Green Chemistry @ MUN

Chris was recently invited to speak with a local radio show host about vinyl and playing records using a plastic $20 bill. https://soundcloud.com/vocm/feb-5th-drchristopher-kozak-good-vibrations-using-new-20-bill-to-play-music?in=vocm%2Fsets%2Fvocm-morning-show&fbclid=IwAR2QLpcolwqHPdbQpAckJpLqTcLdspInqvyHe6w468o6WKxK7Br1whL83zA

A short blog post 🙂

Today, we have set up our control system (i.e. non-degradable polymer) to test our polymer biodegradation system and get a baseline for zero carbon dioxide production.  We will be setting up some seawater studies soon too.  We thank the Association of Commonwealth Universities for funding our collaborations in this area with ACU Blue Charter Fellows spending 3 months in our group.  Our experimental set-up is based on this PLoS ONE paper, which is open-access.

Biodegradation Experimental Set-up

Yesterday was a big day in the group, as George successfully defended his PhD on “Mechanochemical Transformations of alpha-Chitin”.  Today – he will begin doing his corrections and start looking for a postdoctoral position in earnest.  The past 5 years have flown by so quickly!

George is in the bottom center of all photos; Top = group photo, bottom left = supervisor and supervisory committee members present , bottom right = examiners, chair and supervisor/supervisory committee. Congratulations Dr. George Margoutidis

…Congratulations Kori Andrea! Kori’s work has just been accepted by ACS Catalysis, https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acscatal.8b04282

The MUN Green Chemistry & Catalysis Group went to the Graduate Student Union Pub, Bitters, for lunch on Friday – to the celebrate the start of the semester and officially welcome our two ACU Blue Charter Fellows: James Beament (Bath), Dr. Nigel Jalsa (The University of The West Indies). We hope they have a very productive time with our group studying degradable polymers.

Happy New Year everyone!

Due to many group members traveling over the festive season and exams beginning at our University today, we celebrated together last Saturday. We had a great time eating pizza, bowling, watching Elf, decorating the tree, eating cookies and more!

We wish you all a safe and happy holiday season.

Congratulations and thank you to everyone in the team: Kori Andrea (Vanier Scholar), Tyler Brown (NSERC USRA, 2016), Jennifer Murphy (NSERC CGS-D, and crystallographer), Dakshita Jagota (MUCEP, Winter 2018), Declan McKearney (Squid data collection, at SFU).

Our paper on some mu-oxo compounds of iron that can be formed during reactions of epoxides has been accepted for publication in the ACS journal Inorganic Chemistry. The formation of such compounds is important biologically as some Fe-containing metalloenzymes detoxify epoxides through deoxygenations such as this, and of course, this reaction is an important consideration for catalytic epoxide/carbon dioxide reactions that are of industrial relevance for the formation of polycarbonates and cyclic organic carbonates.

K. A. Andrea, T. R. Brown, J. N. Murphy, D. Jagota, D. McKearney, C. M. Kozak and F. M. Kerton, “Characterization of oxo-bridged iron amino-bis(phenolate) complexes formed intentionally or in situ: Mechanistic insight into epoxide deoxygenation during the coupling of CO₂ and epoxides”, Inorganic Chemistry, 2018, Accepted, http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.inorgchem.8b02109

In her post from last week, Ju talks about some of her ‘new’ experiences living in Newfoundland including fly-fishing, and also how she is tackling her glossophobia (fear of public speaking. Well done Ju!

In her post in late August, Courtney describes her summer travels including her time at the ACS Summer School on Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering in Golden, Colorado, and also the effort involved in writing her first paper (now submitted, so fingers crossed). Well done Courtney!

As many of our followers know, we will be moving to the enormous, state-of-the-art core science facility in 2020. Building is progressing well (see photo below) and you can follow this website for more updates: https://www.mun.ca/csf/

If you join our group in 2019, you will be in our current large, refurbished lab initially but will then move into the new building for the remainder of your studies.  If you have any questions, just get in touch!

Core Science Facility, September 2018. Our labs will be on the 3rd floor of the central pavilion

Two new papers from our group are now available – congratulations to Jue Gong (now at Western) on his RSC Advances article, and Kenson Ambrose and Tim Anderson on their review in Coordination Chemistry Reviews.

Prof. Chris Kozak had a busy day speaking with local media representatives about problems surrounding the city’s water supply to the west end. He appeared on the Morning Show on CBC Radio 1, Here and Now on CBC TV and the Early Edition of NTV news

Prof. Chris Kozak at the CBC Studios, St. John’s (Photo courtesy of @sjmorningshow on twitter)

Hopefully the city workers and engineers will be able to identify a solution to this problem soon.

Kori was recently interviewed in our lab about her research on plastics from carbon dioxide and the potential to make new materials that would biodegrade in the ocean (instead of polluting it).  You can listen to her via this link http://www.cbc.ca/listen/shows/the-broadcast/episode/15588109

Well done Kori – we are proud of you!