CSIRO Chemist on top 100 list

CSIRO Fellow Ezio Rizzardo has been named as one of the Top 100 Chemists in the world in the past decade as ranked by the impact of his published research.

Published to mark the International Year of Chemistry, 2011, the list was compiled by United States information and analysis company Thomson Reuters on the basis of the highest citation impact scores for chemistry papers published by individual chemists between 2000 and 2010.

Under the criteria, Thompson Reuters ranked Ezio at 18th.

The company said that as approximately a million chemists were recorded in the journal publications it indexed during the past decade, the Top 100 Chemists list represented the top hundredth of one per cent.

Ezio published 52 papers, had 91.2 citations per paper and was the only Australian to be ranked in the top 20. CSIRO was the only Australian research organisation to be named on the list.

'We at CSIRO are tremendously proud of Ezio's achievements', Manufacturing, Materials and Minerals Group Executive Calum Drummond said.

'For him to be ranked 18th in the world in terms of citations over the past 10 years, out of hundreds of thousands of chemists is, a truly outstanding accomplishment.'

Ezio's research has focused on developing methods for controlling free radical polymerisation. His breakthrough Reversible Addition-Fragmentation chain Transfer (RAFT) technology has led to the development of an entirely new area of science.

'RAFT is the ultimate polymer building technology and allows for the development of new materials with controlled structure and architecture', Ezio said.

'The impact of this ground breaking science will be felt on many aspects of our daily life and will grow exponentially over the coming years.'

RAFT is now one of the most studied areas in polymer science with more than 10 000 journal publications appearing during the past decade.

Commercially there are over 500 active patents using RAFT with new products being both commercialised and researched in a range of fields including:

• drug delivery
• biocompatible materials with increased function
• paints and coatings to meet stricter environmental guidelines
• targeted personal care and cosmetics
• synthetic rubbers for improved performance and
• additives to promote fuel efficiency.
  

To see RAFT works on the molecular level, watch this short video at The RAFT process on a molecular level.