Shaking Off The Rust

The heavier a car is, the more fuel it consumes, so finding ways to reduce vehicle weight is a key goal in the auto industry.

Light can do more

Researchers at McGill University have discovered a clean photo-driven pathway for the efficient synthesis of aryl iodides under extremely mild conditions. The finding, published June 18 in J. Am. Chem. Soc., provides a more straightforward and greener option for preparing versatile iodide reagents, and avoids the problem of metal residue in synthetic chemistry.

Turning a McGill invention into a cheap and revolutionary water purification platform

Dr. Theresa Dankovich has gone a long way since earning a PhD at McGill from the group of Derek Gray. While at McGill she invented a method to synthetize silver nanoparticle within blotting paper, which could be directly used as powerful antibacterial filters. Now she is developping this idea to create books to help bring safe water around the world.

Prof. Moitessier helps teen scientists make a breakthrough in Ebola research

Congratulations to Prof. Moitessier, whose generous volunteer assistance with a local High School student led to the discovery of a molecule with potential to inhibit the spread of the deadly Ebola disease, and earned 1st place National Science Fair Honours, an interview on CBC daybreak, and a story on national CBC.

Appointment of R. Bruce Lennox as Dean of the Faculty of Science

McGill’s Board of Governors accepted the recommendation of Principal Suzanne Fortier to appoint Prof. R. Bruce Lennox as Dean of the Faculty of Science at its meeting on 21 May 2015. Prof. Lennox will take office on 1 July 2015 for a five-year term.

McGill Chemistry team second prize at the 2015 Dobson Cup

On May 14th 2015, E-Innovation, a team all composed of McGill Chemistry staff and students, was awarded the second place of the 2015 McGill Dobson Cup Start-UP Competition for entrepreneurs in the Innovation Driven Track. The co-founders of E-Innovation are Prof. Janine Mauzeroll, Laurence Danis, Dr. Tomer Noyhouzer, Dr. Michael E. Snowden and Dr. Ushula M. Tefashe.  The team would like to thank once again their mentors Marc St-Arnaud, Gregory Kalinin and Pr.

McGill Chemistry professors lead or participate in 8 newly awarded FRQNT grants

The faculty members of the department of chemistry successfully secured funding in this year round of FRQNT equipes. Congratulations to Chris Barrett, Jim Gleason, Audrey Moores, Brad Siwick for leading winning applications and Tomislav Friscic, Chris Barrett, Nic Moitessier, Masad Dahma, CJ Li, and Brad Siwick for participating in new initiatives.

Green Chemistry Trivia Night

The McGill Green Chemistry Student Association hosted a Green Chemistry Trivia Night on Mar 20 2015 at Thompson House. The association was formed by CREATE trainees following a CREATE seminar on How to Start Your Own Student-Led Green Chemistry Initiative by Laura Reyes (U. of T.) last August. The Trivia Night was a resounding success, with over 60 participants attending.

Prof. Tomislav Friscic is McGill’s newest William Dawson Scholar

The William Dawson Scholar award recognizes a scholar developing into an outstanding and original researcher of world-class caliber who is poised to become a leader in his or her field, similar to that of a CRC Tier 2. The Department of Chemistry is proud to host the 2015 Scholar. Congratulations Tomislav Friscic.

Come join us at Pacifichem 2015

Some of our faculty members are involved in the organizing of Pacifichem 2015 symposia in Honolulu on Dec 15-20. Submit an abstract before April 15 (extended deadline) or register (early bird rate) before October 15 and join us there!

CERC in Green Chemistry Robin Rogers talks about Green Chemistry and his move to McGill

Robin Rogers was interviewed by C&E News and talks about his inspiration, green chemistry, innovation and McGill.

http://cen.acs.org/content/cen/articles/93/i7/CEN-Talks-Green-Chemistry-...

Oxidizing alcohol without TEMPO

The Arndtsen and Lumb research groups jointly report a copper-catalyzed aerobic oxidation of alcohols without the use of traditional N-oxide co-oxidants. The tyrosinase inspired Cu-diamine complex efficiently mediates the oxidation of both activated and un-activated alcohols at ambient pressure and temperature.

A Simple Solution for the Synthesis of Lignans

Graduate student Anna Albertson and Assistant Professor Jean-Philip Lumb report a novel, bio-inspired approach to lignan natural products, which solves a longstanding challenge of mimicking their biosynthesis in the lab. The method provides an exceptionally efficient route to the furanolignans tanegool and pinoresinol. The work was recently published in Angewandte Chemie.