Green Chemistry @ MUN

Wishing all our friends, collaborators,  and peers around the world the happiest of holidays. We have had a wonderful year and are looking forward to an amazing 2020 with more science, discoveries, adventures, and happiness. And of course, we are wishing for an uneventful move into the new Core Science Facility

Fran Kerton and Chris Kozak are visiting the University of the West Indies – St. Augustine (Trinidad and Tobago). Their host is Dr. Nigel Jalsa, Department of Chemistry. They have given departmental seminars and workshops on Green Chemistry, and working with students and faculty on future collaborations and proposals.

The traditional post-defense photo for Dr. Hart Plommer – thank you to the Chair and Examiners, and Dr. Katz for standing in for Dr. Kerton while she was travelling

Congratulations to Dr. Hart Plommer who successfully defended his thesis and convocated in absentia (alongside Dr. George Margoutidis). We were delighted to watch Dr. Kenson Ambrose and Dr. Jennifer Murphy cross the stage and receive their doctorate degrees earlier this week. Congrats again to them all.

Juliana (Ju) Vidal (PhD candidate, Kerton group) was elected to the exec of NESSE (Network of Early-Career Sustainable Scientists and Engineers). She contributed another fantastic blog post to the School of Graduate Studies blog in which she reflected on her first two years at MUN. She also had an editorial piece published in the ACCN (Chemical institute of Canada’s news magazine) on science communication. Finally, Ju is  volunteering with the wonderful organization Beyond Benign to help with their communications and social media activities.

Ju presenting her research

Courtney’s M.Sc. thesis was successfully examined and she received a Hebron Teaching Fellowship for her future studies in education. Her convocation was this past week. Congrats Courtney!

Kori Andrea (Vanier Scholar, Michael Smith Study Supplement Holder) was awarded a poster prize at the Dalton Younger Members Event in Cardiff. Kori is currently spending 6 months with the Weller Group at Oxford University.

Kori and Hart’s review was published and is free (open access) until October 26 (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S001430571931523X?dgcid=author)

Dr. Kerton’s photo has been added to the ‘dude wall’ in the department of chemistry and so she will keep Dr. Dawe company (Louise Dawe’s photo is mentioned in this C&EN article https://cen.acs.org/careers/diversity/Chemists-grapple-lack-diversity-displayed/97/i37?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=CEN). Thank you Dr. Rowley!

Dr.s Kerton and Kozak visited Khon Kaen University to participate in the Thailand International Symposium on Green Chemistry, Sustainable Materials and Fuels. Dr. Kerton gave a keynote lecture and Dr. Kozak an invited lecture. We also discussed future collaborations and student exchanges with the Faculty of Science and Faculty of Engineering….so watch this space.

They also gave four invited lectures at different Universities in Japan: Nagoya, http://www.itbm.nagoya-u.ac.jp/gtr/uploads/7511f8e803e0bf792bd993385d4044f259b7ca4e.pdf, Tokyo http://www.chembio.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/data/lec1910.pdf, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology https://t.co/RzZlc5913b?amp=1, and Kyoto, es.kuicr.kyoto-u.ac.jp/index_en.html. One particular outcome of this trip is the potential for collaborations and exchanges with the University of Kyoto (Institute for Chemical Research).

Dinner with colleagues from Nagoya University

Tour of a sake brewery with Prof. Masafumi Hirano (Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology)

Dr.s Kerton and Kozak with Prof. Kyoko Nozaki and their gift of a photo of the Newfoundland coast

At the Institute for Chemical Research (Uji Campus, Kyoto University), exploring Uji and dinner with Prof. Nakamura

Dinner with colleagues from the Institute for Chemical Research, Kyoto University

To group members, please let us know if we have forgotten anything! It has been a very busy couple of months.

Lots of milestones were passed and hoops jumped through 🙂

Keegan Start (MSc candidate, Kozak group) and Tim Anderson (PhD candidate, Kozak group) gave their departmental seminars.

Dr. Nelaine Mora-Diez (Thompson Rivers University, BC) was awarded the Anderson Award Lecture and on the same day Tim Anderson received his graduate teaching award for his dedicated teaching in Chem 3211 (Inorganic Chemistry).

Courtney Laprise (M.Sc., co-supervised by Kerton and Kozak) successfully completed her degree and will be pursuing a degree in Education next year.

Dr. Jennifer Murphy (co-supervised by Kerton and Hawboldt) successfully defended her doctorate degree, and Hart Plommer submitted his thesis for examination. Dr. Murphy is moving to Ontario to start a position at Windsor University as a postdoctoral fellow with Dr. Nick Vukotic

Both groups had several papers accepted/published:

K. A. Andrea, H. Plommer and F. M. Kerton*, “Ring-Opening Polymerizations and Copolymerizations of Epoxides Using Aluminum- and Boron-Centered Catalysts”, European Polymer Journal, 2019, In Press, Special Issue on Ring-Opening Polymerization, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eurpolymj.2019.08.029

K. A. Andrea, and F. M. Kerton*, “Functionalized Polycarbonates via Triphenylborane Catalyzed Polymerization-Hydrosilylation” RSC Advances, 2019, 9, 26542 – 26546, DOI: 10.1039/c9ra05947d  OPEN ACCESS

K. A. Andrea, E. D. Butler, T. R. Brown, T. S. Anderson, D. Jagota, C. Rose, E. M. Lee, S. D. Goulding, J. N. Murphy, F. M. Kerton* and C. M. Kozak*, “Iron Complexes for Cyclic and Polycarbonate Formation: Selectivity Control from Ligand Design and Metal-Center Geometry” Inorganic Chemistry, 2019, 58, 11231−11240.

Y. Liu, L. N. Dawe and C. M. Kozak*, “Bimetallic and Trimetallic Zinc Amino-bis(phenolate) Complexes for Ring-opening Polymerization of rac-Lactide” Dalton Trans. 2019, Accepted, In Press.

….and there are several more under-revision, under review or about to be submitted. So keep an eye on our publication list and blog for more news!

It has been a very busy month – congratulations to all on their achievements.

Fran Kerton and Chris Kozak attended IUPAC’s World Chemistry Congress and General Assembly #IUPAC100 #IUPAC2019Paris.  Talks were given on our group’s research, Fran participated in ChemRAWN committee meetings and we had a fun time socializing with other chemists! and making plans for #IUPAC2021Montreal.

With friends on a ghost walk!

IUPAC ChemRAWN committee

Ju attended the ACS Summer School on Green Chemistry and Sustainable Energy. She had an awesome time, learnt lots, had fun and made new friends. Thank you to Mary Kirchoff and all the organizers, and the sponsors ACS, ACS Petroleum Research Fund, and ACS Green Chemistry Institute.

Driving a hydrogen fueled car

White water rafting

Hiking in Golden, CO

Presenting research

Kori traveled to the UK to take up her visiting student position at the University of Oxford with Prof. Andy Weller. She is funded through an NSERC Michael Smith Foreign Study Supplement, and will be expanding her knowledge of boron chemistry.

Kori at Magdalen College, University of Oxford, July 2019

Dr. Khaled Omari (PhD 2012, Kerton group) will be moving from Canada to the Middle East later this summer.  He has accepted an appointment at the American University of the Middle East in Kuwait and will be an analytical chemistry professor. Congratulations Khaled!  Here are some photos from his time at Memorial University:

Photo after Khaled’s defence: Dr. Schlaf (University of Guelph) and Dr. Kerton attended via webcamera. Dr. Solberg was Chair. Dr. Helleur and Dr. Hawboldt (not in photo) were the internal examiners.

Group Photo

Graduate Students Award Ceremony, May 2010

Group Photo – July 2009

Khaled Omari, PhD Candidate, using microwave reactor

Boxing Day 2008

Although, Khaled had been working in industry in Canada for sometime – he had a drive to give back and teach others about chemistry so he is very happy to move back into the academic environment although he is sad to be leaving his home in Canada.

Khaled began his PhD with Fran in September 2008 after completing his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Jordan and helping to set up water analysis labs there (7 years of industrial work experience pre-PhD). Khaled published several papers during his 4 year PhD with Fran:

K. W. Omari, J. E. Besaw and F. M. Kerton, “Hydrolysis of Chitosan Into Levulinic Acid and 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural In Water Under Microwave Irradiation”, Green Chemistry, 2012, 14, 1480-1487, DOI:10.1039/C2GC35048C cited 100 times!

M. W. Drover, K. W. Omari, J. N. Murphy and F. M. Kerton, “Formation of a renewable amide via direct conversion of N-acetyl-D-glucosamine”, RSC Adv., 2012, 2, 4642-4643,  DOI:10.1039/C2RA20578E

K. W. Omari, L. Dodot and F. M. Kerton, “A Simple One-Pot Dehydration Process to Convert N-acetyl-D-glucosamine into a Nitrogen-Containing Compound, 3-acetamido-5-acetylfuran”, ChemSusChem, 2012, 5, 1767-72, cssc.201200113

F. M. Kerton, Y. Liu, K. W. Omari and K. Hawboldt, “Green chemistry and the ocean-based biorefinery”, Green Chemistry, 2013, 15, 860-871,DOI:10.1039/C3GC36994C cited 123 times!

After defending his PhD, Khaled moved to Nova Scotia and worked with Dr. Stephanie MacQuarrie as a postdoctoral fellow on a biochar-relaed project in collaboration with B.W. Bioenergy Inc.  He was then awarded an NSERC Visiting Postdoctoral Fellowship  and was a scientist at Agriculture and Agri-food Canada in London, ON. After his postdocs, he went back to industry and worked as a Laboratory Director at Testmark Laboratories, ON, Canada.  As you can see – Khaled’s career path is an excellent example of the varied routes and positions that chemists can experience. He now has the unusual ‘history’ of working in industry, national research labs and academia.  Keep in touch Khaled – we are very proud of you and all that you have accomplished.

We all attended #CCCE2019 in early June. Fran Kerton and Chris Kozak then went on to Reston (near Washington DC) for the 23^rd Annual Green Chemistry & Engineering Conference and 9^th International Conference on Green and Sustainable Chemistry. It was good to catch up with colleagues from around the world and make many new friends and connections.

Here are some photos from CCCE2019:

During CCCE2019, Fran gave her GCEN Canadian Green Chemistry & Engineering Award Lecture and received her award at the Awards Ceremony and Dinner Reception. Her is a picture of her receiving the award from Prof. Philip Jessop (Technical Director, GreenCentre Canada)

Advance news for July is that Courtney was interviewed by Downhome magazine in May and in the current issue of the magazine (available now, July issue) – you can read all about her research on plastics made using waste fish oil. This oil is extracted from the guts and other by-products (waste) produced when fish are filleted ahead of sale.

Hopefully, we’ll have lots more exciting news to share with you as the summer progresses.

In the Department of Chemistry at Memorial University, in addition to stipends of $20,000 (M.Sc.) and $22,000 (PhD), new students are potentially eligible for the following awards:

Chen Entrance Scholarships for New Graduate Students in Chemistry

All eligible incoming students in the Department of Chemistry (M.Sc. or PhD) will receive a $3000 Chen Entrance Scholarship. More information on this website: https://www.mun.ca/chem/Graduate_Students/Chen_Graduate_Scholarships/index.php

The School of Graduate Studies F. A. Aldrich Fellowship

More awards are also available and you should consult the website above for more details.  The department of chemistry maintains a website with details of our program and if you cannot find your answer there (https://www.mun.ca/chem/Graduate_Students/index.php) – you should contact a faculty member that you are interested in working for.

Ju’s first paper will be available as an accepted article very soon. Her first author article titled “Oxidized Biochar as a Simple, Renewable Catalyst for the Production of Cyclic Carbonates from Carbon Dioxide and Epoxides” has been accepted for publication in the Women of Catalysis Special Issue 👩🏼‍🔬👩🏽‍🔬👩🏾‍🔬👩🏿‍🔬👩🏻‍🔬👩‍🔬of ChemCatChem. Thank you to Artur for preparing the eye-catching table of content’s graphic. Co-authors include Ju’s co-supervisor Stephanie MacQuarrie (Cape Breton University) and one of Stephanie’s undergraduate researchers, Vincent Andrea. Finally, thank you to the editors for inviting us to participate in this special issue.

It’s been an exciting week for Kenson Ambrose… a paper published in Dalton Transactions and a successful defense of his PhD thesis earning him a distinction! Well done Ken!