Walking over the Kamo River in central Kyoto after the conference

Old Members’ Trust Graduate Conference and Academic Travel Fund report – Alex Mapp (2021, DPhil Inorganic Chemistry for Future Manufacturing)

This summer I travelled to the historic city of Kyoto to attend the 19^th International Symposium on Macrocyclic and Supramolecular Chemistry. This is a huge conference in the field of supramolecular chemistry, and the first conference in this field that I have attended during my DPhil. It is also the final conference I will attend during my DPhil, so I am incredibly grateful for the support from the Old Members’ Trust Graduate Conference and Academic Travel Fund for making this possible.

The conference began with a memorial lecture presented by Professor David Leigh on the life and work of the late Nobel Prize-winning chemist Sir Fraser Stoddart. This was an incredibly interesting and emotional lecture, and really highlighted the impact Sir Fraser had on the supramolecular community with his innovative chemistry and big personality. Another highlight was a lecture from Amar Flood, who has used macrocyclic hosts to stabilise repulsive anion-anion interactions in a confined environment with multiple hydrogen bonds. This highlighted the power of macrocyclic hosts to stabilise compounds, something that I have worked on in my DPhil. Attending a talk from Nobel Prize-winning chemist Jean-Pierre Sauvage, who prepared the first interlocked molecule by copper(I) ion templation, was another fantastic opportunity.

I presented a poster on my DPhil project at the conference, which covered my work on the synthesis of inorganic rotaxanes via the cyaphide-azide cycloaddition reaction and the supramolecular stabilisation of bis-cyaphide compounds. This led to some great discussions with lots of new people from the supramolecular community, giving me a new perspective on my results. There were many other fantastic talks and poster presentations I attended which introduced me to new relevant work going on in the field of macrocycle and supramolecular chemistry.

Before the conference, I travelled around Japan to Tokyo, Mt. Fuji, and Osaka. It was incredible to experience such a different culture, learn about the rich history, and eat some incredible food along the way.

I am incredibly grateful to University College and the Old Members’ Trust Graduate Conference and Academic Travel Fund for making this trip possible. It was very interesting and hugely beneficial for me to attend my first conference in the field of supramolecular chemistry. It was a brilliant way to wrap up my DPhil, and has given me new perspectives in preparation for writing my thesis this summer.

Published: 1 August 2025

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