David Harpp (1937-2026)

It is with a heavy heart that we write to inform you know that David Harpp, the Tomlinson Professor Emeritus in Science Education, our colleague, but also to many of us in the department a teacher, mentor and friend for many decades, passed away Saturday February 14th, peacefully and in the presence of those closest to him.

McGill researchers develop a cheaper, safer material for use in solar panels, sensors and optical devices

Using proteins from a common tobacco plant virus, McGill chemistry researchers have developed a simple, eco-friendly way to arrange gold nanoparticles into ultrathin sheets, strengthening the particles’ optical properties. The result: cheaper, safer materials for solar panels, sensors and advanced optical devices. 

Professor Audrey Moores (Chemistry) awarded the Canadian Pacific Chair in Biotechnology

Congratulations to Professor Audrey Moores (Chemistry), who has been awarded the Canadian Pacific Chair in Biotechnology!

The Canadian Pacific Chair in Biotechnology is an endowed chair created in 1984 to promote research in the field of biotechnology. The chair is awarded for a five-year term and rotates among McGill's Faculties of Medicine, Science and Agriculture.

New technique replicates microplastics in the lab with greater precision

McGill University researchers have developed a novel method to replicate four types of microplastics commonly found in the environment, providing researchers with a standardized approach to study their toxic effects.

Dr. Alison Bain (PhD’21) named to C&EN’s 2025 Talented 12

Congratulations to Dr. Alison Bain, who completed her PhD in the Preston Group at McGill in 2021, on being selected for Chemical & Engineering News’s Talented 12 list for 2025. Now an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Oregon State University, Dr. Bain continues to develop state-of-the-art optical trapping techniques to study aerosols at the single-particle level.

A HoLDI mass spectrometry platform for airborne nanoplastic detection

· There are no established protocols for nanoplastic detection within complex environmental matrices.

· Mass spectrometry (MS) analysis of environmental nanoplastics is impeded by methodological constraints.

· Ariya's lab, namely Zi Wang, present a versatile platform evolved from matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) MS for airborne nano/microplastic research.

MC2 in Cordoba U

Representing McGill University’s Chemistry Department, the MC² facility, and the QCAM-FRQNT strategic cluster, Petr Fiurasek was honored to be invited to the University of Córdoba to deliver two lectures. One presentation was part of the advanced characterization course for physics master’s students. Beyond the scientific discussions, the visit aimed to foster collaboration between the University of Córdoba and Quebec universities through MITACS and various mobility programs

Eric McCalla Na-ion battery research is in the news

The Eric McCalla lab's work improving Na-ion battery cathodes has been highlighted in a nice article and video by Patrick de Bellefeuille

Matt Harrington receives the 2024 Award for Excellence in Materials Research Chemical Institute of Canada

The Award for Research Excellence in Materials Chemistry is presented to a Canadian citizen or landed immigrant who has made an outstanding contribution to materials chemistry while working in Canada. Congratulations to Professor Matthew J. Harrington of McGill University on being the recipient of this award. https://buff.ly/48ZBMhp

New sustainable catalyst: Fast, selective, reductive conversion of CO2!

Anthropogenic climate change drastically affects our planet, with CO2 being the most critical gaseous driver. Here, we present a fast, effective, and sustainable route for coupling diverse alcohols, amines and amides with CO2 via heterogenization of a natural metal-based homogeneous catalyst through decorating on functionalized graphene oxide.

Highly functionalized all-cellulose nanocomposites via bacteria-enabled in-situ modifications

Dr. Seyed Mohammad Amin Ojagh, from Prof. van de Ven's research group and his colleagues, introduced a novel class of highly functionalized nanocellulose-based materials for diverse applications, recently published in the Chemical Engineering Journal. This study involved the in-situ modification of bacterial cellulose (BC) with hairy nanocellulose (HNC), resulting in nanocomposites with enhanced physicochemical properties compared to BC alone.

The Faculty of Science Excellence award goes to... Chantal!

Kudos to Chantal who received the Faculty of Science Excellence award, a testament to her exceptional contributions to our graduate students and department at large over the past 38 years. Chantal's work is multifaceted, and the success of our nowadays well over 230 Graduate Student Population hinges in great part on her relentless work in our department.

Nanoplastics in Water: Artificial Intelligence-Assisted 4D Physicochemical Characterization and Rapid In Situ Detection

For the first time, The Ariya lab present a much-needed technology for the in situ and real-time detection of nanoplastics in aquatic systems. We show an artificial intelligence-assisted nanodigital in-line holographic microscopy (AI-assisted nano-DIHM) that automatically classifies nano- and microplastics simultaneously from nonplastic particles within milliseconds in stationary and dynamic natural waters, without sample preparation. AI-assisted nano-DIHM i

A para- to meta-isomerization of phenols

Phenols are a common functional group of many naturally occurring and biologically active molecules, including many that are part of the human diet. In 2020 alone, ~60% of small molecule drugs approved by the FDA contained a phenol or a closely related phenolic ether, underscoring their importance to the pharmaceutical industry.

Global Undergraduate Awards- Glen Loo

Recently, Glen Loo from the Lumb Group received an award from the Global Undergraduate Awards (GUA) for the work he did during a 5-month research internship. Glen had come to McGill from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, and worked with graduate mentor Carlos Azpilcueta-Nicolas on the photoinduced dearomatization of biaryl compounds.