hopefully, this allows me to integrate experimental data that was gathered within our group in order to compute and predict trends and optimal cell parameters. All in all, I have thoroughly enjoyed my work up until this point. Electrochemistry has fascinated me, because it combines many disciplines of chemistry and engineering. Solidstate chemistry, thermodynamics, transport phenomena, homogeneous catalysis: it is all there. Most strikingly, it shows that even if all nooks and crannies in the fundamental of a reaction are known, there is still much effort in realising a usable application. There is always a grey area that must be crossed. Much like Heisenberg’s position-momentum tradeoff: if we know how an electrochemical reaction behaves very close to an electrode, with a reference electrode very closeby, it seems to be a world’s difference from what happens in a continuous cell. Vice-versa, even if we map all parametric trends in the flow-cell and can predict the composition of products in the electrolyte, we have lost sight of the internal reaction mechanics that caused it. If you wish to have a conversation about my thesis topic, please reach out to me through the board of Chemisch Dispuut Leiden.
Thijs Klein [1] D. Fowler et al., “The global nitrogen cycle in the Twentyfirst centruy,” Philos. Trans. R. Soc. B Biol. Sci., vol. 368, no. 1621, 2013, doi: 10.1098/rstb.2013.0164. [2] J. N. Galloway et al., “The nitrogen cascade,” Bioscience, vol. 53, no. 4, pp. 341–356, 2003, doi: 10.1641/0006-3568(2003)053[0341:TNC]2.0.CO;2. [3] J. W. Erisman, M. A. Sutton, J. Galloway, Z. Klimont, and W. Winiwarter, “How a century of ammonia synthesis changed the world,” Nat. Geosci., vol. 1, no. 10, pp. 636–639, 2008, doi: 10.1038/ngeo325. [4] M. Duca and M. T. M. Koper, “Powering denitrification: The perspectives of electrocatalytic nitrate reduction,” Energy Environ. Sci., vol. 5, no. 12, pp. 9726–9742, 2012, doi: 10.1039/c2ee23062c. [5] S. Garcia-Segura, M. Lanzarini-Lopes, K. Hristovski, and P. Westerhoff, “Electrocatalytic reduction of nitrate: Fundamentals to full-scale water treatment applications,” Appl. Catal. B Environ., vol. 236, no. March, pp. 546–568, 2018, doi: 10.1016/j.apcatb.2018.05.041. [6] M. A. Hasnat, M. R. Karim, and M. Machida, “Electrocatalytic ammonia synthesis: Role of cathode materials and reactor configuration,” Catal. Commun., vol. 10, no. 15, pp. 1975–1979, 2009, doi: 10.1016/j.catcom.2009.07.012.
95% of hydrogen is obtained from the steam reforming of natural gas. Acidic cell: electrochemical flow-cell equipped with a proton-exchange membrane. Alkaline cell: hydroxide-exchange membrane.
13
Take a cultural trip in your education Minor: Second Language Acquisition It is a funny thing, watching adults twice your age trying to figure how to start up a PowerPoint presentation. It is a recurring event to which I have happily grown accustomed to. However, at the beginning of Q2 of my 2nd year, I had to pay attention, because we would soon have to choose our Minor. The possibilities seemed almost endless, so choose wisely! Before I had even looked at programmes or universities, I first decided what I would like to do: learn a language.
Then came the first lesson of Italiano I, in a Kaltura liveroom with poor latency and an unstable connection. After a lengthy introduction by my professor, he called out a random student and started talking in Italian – funny how that works in an Italian course – and that student gave a quick and neat reply. ‘Bravissima!’ exclaimed my professor. At that point, I was lost. You see, I only knew ‘sì’ and ‘no’ back then and I was oblivious to the fact that my professor asked for our names – come ti chiami? Having no time to process what was said, I was (of course) next on the chopping block. Panic. After 5 very long seconds, I managed to say ‘ehh, I don’t understand…’ after which my professor decided to explain what he was asking and how we were supposed to reply. I got to try again and my professor cheerily replied with ‘che brava!’ which marked the start of my Italian linguistic career.
“Ehh, I don’t understand…”
After I graduated from high school, I had half a mind to major in French or Japanese: it turns out that, according to every Open Day I visited, the majority of students cannot find a job within 6 months of graduating (their Masters’). Lovely. However, I was impressed by how much Leiden University had to offer when it came to languages, so that’s where I started looking for Minor programmes. I soon stumbled upon ‘Second Language Acquisition’ (SLA) which offered six foreign language tracks beside the core curriculum. The programme would focus on all phenomena of SLA and students would have the possibility to learn a new language as well. Perfect!
“My professor dumbed down all linguistic terms so all the nonalpha students could understand...” The universe seemed to agree with me: during Biochemistry in Q1, I met a 3rd-year student who so happened to be doing that very Minor at that time. After a couple of questions – and her enthusiastic replies, especially about her Italian professor – I knew this would be the right choice and decided to go for SLA with the Italian track. Flash forward to September of 2020 and the academic year for me started with the first week off. I filled that week with getting a head start in Biochemistry – yes, I had to retake the course – so having the first week off came in pretty handy. Lucky me. The next week, I started with the core subject ‘Introduction to SLA’. We talked a bit about our experiences with learning a new language, language education and babbling babies. My professor dumbed down all linguistic terms so all the non-alpha students could understand – for which my gratitude is eternal – and off we went into the world of linguistics and SLA.
14
Looking back at that very first lesson, I need not have been so scared to reply or to fail: you are there to learn the language after all. This is what I was taught during Introduction to SLA as well. Making mistakes is not bad, in fact, it is necessary. When I heard that statement for the first time, my thoughts were ‘do not be daft’ but there’s a very good reason for it. You see, if you’re learning a language and you do not allow yourself to make mistakes, you are taking away the moments you could learn from those mistakes. This has definitely given me a confidence boost and I have arguably achieved the most important milestone: ordering wine in Italian.
Thomas van Roeden
Minor: Cultural Memory of War and Conflict The 30th of August, 2020 - this was the day I was supposed to leave for Oslo, Norway. Over the course of a few months I had secured a place studying inorganic chemistry in a Norwegian lab. My dorm room was supposed to be next to a lake and I could sign up for long hiking trips on the weekend. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, one of my lifelong dreams. But you all know what happened next… Something that starts with a C swiftly ended my dreams of huskies, snow and being witness to the Northern Lights. Oh well. I had precisely two days to come up with an alternative plan, so in a twist of fate I ended up registering for two minors; a minor Advanced LST and some weird Humanities minor about war or something. I got accepted for both and decided to go with the LST minor it would look good on future applications and was supposedly very difficult and challenging. A week before the start of the semester I was analyzing my life decisions and realized I had not cancelled my application for the Humanities minor yet. In the process of doing this I noticed a peculiarity; I was not at all excited of the prospect of spending a precious half year of my short life on LST. Let’s be honest - there’s a reason we are MST-students. So, before I could change my mind, I deleted my LST application and went with my gut feeling. Let’s try my hand at Cultural Memory of War and Conflict. When I saw that I only had four (!!!!) lecture hours each week my mind went into vacation mode immediately, but I quickly had to change my perspective. Each of those four hours had to be backed by about fifteen hours of literature study. In six months, I have learned how to analyze artworks, talk about international politics from the background of different communities and define the concept of “collective memory”. I know now details about the Holocaust and Gulag I would rather forget and talk for hours about why we are still able to wear t-shirts with Stalin’s face as a gimmick but can not do the same with Hitler’s. I can talk about memory politics, transnational communication and how literature can
change the course of history. Want to know how Hiroshima and Nagasaki have influenced discourse around nuclear science? Ask away. That being said...the process has been blood, sweat and tears. How do you eloquently write an essay on a subject you have never heard of? My peers happily wrote their essays from their perspectives of their backgrounds in History, Literature, Philosophy or German Studies but I have had to brush up on all of these areas. Despite my courses only being a collected 15 EC, I have had to put in a minimum of 40 hours of work each week. I am one of two beta-students following this minor and thus a rarity among the other students. The comment “you are surprisingly good at writing essays for a chemistry student” is something that has become rather familiar.
“...you are surprisingly good at writing essays for a chemistry student...” I take it as a compliment these days since I don’t regret my decision at all. My knowledge of historical perspectives and events, literature, English and philosophy have increased tenfold and I have been enjoying my time enormously. There has been nothing more rewarding in these last few months than receiving good grades in subjects I have had to battle through. My new knowledge of the world outside the Gorlaeus building has been enlightening. It has not weakened my appreciation for everything beta - on the contrary. I positively can not wait to start studying chemistry again next month seeing as I think I can use the things I learned these last few months to better my communication, writing and problem-solving abilities. To anyone considering stepping outside their area of expertise for a semester - do it! It is not the easiest choice to make, but the amount of challenge is what makes it so rewarding. My cancelled trip to Norway may have been a blessing in disguise, I would not have missed these last few months for the world. My expectations didn’t at all match the reality but I feel humbled by this fact. I got my ass kicked by humanities articles and essays and I am not too proud to admit it. It has been fascinating and really helpful. I can apply to cuddle huskies in Norway next year, but in the meantime have learned skills I will treasure for the rest of my days. So, if you don’t mind fighting through two administrations to make sure you are allowed to follow a course – it’s a bureaucratic nightmare, honestly - sign up for Cultural Memory of War and Conflict. Watch out, this minor spans the course of a year. Something yours truly only found out in the second week of the semester (maybe I’m the administrative nightmare). I’m always available for advice or questions at rmdevreede@gmail.com Shoot me an email if you want to know more!
Renate de Vreede
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Periodiek systeem der Chemisch van e s i L eses
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Bos
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Jasm
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Adarsh Naipal
Amanda Brouwer
Annas Hella
Aniek Vankan
Annika Duijn
Anouk Boer
Arij Makhzoum
Bergsm a
v.l.n.r. Maartje Zweers, Jasmijn Bergsma, Lise van den Bos, Joeri Schoenmakers, Pepijn
Casper Berkhout
Cathal Stockman Christian van der Meer
Felix Koppenol
Felix van Nifterik
Ferike Peters
Josefina van Ojik
Jordy Krap
Joy de Vries
Manar Aouaj
Marenthe Jacobs
Mark Tadema
Nikke de Jong
Nina de Bruijn
Noah Binan
Coco Hooft
Coen de Smit
Cosmo Kuhling
Fleur van Koten
Floris Löffler
Gert-Jan Broere
Julian van den Beukel Kane Zuiderduin Kathelijne Jansen
Marnix Hamelink Martijn Franken
Olav Noordhuis
Olivia Robert
Daan Engelen
Daan Kuivenhoven Daan Sneijders
Gijs Kelderman Greetje Boomaars Gustave Lauffer
Damian Keijzer
Dani Brug
Daniëlla H
Hugo van Ewijk Hugo Korthals-Altes
Ilse Coe
Kevin Bloot
Koen de Vries
Lars Terluin
Laura Adriaens
Liam Schoon
Lisa Hu
Martijn Juch
Martijn Meijer
Martijn van Wijgerden
Matijn Palings
Maurits Vermeulen
Max Jansdam
Max Noo
Ozkan Autar
Pepijn Geurts
Puck van Disseldorp
Quinten Stark
Rebecca Zwiers
Remco Quak
Rianne Jo
Sebastian de Lange Sem Koornneef Senna Nieto Barreiro Shiwani van IJzendoorn Simo Spann
KAT 2
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2
0
LISE -
2
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2
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Thijs Lankveld
Thijs Molenkamp
Thijs de Vegt
Thomas Pijls
Thomas S
misch Dispuut Leiden 2020 - 2021 Maartje
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Aldin Babaca
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Joeerstor qua
Ankang Wei
Anna van der Deijl
Bas Coremans
Bonny Klop
Anna Feenstra
Anna van Renesse Anna Rozendaal
Anna Schoonen Anne-Claire Smit
oenmakers, Pepijn Lammers
i Brug
Daniëlla Hammink
Dario The
orthals-Altes
Ilse Coelman
Schoon
Lisa Hunink
ansdam
Max Noordhoek
o Quak
Rianne Jorritsma Rick van der Horst
David Verweij
Imme Schoot Uiterkamp
Demi Vollebregt Dieuwertje Strobbe Doortje Waasdorp Dounia Aouriouer Emma van den Berg
Iris Blommestein Isis van Leeuwen Jarne Oostenbrug
Lishanté Cremany Lorenzo Bouman
Lotte Sünnen
Mees de Ruiter Mees van Teeseling Michel Beeren
Rick Kort
Robert Rowan
Lotte Vonck
Robin Stassen
Sophie Jaspers
Sophie Kreuwel
as Pijls
Tien Hoogland
Tobias Korteweg Victor Veereschild Vigo Groenewold
Brett Beliën
Brian van Zuilen
Erik Poppe
Esmee Boxma
Evi Tesselaar
Jasper Vles
Jesper Konstapel
Jessica Smits
Jessy Sit
Jim Pardon
Joost Lansbergen
Lubna Ghabbash
Lucas Vrijhof
Luise Veelken
Luka Reinders
Lupa Roosendaal
Luuk Wouterse
Mimi Gassama
Nathan Roos
Nick Bemelman
Niek Kamphuis
Niels Hulsen
Ruben Mol
Sabine Alkema
Samar Vonk
Mikail van Dartel Milan van der Graaf
IJzendoorn Simo Spannenburg
Thomas Storm
Brandon de Waal Brecht Chamuleau Brennan Wilkes
Romy Kuperus Rowan Naaktgeboren Ruben de Groot
Sophie Valckx Steef van Teijlingen Sten Steenbergen Sverre Draaisma Sverre van der Zalm Tai Hong Chow Thijmen van Kampen Thijmen Martinali
Vincent Ruegg
Wendy de Jong Yaromir van Maaren
Youri Heintz
Yvo Vis
Zoë Nieuwenkamp
Online activities:
Discord get-togethers Discord session, zorrel (= Zoom borrel), “dat-ten” (drinking apart together), skypevisit, all kinds of terms that we were not familiar with before March 2020. Since the corona virus has reached the Netherlands, we have been forced to move most of our social life to an online space. The CDL also had to respond to this. This year there have already been several Discord drinks. These get-togethers offer the opportunity to speak to other CDL members and catch up with friends. Of course it is not the same as the legendary Science Club drinks at the Gorleaus, but it is a small consolation in these times. There are also advantages to this way of drinking. First, the bags of chips can be swapped at home for a healthier variety to accommodate the corona kilos a bit. In addition, online we can tell each other everything about the special beers that we have bought for ourselves. The best thing about the Discord drinks is the fact that time is no longer an issue! For example, we often have coffee breaks in the afternoon via Discord. During these coffee breaks it feels a bit like we are all enjoying a cup of coffee together in the boardroom. Oh yes, another advantage of these Discord coffee breaks: good coffee! Nevertheless, I think it is a shame that the new first-year students have never attended a Science Club borrel. When this is allowed again, I hope I can still teach them all the Scienceclub game!
Ted de Haas
Lustrum cantus One of the questions the lockdown made us ask was; what will happen now with the Lustrum? Because that is quite a thing. A Lustrum, without being allowed to be together physically. Is that nice then? How does that work? And what is possible? What is not possible? Despite all these doubts, there was still a beer cantus! And now I hear you think? A lustrum cantus? Without long tables loaded with glass mugs? Without being able to sing with your arms wrapped around another person’s shoulders? Unfortunately, that was not (completely) possible. But I think I enjoyed this cantus just like everyone else who was there. It was super organized. The technology was ready. The songs were, as it should be, difficult to hear because of the singing along and the beer flowed freely. The Preasidium lived up to its name and guided the mess the best it could through a raging sea of drinks. This required a few punishments, but also a few rewards. All in all it was a pleasant cantus that allowed us all to get out of the deadly rut of the lockdown. Just like old times, having fun with the people of the most beautiful sorority. Dear LuCo and Preasidium, I want to thank you very much for a beautiful musical evening and I hope for a repeat soon.
Tiemen van Daalen
18
The digital era
TraktaatCie pepernoten workshop
AkCie iglo bouwen, kerstboom vouwen
Het is een beetje terug gaan in de tijd, Maar alsnog schrijf ik een stukje over een hele leuke activiteit. Op 19 november organiseerde het CDL een leuke les, Die ieder kon uitvoeren op eigen adres. Via zoom gingen we met z’n alle bakken, Maar toch zag de Sint dat niet iedereen het goed kon aanpakken. Hij zag toch echt in de activiteitenmail ‘Pepernoten workshop’ staan, Maar hij zag niet bij iedereen die pepernoten ontstaan!
On December 14th, the AkCie activity ‘Iglo bouwen, kerstboom vouwen’ took place as a replacement for the yearly Christmas dinner. As an old AkCie member, I could not miss this activity of course. Since the name did not yet reveal what we were going to do, I was very curious. Beforehand, I could pick up a Christmas gift bag at the board room. Since I was not able to resist my curiosity, I had a little peak. It was filled with cookies, powdered sugar, a lot of candy and two sheets of paper.
Hij begreep niks van het recept, Dit zijn toch geen pepernoten?! Riep hij ongerept. Toen dacht de Sint: ‘Ik bak maar even mee’, Misschien brengt het hem wel op een nieuw idee. Melk, boter, eieren en veel bloem, Langzaamaan ontstond er een deeg bij iedereen via Zoom. Iedereen maakte bolletjes om de bakplaat mee vol te laden, Waarna deze in de oven konden bakken op 180 graden. Ieders keuken werd gevuld met heerlijk geuren, Terwijl in de oven heel veel gebeurde. Na 20 minuten opende ook de Sint zijn oven, En oh, oh, oh, hij kon het niet geloven! Lief CDL, dit zijn geen pepernoten, Dit noemen we kruidnoten. Ondanks de verwarring bij de Sint, Is hij zeker wel blijgezind. Wat een superleuke activiteit, Met ook heel veel creativiteit. Niet alleen kruidnoten werden gecreëerd, Ook is het CDL-logo in koekvorm geëtaleerd.
The activity started off with nice Christmas music, and as a highlight Santa Claus joined too! With a delicious glass of wine with me, I started building my igloo. A mixture of powdered sugar and water was supposed to act as cement between the cookies. However, I soon found out that only a few drops of water were necessary for a good thick mixture, which was strong enough to hold my design. The hidden architect in me came out, but perhaps I overestimated myself. After my igloo collapsed two times in a row, it finally stuck together and I was able to decorate it. I went for a light snowy look with a small chimney for Santa to climb in. Everyone should get presents, even the Eskimos. The igloo was further decorated with self-made Christmas lights, candy canes, marshmallows and Smarties. After our igloos were build, we got a workshop on how to make snowflakes and Christmas trees out of paper. This was very funny, and it really gave the final touch to our igloos. Everyone had to make a picture of their igloo and send it in to the committee. After a great slideshow with al the creations, my igloo was voted the winner. As a reward I received a lot of chocolate, with which I am always super happy. Overall it was a great evening, and a good replacement for the Christmas dinner.
Bedankt CDL voor een activiteit op zo’n originele manier, Het was een avond vol plezier.
Great job AkCie!
Christine Visser
Danique van Workum
19
Get to know each other...
...online
Down below the posters of many of our recent online activities are depicted and as you can see there have been a lot of online activities. There is one specific activity that was set up to get to know each other better online, namely the “Meet the Sjaarsch” activity of the AkCie. Therefore, below are two pieces from members on how they experienced this activity.
Meet the Sjaarsch
Meet the sjaarsch from an organisers’ view
Together with Lara and Ted we formed a team during the Meet de Sjaarsch activity. After we installed our cinema setup, we were all set to meet new freshman MST students. The evening was divided into several rounds. Each round, a senior was linked to one or more freshmen. During these rounds, different games were played to get to know each other better or just to chat. It was nice to tell different stories from us about the CDL of what it was like before the lockdown and what the freshmen have unfortunately had to miss so far. It was also great fun getting to know the freshmen better! I really hope that the freshmen will soon be able to experience all the fun things of the CDL like I was able to do. After a nice online drink evening, I hope that the next time I see the freshmen again, this can be during a nice drink in a park!
As the board and as an AkCie member, we really wanted to bring everyone together, especially in this time. We got a lot of comments from the students that they did not know the freshmen and we heard from the freshmen that they did not know the upperclass students and even their fellow freshmen. So we decided that we should do something about it. Of course interacting with people in real life is way more fruitful and also a lot of people hate interacting online. Even though this was the case, we thought of awesome games to get to know each other, which made it fun to get to know your fellow students online. A lot of people came to this activity and we definitely thought it was a very nice evening at which everyone walked out of the Zoom with new connections. The AkCie would definitely love to organise another evening like this, so maybe I will see you in the future at this activity!
Chantal Huisman
20
Jasmijn Bergsma
Molecular mixology Are you tired of drinking out of cheap red cups? Do you always pour your whisky into the same old glass, and throw away those whisky stones you get gifted every Christmas? Are you a student who likes to drink (most likely), a show-off chemist at parties, into tide-pods, an off-time bartender or just a curious reader? Then the world of molecular mixology might be something worth trying out! Molecular mixology is a sub-discipline of food science that focuses on creating cocktails with lab-like tools and equipment. It is closely related to Molecular gastronomy, as much of the same equipment is used. There are some bars, most of which are situated in the U.S., who have exploited the profession, and created a vast assortment of crazy and otherworldly cocktails. A popular technique is ‘Reverse spherification’, in which semi-permeable pods are created and filled with a liquid. One of these bars, The Aviary in Chicago, created ‘The Aviary junglebird’, which has caviarlike pods filled with rum inside the cocktail.
• Pop a frozen pod out, into the warm sodium alginate
solution. The alginate will gel instantly in the presence of the calcium-ions of the bath. The surface tension will cause a spherical shape. Gently stir the sodium alginate bath for 2 minutes, without touching the pod. Rinse the pod by picking it up with a perforated spoon, wiping the bottom of the spoon with a paper towel, and putting it in the first cold water bath. Stir lightly, and put it in the second water bath, wiping the bottom of the spoon off. Get the pod out of the second bath with the perforated spoon, and repeat for the next pod To store the pods, they need to be contained in a jar filled with the exact cocktail or drink that is inside of the pods, or else they will leak or explode.
• • • • •
“...‘Reverse spherification’, in which semi-permeable pods are created and filled with a liquid.” Cocktail: Whiskey Sour Drink • 60 ml. Rye whiskey • Prepare drink of choice • 22.5 ml. Lemon juice (e.g. lemonade, tea, • 22.5 ml. Simple syrup orange juice etc.) • 53 ml. Water • Add Calcium lactate • 3g Calcium lactate gluconate (2% of cock-
But how does one create such a fine, delicious treat? For this example, we will be making thumb-sized pods, which are good for a single consumption. Note that this recipe calls for sodium alginate, calcium lactate gluconate, distilled water and xanthan gum, which are readily available at most local vitamin stores, and if not, online. You will also need household items like: a perforated spoon, a digital scale, glass bowls (large and small), a kitchen thermometer, ice cube trays, a jar and an immersion blender.
• •
gluconate (2% of cocktail by weight) 0.5g Xanthan gum (0.3% of cocktail by weight) Add to a bowl and blend
tail by weight)
• Add Xanthan gum •
(0.3% of cocktail by weight) Add to a bowl and blend
• Start by measuring out 5g of the sodium alginate gelling agent.
• Pour 1L of distilled water into a large bowl, add the sodium alginate and mix with a blender (0.5% solution).
• Let the solution rest for 1-24 hours, until all bubbles have disappeared.
• Prepare your cocktail or drink (see examples at the • •
bottom) and account for the dilution with water when making your own cocktail. Pour your cocktail or drink into an ice cube tray (preferably silicon or rubber), and let it freeze. Next, heat up the sodium alginate solution to 52 °C (a microwave can be used), and prepare two large bowls with cold tap water.
Erik Goudart
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The history of bonds From the day you were born (and even before that!) you have been an amazing chemist. Synthesizing complex biomolecules to sustain you and keep your organs working has been, literally, vital for you survival. Even when you were younger you used the clever mechanics of energy and kinetics to steep your tea in hot water instead of cold. But were it not for the chemical bonds holding these molecules and atoms together, your chemistry too would be bust. How did we come to recognize the affinity atoms have for each other? Time to step into the history of bonds. It would be foolish to search for the glue between particles if the idea of particles itself was not even discovered. Thus, for the complete picture, a short overview of the development of the idea of the atom. • ±400 BC: Ancient Greeks invent the term ‘atom’, roughly translating to ‘indivisible’. They envisioned atoms as varying in shape depending on the properties of the material. Iron has hooks which locks them together at room temperature and water is smooth and slippery as it could be poured. • 1803: John Dalton picked up the idea of the Greeks and described atoms as small, hard spheres that are indivisible, which he dubbed the solid sphere model. He also postulated that the atoms of a given element are identical. • 1904: J.J. Thomson discovered electrons, which he called ‘corpuscles’, in atoms. He then devised the plum pudding model, which shows the atom as a spherical cloud of positive charge with electrons scattered throughout it. • 1911: Ernest Rutherford refined this model by discovering that the positive charge was not, in fact, a cloud, but concentrated in the center, the nucleus. The nuclear model was born
• 1913: Niels Bohr introduced the famous planetary model
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and with it headaches for many students trying to wrap their head around quantization. He postulated that electrons moved around the nucleus in orbits of fixed size and energy. The quantization means that electrons can only occupy fixed energy levels and nothing in between. 1926: To further torment chemistry students around the world, Erwin Schrödinger came up with his ethereal quantum model which states that electron do not move around the nucleus, but exist in clouds of probability we call orbitals. This model is still the accepted model today.
Figure 2: Atomic orbital model
The earliest ideas of atoms was thus invented by the Ancient Greeks, who also provided an explanation on how stuff stuck together. Democritus, a Greek philosopher who lived around the year 400 BC, devised a simple theory of ‘hooks-and-eyes’. A water molecule, for example, would be held together by the hooks of the hydrogen atoms hooked in the eyes of the oxygen atom as pictured below.
Figure 3: Hooks-and-eyes model
As with the gap in atom theory, new theory about atomic bonding also had to wait a while. In the 12th century, chemistry was traded in for alchemy, but in the 17th century, atomic theory made its comeback, mainly through Isaac Newton and Robert Boyle. Figure 1: Niels Bohr just casually hanging out with Albert Einstein
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“..the postitive charge was not, in fact, a cloud, but concentrated in the center, the nucleus.“
In 1661, Boyle published his book ‘the Sceptical Chymist’, in which the first hypothesis of molecules can be found. Boyle postulated that all matter is composed of clusters of atoms and that changes in the arrangement of these clusters result in chemical change. The nature of this bonding was not discussed in Boyle’s book. Whilst certain scientists, such as Gassendi, still adhered to the model devised by the Ancient Greeks, Newton thought something else of the bonds between atoms. In his famous book ‘Opticks’, published in 1704, Newton ended the book with a couple of statements formulated as questions, called the queries. These queries are typically a few sentences at most in which he draws attention to something which he already knew the answer to. The last query, number 31, goes on for a full 30 pages however, and describes Newtons’ views on atomic bonding. He describes it as a force which “in immediate contact is extremely strong, at small distances performs the chemical operations, and reaches not far from particles with any sensible effect.”
An important part of the bonding between atoms and within them is the magnetic character the particles have. After Volta invented his voltaic pile, the Swedish chemist Berzelius developed a theory which stressed the importance of electronegative and electropositive characteristics of atoms and molecules. This theory was further expanded into what we now know as the theory of valency by Frankland, Kekulé, Couper, Butlerov and Kolbe. In the theory of valency, the affinity or combining power of an atom is measured by how many hydrogen atoms can bond to it, so that carbon has a valency of 4, oxygen of 2 and nitrogen of 3 for example. This combining power comes forth from positive and negatives poles in the atoms. In 1916, Lewis used this theory to develop the concept of electron-pair bonds and the familiar structures we now know and love from organic chemistry courses.
“...all matter is composed of clutsters of atoms...“
Right around this time, Niels Bohr was also busy with his model of the atom including the quantization of the electrons. He also devised a model for chemical bonding in which he described that the atoms have rings of electrons perpendicular to the axis of the molecule. The atoms would repel each other, but each individual atom would be attracted by the electron ring of the other atom, thus creating an equilibrium in forces keeping the molecule together. The first quantum description of a chemical bond, that of a H2+ ion, was derived by Danish physicist Øyvind Burrau. Whilst he proved that this approach yielded correct results, the mathematical method is too complicated for larger and more intricate molecules. A simplified, less quantitative approach was put forward by Walter Heitler and Fritz London, which now forms the basis for valence bond theory.
From the 18th century onward, the bonding between atoms became more well-understood, and together with the general advancement in chemistry, different explanations for different phenomena where contrived. Whilst the French chemist Étienne François Geoffroy made lists of chemical affinity between certain compounds, Bernoulli laid the basis for the kinetic theory of gases, and William Higgins published his views of what can be called the precursor to valency bonds.
“...the atoms have rings of electrons pependicular to the axis of the molecule.“
Sjoerd Rieken
Bibliography 1. Wikipedia contributors. (2021a, januari 27). History of
Figure 4: Tabula Affinitatum: table of chemical affinities
2.
“An important part of the bonding between atoms and within them is the magnetic character the particles have.“
3.
In 1811, just eight years after Dalton made his solid sphere model of the atom, Avogadro created the word “molecule”, even though he used it in an ambiguous manner. He used the term “elementary molecule” when referring to atoms and “compound molecules” or “composite molecules” when referring to actual molecules.
4. 5.
molecular theory. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/History_of_molecular_theory Voelkel, J. R. (2012, 4 mei). Last Words. Science History Institute. https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/ last-words Wikipedia contributors. (2021b, februari 17). Chemical bond. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Chemical_bond Compound Interest. (2016, 13 oktober). The History of the Atom – Theories and Models. https://www. compoundchem.com/2016/10/13/atomicmodels/ Wikipedia contributors. (2020, 12 juni). The Queries. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Queries
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First career activities of the year Capgemini evening lecture
DuPont lunch lecture On Monday the 16th of November it was time for the first ever digital lunch lecture in the history of the CDL. Besides that, it was the first lunch lecture organized by me. Martijn Scheffers, senior scientist, came to talk about his research and the work he does at DuPont. I will tell more about that later, let’s first discuss the logistics of an online lunch lecture! Even though this was the first lunch lecture that we hosted via MS Teams, Martijn was very enthusiastic to speak to our students. We started off with a little walk in time so everyone could install themselves behind their computer. After that, Martijn took the stage and talked about DuPont and his own research. Fortunately, the online setting did not mean that there was no interaction possible! After Martijn was done, the question session was opened, of which many students took advantage to ask for extra details on Martijn’s projects and about the possibilities for internships and careers at DuPont.
“Fortunately, the online setting did not mean that there was no interaction possible!” In Leiden the Nutrition and Biosciences division of the international company DuPont finds it home. Martijn works on the adaption of enzymes to make them applicable for a huge variety of purposes. Information about an enormous amount of enzymes is stored in a database and by researching their abilities, DuPont can implement them in household products. One application of enzymes that stood me by most was the use in dishwasher detergent. The enzymes were tested in mini-dishwashers to imitate their real use, which looked very funny. Unfortunately it was impossible to arrange a nice lunch for the attending students now that everybody watched the lecture from their own home. To replace this, we came up with a competition around a question about his research. Martijn asked the students to describe three ways to improve enzyme diversity in the lab. Chantal payed the best attention in the lab and won a Bol.com gift card with a worth €20. Congratulations Chantal! I look back on a very informative and fun lecture and I would like to thank Martijn Scheffers once more!
Maartje Zweers
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Capgemini is the global leader in the field of consultancy, technology services and digital transformation. Even though it is not a chemical company, Capgemini still has a lot to offer to a beta student. The lecture started with an introduction from Koen van den Dungen about Capgemini as a company. Capgemini partners with different companies to improve their business. Capgemini combines strategy, technology and data science to transform and manage the business from their partners.
“One of the most valuable aspects of the company is that it allows its employees to keep developing themselves.” Koen told us about his experiences working for Capgemini. One of the most valuable aspects of the company is that it allows its employees to keep developing themselves. Capgemini offers training opportunities throughout the whole year. There are hundreds of training and knowledge sessions, the Capgemini Academy and even Capgemini University. There are even sessions given by the employees of Capgemini for their co-workers.
“As a tester you will work closely with a company to really get to know how they operate.” Then Joost Arends told his experiences with Capgemini as a tester. The Capgemini Testing Services provide a portfolio of solutions that help clients reduce the risk of application or system failure and ensure their clients systems to operate seamlessly and consistently. The clients who hire Capgemini Testing Services will not only reduce their total cost of testing up to 30%, but they will even decrease the in timeto-market by at least 15%. As a tester you will work closely with a company to really get to know how they operate. According to Joost another advantage of working as a tester at Capgemini are indeed the training sessions. By following these sessions, testers will stay at the top of the game and can provide their clients with the most up to date knowledge about software. After Koen and Joost took their time to answer all of our questions they ended the lecture with a competition for all the attendees.
Lauren van IJll
Diesney After five months of preparation, and having just filmed the theme-reveal video, the committee was more than excited for the upcoming Dies Natalis, which was to celebrate the 94th birthday of the CDL. But when a unforeseen series of events occurred over the course of 2020’s spring (which will be left a mystery for the reader), the committee was forced to scrap all their plans. After an initial wave of sadness and anger, it was decided that the Dies had to continue at any cost! Although it did not cost much in hindsight, the limits of a Dies which was to be completely online, made way for a lot of fun opportunities as well. Reinvigorated, the committee set about a plan to unite the CDL members in a week of online-festivities. Dies theme announcement video
Finding licory
May 15th
For a moment, we lived by the words ‘adventure is out there’, and sent the CDL-members out to the store with a shopping list containing different kinds of beers, wines and snacks. The actual adventure started with the tasting of the beers/ wines at night. Online drinks were a new thing to some of the members, but it is safe to say that everyone had a great time.
April 8th
The long awaited moment was finally here. For a few moments on twitch, the beautiful voices of committee members (subject to opinion) were heard, singing wellknown Disney melodies with a CDL-twist, and so the theme was revealed. When the singing stopped, the yelling started as the numbers on bingo balls were announced. Prizes were: Dies-beer, a Disney memory- and domino game, a Disney+ subscription and a free passe-partout for all.
Crazy covid-19 –
May 18th
A spin on the well-known crazy 88, in which the contestants were given a list of 94 tasks to complete before the time runs out. Tasks such as singing Disney songs, dressing up, acting out Disney scenes and vlogging a 3 minute video, were to be filmed, and sent to the committee, who were having fun watching the videos in the meantime.
Quizney
May 20th
A Disney-themed quiz with quotes, silhouettes, random facts, emoji film titles, song texts, and a faceswap with the committee heads and Disney-characters.
Online Game night
May 12th
The first activity was an online game night. Classic games which were accessible to everyone were played. The game that was played the longest was skribble.io, which is similar to Pictionary. The difficulty in this game is drawing with a mouse instead of a pencil, which can have pretty hilarious results.
Covideo Party
Retrospect The committee was pleasantly surprised when everyone was full of commendation after the Dies had concluded. We just hoped to bring together the CDL members for some online activities, where a lot of physical ones had fallen away.
May 14th
An online Netflix setting in which Disney movies were watched together with members of the CDL. The movie ‘Mowgli’ was put on, which is an adaptation of ‘The Junglebook’. A Netflixaccount or subscription was not required, making it more attractive to those who don’t own these.
Erik Goudart
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was het maar
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NEDERLANDS
GROTE RODE BLOEM, SCHERMVORMIGE TROS, VIRUSRESISTENT, VROEGE BLOEI
TRANSLATE
Risotto Preboggion Ingredients (2 people) • • • • • • • • • • • •
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 2 cloves of garlic 1 (white) union, chopped 250 g carnaroli rice (or vialone nano or arborio) 1 zucchini/courgette 100 g spinach, chopped 50 g (collectively) mint, salvia, rosemary, chopped 30 g (collectively) basil, parsley, chopped 1 L vegetable broth 30 g (unsalted) butter 50 g Parmigiano Reggiano, grated Salt and peper for taste
Ever since I started learning Italian last year, I also took to the Italian cuisine. It has been an absolute blast cooking Italian food, for most recipes are quite simple and simply delicious. Seeing as most students struggle with proper nutrition, I decided to share one of my new favourite recipes: Risotto Preboggion. Risotto Preboggion is a vegetarian risotto (with an easy vegan alternative), but before I delve into the recipe itself, here’s a little bit of history of the recipe. Risotto Preboggion originates from the province of Liguria and is said to be thought of by the army cooks of Goffredo di Buglione, a nobleman from Genoa. During one of his battle campaigns, he ordered his men to explore the hills and forage for herbs for his dinner. The herbs that his men found were collectively named as pro Buglione (for Buglione) and found their way back to Genoa. Throughout the years, the name eventually turned into preboggion. Now follows the amazing recipe and the ingredients can be found in your local supermarket. Instructions
Heat up the oil and slowly simmer the union and garlic. Bake the rice for 5 minutes while stirring, so that the granules can take up the oil. Add the vegetables and herbs and wait until the spinach has shrunk. Then it’s time to add the broth. In most Dutch cookbooks you’ll find that they want you to add the broth bit by bit. Do you want to know what they do in Italy? They add it all at once and so should you! Cook at a medium flame and after about 20 minutes, the risotto should have absorbed all the broth. Turn off the flame and add the butter and parmigiano Reggiano. Now you can enjoy this truly gorgeous meal with a nice white wine. (For the vegan alternative, you can use plant-based butter and tiny bit of extra salt in place of the Parmigiano Reggiano.) Thomas van Roeden
Buon Appetito
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Meet the freshmen This year everything is different, including that we do not get to drink coffee at the boardroom anymore. Usually, the seats are filled with freshmen in the breaks waiting for coffee or tea. These breaks can be extremely chaotic, but they give us an opportunity to get to know the freshmen a little. Together with parties, the weekly drinks on Thursday and all the other activities, the freshmen become well-known around members of CDL. Unfortunately, this year, we do not get to see them as much. Therefore, a few freshmen will introduce themselves here so we can get to know them a little bit better and when we can finally see each other, we will recognise a few familiar faces.
Sailing Hello, My name is Thijs Lankveld, first-year MST and I live in Delft. I was born and raised in Brabant in a village near Breda. Now I live with a roommate on the Roland Holstlaan near the Appie XL. When I get up in the morning, I make a cup of coffee and I have to look for a lot of motivation to do the lectures and tutorials. When they are finally done, or not, I often go for a run, because many other sports are now impossible. I try to do this about three to four times a week with laps of five to six km. I also like to hang out with my friends and often invite fellow students to my home. Now that this is no longer possible at all, I am very bored and I watch a lot of Netflix or Youtube to pass the time. During the weekend I often go back to the beautiful Brabant to see my parents and my friends there again, and to be able to sail my boat again. I have a small cabin sailboat of eight meters with a friend and that makes it really nice to go out in the summer with a beer and go sailing and swimming a bit. I also like a game of soccer, but unfortunately even that has now stopped everywhere. I would have liked to join the TG
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“I have a small cabin sailboat of 8 meters with a friend...” - Thijs Lankveld “...I trained to skipper a boat from the Netherlands to the UK...“ - Puck van Disseldorp
Tigers, who play soccer on Monday evenings. Hopefully the soccer competition will be back soon. I hope to meet more fellow freshman and senior students soon. Greetings, Thijs Lankveld
A day in the life of freshmen Hi everyone! My name is Puck and I’m glad I got asked for this coronaproof opportunity to introduce myself. I’d rather meet over a beer or course, instead of this one-way conversation, but that will have to wait to after the lockdown. So far I’m very happy that I’ve chosen MST, although it’s way more time consuming than expected. Sounds familiar? I hope. In my spare time I like sailing and playing tennis. The last couple of years I did a school project where I trained to skipper a boat from the Netherlands to the UK, which I combined with fundraising for building a well in a village in Africa by drop4drop. Now my spare time is decimated, but I still teach the smart kids at elementary school in the ‘plus klas’, to challenge them with Arduino, programming, Latin, Greek, and math. It’s fun to work with these bright kids and they always give me so much energy. Furthermore I provide tutor lessons to make some extra money. To make up for the limited social student life, I joined the first year committee. As the chairman I try to find the right balance between our fun and your fun. Our meetings are amongst my weekly highlights and I hope you do enjoy the activities so far too! All feedback and ideas are welcome by the way, to contribute to a social touch and getting to know each other a bit better (check us out on instagram @ec.quilibrium !). I really hope to get the chance of organising a live event this year, so we can all see each other face to face! Hello,
Puck van Disseldorp
My name is Robert Rowan, and I am a 20-year-old first year student MST. Sadly, due to what is currently going on in the world I have not been able to meet most of you, but this could at least be a way you can get to know me. Before I started MST I took a year out and spent eight months in Australia, which was amazing. I worked on a couple of fruit farms and saw some beautiful places. But after I returned, Covid happened, so yeah that was nice. Now at the university my day would usually consist of going to the work lecture, when it was still allowed, and relaxing with my flatmate, but lately it has mostly been the latter because the primer is not really possible anymore. An online work lecture just is not the same as going to the university and sitting in one of the lecture halls with friends. But it has not all been bad this year, it has been fun meeting some of you during some of the events that have taken place over the last couple of months. And I thoroughly enjoyed organising the beer pong tournament for the first years with the SportCie, it was great to see some of you there too. I hope to meet many more of you in the future! With kind regards, Robert Rowan
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Bio-organic synthesis Organic chemistry has always piqued my interest, so when I was asked to write a piece about research at the Leiden Institute of Chemistry (LIC), I immediately knew what to write about. Bioorganic Synthesis, often abbreviated as BioSyn, is a research group in the LIC that focusses on the design, synthesis and functions of biomolecules, namely nucleic acids, carbohydrates, peptides and lipids and hybrid structures. These biomolecules are used in fields from drug discovery to mimetic design. A recent example of the latter is in a subfield called glycomimetics, molecules designed to mimic the function of sugars whilst giving them extra functionality and stability.
Simplifying logistics of vaccines As you might know, bacteria are surrounded by a thick sugar coat which protects all the important proteins inside. This sugar coating, formed by so-called capsular polysaccharides, can be recognized by your immune system after having been infected by the bacteria before. A carbohydrate subunit vaccine plays into this fact by using a small part of this unique sugar coating to elicit an immune response from your body. This “In de Toren” on the BioSyn group will be about a vaccine to the bacterium N. meningitides, serogroup A (MenA).
“...the logistics of keeping the vaccine cold and distributing it across vast rural areas poses a challenge.“ The current vaccine uses the natural sugar from MenA which causes some troubles with the logistics of the vaccine. Because of the lability of the sugar, the vaccines need to be stored at -80 °C. Since the main threat of MenA is in the socalled meningitidis belt in sub-Saharan Africa, the logistics of keeping the vaccine cold and distributing it across vast rural areas poses a challenge. Combined research by Leiden University, University of Milan and GSK (a pharmaceutical company) aimed to improve this natural sugar to solve these stability issues.
the efficacy of the synthetic sugar, more steps were taken to ensure a more perfect mimicry of the natural sugar coating. By increasing the size to eight monomers and adding random acetylation, such as present in the natural sugar, the efficacy was increased. By doing some amazing novel science and organic synthesis, the authors of the paper managed to create a synthetic sugar which has multiple advantages over the natural sugar. As well as being more stable, ensuring easier distribution of the vaccine over sub-Saharan Africa, the use of a synthetic sugar makes the production simpler as well. By changing from separating natural sugars from their bacteria to manufacturing sugars in large processes, the cost of these vaccines can come down.
Bachelor or master project If you are looking for an interesting end project for your bachelors or masters, BioSyn has a large selection of different subjects on which you can work. This includes theoretical organic work with computational techniques, complex total synthesis, the design and synthesis of probes to study enzymes, the development of vaccines and even the development of techniques to visualize processes in cells. BioSyn is happy to help you find a project that suits your interest in which the design and synthesis of the molecule is central. Moreover, there might be a chace to get published! I will leave you with a paper* in which two master students got shared first author for their research into the reactivitystereoselectivity of lipooligosaccharides in a specific pathogen of mycobacterium. This research employs several experimental and computational techniques to help understand these sugars in the bacterium to aid future research into the immune response against these types of bacteria. Thanks to Jeroen Codee for providing the vital information and papers to make this article possible.
Sjoerd Rieken As you know, sugars have a trademark oxygen in their sixmembered ring. By replacing this oxygen with a simple CH2 group, the researchers synthesized something they call CarbaMenA. This had the effect of increasing the stability of the sugar, which can simplify the logistics of distribution. Even though the sugar no longer looked exactly like the original sugar coating of MenA, the synthetic sugar still elicited an immune response to MenA when tested in mice. To increase
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*Recommended paper: Hansen, T., Ofman, T. P., Vlaming, J. G. C., Gagarinov, I. A., Beek, J., Goté, T. A., Tichem, J. M., Ruijgrok, G., Overkleeft, H. S., Filippov, D. V., Marel, G. A., & Codée, J. D. C. (2020). Reactivity–Stereoselectivity Mapping for the Assembly of Mycobacterium marinum Lipooligosaccharides. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 60(2), 937–945. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202010280
Already halfway there
I’m currently writing this piece of text in the boardroom of the Chemisch Dispuut Leiden. A year ago this would be a very normal thing to do. Unfortunately, for already about a year, being in the boardroom has not been everyday business. It is surreal looking at the year that lies behind me. With the Covid-19 pandemic affecting everything at Leiden University for already a year now, we can build on our experience to improve education in every form. Evaluating today’s education has been more important than ever. Everything teachers and students have been doing for the past year was making sure the quality did not fall behind compared to ‘regular’ times. And yes, regular between quotation marks indeed, because what was once abnormal is becoming more normal every day. Even if we do not want it.
I have been astounded by the resilience of the students I come in contact with. Constantly dealing with the changing regulations or the unclarity takes a lot of energy. But when I come to the conclusion that we are still here, managing our ECTS, still can find something to smile about, I think we are coping with this just fine. Of course, I do realise that there are lots of problems and difficulties, but I am also a bit proud. Because of these difficulties, mental wellbeing is a major point on the agenda of the university.
“I have been astounded by the resilience of the students...“ Throughout this academic year the university launched several campaigns to check in on students’ mental health. There were many different moments at which a students could check their own mental health. I hope you realise feeling a bit down is okay and that people are ready to help when you feel that it is necessary. If you want to receive personal tips and possible actions you can take for bettering your mental health, you can check out the questionnaire of Leiden University. You will receive personal tips and possible actions you can take. Let us not forget that the first semester of this academic year is suddenly but surely in the past. That means the first year students slowly got the hang of studying, the second years have chosen their majors and the third years finished their minors. The start of this year was split in studying at home and, for the lucky ones, going to campus. Studying at the faculty of science therefore has its benefits. An important part of our education requires physical attendance. The faculty
staff worked endlessly to ensure that all the first years could experience being in a laboratorium. Even the daylight ridden college halls of the Gorlaeus were open for some workgroups and lectures.
“... good education is crucial...“ At the start of the year new education committees were formed. New enthusiastic student members have taken part in the program committees (PC) of the Bachelor MST and Master Chemistry as well as in the new college response committee (CRC) of the first years of MST. These students emphasized that good education is crucial by initiating projects that would help the students. For the second year MST students the CRC organized a major information event at which senior students talked about their chosen major. And lastly, master PC student members are investigating ways on how to improve information provision. I would like to end my educational news with something to look out for. From next year onward there will be a new minor to choose from in Leiden and Delft. The programme Sustainable Chemistry and Biotechnology will teach you about the major sustainable challenges in the chemical industry. You will think about the influence that chemistry can have on a global scale and how elements cycle through our world. With this minor you will get a deeper understanding of what is needed to ensure a sustainable future and how chemistry plays its role. If you want some more information on this minor, you can go to the website of Leiden University. Good luck with choosing your minor! Despite everything that has been different in the last year compared to the years before it, learning and being passionate about molecules and processes did not go away. I look at the future with hope and a certain trust. Even if we cannot go back to ‘normal’, we may trust that lots of things will be better with an experienced year full of restrictions. With kind regards, Pepijn Lammers h.t. commissioner of education of the Chemisch Dispuut Leiden.
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