{"id":278352,"date":"2017-10-25T09:00:40","date_gmt":"2017-10-25T13:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=278352"},"modified":"2017-10-27T13:06:52","modified_gmt":"2017-10-27T17:06:52","slug":"chemistry-donald-batesky-makes-late-career-discovery-278352","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/chemistry-donald-batesky-makes-late-career-discovery-278352\/","title":{"rendered":"At 85, chemist Donald Batesky makes late-career discovery"},"content":{"rendered":"

Back in 1959, early in his career as a Kodak chemist, Donald Batesky was lead author of a paper in the Journal of Organic Chemistry<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Now, at 85 years old and in his \u201cthird career\u201d as a research associate in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Rochester, Batesky is lead author of another paper<\/a> in the journal\u2014a \u201cfeatured article,\u201d no less, selected as an \u201ceditor\u2019s choice,\u201d and the seventh-most read article in the journal for the previous 12 months.<\/p>\n

According to associate professor of chemistry Dan Weix, Batesky discovered a \u201cnew solution to a long-standing problem in purification.\u201d Batesky made the discovery in Weix\u2019s lab when he added zinc chloride to a solution containing triphenlyphosphine oxide.<\/p>\n

Triphenylphospine (TPP) is widely used in organic chemistry as a reagent to synthesize compounds. But in the process, TTP is converted to triphenlyphospine oxide (TPPO), which can be very difficult to then separate from the reaction product.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt contaminates the product you\u2019re making,\u201d Batesky says.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, when Batesky confronted this challenge in Weix\u2019s lab, he had a bottle of zinc chloride at hand and, \u201cbang, out it came,\u201d he says, referring to TPPO. \u201cIt proved to be a very simple, convenient way to get rid of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis discovery was entirely Don\u2019s invention, based upon some knowledge he had of metal salt extractions from the \u201950s and \u201960s,\u201d says Weix, who recently joined the University of Wisconsin\u2013Madison\u2019s chemistry department. \u201cIt turns out that his technique makes sense, based upon literature precedents, but it appears to have been overlooked all these years.\u201d<\/p>\n

60 years working in labs<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Batesky, a Rochester native, has been trying new combinations of chemicals in industrial and academic labs for more than 60 years, including as an undergraduate at Purdue University in the early 1950s.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt that time, anyone who studied chemistry and came back to Rochester was going to work for Kodak,\u201d Batesky says.<\/p>\n

He started at $88 a week as a production chemist, working for the company\u2019s Eastman Organic Chemicals line. Triphenylphosphine was among the chemicals he produced\u2014and a host of others.<\/p>\n

When outside companies requested chemicals not found in Kodak\u2019s catalogue, Batesky would make them as custom jobs, 10 or 20 grams at a time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did 11,000 literature searches and made 3,000 chemicals in 15 years, which is one per working day,\u201d he says. \u201cI held the record with 22 lab notebooks.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a ball because I got to work with all kinds of things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photochromic chemicals that darkened in the sun. Liquid crystals.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of the chemicals he custom produced were subsequently added to Kodak\u2019s catalogue.<\/p>\n

Eventually he became operations manager at a salary of $100,000 a year. After a brief retirement to enjoy time with his grandson, Batesky worked as a contract chemist for the Aldrich Company for 15 years. He spent many of those years working alongside two other former Kodak chemists in leased laboratory space in Hutchison Hall, hence Batesky\u2019s acquaintance with the University\u2019s Department of Chemistry.<\/p>\n

After his contract with Aldrich expired, Batesky worked for four years in Weix\u2019s lab. Now, he\u2019ll be sharing his 25-hour week working for Robert Boeckman, the Marshall D. Gates, Jr. Professor of Chemistry, and for the Laboratory of Laser Energetics.<\/p>\n

\u2018You need all the tricks of the trade\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u201cWorking with Don for the past four years has been a wonderful experience,\u201d Weix says. \u201cWith so much experience in the lab, Don could make anything we dreamed up and even dreamed up his own ideas. Equally important has been the experience and enthusiasm he brings to the job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Batesky is thrilled to still be contributing to his field long after many people would have retired.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m having a circus; it keeps me going,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve told my daughter I\u2019ve got a lab coat I want to wear when I\u2019m displayed on the final day. It\u2019s got my name on it. It\u2019s brand new. And it\u2019s hanging in the lab over there,\u201d Batesky adds, gesturing toward a closet.<\/p>\n

The diseases that claimed his two wives and a girlfriend are further motivation. \u201cIf I could only do something, make something [in the lab] to help cure one of these diseases, it would be great,\u201d Batesky says.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, he enjoys working with students who represent the up-and-coming generation of chemists.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re super intelligent,\u201d Batesky says. \u201cBut they\u2019ve got a lot to learn. I hope I can help prepare them for what they\u2019re going to be facing\u201d when they graduate and begin their professional careers.<\/p>\n

In that way, too, Batesky has made a big contribution, Weix says.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis skills, in large-scale synthesis, heterocycle synthesis, crystallization, and distillation, are not often prevalent in academic research labs but are crucial in industrial work,\u201d Weix says. \u201cMy students have benefitted enormously from working with Don\u2014learning new techniques and the joy of making a new substance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need all the tricks of the trade,\u201d Batesky says. \u201cAnd I\u2019ve got them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Back in 1959, early in his career as a Kodak chemist, Donald Batesky was lead author of a paper in the Journal of Organic Chemistry.<\/em> Now the 85-year-old research associate is lead author again, for discovering a technique that had been overlooked for years. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":286,"featured_media":278492,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[116],"tags":[19862,18572,16072],"class_list":["post-278352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sci-tech","tag-department-of-chemistry","tag-research-finding","tag-school-of-arts-and-sciences"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAt 85, chemist Donald Batesky makes late-career discovery<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The 85-year-old research associate is lead author in the Journal of Organic Chemistry again, for discovering a technique that had been overlooked for years.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/chemistry-donald-batesky-makes-late-career-discovery-278352\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"At 85, chemist Donald Batesky makes late-career discovery\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The 85-year-old research associate is lead author in the Journal of Organic Chemistry again, for discovering a technique that had been overlooked for years.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/chemistry-donald-batesky-makes-late-career-discovery-278352\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News Center\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-10-25T13:00:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-10-27T17:06:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/batesky1_1000x600.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Bob Marcotte\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bob Marcotte\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/chemistry-donald-batesky-makes-late-career-discovery-278352\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/chemistry-donald-batesky-makes-late-career-discovery-278352\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Bob Marcotte\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e0d8d271cd290d592461fa9cefca013b\"},\"headline\":\"At 85, chemist Donald Batesky makes late-career discovery\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-10-25T13:00:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-10-27T17:06:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/chemistry-donald-batesky-makes-late-career-discovery-278352\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":842,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/chemistry-donald-batesky-makes-late-career-discovery-278352\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/batesky1_1000x600.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Department of Chemistry\",\"research finding\",\"School of Arts and Sciences\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Science & Technology\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/chemistry-donald-batesky-makes-late-career-discovery-278352\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/chemistry-donald-batesky-makes-late-career-discovery-278352\\\/\",\"name\":\"At 85, chemist Donald Batesky makes late-career discovery\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/chemistry-donald-batesky-makes-late-career-discovery-278352\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/chemistry-donald-batesky-makes-late-career-discovery-278352\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/batesky1_1000x600.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-10-25T13:00:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-10-27T17:06:52+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e0d8d271cd290d592461fa9cefca013b\"},\"description\":\"The 85-year-old research associate is lead author in the Journal of Organic Chemistry again, for discovering a technique that had been overlooked for years.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/chemistry-donald-batesky-makes-late-career-discovery-278352\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/chemistry-donald-batesky-makes-late-career-discovery-278352\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/chemistry-donald-batesky-makes-late-career-discovery-278352\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/batesky1_1000x600.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/batesky1_1000x600.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":600,\"caption\":\"Donald Batesky, a research associate in the Department of Chemistry, is lead author of a paper just out in the Journal of Organic Chemistry. He is one of 24 University of Rochester employees who are 85 or older. (University of Rochester photo \\\/ Bob Marcotte)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/chemistry-donald-batesky-makes-late-career-discovery-278352\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"At 85, chemist Donald Batesky makes late-career discovery\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/\",\"name\":\"News Center\",\"description\":\"University of Rochester\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e0d8d271cd290d592461fa9cefca013b\",\"name\":\"Bob Marcotte\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/author\\\/bmarcotte\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"At 85, chemist Donald Batesky makes late-career discovery","description":"The 85-year-old research associate is lead author in the Journal of Organic Chemistry again, for discovering a technique that had been overlooked for years.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/chemistry-donald-batesky-makes-late-career-discovery-278352\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"At 85, chemist Donald Batesky makes late-career discovery","og_description":"The 85-year-old research associate is lead author in the Journal of Organic Chemistry again, for discovering a technique that had been overlooked for years.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/chemistry-donald-batesky-makes-late-career-discovery-278352\/","og_site_name":"News Center","article_published_time":"2017-10-25T13:00:40+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-10-27T17:06:52+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/batesky1_1000x600.jpg","width":1000,"height":600,"type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Bob Marcotte","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Bob Marcotte","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/chemistry-donald-batesky-makes-late-career-discovery-278352\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/chemistry-donald-batesky-makes-late-career-discovery-278352\/"},"author":{"name":"Bob Marcotte","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/#\/schema\/person\/e0d8d271cd290d592461fa9cefca013b"},"headline":"At 85, chemist Donald Batesky makes late-career discovery","datePublished":"2017-10-25T13:00:40+00:00","dateModified":"2017-10-27T17:06:52+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/chemistry-donald-batesky-makes-late-career-discovery-278352\/"},"wordCount":842,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/chemistry-donald-batesky-makes-late-career-discovery-278352\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/batesky1_1000x600.jpg","keywords":["Department of Chemistry","research finding","School of Arts and Sciences"],"articleSection":["Science & Technology"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/chemistry-donald-batesky-makes-late-career-discovery-278352\/","url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/chemistry-donald-batesky-makes-late-career-discovery-278352\/","name":"At 85, chemist Donald Batesky makes late-career discovery","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/chemistry-donald-batesky-makes-late-career-discovery-278352\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/chemistry-donald-batesky-makes-late-career-discovery-278352\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/batesky1_1000x600.jpg","datePublished":"2017-10-25T13:00:40+00:00","dateModified":"2017-10-27T17:06:52+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/#\/schema\/person\/e0d8d271cd290d592461fa9cefca013b"},"description":"The 85-year-old research associate is lead author in the Journal of Organic Chemistry again, for discovering a technique that had been overlooked for years.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/chemistry-donald-batesky-makes-late-career-discovery-278352\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/chemistry-donald-batesky-makes-late-career-discovery-278352\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/chemistry-donald-batesky-makes-late-career-discovery-278352\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/batesky1_1000x600.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/batesky1_1000x600.jpg","width":1000,"height":600,"caption":"Donald Batesky, a research associate in the Department of Chemistry, is lead author of a paper just out in the Journal of Organic Chemistry. He is one of 24 University of Rochester employees who are 85 or older. (University of Rochester photo \/ Bob Marcotte)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/chemistry-donald-batesky-makes-late-career-discovery-278352\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"At 85, chemist Donald Batesky makes late-career discovery"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/","name":"News Center","description":"University of Rochester","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/#\/schema\/person\/e0d8d271cd290d592461fa9cefca013b","name":"Bob Marcotte","url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/author\/bmarcotte\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/286"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278352"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278352\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":279022,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278352\/revisions\/279022"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}