Introduction to the themed issue in honour of Esther Oliveros

Born in 1948 in Montauban (France), Esther, the eldest daughter of a family of refugees from the Spanish Civil War, got her Baccalauréat in 1966 and four years later received the degree of chemical engineer of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Toulouse (ENSCT). Graduating first of her class, she was awarded with the “Prix de la Ville de Toulouse”. After a Diplôme d'Etudes Approfondies (DEA), she continued with her PhD thesis under the supervision of Armand Lattes and Monique Rivière at the Université Paul Sabatier of Toulouse and brilliantly passed her examination of a thèse d’état (Dr. ès Sciences) in 1977. For the quality of her thesis on Réarrangements thermique et photochimique d'oxaziridines bicycliques she received the “Paul Sabatier” prize. This work is an effective combination of a theoretical approach to the stereoelectronic control of the rearrangement (cooperation with Prof. Jean-Paul Malrieu) and its experimental confirmation. As early as 1972 she was accepted as a member of the CNRS.

Right after her PhD thesis, Esther chose to work with mentors Monique Rivière and Marie-Thérèse Maurette, trying to elucidate the ground and excited state reactivities of different chromophores in microheterogeneous media (micelles and microemulsions).

During a first post-doctoral stay (1980) at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (André M. Braun), Esther developed the primary tools for investigating the photochemical oxidation of various chemicals solubilized in micellar systems. One of the main topics involved the differentiation of superoxide and singlet oxygen at charged micellar surfaces, and those experiments led to the successful development of specific and quantitative analyses of the two reactive oxygen species. After her return to Toulouse, research in this domain continued and the tight cooperation between the two groups in Toulouse and Lausanne evolved in 1983 into an “Action Thématique Programmée (ATP) Internationale”. Soon after, a ”Programme International de Coopération Scientifique (PICS) en Chimie” was established between the CNRS and the Swiss National Science Foundation, involving not just the two research groups but also those of Jean Faure (Paris-Sud), Gion Calzaferri (Bern) and Hans-Jürg Marthy (Banyuls-sur-Mer).

Focusing on singlet oxygen analysis for both sensitizer characterization and reactivity studies, it was decided to assemble a NIR detection system at the Lausanne laboratory. At the same time, the project of a textbook on photochemical technology was born, strongly fostered by Presses Polytechniques et Universitaires Romandes, the EPFL publisher. Esther spent many months in Lausanne searching for literature, writing, discussing, correcting, etc. The book’s first edition (1986, in French), co-authored by André M. Braun, Marie-Thérèse Maurette and Esther Oliveros,¹ found a highly favourable response.

From 1988 to 1992, Esther worked as a Research Fellow at the EPFL. The NIR-detection system became operational and she enthusiastically focused her research interests on singlet oxygen, its quantitative analysis, its reactivity and its application to photochemical synthesis, as well as the first steps of photodynamic therapy. During these pioneering times, she participated in one of the first initiatives on the evaluation of phototoxicity in collaboration with Dieter Vonderschmitt, Zürich, and with the financial support of the Roche Foundation. The topic found an international stage with the organization of a Summer School on “Light and Pharmaceutical Chemistry” by the European, Inter-American and Japanese Photochemistry Societies (EPA, IAPS and JPA) in Spiez, Switzerland.

Esther closely followed the Lausanne group involvement in vacuum-ultraviolet (VUV) photochemistry and in beginning a new research line on environmental techniques.² She was instrumental in setting the group's links to Alberto Capparelli, La Plata, interested in this application of photochemical technology. Nevertheless, Esther's “hobby” remained the statistical methods for experimental design and process optimization (OED) and, together with Claudio Oller do Nascimento (São Paulo), a system combining OED and neural network (ANN) methodologies was developed.³ Just before leaving Lausanne, the large project of publishing the original textbook Technologie Photochimique in English, with the help of David F. Ollis and Nick Serpone, came to an end.⁴ The book practically sold out within the following two years, and some copies are now offered in the internet at astonishingly high prices.

Married to André Braun, her work in Lausanne ceased in 1992 when he was nominated to the Hewlett-Packard endowed Chair of Techniques of Environmental and Process Analysis of the University of Karlsruhe, Germany. Most of the equipment could be moved and fresh up-to-date equipment was installed at the new location. Many novel tasks called for an adequate structure and Esther headed the team dealing with, not only investigations in the domain of singlet oxygen, but also studies on the Fenton and photochemically-enhanced Fenton processes for wastewater treatment.⁵ Embedded in the Faculty of Chemical and Process Engineering, her expertise in OED stirred the interest of her colleagues and for many years Esther taught 4th year graduate and PhD students as a Lehrbeauftragte. She was offered to habilitate in Karlsruhe (Umhabilitierung) and was nominated Apl. Professor of the University of Karlsruhe.

Esther participated in establishing many bilateral research agreements and those with Alberto Capparelli (La Plata), Claudio Oller do Nascimento (São Paulo), Po Lock Yue (Hong Kong), Santi Nonell (Barcelona) and Guillermo Orellana (Madrid) merit singling out. Two generations of academic graduates from the INIFTA, La Plata (Argentina), passed through her laboratories developing the photochemistry of pterin derivatives, a novel domain of research.⁶ Bilateral projects also contributed to the fast development of the environmental techniques in São Paulo, and new photochemical reactors were evaluated between Karlsruhe and Hong Kong. The success of these projects is best reflected in their financial support by governmental agencies for almost 20 years. The collaboration with the University of São Paulo came to an apogee with the creation of a UNIBRAL project introducing examinations at the undergraduate level recognized by both Universities.

Esther also founded her own enterprise, Oliveros Consulting. Getting in touch with numerous small and large companies, applications of both the photochemical technology and the OED methodology was spread and brought a new level of experience to the university research group.

For Esther, Science is a large part of her life, and her desire to initiate and share her motivation with others, particularly young colleagues, will never stop. Her classes and lectures reflect her unlimited enthusiasm. But, pure Pascalian-wise, her approach is to ask for in-depth, uncompromising discussion of facts and impartial evaluation of projects and work. In times of “publish or perish” this is not to the taste of everybody, and her years as an Associate Editor of the Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology, B: Biology (1993–2001) and of Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences brought her much recognition but not necessarily friends.

Again, it was her husband who triggered the next move with his retirement from the University of Karlsruhe in 2006. After 18 years abroad, Esther decided to go back to her home laboratory in Toulouse. Two years later, she was promoted to Directrice de Recherche at the CNRS.

So far, Esther is author or co-author of 2 textbooks, 8 book chapters, some 120 publications and reviews and 7 patents. She has supervised 28 diploma theses, 33 PhD theses and 10 post-doctoral positions.

Esther's 60th birthday was celebrated with a very interesting special symposium, organized by her Brazilian colleagues in the brand new Center for Environmental Research (CEPEMA) at Cubatão, SP.⁷ The nearby beach town of Guarujá became, for a weekend, home of the Latin American branch of the big family of her friends and colleagues.

Remembrance of this symposium is a perfect way to stop writing of science and professional achievements. Caring for her family and her friends, Esther is always waiting for their news and likes to share joyful moments with them. She is a gifted dancer and leaping rhythmically is one of her preferred sports, even before thinking of skiing, hiking or sailing. Calm moments are scarce, mostly late at night, when she enjoys reading and listening to the music.

The present compilation of publications dedicated to her at the occasion of her 60th birthday reflects the profound gratitude and affection that all authors share for her. We all wish her the best in the last phase of her professional career but, more importantly, we wish she may enjoy the new home, her close family, the visiting friends and some leisure to do what she always wanted to but never took the time.

This issue is for you, Esther. In the name of all contributors and friends, congratulations!

 

Marie-Thérèse Maurette, Guest editor

Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France

Guillermo Orellana, Guest editor

Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain

References

1. A. M. Braun, M.-T. Maurette and E. Oliveros, Technologie Photochimique, Presses Polytechniques Romandes, Lausanne, 1986.
2. O. Legrini, E. Oliveros and A. M. Braun, Photochemical Processes for Water Treatment, Chem. Rev., 1993, 93, 671–698.
3. C. A. Oller do Nascimento, E. Oliveros and A. M. Braun, Neural Network Modeling for Photochemical Processes, Chem. Eng. Process., 1994, 33, 319–324; E. Oliveros, S. Göb, S. H. Bossmann, A. M. Braun, C. A. Oller do Nascimento and R. Guardani, Waste Water Treatment by the Photochemical Enhanced Fenton Reaction: Modeling and Optimization Using Experimental Design and Artificial Neural Networks, in 3rd Asia Pacific Conference on Sustainable Energy and Environmental Technology, 3–6.12.2000, Hong Kong, proceedings ed. X. Hu and P. L. Yue, World Scientific, Singapore, 2000, pp. 577–581.
4. A. M. Braun, M.-T. Maurette and E. Oliveros, Photochemical Technology, transl. D. F. Ollis and N. Serpone, Wiley, Chichester, 1991.
5. E. Oliveros, O. Legrini, M. Hohl, T. Müller and A. M. Braun, Large Scale Development of a Light-Enhanced Fenton Reaction by Optimal Experimental Design, Chem. Eng. Process., 1997, 36, 397–405; J. J. Pignatello, E. Oliveros and A. MacKay, Advanced Oxidation Processes for Organic Contaminant Destruction Based on the Fenton Reaction and Related Chemistry, Crit. Rev. Environ. Sci. Technol., 2006, 36, 1–84.
6. G. Petroselli, R. Erra-Balsells, F. M. Cabrerizo, C. Lorente, A. L. Capparelli, A. M. Braun, E. Oliveros and A. H. Thomas, Photosensitization of 2′-Deoxyadenosine-5′-monophosphate by Pterin, Org. Biomol. Chem., 2007, 5, 2792–2799.
7. A. M. Braun, Symposium in Honor of Dr. Esther Oliveros on the Occasion of her 60th Birthday, EPA Newsletter, December 2008, p. 18.

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