On May 24-25, 2016, experts from the field of green (sustainable) chemistry gathered in Washington, DC, for a workshop on Sustainable Chemistry Technologies. The event was organized by the National Academy of Science’s Board on Chemical Sciences and Technology at the request of the United States General Accountability Office.


The Udho Parsini Diwan Award rewards the graduate student in the McGill Chemistry program who has written the best research article published the year before. Here is how Anna Alberston presents her winning article.

McGill Newsroom
Rare minerals from Siberia found to have same structure as some man-made metal-organic frameworks
One of the hottest new materials is a class of porous solids known as metal-organic frameworks, or MOFs. These man-made materials were introduced in the 1990s, and researchers around the world are working on ways to use them as molecular sponges for applications such as hydrogen storage, carbon sequestration, or photovoltaics.
...In 2011, the mechanochemist Tomislav Friscic and his team used mechanochemical methods to make bismuth subsalicylate, the active ingredient of Pepto-Bismol, by grinding together bismuth oxide and salicylic acid. The method not only does away with solvents, but also uses bismuth oxide, a safe reagent, in lieu of toxic bismuth salts.

We would like to congratulate Dr. Manish K. Mishra, currently working in the Department of Chemistry as a Postdoctoral Fellow with Prof. Robin Rogers, who has been selected to be among the 45 finalists for the 2016 Reaxys PhD Prize. The Reaxys PhD Prize is open to students currently in a PhD program or who recently completed their PhD, with emphasis on the areas of synthetic chemistry (e.g., organic, inorganic, organometallic, coordination, medical, materials, and polymer chemistry).

This year, the McGill convocation of the faculty of science highlighted the McGill efforts in Green Chemistry. Paul Anastas, the director of the Center for Green Chemistry and Green Engineering at Yale University, who is well known as the "father of Green Chemistry", received a honorary degree and delivered an inspirational address to the graduating students. Encouraging them to embrass the challenges of the future, he told them: "Change is happening, what we need are change-drivers".

Held May 9-11, our first summer school for trainees was a resounding success. Co-sponsored by CREATE in Green Chemistry and TISED, Dr. Bhavik Bakshi (Ohio State University) presented a full-day workshop on life cycle analysis (LCA). Then Drs Adelina Voutchkova and Jakub Kostal (Georges Washington University) followed with a full-day toxicology workshop and Dr. Chris Wanderwal (Univerity of California, Irvine) presented on his research.

Prof. Tomislav Friščić secured his tenure and is promoted to the rank of associate professor, effective June 1 2016. Congratulations! Read more about him and the other assistant professors who were also promoted to associate at McGill in 2016 in the McGill Reporter.

On May 2 Prof. Karine Auclair and Gonzalo Cosa were promoted to the rank of full professors. Congratulations to both of them. This piece of news was covered by the McGill Reporter.

Alain Li and Aurélie Lacroix, PhD students in Chemistry, were selected from a strong pool of applicants as finalists in McGill’s French 3MT competition. The competition took place on Wednesday, March 16, in the Thomson House Ballroom. Aurélie Lacroix won one of the 3 prizes with her presentation "Ciblage thérapeutique avec des cages d'ADN". Aurélie will defend McGill's colors at the upcoming Quebec wide competition. Congratulations Aurélie!

The style of architecture found on the McGill campus is fascinating, to the point where it was recently featured in the documentary series "Archi Branche" aired on the Canal Savoir channel (available only in French). Among other the architecture of various buildings on campus, the latest renovations in Otto Maass are discussed in the context of the special needs associated with laboratory work.

In a recent article in the McGill Tribune, PhD candidates from the Mittermaier and Cosa groups share their thoughts on study, research life and more. Read the article

It is with great sadness that we announce the untimely passing of Emeritus Professor Denis F.R. Gilson, following a relatively short period of hospitalization. He was a close colleague of many of us in the Department of Chemistry at McGill and throughout the university. Prof. Gilson was educated initially in the U.K. at University College London, where he obtained a B.Sc. degree in Chemistry in 1957. He then moved to Canada to embark upon his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Chemistry at the University of British Columbia (1957–62). He completed his Ph.D.
By Katherine Gombay, McGill Newsroom
McGill is proud to announce that five researchers have been awarded over $2.4 million in NSERC Strategic Partnership Grants for 2016.

By Chris Chipello, McGill Newsroom
Could a cheap molecule used to disinfect swimming pools provide the key to creating a new form of DNA nanomaterials?