10 Years Ago And Now: Daniel Gryko

Chemistry – An Asian Journal speaks with authors about 10 years ago and now.

The journal celebrates its 10th volume in 2015. The year’s first issue features papers from the journal’s most frequent authors.
The journal Editors have asked these featured authors to provide a glimpse of themselves and how their world has changed over the past decade.

Interview with Daniel Gryko

The biggest challenge facing scientists 10 years ago was … to develop renewable and affordable energy sources for the next generation.
And today … developing a system which allows scientists to design experiments and not just write grant proposals (and escape from the Impact Factor trap).

The biggest challenge facing society 10 years ago was … to face and ‘tame’ globalization.
And today … to stop the rising disparity in incomes between the richest and the poorest.

My favorite music 10 years ago was … ‘Dire Straits’.
And today … ‘Il Divo’.

My favorite drink 10 years ago was … black currant juice.
And today … red wine from Burgundy.

10 years ago I was reading … all chemistry-related journals.
And today … only a few such as Nature Chemistry, Chemistry – An Asian Journal, and Organic Letters.

10 years ago I was reading … ‘Silmarillion‘ by J. R. R. Tolkien.
And today … ‘The Price of Inequality‘ by Joseph Stiglitz.

The downside of my job 10 years ago was … too many failed experiments.
And today … continuous worry about money to run the group.

The best thing about my job 10 years ago was … still doing experiments in the lab.
And today … designing new highly fluorescent compounds.

My greatest motivation 10 years ago was … to prove that an American-style career model in science can work in Poland.
And today … the desire to discover something cool and useful.

In a spare hour 10 years ago … I read historical novels.
And today … I play the board game “Ingenious” with my wife.

My favorite piece of research from the past 10 years is … the development of graphene, not because of its importance but due to the (well-known) unusual circumstances which led to its discovery.

My most exciting discovery in the past 10 years has been … the serendipitous discovery of a multicomponent reaction leading to 1,4-dihydropyrrolo[3,2-b]pyrroles.

If I had won the lottery 10 years ago … I would now be able co-finance my own research from the prize money.

The most significant scientific advance of the past 10 years has been … deciphering the human genome.

The biggest societal change in the past 10 years has been … the massive use of smartphones, allowing people to connect to the internet almost constantly.

I’m glad that … the Polish granting system … has changed in the past 10 years.

Daniel Gryko
Date of birth	December 24, 1970
Position	Professor of Chemistry, Institute of Organic Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
Homepage	http://ww2.icho.edu.pl/DTG_group/
Education	M.Sc. 1994, Warsaw University, Poland Ph.D. 1997, Institute of Organic Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland (Professor Janusz Jurczak) Postdoc 1998-2000, North Carolina State University, USA (Professor Jonathan Lindsey)

Featured Article

Diindolo[2,3-b:2′,3′-f]pyrrolo[3,2-b]pyrroles as Electron-Rich, Ladder-Type Fluorophores: Synthesis and Optical Properties,
Anita Janiga, Maciej Krzeszewski, Daniel T. Gryko,
Chem. Asian J. 2014.
DOI: 10.1002/asia.201402925
With the obvious renaissance of polycyclic aromatic compounds there is also revival of interest in their heterocyclic analogs. In this context, we present novel compounds containing four linearly fused pyrrole rings. These very electron-rich molecules display strong fluorescence and high-lying HOMO levels.