Grad student Xi-Jie Dai and Postdoc Associate Haining Wang receive the provincial excellent student researcher award

Dr. Xi-Jie Dai and Dr. Haining Wang share the prestigious Étudiants-chercheurs étoiles award (September, 2017) from the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Nature et technologies (FRQNT). This award recognizes the exceptional research contributions of university students (master's, doctorate), postdoctoral fellows and members of professional orders who are enrolled in advanced research training programs in any of the areas covered by the three Fonds de recherche du Québec.

Using nanomaterials to illuminate new pathways for old chemistry

Researchers at McGill University have discovered a new way to use nanomaterials of a particular size and shape to perform old chemistry in a new fashion. Their finding, published in ACS Catalysis, highlights the use of cubic silver nanoparticles to harvest light for the activation of hydrogen in their hydrogenation reactions.

McGill University introduces new Bio-Physical Sciences undergraduate curriculum

Bio-Physical Science seeks to understand the functioning of living systems from the level of individual molecules up to ecosystems by applying tools and theories drawn from physical sciences. The departments of Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Mathematics, Physiology, and Computer Science have brought together a set of undergraduate programs encompassing the many aspects of this expanding, interdisciplinary field.

Congratulations to our Graduate Student Awardees for 2016-2017!

We are very proud to announce the names of a the 2017 Graduate student awards! The award ceremony took place on a patio of the department on a sunny June 27 2017. On the photo, see from left to right: Rob Harkness, Yasser Gidi, Mihai Burai Patrascu, Igor Huskic, Collin Sonnichsen, Richard Lincoln, Leonora Abdullahu, Dustin Duncan, Zheng Huang, Sebastian Skanvik. The full list of awards is below:

RESEARCH AWARD

Congratulations to J.P. Lumb on his tenure and appointment as associate professor

Prof. J.P. Lumb received his tenure and is promoted to the rank of associate professor. Congratulations!

Bio-Inspired Coupling of Phenols and Amines

1,2-Oxy-aminoarenes are omnipresent in biologically active molecules and advanced materials, but current syntheses are often atom and step inefficient, and can require highly optimized and expensive catalysts. Recent work, conducted by graduate student Kenn Esguerra and postdoc Wenbo Xu in the Lumb Group, has made important strides towards improving the efficiency of 1,2-oxy-amioarene synthesis by interfacing two unrelated, but complementary, biosynthetic processes.

The Li group uses alkyl carbanions to make greener nucleophilic additions

Xijie Dai, Haining Wang and C.J. Li have recently demonstrated that carbonyl derivatives could be used in a similar fashion to Grignard reagents using a smart Umpolung strategy and thus replaced organometallic-based reagents for nucleophilic carbonyl addition reactions for alcohol synthesis.

The second issue of the student-led McGill Green Chemistry Journal is out!

For the second year in a row, students from the Green Chemistry course (CHEM 462) are releasing their journal issue, published online as The McGill Green Chemistry Journal. This volume gathers the reviews written by students who took the course.

Dima Perepichka becomes Sir William C. Macdonald Chair in Chemistry

The Sir William C. Macdonald Chair in Chemistry was established in 1901 and is one of the oldest Named Chairs at the University.

Dima has a significant international reputation that was recently validated in the Full Professor promotion process, and are one of the world’s most creative “designers” and makers of novel materials.

Graduate student makes a video for the 2017 NSERC Science, Action! competition

Graduate student Bryan Lee from Dr. Ariya  group has submitted a video for the 2017 NSERC Science, Action! competition. His video is titled “Mercury on the Move”, which briefly speaks on the impact of mercury pollution in the environment to the public. His video is live on YouTube now, which can be found here.

Memorial Tribute – Donald Duke Patterson (1927-2016)

It is with great sadness that we announce the untimely passing of Emeritus Professor Donald Patterson at age 89. Donald Patterson was born on October 13, 1927, in Montreal where he excelled at school, first at Selwyn House and then at Westmount High. In 1944, he placed first in the province in the Quebec high school final exams. He went on to study Mathematics and Physics at McGill University (B.Sc. ’48 ; M.Sc.

Grad Student Cristina Mottillo receives a national thesis award

Dr. Cristina Mottillo is the recipient of the prestigious 2017 CCUCC Chemistry Doctoral Award from the Canadian Institute of Chemistry (CIC). The Award, sponsored by the Canadian Council of University Chemistry Chairs (CCUCC), recognizes a recent Ph.D. graduate for their outstanding achievement and potential in research. Cristina performed her Ph.D.

The Tsantrizos and Berghuis groups unravel important mechanistic insight into metabolic regulation/dysregulation with important implications for the treatment of cancer

Human farnesyl pyrophosphate synthase (hFPPS) plays a key role in the prenylation of small GTPases, such as RAS and RAP 1A, which are intimately involved in oncogenesis. An allosteric pocket of the enzyme has been of particular interest as a therapeutic target, however, its natural biological function has been (until now) unknown.

Mittermaier and Moores secure funding for two major instruments via CFI-John R. Evans Leaders Fund

Prof. Tony Mittermaier was awarded a CFI-John R. Evans Leaders Fund to acquire a 800 MHz nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) magnet. Most human diseases are caused by malfunctions in the fundamental molecules of life: proteins, DNA, and RNA. Studying the structure and flexibility of the molecules at the atomic level therefore helps us to understand diseases and find cures, much in the same way that the blueprint of an engine can help us to fix it when it is broken.

Janine Mauzeroll becomes Technical Editor for Journal of The Electrochemical Society

ECS recently announced the appointment of Janine Mauzeroll to the position of Technical Editor for the Organic & Bioelectrochemistry area for the Journal of The Electrochemical Society (JES). Read more about Dr. Mauzeroll’s research areas and her plans for growing this area of JES.