DISPUTE
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ACADEMIA
CHEMISTRY BUILDING BATTLE UPDATE Chemist wins some, loses some in dispute with Florida State University
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J U D G E HAS RULED THAT
Florida State University (FSU) must return Sll million in gifts given by eminent organic chemist Robert A. Holton toward a huge new chemistry facility but that it may keep Holton's $18.5 million lab account for the project. Holton and the university's unusual and tangled royalty agreements are at the center of the building dispute. Holton's development in the early 1990s of a semisynthetic method to make the anticancer drug Taxol (paclitaxel) generated more than $350 million for him and the university. His conflict with FSU has raised questions about the amount of influence a faculty member has to steer the direction of a department (C&EN, Dec. 12,2005, page 27). In 1999, Holton and his nonprofit organization Molecular Design & Synthesis (MDS) Research Foundation agreed to donate $6 million in Taxol royalties to FSU's ambitious new $22 million building project: the Program for Molecular Recognition, which would showcase Holton's specialty, synthetic organic chemistry. In 2002, Holton agreed to donate another $5 million, and he also agreed to donate $18.5 million from his lab account that is funded by Taxol royalties. A few years later, the project's cost had tripled, and a feud erupted between Holton and FSU's new president, Thomas Kent (T K.) Wetherell. Wetherell claimed Holton made unreasonable demands, micromanaging to the point of directing the number of fume hoods in the building and designating funds for endowed chairs. WWW.CEN-0NLINE.ORG
Wetherell suddenly axed the project, replacing it with a plan for a building with a more general chemistry focus. He also announced that the university planned to keep not only the $5 million second gift Holton had donated but also the $18.5 million lab account. Holton filed suit, demanding either that the project proceed as originally intended or that the university return the donations and lab account money. Meanwhile, construction on the new building began. The project's cost has now swelled to $67 million. The Aug. 28 ruling, in a Tal-
CHEMISTRY
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lahassee court, awarded Holton the gifts he'd donated. However, the lab account, Circuit Judge Janet E. Ferris decided, was ultimately the university's S H A P I N G UP Construction of the property. new chemistry building is under way. Michael D. Devine, executive director of MDS, expressed disappointment with the ruling. "In retrospect, we probably should have been more diligent about the legal terms of the agreement," he said. Joseph B. Schlenoff, chair of the committee for the new building, says the department "is looking forward to the completion of this superb facility on which to build our excellence." Construction of the building continues, and a large part of it is Holton scheduled to be completed sometime next summer, Schlenoff says.—ELIZABETH WILSON
PUBLIC
Molecular Frontiers Foundation Tackles Chemistry's Image Problem
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n international group of eminent scientists has launched a worldwide virtual institute known as Molecular Frontiers that seeks to enhance the public's understanding and appreciation of molecular science. The nonprofit institute, which plans to open an office in Boston, was unveiled by physical chemist Bengt Norden of Chalmers University of Technology, in Sweden, at a conference late last month in Budapest. Norden is chairman of the institute's board of directors. "Chemistry has an identity and communication problem/' Norden observed. "It is dispersed into many fields where it is not labeled as chemistry, and it also suffers from society's 'chemophobia,'" he added. Molecular Frontiers aims to promote the understanding and appreciation of molecular science by showing young people "how the principles of molecular science govern the world we live in," he said. "The institute will center on the molecular perspective but will include a wider scope than is nor-
mally associated with chemistry," Norden continued. It will span topics such as nanotechnology, ultrafast processes, new materials, chemistry in sustainability, environment and pollution, biotechnology and medicine, and molecular biology. Heading the institute's scientific advisory board is chemistry Nobel Laureate Ahmed H. Zewail of California Institute of Technology. The institute's activities will have three central components. Scientific forums and workshops will bring together experts from various scientific fields to discuss and exchange information on key scientific developments and global scientific issues. The institute's website (www.molecularfron tiers.org), under construction, will have interactive features that provide young people with an opportunity to explore the molecular sciences and engage with the global science community. The institute will conduct an annual contest for youngsters 12 to 18 years old. Prizes will be awarded for the best questions about molecular science.—MICHAEL FREEMANTLE
C&EN / SEPTEMBER
1 1 . 2006
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