Feb 2007: ACCN, the Canadian Chemical News

l’actualité chimique canadiennecanadian chemical newsACCN FEBRUARY | FÉVRIER • 2007 • Vol. 59, No./no 2

CCHHEEMMIISSTTRYRYggrreeeenn

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Ar ticles

Just Short of Saving the WorldWhy on Earth shouldn’t researchers strive for a greener future?

Patricia D. MacLeod, MCIC

Two Synthetic StepsExploring new chemical reactivities for highly efficient synthesis towards green chemistry

Chao-Jun Li, MCIC

In Pursuit of the Perfect Green SolventWhat qualities would typify the perfect green solvent?

Philip G. Jessop, MCIC

Cheers for Green Chemistry—ISBP 2006Mixing biology with polymer science

Robert Marchessault, FCIC

CIC Vision—Towards 2015Chemistry is central to the well-being of society.

Guest Column Chroniqueur invité . . . . . . 2Sharing the Green Message Roland Andersson, MCIC

News Nouvelles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Patent Quest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Daphne C. Lainson, MCIC

Chemfusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Joe Schwarcz, MCIC

The 39th Inorganic Discussion Weekend at Carleton . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Chemical Engineering Conference Congrè de génie chimique . . . . . . . . . . 26

Recognition Reconnaissance. . . . . . . . . 28

Events Événements . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Employment Wanted Demandes d’emploi . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

ACCN A publication of the CIC | Une publication de l’ICC

T a b l e o f C o n t e n t s | T a b l e d e s m a t i è r e s

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FEBRUARY | FÉVRIER • 2007 • Vol. 59, No./no 2

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Cover art by Krista Leroux

2 L’ACTUALITÉ CHIMIQUE CANADIENNE FÉVRIER 2007

Editor-in-Chief/Rédactrice en chefMichelle Piquette

Managing Editor/Directrice de la rédactionHeather Dana Munroe

Graphic Designer/InfographisteKrista Leroux

Editorial Board/Conseil de rédactionJoe Schwarcz, MCIC, chair/président

Cathleen Crudden, MCICJohn Margeson, MCICMilena Sejnoha, MCICSteve Thornton, MCICBernard West, MCIC

Editorial Office/Bureau de la rédaction130, rue Slater Street, Suite/bureau 550

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L’Actualité chimique canadienne/Canadian Chemical News (ACCN) is published 10 times a year by The Chemical Institute of Canada / est publié 10 fois par année par l’Institut de chimie du Canada. www.cheminst.ca.

Recommended by The Chemical Institute of Canada, the Canadian Society for Chemistry, the Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering, and the Canadian Society for Chemical Technology. Views expressed do not necessarily represent the official position of the Institute, or of the societies that recommend the magazine.

Recommandé par l’Institut de chimie du Canada, la Société canadienne de chimie, la Société canadienne de génie chimique et la Société canadienne de technologie chimique. Les opinions exprimées ne reflètent pas nécessairement la position officielle de l’Institut ou des sociétés constituantes qui soutiennent la revue.

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Significant work is being done in Can-ada in the area of green science. Many of us, despite being chemical profes-

sionals, may not be familiar with the details of green chemistry or green engineering in Canada. The CIC is determined to change that through its work with several groups in Canada and internationally.

A weekend of green science events took place in Montréal, QC, October 20 to 23, 2006. A great deal of learning and exchanging of ideas took place, and a new organization was born—the Canadian Green S&T Network (GSTN). The GSTN is spearheaded by How-ard Alper, O.C., HFCIC, and is comprised of board members from across Canada. Its mis-sion is “to promote and apply best practices in green science and technology for the benefit of Canadians.” The network promotes the in-teraction of policy makers with scientists and engineers toward the development of policy tools to encourage funding, research, com-mercialization, and implementation of new (environmentally and economically) sustain-able technologies.

The Canadian Green S&T Network will further its international mandate through the International Green Network (IGN), a compi-lation of green science research centres of the G-8 nations. In addition to the IGN, the GSTN will work with the already well-established Canadian Green Chemistry Network (CGCN) led by C. J. Li, MCIC, at McGill University, the American Chemical Society’s Green Chemistry Institute, the CIC, and the federal, provincial, and territorial governments. Together with the GSTN, these groups will support research,

foster the development of new technologies, coordinate and sponsor scientific collabora-tion, and provide training for scientists.

Since green chemistry requires an adjust-ment in perspective and thinking, the CIC will also become even more proactive in ex-tending its green chemistry outreach to both potential practitioners and throughout the education system (teachers, students). For practitioners, this is being done through our conferences (CSC, CSChE) and publications (ACCN, CJChE). The CIC is also focusing much of its attention at the elementary school level by developing a green chemistry colour-ing book targeted at grades 1 to 3, a green chemistry book for grades 4 to 6 (pending funding), and age-specific, green chemistry experiments on our Web site designed for grades 1 to 8. Plans are being developed and implemented for secondary school teachers and students as well.

The CIC is making green chemistry and engineering a priority. Although a nationally coordinated voice for green science is in its infancy, the research being done in Canada certainly is not. By the time you have finished reading this issue of ACCN, I am sure that you will be better informed about some of the ad-vances in green chemistry being developed by Canadians. Further cooperation and collabo-ration will be vital in pushing green science forward, and the CIC will continue to be a strong proponent.

GUEST COLUMN CHRONIQUEUR INVITÉ

Sharing the Green Message

Roland Andersson, MCIC,

is executive director of the CIC.

Roland Andersson, MCIC

FEBRUARY 2007 CANADIAN CHEMICAL NEWS 3

NEWS NOUVELLES

Strem Sponsors CIC AwardThe CIC Division of Inorganic Chemistry is pleased to announce that Strem Chemicals has undertaken to sponsor the CSC Division of Inorganic Chemistry Award in Pure or Applied Inorganic Chemistry for a period of five years, commencing with the 2007 award. This award celebrates the outstand-ing research accomplishments of inorganic chemists within ten years of their first inde-pendent appointment. In recognition of Strem Chemicals’ generosity, and their contribution to reinforcing a dynamic , flourishing, and am-bitious research culture in Canada, the award will be renamed the “Strem Chemicals Award in Pure or Applied Inorganic Chemistry” for the duration of the sponsorship.

Michael Wolf, MCIC

Is Canada Slipping in R&D? Canada’s R&D community is taking note of a new study titled “At a Crossroads—Strength-ening the Toronto Region’s Research and Innovation Economy.” The study analyzes the development of some of the world’s leading R&D hotspots. Successful R&D re-gions around the world are benefiting from a steady and growing infusion of strategic pub-lic investment and Canada risks being left behind. The study confirms that the broader Toronto region is a globally competitive R&D venue, which is positioned to be among the top regions for innovation in the world. With a population of almost seven million, the region is home to world-leading high-tech industry clusters and a remarkable concen-tration of research excellence ranked second only to Boston, MA, in the number of science and engineering articles published.

However, the report shows that the stakes are rising in the extremely competi-tive global R&D marketplace and national governments worldwide are responding by dramatically increasing their investment in regional R&D clusters. The report contrasts this global trend towards transformational research investments with the relatively low R&D expenditures in Canada and the uncer-tain future of federal research programs such as the Canada Foundation for Innovation, Genome Canada, and CANARIE—our na-tional high-bandwidth network for research.

“The global economy is increasingly driven by knowledge and innovation and there is a limited window of opportunity for competi-tive R&D venues like the Toronto region to es-tablish themselves in the top tier,” said Ross McGregor, president and CEO, Toronto Region Reseach Alliance (TRRA). “We’re hopeful that the federal government will act quickly to roll out its national plan for research, in-novation, and future competitiveness, or we could be left behind. We are already receiving warning signs that Canada is slipping.”

TRRA is working with other innovation-intensive regions to call on the Government of Canada to announce the results of its science and technology review and take steps to imple-ment the most urgent elements of its innova-tion strategy without delay. As the examples in the report highlight, Canada needs a robust

national plan in which the federal government provides reliable, predictable, and growing funding. This federal funding must be aug-mented by provincial, municipal, and private sector participation that will be crucial to maintaining Canada’s position in the interna-tional innovation community.

The study also identifies three different models of regional R&D systems—dirigiste, embedded, and regional mobilization. It recommends that Canada should adopt the regional mobilization model that allows local organizations and regional leaders to invest in strategically important clusters in their regions by drawing down national resources.

The report was commissioned by TRRA and prepared by a leading team of researchers with the Program on Global-ization and Regional Innovation Systems at the University of Toronto’s Munk Centre for International Studies. It examines the development of six leading R&D centres from around the world—Austin, TX; Boston, MA; Raleigh, NC; San Diego, CA.; Singapore, and Stockholm, Sweden. It also spotlights three emerging high-tech centres—Albany, NY; Bangalore, India; and Shanghai, China. To download a copy of the report, please visit www.trra.ca.

Toronto Region Research Alliance

Protocole d’entente entre La Cité collégiale et l’UQAMLe doyen de la faculté des sciences de l’Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), Gilles Gauthier, et le vice-président à l’enseignement de La Cité collégiale, Claude Bergeron, ont procédé récemment à la signature officielle d’un protocole d’entente permettant aux diplômés du programme d’études de baccalauréat en technologie appliquée—biotechnologie de La Cité collégiale d’accéder à des études de 2e cycle en chimie, option biochimie de l’UQAM. Par cette entente, le département de chimie de l’UQAM a reconnu la pertinence et les objectifs d’apprentissage du programme de baccalauréat appliqué de La Cité collégiale et devient le premier établissement uni-versitaire à accepter les admissions de ses finissants à des études de cycle supérieur.

« Cette annonce signifie beaucoup pour La Cité collégiale, et particulièrement pour les étudiants inscrits à ce programme. Le programme de baccalauréat en technologie appliquée—biotechnologie vient d’obtenir une reconnaissance très importante de sa formation hautement spécialisée par une université reconnue pour ses programmes de maîtrise en sciences. Ce partenariat nous inspire et nous motive à développer d’autres initiatives particulières pour le bénéfice de nos étudiants », de dire Claude Bergeron.

Gilles Gauthier est allé dans le même sens en soulignant que « cette entente favo-risera sans aucun doute le développement des échanges scientifiques entre nos deux institutions . Par celle-ci, nous reconnais-sons la qualité de la formation donnée à La Cité collégiale. »

Le baccalauréat en technologie appliquée —biotechnologie se distingue particulièrement par ses méthodes d’enseignement axées sur la pratique, l’expérimentation et l’analyse. Cette combinaison de compétences est rehaussée par l’apprentissage de notions théoriques de niveau supérieur.

UQAM


NEWS NOUVELLES

Report Recommends Boosting Energy S&TA report from a national advisory panel cre-ated by the federal government calls for an increased focus on energy science and tech-nology (S&T) to ensure long-term growth and sustainability in the Canadian economy. “Powerful Connections—Priorities and Directions in Energy Science and Technol-ogy in Canada” highlights a number of areas that need to be strengthened if Canada is to remain a key energy player in the world.

“The report makes it clear that we have to continue developing the clean-energy technologies that Canada needs,” said Gary Lunn, minister of Natural Resources. “Our commitment to clean energy and the Clean Air Act are key ways Canada’s new govern-ment will meet its environmental objectives to finally address the effective reduction of air pollutants and greenhouse gases. We are committed to work with governments and industry and we will continue to support re-search on these technologies and help bring them to market.”

The report contains a number of recom-mendations to strengthen innovation in the Canadian energy sector and ensure its long-term sustainability. It also defines a number of key priorities for sustainable energy S&T in Canada. They include bioenergy, gasifi-cation, CO2 capture and storage, electricity transmission, distribution and storage, and fuel cells.

The report’s recommendations are in line with the current goverment’s environmental approach. As part of this approach, the gov-ernment recently introduced its Clean Air Act, which commits to establishing air pollution targets to compel polluters to respect emis-sion limits. New and emerging technologies will play a significant role in helping industry achieve the targets.

The panel was established in May 2005 and included a number of key representa-tives from both the public and private en-ergy sectors. Panel members were asked to identify Canada’s key energy S&T priorities and mechanisms for delivering on these pri-orities, including government research and partnership among governments, industry, and research institutions, at both national and international levels.

The panel states that Canada is well posi-tioned for the long term. Nevertheless, it says more funding support for innovation is needed from both federal and provincial governments and the private sector to ensure Canada maintains and strengthens its stand-ing in the global energy economy. The report is available at www2.nrcan.gc.ca/es/oerd.

Natural Resources Canada

CCPA’s Call for Capital Investment Richard Paton, president of Canada’s Chemi-cal Producers’ Association (CCPA), addressed a meeting of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry, Science, and Technol-ogy last October. He told them that the single most important change the federal government could make right now to help Canada’s manu-facturers would be to introduce an accelerated two-year capital cost allowance (CCA).

Paton said that Canadian manufacturing is in trouble, especially in Ontario and Quebec, and that an accelerated CCA would be of enormous immediate help to domestic manufacturers. It would leave them in a better position to win the global competition with the U.S., Asia, and the Middle East for the next round of capital in-vestments. As things now stand, a compelling case cannot be made for investing in Canada. With an accelerated CCA, Canadian companies would have immediate access to greater cash flow to invest in upgrading plants and install-ing green technology that would improve their environmental performance.

Recent analysis of trends in capital invest-ment and emission reductions by Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters (CME) illustrates that as capital investment increases in manu-facturing, the reduction in emission intensity is greater. Unfortunately, since 2000, the rate of capital investment and of emissions improve-ment has decreased. Therefore, a major benefit of faster capital stock turnover is that it is the key driver for reducing emissions and achiev-ing greenhouse gas and clean air priorities.

Currently, a Canadian company spends about three years building a plant without any revenue and then depreciates the asset on a 30 percent declining balance for many years after that. By contrast, a two-year accelerated CCA would mean that once the plant is built,

the two years would start right away—although only for six months in the first year. Over three years, the plant would be written off and this would mean a major increase in cash flow for the company.

Action by the Government of Canada is needed now. “It would be a serious mistake to miss this opportunity to address some of the issues manufacturers are facing and then realize ten years from now that Canadians have lost their manufacturing sector, one of the key building blocks of their economy, to-gether with the jobs and prosperity that go with it.” Paton warned. “A two-year [CCA] on manufacturing and processing equipment will make Canada more attractive for invest-ment, which will enable us to add value to our natural resources and lower emissions at the same time. Manufacturing plants are going to be built somewhere in the world. Let’s build them in Canada, using the most environmentally advanced technology.”

Canada’s Chemical Producers’ Association

XML Gold Book On-Line The IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Termi-nology (Gold Book) is now available in an all-new format. The new version takes full advantage of new technologies based on eXtensible Markup Language (XML) and pro-vides efficient ways of browsing, searching, and simply using this reference. It is one of the series of IUPAC “Colour Books” on chem-ical nomenclature, terminology, symbols, and units. Terminology definitions published by IUPAC are drafted by international commit-tees of experts in the appropriate chemistry sub-disciplines, and ratified by IUPAC’s Inter-divisional Committee on Nomenclature and Symbols. In this edition of the Compendium, these IUPAC-approved definitions are supple-mented with some definitions from ISO and from the International Vocabulary of Basic and General Terms in Metrology. The result is a collection of nearly 7,000 terms, with authoritative definitions, spanning the whole range of chemistry. View the Gold Book on-line at http://goldbook.iupac.org.

IUPAC


NEWS NOUVELLES

Sea Urchins and Humans Share GenesSimon Fraser University (SFU) molecular biologists have helped a worldwide team of scientists make a discovery that could advance doctors’ understanding of how genetic diseases occur and how to treat them. Bruce Brandhorst, the chair of the molecular biology and biochemistry department at SFU, helped uncover genetic similarities between the sea urchin’s and the human sensory nervous systems. Brandhorst, Jack Chen, and Karl Bergeron are among 200 re-searchers who have learned that many of the gene families in the sea urchin, a simple spiny marine animal, are the same as those in the human and other complex verte-brates. The journal Science has published the researchers’findings in its November issue.

The sea urchin has many genes linked to human diseases such as Huntington’s cho-rea, muscular dystrophy, Usher syndrome, neurological disorders, and atherosclerosis. This genetic similarity, combined with the transparency of the sea urchin’s embryonic

stage “will enable scientists to test hypoth-eses about the function of genes in human development,” says Brandhorst. “The sea

urchin will also be a valuable biomedical model for understanding the evolution of sensory organs and elaborate but distinctive immune systems in animals.”

Chen used his expertise in bioinformatics (computational mining of DNA data) to help scientists identify genes involved in detecting chemicals. Scientists at the Vancouver Ge-nome Sciences centre at the British Columbia Cancer Agency helped map the sea urchin’s DNA genome. Sea urchins use their tube feet, hose-like appendages with suction cups for movement, to sense their environment. Sea urchins lack eyes, ears, and noses. But these underwater hedgehog look-a-likes have many genes involved in vision, hearing, and detection of chemicals, like their more highly evolved distant cousins, humans.

Simon Fraser University

Bruce Brandhorst


McMaster’s Engineering and Science Olympics More than 940 students from 51 high schools across Ontario travelled to Hamilton, ON, on October 19, 2006, to test their mental agility, engineering skills, and scientific know-how at the annual McMaster Engineer-ing and Science Olympics. Included among 12 fun and challenging competitions were the infamous egg drop, Engineering Jeop-ardy, constructing a Canada arm from plastic straws, programming a robot, building a me-chanical transporter, mathematics mental gymnastics, and a physics paper triathlon.

Students competed for more than $20,000 in McMaster entrance awards. The teachers’ competition added another $7,000 in entrance awards to the winning teacher’s school.

Students prepare to release the mechanical transporter they created. The competition involves transporting a standard golf ball from the top of a wooden ramp to a target location.

CJC Back Files Free for CSC The Canadian Journal of Chemistry (CJC)’s electronic edition now includes back issues, thanks to a joint effort of the Canadian chem-istry community and the publisher. During April 2006, volumes 29 to 75 were added to the CJC’s electronic collection. These vol-umes contain all issues published from 1951, the first year the journal appeared under its current title, to 1997.

NRC Research Press gratefully acknowl-edges the contributions of the Canadian Society for Chemistry (CSC), the Canadian Council of University Chemistry Chairs, and The University of Western Ontario.

CSC members currently have the right to access the full text of the CJC back issues (1951 to 1997) available at http://canjchem.nrc.ca. To view the full text PDFs, the system will ask for a username and password.

The current files (1998 to the most re-cent issue) are available free of charge to all Canadians . This program is supported through funding from the Canada Deposi-tory Services Program. The CSC and the NRC Research Press have cooperated to make sig-nificant changes and enhancements to the

NEWS NOUVELLES

Merging for BiotechnologyBioProducts Canada will merge its operations into BIOTECanada, the national biotechnol-ogy association. Building on the respective base of both organizations, this will help to position Canadian leadership in the bio-based global economy.

BioProducts Canada has been focused on identifying market opportunities for bio-industrial products as well as bringing together the science and technology, people , and infrastructure needed to commercial-ize them in Canada for global markets. BIOTECanada is the leading not-for-profit, industry-funded association dedicated to the sustainable commercial development of all sectors of biotechnology across Canada. It welcomes the addition of BioProducts Canada responsibilities to its portfolio.

Canada has the second largest industrial biotechnology community in the world. Bio-products and renewable biomass resources are expected to account for $100 billion of Canada’s GDP by 2020. A bio-based econ-omy enhances rural and general economic growth through the development and trans-fer of new technologies, leading to a cleaner environment and a higher standard of living for Canadians. Securing Canada into the forefront of world economies as they shift towards sustainable renewable resources is a goal of both organizations.

BioProducts Canada

Canadian Journal of Chemistry. Please con-sult p. 24 of the October 2006 issue of ACCN for details on these enhancements. If you are interested in submitting to the Canadian Journal of Chemistry, please consult the “For Authors” services on the Web site.

CSC members were sent a password by e-mail in December 2006. If you have not received this, please call the CIC at 613-232-6252, ext. 249. The password pro-vides access to screen- and print-versions of PDF back files.

Rob Lipson, MCIC, senior editor,

Canadian Journal of Chemistry

“We are more amazed each year at the talent and ingenuity students show at this event,” said special projects coordinator, Gord Ofield. “It’s an opportunity for them to test their skills and share ideas and ex-periences with their peers. It’s a fun day and we hope the event inspires some future scientists and engineers to come and study at McMaster.”

An open house allowed participants to meet engineering and science faculty, stu-dents and staff. Students were able to ex-plore faculty programs through department displays, special presentations and tours, and discuss future careers in engineering and science. Engineering students set up dis-plays showcasing their clubs including those for Solar Car, Formula SAE Car, Engineers Without Borders, McMaster Engineering Society , and Women in Engineering.

McMaster University


Methane Lakes on Saturn’s Moon Science has taught us that fossil fuels, such as natural gas, oil, and coal are the geological remains of plants and animals that lived on Earth hundreds of millions of years ago. This theory can be found in any reference book. The Encyclopedia Britannica says that fossil fuels “were formed as a result of geologic processes from the remains of organic matter produced by photosynthesis for hundreds of millions of years.” Wikipedia states, “Fossil fuel is a general term for buried combus-tible geologic deposits of organic materials, formed from decayed plants and animals that have been converted to crude oil, coal, natu-ral gas, or heavy oils by exposure to heat and pressure in the earth’s crust over hundreds of millions of years.” Fossil fuels are hydro-carbons formed from the remains of dead plants and animals. This statement was first introduced by Mikhail Lomonosov, a Russian

writer and polymath, in 1757 and is now commonly recognized and accepted, and has not been challenged ever since.

However, NASA’s discovery of methane lakes on Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, may shake the foundation of this theory. The November 2006 issue of Astronomy says the radar system aboard NASA’s spacecraft, Cas-sini, “imaged” liquid bodies on Titan’s sur-face. Considering that there must be a source to replenish methane gas in Titan’s atmo-sphere that is continuously broken down by sunlight, astronomers and scientists believe that these lakes are full of liquid methane or methane ethane mixture 3-5. Therefore, the natural gas is in a liquid state.

It is accepted that there has never been life elsewhere other than Earth. Life never devel-oped on Titan either. Therefore, the liquid natural gas over there is not “the remains of dead plants and animals.” It is interesting to note that the liquid natural gas lakes are on the surface of Titan, which is contrary to the situ-ation on earth where the natural gas reservoirs

are underground. The surface reserves may also suggest that they be formed the other way. This makes one suspect the theory of the origin of fossil fuels on Earth. Are they really the remains of the dead plants and animals that existed millions of years ago? People rarely consider origin of ores such as potash, diamond, and metals, and even of the forma-tion of rocks and dirt, believing that they are naturally formed as the earth evolved from the “beginning.” Is it possible that the fossil fuels were formed this way?

The discovery of methane lakes on Titan has challenged the widely accepted theory of fossil fuel formation. If the initial theory was wrong, this will change the patterns that geologists apply in exploring reserves of nat-ural gas, oil, and coal on Earth. But regard-less of how they were formed, these valuable resources are limited. We’d better use them wisely, economically, and in an environmen-tally sound manner.

Hui Wang, MCIC

NEWS NOUVELLES


Q: While on a trip to South America, I found that people were taking an extract of an indigenous plant to treat headaches by boiling the leaves and drinking the extract obtained. Is it possible for me to patent this discovery?

A: Probably not. In most countries a discovery can only be patented if it is new. So, it is not possible to patent a known compound, a known com-position containing the compound, or a known method of using a known compound or composition. Also, the inventor or inventors are the first owners of a patent for an invention. Unless you invented the compound, composition, or method of use, you would not have rights in this discovery.

Further investigations of this known treatment could yield a patentable invention. For instance, isolating the active ingredient in the extract to a degree of purity suitable for use commercially, developing an alternate process to obtain the active ingredient, developing different formulations of the active ingredient than as an extract, or discovering different uses for the active ingredient may all be patentable. To be patentable, these further discoveries would not only have to be new, but would also have to be non-obvious variations of what is known, and be useful.

It is important to realize, however, that patenting a further discovery would not prevent people from using the old, known treatment. You could only stop people from using your new discovery if it was patented in their country.

Daphne Lainson, MCIC, is a lawyer and patent agent with the law firm Smart & Biggar in Ottawa, ON. Smart & Biggar is Canada’s largest firm

practising exclusively in intellectual property and technology law.

Disclaimer: The preceding is intended as informational only, and does not constitute professional advice.

Lawyer and patent agent, Daphne C. Lainson, MCIC, answers your questions on patenting your discoveries. Send your questions to [email protected].

PatentQuest

Biorefinery Complex for Alberta Riverstone Holdings, Carlyle Group, and Dominion Energy Services have announced plans to expand their existing relationship by building up to 300 million gallons of annual biorefining capacity in Alberta. The $400 million complex will consist of an ethanol facility, a canola oil crush facility, and a biodiesel facility.

The three plants will utilize one central utility system and be built to accommodate multiple feedstocks to provide economies of scale and maximum flexibility. Construction on the ethanol unit will begin in the first quarter of 2007, with commercial production expected to come on-line by mid-2008. The crushing and biodiesel plants will fol-low shortly thereafter.

The group claims the facilities will meaningfully increase Canada’s biofuel output and place Alberta in the forefront of renewable fuels in the country. Biofuel—or the renewable fuels industry—is experiencing exceptional growth in North America in response to skyrocketing costs for fossil fuels and the drive to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“This announcement acknowledges the potential that Alberta has to offer to those in the bioenergy sector,” said Doug Horner, Alberta minister of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Development. “We are also pleased that the Dominion/Riverstone team recognizes the value of Alberta’s recently announced bioenergy initiatives and have chosen to make this significant investment in our province. We are looking forward to the completion of this world-class facility,” he added.

Camford Chemical Report

NEWS NOUVELLES


CHEMFUSIONTo your health,” is heard millions of times a day around the world as diners follow the age-old custom of

clinking their glasses together. And if those glasses are filled with red wine, there may be more than wishful thinking here. There may actually be protection against heart disease, stroke, and even some cancers. Maybe there’s even a chance that red wine can mitigate the health hazards of obesity. Maybe.

The most publicized aspect of red wine consumption has been the possible link with a reduced risk of heart disease. Researchers have long been intrigued by the lower rate of heart disease in France than in North Amer-ica, in spite of the French penchant for high fat cheeses, butter laden croissants, foie gras, and tobacco. Red wine, because of its high an-tioxidant content, is the answer to the “French paradox” some scientists suggest. Some even finger one specific antioxidant, resveratrol, as the likely heart protectant. Indeed, there is evi-dence that resveratrol can prevent cholesterol from being converted to its artery damaging “oxidized” form, but let’s keep in mind that there are many other differences between the French and American lifestyles than red wine consumption. The French eat more fruits and vegetables, and generally consume far fewer calories. They also have an inexplicable taste for Jerry Lewis movies, although this is more likely to cause heart disease than prevent it.

While the role of red wine in the French par-adox may be ambiguous, there is no doubt that this alleged connection has spawned many lines of research. Could red wine have some other health benefit as well, scientists won-dered? Joseph Anderson of the State Univer-sity of New York at Stony Brook spends much of his time looking through a colonoscope searching for cancers and pre-cancerous pol-yps in peoples’ colons. Because alcohol con-sumption has been suspected as a contributing factor to colorectal cancer, Anderson decided to survey his patients about their alcohol hab-its. He found heavy beer or spirit consumers (more than one drink a day) to be significantly more prone to colorectal tumours than moder-ate drinkers or abstainers. But red wine drink-ers, on the other hand, seemed to be protected from the disease. Roughly ten out of every hundred alcohol abstainers who underwent screening showed some sort of precancerous lesion, while only three of every hundred who drank at least three glasses of red wine a week were affected. White wine showed no benefit.

Anderson thinks that resveratrol, which is found far more extensively in red grapes than in white, is responsible.

There appears to be some theoretical justi-fication for this possibility. Prostaglandins are compounds produced in the body that serve a multitude of functions, but some can suppress immunity and even stimulate tumour cell growth. Resveratrol has been shown to block an enzyme, cyclooxygenase, which catalyzes the conversion of arachidonic acid (a dietary component) to the problematic prostaglan-din. In separate experiments, resveratrol has been shown to be a potent scavenger of free radicals—those molecular bogey men that have been implicated in a host of diseases. Of course the resveratrol connection may be overly simplistic given that there are many other “polyphenols” in red wine that may contribute to the overall antioxidant effect . Still, Janet Stanford of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, WA, shares the view that resveratrol may be the key com-ponent. She studied alcohol consumption in 750 men with recently diagnosed prostate cancer as well as in a similar group of healthy men. Drinking at least four glasses of red wine a week was associated with a 50 percent lower risk! Stanford hypothesizes that resve-ratrol’s ability to rid the body of free radicals, its anti-inflammatory effect, and its tendency to hold down cell growth all play a part in its protective role.

Since free radicals have also been impli-cated in the neurological damage that follows a stroke, Sylvain Doré and colleagues at Johns Hopkins University investigated resveratrol’s potential to prevent such damage. Since you can’t go around inducing strokes in humans for experimental purposes, the researchers studied mice. Oral pretreatment with resvera-trol resulted in a 40 pecent decrease in the area of the brain damaged by the induced stroke. Doré even managed to tease out the specific mechanism involved in the protection, namely an increased level of heme oxygenase, an en-zyme known to shield nerve cells against free radical damage. Based on his mice experi-ments, Doré thinks that a couple of glasses of red wine a day could produce a prophylactic effect against stroke damage in humans. But that’s just a guess.

Now on to the study that recently captured journalists’ imagination around the world. “Red wine substance appears to counter bad health in fat mice,” screamed the headlines,

Joe Schwarcz, MCIC

TO YOUR HEALTHreferring to Harvard molecular biologist David Sinclair’s surprising findings. Sinclair fed one group of mice a standard laboratory diet, an-other group an unhealthy diet with 60 percent of the calories coming from fat, and a third group the same unhealthy diet supplemented with regular doses of resveratrol. As expected, the mice in second group became obese, showed signs of diabetes and heart disease and died prematurely. The mice in the resvera-trol group also became fat, but they remained healthy and lived as long as the animals that ate a normal diet and stayed thin. Pretty capti-vating stuff, but before we reach for the cork-screw let’s note that the amount of resveratrol given the mice was roughly equivalent to that found in a hundred bottles of red wine. And let’s note also that while resveratrol supple-ments are available, nobody has shown that taking these has any effect on humans, or even that the compound makes it into the blood-stream from the digestive tract. By all means, though, if you have obese mice and want them to live a long time, feed them resveratrol supplements. But as far as humans go, all we can say is that people who drink three to four glasses of red wine a week have no need to give up their habit. À votre santé!

Popular science writer, Joe Schwarcz, MCIC,

is the director of McGill University’s Office

for Science and Society. He hosts the Dr. Joe

Show every Sunday from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. on

Montréal’s radio station CJAD. The broadcast

is available on the Web at www.CJAD.com.

“

Green chemistry is picking up steam. The concept was first conceived over a decade ago by Paul Anastas and in 1998, Anastas and John C. Warner published a book outlining

the 12 principles of green chemistry.1 The idea of green chemistry however, was met with varying opinions, ranging from the chemists set-in-their-ways who thought that the old ways of doing chemistry were fine, to the overly optimistic chemists who thought that it could save the world. Realistically, we are somewhere in between. There is a definite need for change in the way we do chemistry, but can we really save the world by applying 12 simple principles to our research and work? Probably not with green chemistry alone. But where is the harm in doing chemistry in new ways that cause less damage to the environment and shows scientists in other fields and even the public that change is possible?

Green chemistry allows for creative science. A new, less wasteful synthetic method is not only “green,” but it is also new science—new progress—something that makes us wonder “how does that work and what else can we do with it?” There are common misconceptions however, that green chemistry is environmental chemistry, or that

green chemistry will lose money when applied to industry. In real-ity, green chemistry is chemistry working for the environment. Envi-ronmental chemistry studies the effects of pollutants, whereas green chemistry attempts to design ways to eliminate their production alto-gether. By eliminating this waste, money can actually be saved.

As evidenced by recent workshops and conferences that have taken place in Canada, interest in green chemistry is growing. The ACS Green Chemistry Summer School took place in Montréal, QC, in July of 2005. Attended by over 100 students from North and South America, the week-long event was well-received and all students went home with an increased passion for green chemistry and a desire to spread the word. It is not only with students however, that green chemistry is gain-ing credibility. Researchers in both academia and industry are turning to green chemistry to find ways to increase efficiency and output, as much as they are to just find new and interesting chemistry. Other re-cent conferences include “Crossroads in Biotechnology and Sustainabil-ity” hosted by the Montréal Biological Research Institute, “BioPlastics 2006” hosted by the National Research Council Canada in Montréal, as well as the “International Symposium on Green Chemical Processes for

Patricia D. MacLeod, MCICWhy on Earth shouldn’t researchers strive for a greener future?

JUST SHORT OF SAVING THE WORLD


Pharmaceuticals and Fine Chemicals,” which again, took place in Montréal. As with the summer school, those conferences had over 100 people in attendance, with speakers com-ing from all over the world.

Of course, with all these conferences, there must be something to talk about. Green chemistry research is being carried out in many sectors of industry. For instance, innovative enzyme technology has been de-veloped by Ottawa-based company Iogen Corporation2 that can be used in various sectors including:• The pulp and paper industry—to reduce

the amount of chlorine products used in the bleaching process;

• The textile industry—to help fade, soften, or de-pill fabrics;

• The animal feed industry—to help live-stock digest food;

• Ethanol production—to convert pre-treated cellulose fibre to sugars that can be fermented to ethanol.Even the cosmetics industry is going green.

Recently L’Oréal Canada announced the launch of a new “green” product line.3 Their new molecule to prevent skin aging is called Pro-Xylane. The molecule itself is isolated from a green process and has been deter-mined to be easily biodegradable, not bioac-cumulateable, and not ecotoxic. In addition to the two above examples of applied research, many companies in industry are carrying out clever and inventive research in fields such as catalytic refinery, fuel cells, biodegradable plastics, new routes of synthesis and reaction conditions for organic and pharmaceutical products, as well as the use of biomass to

generate biofuels, chemical and pharmaceu-tical products, and polymers.

Academia has a role to play as well in green chemistry. Much of the grassroots research is done at the university level and then applied at the industry level. The Canadian government has acknowledged the importance of academic research by creating the Canada Research Chair positions. These positions are allocated to a broad range of topics in both the arts and sciences, however a growing number of positions have been designated for the field of green chemistry and green engineering. Just a few recent appointments include:• Jason Clyburne, MCIC, at Saint Mary’s

University, for his research in ionic liquids as alternative reaction media;

• Ajay K. Dalai, MCIC, at the University of Saskatchewan, for his research into the development of environmentally friendly diesel fuel substitutes from organic com-pounds, as well as methods of converting waste to biomass;

• Tomas Hudlicky, MCIC, at Brock University, for his research into the use of biocatalysis for the conversion of waste products into pharmaceutical compounds;

• Robert H. Pelton, MCIC, at McMaster Uni-versity, for his research in biotechnology for paper-making, as well as for the puri-fication of drinking water;

• Aicheng Chen, MCIC, at Lakehead Uni-versity, for his research in electrochemical technologies for pollution control;

• Jingli Luo at the University of Alberta, for her research into alternative fuel cells.With the increased interest in green chem-

istry in Canada comes collaborations with other countries. At Saint Mary’s University, Robert Singer, MCIC’s research in the area of ionic liquids has lead to a collaboration with an Australian group headed by Peter Scam-mels at Monash University. Recently, the Aus-tralian government awarded AUS$51,000 for the two research groups. Such collaborations give Canada a place in the international green chemistry community.

As Canadians, we are lucky to have a country so vast and resource-rich. Without due care and attention however, we could cause irreparable damage to our fragile eco-systems. Historically, Canada has been an environmentally conscious country—home to the Montréal Protocol and the Responsible Care™ program for industry. With increased

There are common misconceptions however,

that green chemistry is environmental

chemistry, or that green chemistry will lose

money when applied to industry.

research in green chemistry, we stand to be-come a world leader in the field and maybe, we might just help save the world.

End notes

1. Paul T. Anastas and John C. Warner, Green Chemistry Theory and Practice (New York: Oxford University Press Inc., 1998).

2. www.iogen.ca3. www.loreal.ca

Patricia D. MacLeod, MCIC, obtained her BSc

at the University of Prince Edward Island.

She is currently pursuing her PhD at McGill

University under the supervision of Chao-Jun

Li, MCIC, developing green synthetic methods

for applications in organic chemistry.

CSCT in actionMarch 5–6, 2007.

Laboratory Safety Course,

BCIT, Vancouver , BC.

March 7, 2007. CSCT

Student Symposium, BCIT,

Burnaby, BC. Contact Joffre

Berry at Joffre [email protected].

March 16–17, 2007. CSCT

Student Symposium, NAIT,

Edmonton, AB. Contact Chris

Meintzer at [email protected].


It has been estimated that among all the resources that we have taken from the earth, only about 10 percent have been con-verted into useful products and 90 percent ends up as waste.1

For example , the generation of 1 kilogram of a pharmaceutical agent will, on average , generate 1,000 kilograms of waste.2 Over 90 per-cent of this waste is solvent waste used in reactions and product isolations. Proper disposal of this waste adds additional costs. The purchase price plus the cost of disposal represents a double eco-nomic penalty.

The rapid depletion of natural resources combined with the enor-mous accumulation of various forms of waste compels us to search for innovative, scientific means to increase the efficiency of resource utilization and reduction of waste. In chemical synthesis, a large por-tion of the state-of-the-art chemistry necessitates extensive and repeti-tive protection-deprotection, oxidation-reduction, halogenation-deha-logenation, and acidification-basicification reactions. These repetitive steps greatly increase the number of steps involved in synthesis and the total amount of waste.3 My laboratory at McGill University is developing green chemistry for organic synthesis with a conscious effort to develop reactions that can drastically reduce the number of synthetic steps required to prepare key compounds.

Barbier-Grignard-type reactions in water

The Barbier-Grignard type reaction of carbonyl compounds with organic halides is one of the most classic reactions in organic chem-istry. A major requisite in such reactions is the strict exclusion of reactive proton donors. As a result, various acidic hydrogens such as hydroxyl, amines, and acids in the substrates have to be protected. Fol-lowing the desired transformation, the protecting groups are removed in an additional step. Since Wolinsky et al.4 made an observation in 1977 that the allylation reaction of carbonyl compounds with allyl bromide mediated by zinc could be carried out in 95 percent ethanol and t-butanol, the metal-mediated Barbier-Grignard type carbonyl ad-dition in aqueous media has attracted increasing attention . Extensive research has been carried out by many groups on the allylation of carbonyl compounds in water.5 The most widely recognized is the indium-mediated allylation in water that T. H. Chan and I reported in 1991.6 Since that time, the indium-mediated allylation in water has been used extensively in synthesis (Scheme 1).7 Subsequent to this work, we and other researchers have extended the scope of Grignard-type reactions in water into other systems including the propargylation-allenylations, arylation-vinylations,8 and simple

Chao-Jun Li, MCICExploring new chemical reactivities for highly efficient synthesis towards green chemistry

TWO SYNTHETIC STEPS

Above: Chao-Jun (C. J.) Li, MCIC, stands front and centre with his research group at McGill University.12 L’ACTUALITÉ CHIMIQUE CANADIENNE FÉVRIER 2007

alkylations in water.9 A mechanical investiga-tion of these reactions was also carried out10 along with their application in the synthesis of various natural products.11

Grignard-type reactions via catalytic reaction of C-H bonds in waterAlthough the successes displayed in Scheme 1 have simplified protection-deprotections, the use of stoichiometric metal still leads to a significant amount of metal waste. It also generates a stoichiometric amount of halide waste and requires multi-step synthesis of the halides, which also generate waste during their synthesis. The next goal of our research is to obtain a theoretical 100 percent atom-effi-ciency for the Grignard-type reactions via C-H activation in water.12

The first investigation was carried out on the activation of the sp3 allylic C-H bond by using ruthenium catalysts in air and water. Through the catalysis of RuCl2(PPh3)3, the allylic C-H bond was activated, and the functional groups of homoallyl alcohols were repositioned to give allyl alcohols. Subsequently , an aldol-type reaction was developed based on the allylic C-H activa-tion in either water or ionic liquid.13

The second investigation is based on the addition of alkynylmetal reagents to alde-hydes and imines—a fundamental reaction in synthesis. Most methods employ a stoichio-metric amount of organometallic reagents (such as organolithium or organomagnesium ) for forming alkynylmetal reagent from al-kynes or alkynyl halides in anhydrous or-ganic solvent. We successfully developed an effective addition reaction of phenylacety-lene to aldehydes in aqueous solution via C-H activation catalyzed by a bi-metallic Ru-In system.14 More recently, a highly efficient alkynylation of aldehydes was developed by using silver-phosphine complexes as catalysts in water.15 By using a gold catalyst, an ad-dition-cyclization gives isochromenes com-mon structural units in natural products and exhibits interesting biological activities such as antibiotic properties.16 Furthermore, the catalytic conjugated additional alkynes to unsaturated carbonyl compounds could be performed in water.17

Our laboratory also reported the first highly efficient A3-coupling (aldehyde-alkyne -amine) in water or without solvent

Scheme 1. An efficient synthesis of sialic acids by using Li and Chan’s indium-mediated reaction in water

Scheme 2. Copper, silver, and gold catalyzed alkyne-aldehyde-amine (A3) coupling

Scheme 3. Cross-dehydrogenative coupling (CDC)

by using a combination of RuCl3 and Cu(I) in catalytic amounts.18 Subsequently, it was found that the A3-coupling reaction is

highly efficient and general with gold or silver catalyst s without the need of co-cata-lyst or activator in water (Scheme 2).19,20


A copper-mediated coupling of alkynes with N-acylimines and N-acyliminium ions in water to generate propargyl amide derivatives was also reported .21,22 A one-pot synthesis of β-lactams by a multi-component coupling23 of N-alkyl hydroxylamines, aldehydes, and alkynes catalyzed by copper were reported under mild conditions (Scheme 2).

We also reported the first highly efficient asymmetric coupling (AA3 asymmetric alde-hyde-alkyne-amine) in water by using the tridentate bis(oxazolinyl)pyridines (pybox) with Cu(OTf) complex as catalyst.24 The re-action gives up to 99.6 percent ee in organic solvent and 84 percent ee in water.25

Cross-dehydrogenative coupling

The classical organic syntheses are all based on the conversion of various functional groups to form new carbon-carbon bonds. With the pre-viously described successes in mind, we asked an even more challenging question—could we go beyond current functional group chemistry? To explore such a possibility, we focused our attention on developing a cross-dehydrogena-tive coupling (CDC) methodology by directly using C-H bonds. Such a coupling would avoid the need to introduce functionality, making synthetic schemes shorter and more efficient. This is a highly desirable synthetic procedure for the next generation of C-C bond forming reactions .26 Subsequently, we have discovered various CDC reactions between sp3 C-H and sp C-H27 bonds, between sp3 C-H and sp2 C-H,28 and between sp3 C-H and sp3 C-H systems (Scheme 3).29 Asymmetric CDC reactions between sp3 C-H and sp C-H30

and a metal-free CDC31 were also successful. A highly efficient direct coupling of indole compounds with 1,4-benzoquinones was developed “on water” in the absence of any catalyst via CDC.32

Other non-conventional highly efficient reactions

The amide functional group is ubiquitous in organic chemistry and is an important motif in polymers, proteins, natural products, and pharmaceuticals.1 The most prevalent strategy for amide bond formation relies heavily upon the interconverison of acti-vated carboxylic acid derivatives with an amine. We reported an efficient copper-cata-lyzed oxidative amidation protocol between

aldehydes and amines as well as oxidative esterification reactions.33

Isoflavanones are widely present in nature and are the key structural features of many complex natural products. As an effort to de-velop new strategies to make pharmaceuti-cal-type compounds in one step, we reported a novel annulation of simple hydroxyalde-hydes with alkynes catalyzed by gold to give isoflavanone-type structures directly with theoretical 100 percent atom efficiency.34

Bicyclic lactones are found in many natu-ral occuring products and are potent enzyme inhibitors. By using gallium as catalyst, a direct synthesis of bicyclic lactones was developed .35

By utilizing the Prins cyclization, a one-step procedure was developed towards the synthesis of Epicalyxin F and Calyxin I.36

Conclusion

The ultimate goal of our exploration of novel chemical reactivity is to be able to synthesize complex chemical structures with a minimum number of steps and in a green solvent. As shown in this article, great progress has been made toward such a goal by developing metal-mediated reactions in water/ionic liquids, via the reaction of various C-H bonds and tandem catalytic reactions. These reactions allow us to access various complex products such as isoflavanones—often in one or two steps.

Acknowledgement

I am indebted to my coworkers who have made these successes possible, and the various funding agencies, especially—the Canada Research Chair (Tier I) founda-tion, the CFI, NSERC, FQRNT, the U.S. NSF, the U.S. EPA, and others for their support throughout the years.

End notes

For a full list of end notes, visit www.accn.ca.

Chao-Jun Li, MCIC, is a professor and Canada

Research Chair (Tier I) in green chemistry

at McGill University. He received his PhD at

McGill and was an NSERC Post-Doctoral

Fellow at Stanford University in California.

He received the U.S. NSF Career Award

and the U.S. Presidential Green Chemistry

Challenge Award in 2001.

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Philip G. Jessop, MCIC

What qualities would typify the perfect green solvent?

Solvents are a chemist’s best friend. Thanks to their heat capacities , solvents can control temperature, they provide mass transport, and they facilitate separations of one chemical

from another. Would we be ungrateful if we took a second look at solvents with a more critical eye?

Waste generated by cleaning, extractions, and chemical manufacturing is primarily waste solvent. Apart from the economic cost associated with waste solvent disposal, there are environmental consequences of solvent use including smog formation, global warming , stratospheric ozone depletion, and ground-level ozone pro-duction. Health hazards associated with solvents include flammability, carcinogenicity, toxicity, mutagenicity, and a host of other ills. How can we reap the benefits that solvents have to offer, without also suf-fering from the problems they create?

Green solvents are those that are less damaging to health and envi-ronment than those that have been used traditionally. What charac-teristics should a green solvent have? Perhaps it is easier to describe the characteristics it should not have. Green solvents should not be flammable, toxic to any life form, carcinogenic, or able to contribute to smog formation, ozone depletion, or eutrophication of natural waters. Green solvents should not require a large amount of energy for their production (from renewable raw materials) or for the separation of the solvent from solutes or products. Finally, green solvents should not be expensive, or they will rarely be used. Besides avoiding all of these negatives, a green solvent must have the right physical properties to perform well in the intended application. Unfortunately, as you may have guessed, there is currently no perfect green solvent that can meet all of these requirements. However, some solvents are clearly “greener” than others. This article is a summary of the types of green solvents, especially in the context of solvents as reaction media.

The greenest solvent is sometimes no solvent at all. Reactions and separations in neat liquids without added solvent are obviously desir-able because of the greatly reduced volume of waste.1 However, even this has potential disadvantages in many cases, including excessive viscosity, poor mass transfer, and poor temperature control. The en-ergy required to stir or grind the solventless mixture can have greater environmental impact than a solvent would have.

Volatile green solventsGreen or otherwise—most solvents used in industry or by consum-ers are volatile. The attraction is obvious. Volatile solvents can be easily removed after use. Volatility, however, comes at an environ-mental price. Volatile solvents, with a few exceptions, are flammable, are readily lost by vapour emissions to the atmosphere, contribute to smog formation, and enter the human body by inhalation. Green volatile solvents must have features that minimize these adverse prop-erties or minimize the damage done after the solvent vapour enters the atmosphere or the human body.

WaterNature’s solvent has great appeal as a green solvent. Water is obvi-ously nonflammable, nontoxic, and quite inexpensive. Research by C. J. Li, MCIC, and colleagues at McGill University have demon-strated that water can even be used as a solvent for Grignard and other formerly water-incompatible reactions.2 For some reactions, there is no need for the reagents to be soluble in water. Barry Sharp-less at Scripps has introduced “on-water” reactions in which organic reagents floating on top of water react more quickly due to the pres-ence of water.3 Water’s primary disadvantage is the large amount of energy or time that often must be expended in order to sufficiently separate the product from the water before the product can be used and the water discarded.

Supercritical water (scH2O) Supercritical water differs from liquid water in being able to readily dissolve both organic compounds and gases—a fortuitous circum-stance that makes it appropriate as a medium for reactions between the two. However, its primary disadvantage is its very high temper-ature (greater than the critical temperature of 374ºC). As a result,

Perfect Green SolventIn Pursuit of the

Some unusual liquids developed at Queen’s University have the ability to reversibly switch from one kind of solvent to another.16 L’ACTUALITÉ CHIMIQUE CANADIENNE FÉVRIER 2007

Nonvolatile green solventsIn some applications, nonvolatile solvents are acceptable, leading to significant “green” advantages including nonflammability, no solvent emissions to the atmosphere, no contribution to smog formation, and lack of human exposure through solvent inhalation. However, if nonvolatile solvents are to be used as reaction media, then a mechanism by which the product can be removed from the solvent must be identified. One could distill the product (if it is volatile), extract it with a volatile green solvent, or cause the product to precipitate by expansion of the solvent with CO2. Academic researchers are increasingly looking at nonvolatile solvents and consider-ing how they can best be used to benefit both industry and environment.

Ionic liquids (ILs)

Ionic liquids (salts melting below 100ºC) are highly polar and are included in discussions of green solvents because they are nonvola-tile and nonflammable. Of course, there are exceptions. A few are volatile—especially dimethylammonium dimethylcarbamate. Some are less polar—especially the tet-raalkylphosphonium ionic liquids made by Cytec Canada. ILs are being investigated and

either pure or mixed with water, as industrial cleaning solvents. They are biodegradable and have a pleasant smell. But pinene is still flammable and both limonene and pinene have rather high boiling points that limit the rate at which they can be removed or evapo-rated from products.

Switchable solventsSome unusual liquids developed recently at Queen’s University have the ability to reversibly switch from one kind of solvent to another whenever some form of trigger is applied.7 Such switchable solvents would be useful in industry for any process in which one process stage (e.g. a reaction or extrac-tion) requires one kind of solvent and the subsequent process stage (e.g. another reac-tion or a separation) requires a very different

kind of solvent. The normal approach in such a situation is to remove the first solvent after the first stage is complete and replace it with a second solvent. The resulting waste in solvent, time, and energy is unfavourable both environmentally and economically. A switchable solvent could be used for both stages, but it is too early in the research to predict whether solvents of this kind will be economically viable.

scH2O is primarily investigated as a medium for the complete destruction of toxic wastes and chemical weapons. Steven Rogak at The University of British Columbia is investigating flow fouling and heat transfer in supercriti-cal water oxidation (SCWO) processes using Canada’s largest SCWO pilot plant.

Supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) The critical temperature of CO2 is a mild 31ºC, so that scCO2 can be used as a solvent for synthetic chemistry4 (e.g. DuPont’s new green process for the production of fluo-ropolymers) or extraction of natural products5 (e.g. caffeine from coffee beans). In addition to being nontoxic and nonflammable, scCO2 has excellent mass transport properties that make it ideal for applications that might be mass transport-limited in conventional sol-vents. For example, Garry Rempel, FCIC, at the University of Waterloo has developed a process for the chemical modification of artificial rubber by homogeneous catalysts dissolved in scCO2. The prime disadvantages of scCO2 are the energy required for com-pressing the gas and the capital costs of the high-pressure equipment.

CO2-expanded liquids At pressures above 20 bar, gaseous CO2 read-ily dissolves in organic liquids. This causes a volumetric expansion of the liquid phase accompanied by changes in the physical properties of the liquid including increased acidity and lowered viscosity, melting point, and polarity. Volumetric expansion of very viscous liquids such as liquid polymers, ionic liquids, and crude oil is typically smaller, but the viscosity lowering is dramatic. The larg-est application of expanded liquids in Canada is enhanced oil recovery, where compressed CO2 is often piped into an underground oil reservoir so that it will dissolve in and lower the viscosity of the oil and facilitate its trans-portation to the production well. As reaction or extraction solvents, expanded liquids have the mass transport benefits of scCO2 at only a fraction of the pressure.

Biomass-derived solvents Ethanol has widespread use as a solvent and is considered green because of its bio-mass origins and its biodegradability, but its flammability is an obvious disadvantage. Ter-penes such as D-limonene (from orange peel) or α- and β-pinene (from pine) are used,


considered by industry for a wide range of applications including as reaction solvents, lubricants, electrolytes, and sensors.8 Jason Clyburne and Rob Singer at St. Mary’s Uni-versity in Halifax are key researchers in IL chemistry in Canada. They have indepen-dently been investigating the use of ILs as solvents for reactions involving reactive organometallic reagents. Unfortunately, ILs do have disadvantages. Some of them are more toxic than others. Their preparation from raw materials can be energetically and economically expensive, and separation of ILs from solutes (without using traditional solvents) can be problematic.

Liquid polymers Liquid fractions of polyethers (such as poly(ethylene glycol) or PEG) and silox-ane polymers are particularly inexpensive nonvolatile green solvents.6 They are non-flammable, generally nontoxic to both humans and aquatic life, biodegradable (less so for the siloxanes), and available in a wide range of polarities. The principal disadvantages are concerns about long-term stability of the polyethers and, as always for nonvolatile solvents, concerns about prod-uct/solvent separation.

Other nonvolatile solvents Soybean oil, canola oil, and their methyl esters,9 like ethanol, have biomass origins and biodegradability. Unlike ethanol, they are neither flammable or toxic. The oils are already used as solvents for pigments and the esters are being considered as industrial degreasing solvents. DuPont has been a proponent of “dibasic esters” (i.e., mixtures of methyl esters of adipic, glutaric, and suc-cinic acids) as green solvents due to their low toxicity, carcinogenicity, and volatility. The esters, generated from unwanted by-products of nylon manufacture, are a green alternative to methylene chloride for paint stripping.10

Conclusion

There is no perfect green solvent, but there are a wide variety of solvents that are green in one or more aspects. Careful selection of green solvents is required to simultane-ously optimize solvent performance and minimize environmental impact. Current research in green solvents highlights their

advantages as reaction media, but the les-sons learned can be applied to many other applications of solvents.

End notes

1. K. Tanaka, Solvent-free Organic Synthe-sis (Weinheim: VCH-Wiley, 2003).

2. C. J. Li, Chem. Rev. 2005, 105, (8), pp. 3095–3166.

3. S. Narayan; Muldoon, J.; Finn, M. G.; Fokin, V. V.; Kolb, H. C.; Sharpless, K. B., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2005, 44, (21), pp. 3275–3279.

4. P. G. Jessop; Leitner, W. (Eds.), Chemi-cal Synthesis Using Supercritical Fluids. (Weinheim: VCH/Wiley, 1999).

5. M. McHugh; Krukonis, V. Supercritical Fluid Extraction. 2nd ed.; (Boston: But-terworth-Heinemann, 1994).

6. D. J. Heldebrant; Witt, H.; Walsh, S.; Ellis, T.; Rauscher, J.; Jessop, P. G., Green Chem. 2006, 8, pp. 807–815.

7. P. G. Jessop; Heldebrant, D. J.; Xiaowang, L.; Eckert, C. A.; Liotta, C. L., Nature 2005, 436, (25 August), 1102.

8. P. Wasserscheid; Welton, T. (Eds.), Ionic Liquids in Synthesis; (Weinheim: VCH-Wiley, 2002).

9. J. Hu; Du, Z.; Tang, Z.; Min, E., Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 2004, 43, (24), pp. 7928–7931.

10. N. E. Kob, In Clean Solvents; M. A. Abraham, L. M., Ed. (Washington: ACS, 2002), pp. 238–253.

Philip G. Jessop, MCIC, is a Canada Research

Chair in green chemistry and an associate

professor in the chemistry department at

Queen’s University. His research interests

include green solvents (expanded, polymeric,

or switchable), switchable surfactants, and

the chemistry of CO2 and H2.

Readers reach for ACCN for news on

who’s who and

what’s what in the Canadian chemical community

Next MonthPublic Understanding

of Chemistry

w w w . a c c n . c aFor a list of upcoming GREEN CHEMISTRY AND ENGINEERING EVENTS, go to p. 33.


Robert Marchessault, FCICMixing biology with polymer science

CHEERS FOR GREEN CHEMISTRY—ISBP 2006

The American heartland of biobased plastics hosted the Tenth International Symposium on Bacterial Polyesters (ISBP) in Minneapolis, MI. Friedrich Srienc organized an event that

brought together Cargill’s polylactide, PLA, and Archer Daniel Mid-land (ADM)’s polyhydroxy alkanoate, PHA, biodegradable plastic ventures. At a time when PLA is breaking production records and ADM is clearing the Clinton, IA site for their new PHA biorefinery, 130 American, Asian, and European researchers came together to share the 49 oral presentations and 59 poster subjects on the cam-pus of the University of Minnesota.

The two bioplastic ventures are excitingly different. Cargill’s “semi-synthetic” and ADM’s “100 percent bacterial,” are both exploiting the cornbelt’s already strained supply to the bioethanol and biodiesel rush. Not since 1982 when Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd. (ICI) announced a totally biodegradable thermoplastic bacterial polyester has green chemistry heard so much cheering.

Robert Marchessault, FCIC, a long-standing member of the ISBP Committee and an emeritus professor in the chemistry department at

McGill University, gave a plenary lecture on the science and personali-ties involved in the discovery of PHAs. The research team of Juliana Ramsay, MCIC, and Bruce Ramsay, MCIC, represented by Zhiyong and Xuan Sun presented a poster on “Pilot Scale Production of P(3HHp-co-3HN), representing current work at the Queen’s University department of chemical engineering.

Alexander Steinbuchel and his school reviewed the “Biology of PHA” in terms of proteomes of PHA granules where the synthase remains attached to the granules. PHA synthase is the only protein required for granule synthesis. Systematic protein studies sketch the PHA inclusion as a complex organelle from which tailor-made PHAs in chemostat cultures are made.

The Metabolix vision of a sustainable future through “Natural Plastics and Bioenergy” is by deployment of dedicated biomass crops such as switchgrass. The U.S. Department of Energy has estimated that 370 mil-lion tons per year of dedicated biomass crops will be needed by the year 2030 to meet its goal of replacing 30 percent of the nation’s petroleum consumption with biofuels. Meanwhile, blown and cast films, extruded


paper coatings, and fuel alcohol will proliferate . Europe lacks the land to produce needed bio-mass—thus the use of photovoltaics is a better investment for conversion of their sun energy.

Life cycle analysis based on industrial processes was presented by BASF Inc. They concluded that there is enough biomass to replace fossil fuel as the feedstock for the chemical industry. PHA copolyesters have the potential to substitute for polypropylene (in-jection molding) and polyethylene (films), but processes still need improvement based on energy cost. PHAs from transgenic plants may be more competitive than fermented PHAs. While fossil resources are limited, climate change is considered the dominant problem. World biomass in the form of plants as gigan-tic “sun reactors” is only approximately seven percent utilized by humankind.

A breakthrough in PHB molecular biology was the presentation of the first three-dimensional X-ray structure of a type II extracellular single-domain depolymerase crystal. This enzyme was capable to degrade insoluble PHB. The enzyme was complexed with a PHB trimer having a near-extended chain conformation. Thus, a crevice is formed on the surface of the enzyme to which a single polymer chain can be bound by predominantly hydrophobic interactions with several residues.

Tepha, Inc. announced poly-4-hydroxybu-tyrate flexible PHA, TephaFLEX, as material for implantable medical devices such as absorbable sutures, surgical mesh, patches, and vascular grafts, etc. TephELAST is the copolymer P(3HB-co-4HB) under FDA review for other applications for novel biomaterials . Several reports of electrospun PHB fibres were presented for the first time. Using multiple spinning jets and hexafluoro-2-propanol as solvent, preparation of electrospun nanofibre mats were reported by Riken scientists.

“To mix biology with polymer science” was Srienc’s stated objective as he assem-bled this exciting program. The conferees enjoyed Mississippi Jazz during the evening banquet sailing down the river, confirming his success. Bernd Rhem of Massey Univer-sity announced that ISBP 2008 will be held in Auckland, New Zealand.

Robert Marchessault, FCIC, is an emeritus

professor in the chemistry department at McGill

University and a long-standing member of the

ISBP Committee.

Continuing a long southern Ontario tradition that started in 1968, the 39th Inorganic Discussion Weekend (IDW) was held from October 27 to 29, 2006, at Carleton University in Ottawa, ON. The conference was attended by more than 170 students, post-doctoral fellows, and professors from all fields of inorganic chemistry and 16 universities and colleges. Richard F. Jordan (University of Chicago) gave the Bruker Plenary Lecture, titled “Reactions of Metal Catalysts with Polar Vinyl Monomers,” which was generously supported by Bruker-Biospin. Jillian Buriak, MCIC (University of Alberta and NINT) gave the Carleton Faculty of Science and Office of Research Invited Lecture, titled “Using Self–Assembled Nanoscale Structures to Direct Surface Chemical Functionalization of Silicon.” A full listing of the conference program with abstracts and the conference sponsors can be found at www.carleton.ca/IDW2006/.

The IDW began with the traditional registration mixer (sponsored by MBraun USA) on Friday night at Carleton’s newly renovated Oliver’s pub. The Sigma-Aldrich sponsored poster session was held late Saturday afternoon. Coffee breaks during the lecture sessions were paid for Dima Glass, Xerox, and Thompson Nelson.

Prizes were awarded for both oral and poster presentations and were made available through the sponsorship of the CSC inorganic division, the office of research, Carleton Univer-sity, John Wiley and Sons, Pearson Education, and W. H. Freeman. The seven oral prize winners received a prize of $100 or a $100 book coupon.

Poster presentation winners were Allison Brazeau, MCIC (Carleton University), Tran Doan (York University), Meghan Doster (University of Windsor), Josee Boudreau, ACIC (Université Laval), Kylie Luska, ACIC (University of Guelph), Marco Zimmer-De Iuliis (University of Toronto), Christine Sui-Seng (University of Toronto), F. Nipa Haque (University of Toronto), Erika Revesz (Carleton University), and Brian Sahli (University of Windsor). Winners each chose a book from a selection donated by W. H. Freeman and Pearson Education.

Robert Crutchley, MCIC

The 39th Inorganic Discussion Weekend at Carleton

Oral presentation prize winners. Front row, left to right, Wing Yang Chan, MCIC (University of Toronto), Lindsay Cahill, MCIC (McMaster University), David Brock (McMaster University). Back row, left to right, Alan Hadzovic (University of Toronto), Elizbieta Stepowska (University of Toronto), Nigel Hearns, ACIC (Guelph University). ShuBin Zhao, MCIC (Queen’s University) is not pictured.


We are proud to share the new CIC vision. All three Con-stituent Society boards of directors and the CIC officers have joined together to develop this plan to ensure the

Institute will meet changing demands in the next ten years. This new vision will lead us forward.

The “Towards 2015” article defines the power and thought behind each of the words in the vision statement. The article also focuses on the strengths of our three Constituent Societies and defines areas to build upon.

CIC VISION—TOWARDS 2015Developing a strong vision and strategic plans is our first step. We will

continue to re-visit the strategic plans each year to ensure we achieve the vision, and we will share our successes in future ACCN articles.

We will need champions within our membership to deliver some of our key objectives. I personally invite each member to seriously consider what contributions you are able to make. Together, the CIC and our constituent societies will move toward 2015.

Cathy Cardy, MCIC, CIC chair

Chemistry is central to the well-being of society.


Chemistry

Chemistry, including both the science and the people—the professionals using chemis-try. It will be recognized as benefiting every facet of life.

The word chemistry represents not only chemists but also chemical engineers, chem-ical technologists, and the many other pro-fessionals that work with chemical sciences and engineering.

Central

Chemistry is the central science. Chemistry bridges biology, physics, geology, and other science disciplines as many scientists now work at the molecular level. From organic chemistry to the pursuit of life-saving pharmaceuticals through molecular medi-cine—chemistry is the fundamental science of life.

Well-being

The technology and comforts in life enjoyed by all are provided through the applications of chemistry. Sustainable improvement will only be achieved through public educa-tion on the importance and positive aspects of science and chemistry in everyday life. Knowledge and understanding are key to avoiding harm and benefiting from the appropriate use of all chemicals.

Society

Inter-disciplinary arts and science profes-sionals, and society at large will recognize the value of chemistry. CIC members are a key part of society and must be involved—the Institute promotes the vision and its members embrace and live it. This results in professional awareness, public awareness through public understanding of chemistry and outreach , and recognition of the CIC.

The CIC Board has developed a new mission statement to be consistent with the Vision .

Mission: Advance the

principles and practices

of the chemical sciences and

engineering for the betterment

of society.

The betterment of society covers three pil-lars: (1) Environment; (2) Health and Safety; and (3) Economy and Energy. To move us to-wards 2015 we have developed five core focus areas. These focus areas can change in scope over time. For the near term, to achieve the realization of both our vision and mission the CIC will:• assist the profession to remain current

with technology;• encourage the development of the

chemical enterprise;• participate in the development and

education of the chemical sciences and engineering profession;

• take proactive public positions on issues related to chemical sciences and engineer-ing; and

• communicate informed science to the public.

Technical strengths firstThe CIC will continue to build on its tra-ditional technical programs and activities such as national and international confer-ences, workshops, journals, and L’Actualité chimique canadienne / Canadian Chemical News (ACCN). By focusing on and improving its technical roots, the CIC will enhance the chemical profession and provide additional benefits to its membership.

CIC champions will be identified in niche areas such as economics, energy, environ-ment, health, safety, materials, water, and other strategic areas. These champions will help strengthen and bring attention to the Institute’s forums (conferences, workshops, courses, publications, Web site) as the preferred venues for learning. The complex infrastructure of the CIC, its Constituent Soci-eties, Subject Divisions, Locals Sections, and

diverse membership from industry, academia, and government is a considerable strength that casts a far-reaching interconnected net-work across Canada and internationally.

The CIC was a co-organizer of the Third World Congress of Industrial Biotechnol-ogy and Bioprocessing. The Institute gained recognition at this event as a progressive association , in tune with the evolving, mul-tidisciplinary nature of science. The CIC will continue to partner with complemen-tary disciplines to extend the mandate of its own national conferences and interna-tional congresses.

Chemical enterpriseThe CIC will encourage the development of the chemical enterprise in its broadest sense. A national CIC science and technology advi-sory council will be formed with a mandate to build business development expertise, especially for small organizations to help them to develop tools and resources.

Energy will continue to be a major global issue in 2015. Canada will be recognized as an energy leader due to its large resource and technological base in fossil fuels (oil, coal, and natural gas), nuclear, and renew-able (hydroelectricity, biomass, solar, and wind) energy. Traditional pulp and paper and chemical producers will develop bio-products, paving the way for new biomass manufacturers. Further, the CIC is studying the formation of an Energy Division that would focus on technological developments, discussions/discourse, lobbying, and public education on this issue.

Western economies, including Canada and the U.S., will focus on specialties and smaller companies will custom manufacture chemi-cals for regional use. Market demand for new entrepreneurial companies will spark growth and new developments. Sustainability , Responsible Care®, and green chemistry and engineering will become the culture in these new companies as regulatory compliance is increasingly enforced.

Canada will lead the way in emerging tech-nology markets and experience economic growth in this sector, though less in tradi-tional commodity manufacturing. The CIC will redefine the mandate of its Economics and Business Management Division to play a more proactive role in the development of the chemical enterprise.

TOWARDS 2015


Outreach and educationThe CIC Board has re-affirmed the need to augment its established outreach and education programs to conform to ongoing societal changes and expectations. Shifting demographics and visible minority propor-tions will drive fundamental changes in the Canadian educational system at all levels. The CIC will increase its involvement in educational needs.

The CIC will increase its efforts to promote the chemical sciences and engineering as a profession of the future. Communications campaigns must successfully reach elemen-tary school teachers and students to connect them with the wonders of chemical sciences and engineering.

Countries such as India and China will con-tinue to expand investment in their science programs and the traditional flow of foreign students to Canada will further diminish. Emphasis will be placed on the promotion of science to grow the next generation of Canadian scientists and engineers. As such, demand will increase for secondary school teachers with advanced science backgrounds.

The CIC will assist universities and col-leges to keep abreast of new educational tools and techniques, as well as emerging technologies, to enhance their existing pro-grams. The CIC must also develop programs to encourage university and college students to study chemical sciences and engineering. There will be a continuation and expansion of role in program accreditation—exhibiting leadership and as a mechanism for change. Through continuing collaboration with professional associations barriers to professional recognition and migration will be reduced .

Taking public positions and communicating informed scienceThe CIC must be more proactive and take public positions on issues related to chem-istry to educate the public and promote fact-based, responsible science. This sup-ports the vision statement, “Chemistry is central to the well-being of society.” CIC members are the experts and the Institute and its members will be the reliable and accurate source of information on science matters and issues.

Science and scientists must be trusted or lose credibility. Ethics and professional responsibility training for scientists and engineers will become a standard part of the curriculum supported by the CIC.

Deliverables: achieving the CIC mission statements in 2015We are a strong institute built with three professional societies. This vision docu-ment provides a macro map and foundation to move us towards our 2015 Vision. The micro map to success is developed by the individual societies with their business plans. This list will change over time. Our near term deliverables are as follows:1. Assist the profession to remain current in

technology.• Focus on sessions at CIC conferences that

address the context of the chemical sci-ences and engineering in society (2007).

• Identify CIC champions interested in niche area development such as econom-ics, energy , environment, materials, water, etc., and encourage them to use CIC forums (conferences, workshops, courses, ACCN, Web site) as their preferred forum for learning (2007).

2. Encourage the development of the chemical enterprise.

• Form a national science and technology advisory council to recommend CIC actions to build business development expertise , especially for small organiza-tions (2007).

• Re-vitalize and redefine the Economics and Business Management Division to address emerging technology markets and charge it to run relevant programs and activities (2008).

• Provide complimentary memberships to senior-level industry managers to bring them into the CIC process (2007)

3. Participate in the development and edu-cation of the chemical sciences and engineering profession.

• Help in the development of new science education models that respond to societal changes (2012).

4. Take proactive public positions on issues related to the chemical sciences and engi-neering.

• Establish a process for identifying issues (February 2007).

• Implement a public position policy pro-cess (October 2007).

5. Communicate informed science to the public.

• Host a blog site to foster and encourage business ethics (2007).

• Provide ongoing business and ethics references (Web site) and training (con-ferences), with other associations such as the Canadian Chemical Producers’ Asso-ciation (Responsible Care®) (2010).

• Provide references to experts in the inves-tigation of scientific ethical breaches and chemical-related events (2011).

• Continue to identify roles and activi-ties related to program accreditation and professional awareness and recognition (ongoing).

The Chemical Institute of Canada (CIC) is a membership-based scientific and edu-cational organization comprising three individual Constituent Societies—Canadian Society for Chemistry (CSC), Canadian So-ciety for Chemical Engineering (CSChE), and Canadian Society for Chemical Technol-ogy (CSCT). Throughout this document, the term “CIC” represents both the members and the organization.

All issues of ACCN prior to 2007 are free to view on the Web at www.accn.ca?

Click on issues and back issues to revisit your favourite issues!

DID YOU KNOW


We want to help simplify your busy schedule with our on-line services, restricted to members only. Ensure your current e-mail address has been entered on your “Profile” page. To access on-line renewal and member services, go to https://secure.cheminst.ca/default.asp. For the protection of your personal information, the on-line membership services are restricted to CIC members only, and you will be asked to log on your own personal secure account with a username and password.

The “username” is composed of the first letter of your first name and the five (or less for short surnames) first letters of your surname. The middle name is not used (e.g. “John A. Dalton” would become: jdalto).

The “password” is your CIC membership reference number , which you can find written on all correspondence from the CIC, including your membership card (e.g. 223 or 27890). Once you have logged on the first time, you will be required to change your password to something other than your membership number. If you forget your password , you have the option to request your password to be reset to your membership number.

If you experience any difficulty, call CIC Membership Services at our toll-free number 1-888-542-2242, ext. 230, or e-mail [email protected].

The CIC values your privacy and encourages membership networking.

• Renew your CIC membership for

2007 on-line

• Update your own person al profile

• Perform an on-line membership search

ON-LINE SERVICES

Le 56e Congrès canadien de génie chimique s’est tenu à Sher-brooke du 15 au 18 octobre dernier. Ce congrès, auquel ont participé plus de 750 chercheurs, professionnels de l’industrie

et étudiants, a été organisé conjointement par la Société canadienne de génie chimique et le département de génie chimique de l’Université de Sherbrooke. Le thème du congrès était « Au cœur de nos vies ». En effet, l’ingénieur chimiste est impliqué dans toutes les activités industrielles et économiques, et joue un rôle clé dans notre société. Le comité organisateur, présidé par Gervais Soucy, MCIC, a fait un travail remarquable qui a mené à la réussite du congrès. Ce succès n’aurait cependant pas été possible sans le soutien financier de tous les commanditaires.

Le programme technique, préparé par Peter Jones, FCIC, a per-mis la présentation de plus de 500 exposés lors de différents sympo-siums. Ces derniers ont abordé entre autres les bioprocédés, les défis en médecine régénératrice, les piles à combustibles, le génie phar-maceutique, l’efficacité énergétique, le génie chimique écologique, l’environnement et le développement durable, les technologies des plasmas et l’innovation en conception. Des conférenciers prestigieux reconnus internationalement ont également partagé leurs plus récentes découvertes et innovations lors des conférences plénières.

Le concours d’affiches et le souper organisés par le comité des étu-diants des cycles supérieurs, présidé par Josiane Nikiema, ACIC, a atteint ses objectifs. Cet évènement, soutenu financièrement en grande partie par l’Université de Sherbrooke, a favorisé les échanges et les discussions entre les étudiants et les membres du jury provenant de l’ensemble du Canada.

Le programme destiné aux étudiants du 1er cycle a été tout aussi stimulant. Les étudiants ont en effet découvert les nombreuses facettes d’une carrière en génie chimique, tout en visitant la région de Sherbrooke. Plusieurs prix ont été décernés aux étudiants au cours du congrès . Le prix du Concours de conception d’installations SNC-Lavalin a été attribué à l’équipe de la University of Toronto. Le prix du Concours de rapports étudiants oraux Reg-Friesen a été remis à Sonam Mahajan de la University of Toronto. Les étudiants de la 51e promotion de génie chimique de l’Université de Sherbrooke, représentés par Guillaume Dion et Martin Lebeuf, ont remporté le premier prix du Concours de rapports techniques Robert-G.-Auld pour leur projet d’intégration sur la valorisation du lactosérum en sorbitol, projet mis en œuvre et encadré par les professeures Michèle Heitz et Nathalie Faucheux, MCIC. Les membres du jury de ces deux derniers concours ont tenu à souligner l’excellence des travaux présentés par les étudi-ants du 1er cycle.

Enfin, la visite de Sherbrooke et de ses environs ainsi que la découverte de la gastronomie de l’Estrie laisseront très certainement un souvenir inoubliable aux participants de ce 56e Congrès canadien de génie chimique.

The 56th Canadian Chemical Engineering Conference took place October 15 to 18, 2006 in Sherbrooke, QC. Organized by the Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering and the

Université de Sherbrooke, the conference was attended by over 750 researchers, industry professionals, and students The theme of the conference, “At the Heart of Our Lives,” recognized that chemical engineers are involved in all industrial and economic activities, play-ing a key role in our society. The conference was a success thanks to the hard work of the organizing committee, chaired by Gervais Soucy, MCIC. This success would not have been possible without the financial support of all our sponsors.

The technical program, organized by Peter Jones, FCIC, involved the presentation of more than 500 papers throughout the various symposia . These included bioprocessing, challenges in regenerative medicine, fuel cell technology, pharmaceutical engineering, energy efficiency , green chemistry, environment and sustainable development, plasma technologies, and design innovation. Internationally renowned and distinguished presenters also presented their most recent discover-ies and innovations during the plenary sessions.

The graduate student committee, chaired by Josiane Nikiema, ACIC, achieved its objectives with the poster competition and dinner. This event was supported financially in large part by the Université de Sherbrooke and facilitated discussions between graduate students and jury members from across Canada.

The undergraduate student program was also stimulating. Students discovered a range of options relating to a career in chemical engineer-ing, while visiting the Sherbrooke area. The SNC-Lavalin Plant Design Competition award was given to the team from the University of Toronto. The Reg Friesen Student Oral Paper Competition prize went to Sonam Mahajan, also from the University of Toronto. Students in the 51st class of chemical engineering at the Université de Sherbrooke, represented by Guillaume Dion and Martin Lebeuf, received first prize in the Robert G. Auld Techical Paper Competition for their integration project on the development of lactoserum in sorbitol, a project established and sup-ported by professors Michèle Heitz and Nathalie Faucheux, MCIC. The members of the jury for the last two awards underlined the excellence of the paper the undergraduate students presented.

Participants at the 56th Canadian Chemical Engineering Conference will likely never forget their tour of Sherbrooke and its surrounding areas, or the gastronomical delights of the Estrie region.

Nathalie Faucheux, MCIC

Gervais Soucy, MCIC

LE 56e CONGRÈS CANADIEN DE GÉNIE CHIMIQUE

THE 56th CANADIAN CHEMICAL ENGINEERING CONFERENCE


1. CSChE outreach director, Emily Moore, MCIC (left) and SNC-Lavalin’s Bob Sparrow, MCIC (right) present cer tificates to University of Western Ontario students who placed third in the SNC-Lavalin Plant Design competition.

2. Students mingle between events.

3. John MacGregor, MCIC (right) receives the Award for Industrial Practice from CSChE past president Paul Stuart, MCIC.

4. PSM Division members take a moment to relax.

5. The CSChE’s awards luncheon is an opportunity to recognize outstanding achievements.

6. Joan Kingston of National Office with Hui (Catherine ) Niu, MCIC, winner of the accom-modation prize

7. Roland Andersson, MCIC, Andrew Hart, MCIC, Allan Gilbert, MCIC, and David Fung, MCIC, at the opening reception

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RECOGNITION RECONNAISSANCE

Photos by François Lafrance

Undergraduate oral student competi-tions were held at the 56th Canadian Chemical Engineering Conference

in Sherbrooke, ON, in October 2006. There were a record number of papers presented in this session.

Here are the final results of these competi-tions:• Robert G. Auld Competition Students were given ten minutes to pres-

ent an oral paper pertaining to any aspect of chemical engineering.

1st place: Martin Lebeuf and Guillaume Dion, Université de Sherbrooke

2nd place: Tea Tancev, University of Toronto

3rd place: Alex Lee, University of Toronto• Reg Friesen Competition Students presented oral papers on any

aspect of chemical engineering relating to education.

1st place: Sonam Mahajan, University of Toronto

• SNC-Lavalin Plant Design Competition The top three teams competed in the

oral part of this competition to present their plant designs to the judges and their peers.

1st place: University of Toronto 2nd place: École Polytechnique 3rd place: University of Western Ontario• Graduate Student Poster Competition Université de Sherbrooke graduate stu-

dents organized the Graduate Student

Poster Competition on Monday, October 16. Over 30 students presented posters.

1st place: Pierre-Philippe Lapointe-Garant , Université de Sherbrooke

2nd place: Roza Tizvar, University of Ottawa

3rd place: Nasser Abukhdeir, McGill University

People’s choice: Antonio Avalos Ramirez, Université de Sherbrooke

Richard Béliveau, professeur au départe-ment de chimie de l’UQAM, et Denis Gingras, chercheur au Laboratoire de méde-cine moléculaire de l’Hôpital Sainte-Justine, ont reçu le prix du grand public Salon du livre de Montréal / La Presse 2006, pour leur ouvrage Les aliments contre le cancer. Une fois de plus, le public a été invité à voter pour le livre d’un auteur québécois qu’il a le plus apprécié, parmi les meilleurs ven-deurs de la dernière année, tels que recensés par l’Association des libraires du Québec. Ce prix est attribué en collaboration avec l’Association des libraires du Québec. Le prix était accompagné d’une bourse offerte par La Presse, ainsi que d’une œuvre de l’artiste verrier Denis Gagnon.

CSChE past president, Paul Stuart, MCIC, congratulates John L. Brash (left).

John L. Brash, Distinguished University Professor in the department of chemical engineering and director of the School of Biomedical Engineering at McMaster Uni-versity, is this year’s recipient of the R. S. Jane Memorial Award, the premier award of the CSChE. Brash delivered the CSChE Conference’s opening plenary lecture, “Blood Contacting Materials: Protein-Sur-

face Interactions and Biocompatibility.” Beginning with a history of the evolution of biomaterials, Brash took his audience back 3,000 years to initial experiments, then described the evolution of modern biomate-rials during the past 60 years. Examples as diverse as an artificial wooden toe found on an Egyptian mummy, and the role played by the Plexiglas cockpit canopies used in WWII airplanes in the development of the intra-ocular lens entertained a diverse audience.

The presentation examined recent prog-ress and outstanding issues in blood-con-tacting biomaterials, such as heart valves, stents, and vascular grafts. Researchers de-veloping biomaterials are challenged with phenomena such as the immune response, the inflammatory response, device-centred infections, and material mineralization. One of the more pervasive problems is that of protein adsorption on the biomaterial surface. In blood contacting applications this leads to coagulation and thrombosis. Traditional approaches have attempted to prevent non-specific interactions of proteins in blood with the biomaterial surface. Brash has pioneered an approach that promotes selective-exclusive binding of specified pro-teins. One example is the problem of blood coagulation—rather than trying to prevent clot formation (an apparently impossible task), his approach uses selective adsorp-tion of proteins that act to dissolve nascent clots, which form on the biomaterial surface. Clot formation rapidly followed by dissolu-tion is clearly observed with lysine-deriva-tized polyurethanes, setting the course for a new strategy in combating thrombosis in biomaterials.

André Charette, MCIC, has received the Prix Urgel-Archambault for excellence in Physical Sciences, Mathematics, and Engineering. This prestigious prize has been officially bestowed to him by the French-Canadian Association for the Advancement of Science.

The University of Toronto’s Bennett Gates and the Davenport Chemical Research Building/Lash Miller Chemical Laboratories garden are winners of the City of Toronto’s Clean and Beautiful Appreciation Awards. The awards are given in recognition of the part they play

Results of the 2006 CSChE Student Competitions

Robert G. Auld Award Competition winners, Martin Lebeuf and Guillaume Dion from the Université de Sherbrooke , accept their prize at the 56th CSChE Conference.


RECOGNITION RECONNAISSANCE

In Memoriam

William Ogilvie Swinton Meredith, FCIC, passed away peacefully in Saskatoon, SK, on

in enhancing the urban fabric. They were developed to identify and celebrate outstand-ing contributions that help make Toronto a cleaner and more beautiful city, emphasizing that beauty is not a “frill” but essential to the city’s economic future, the social welfare of its residents, and their civic pride.

Peter Jones has joined the University of Manitoba as its new Canada Research Chair in Functional Foods and Nutrition and as the director of the Richardson Centre for Func-tional Foods and Neutraceuticals. Jones obtained his doctorate in nutritional bio-chemistry from the University of Toronto. He currently serves as president of the Danone Institute for Nutrition in Canada. He is the past president of the Canadian Society for Nutritional Sciences.

The Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) and its Board of Directors are very pleased to welcome the appointment of William C. Leggett as their new chair of the board, effec-tive February 5, 2007. Prior to being named CFI chair, Leggett served as principal and vice-chancellor of Queen’s University from 1994 to 2004, where he was also a professor of biol-ogy. He is the second of only two scientists to ever hold the Queen’s principalship.

Imperial Oil of Calgary, AB, has appointed Douglas C. MacLaren, MCIC, to the position of line business advisor, commerical vehicle lubricants, lubricants, and specialities.

October 15, 2006. Meredith was born in Fife, Scotland in 1911. He attended secondary school in Stirling, Scotland, after which he apprenticed as an electrical engineer. At age 18, he came to Canada on an agricultural scholarship. He attended Ontario Agricul-tural College in Guelph, ON, and graduated with a BSA from the University of Toronto in 1934.

Meredith first worked as a research chem-ist with the National Research Council Canada (NRC) in Ottawa. In 1937 he mar-ried Dorothy Ellen Buckingham. The couple moved to Winnipeg, MB. He completed an MSc in organic chemistry and statistics (1939) from the University of Manitoba. During the war years, he was on loan from NRC for research on food storage and on en-ergy sources from oil seeds. Meredith spent a year (1948) at the University of Minnesota on a Special NRC Fellowship, and completed a PhD in biochemistry and genetics at the University of Manitoba (1949). From 1946 to 1974, Meredith was a research scientist with the Grain Research Laboratory, Cana-dian Grain Commission, in Winnipeg. He was head of barley and malt research and a consultant in statistics and biometrics. He carried out pioneering work on the effects of barley protein on malt and beer quality. His work was also instrumental in identifying beta-glucan as the material causing filtration problems during brewing. In 1967, Meredith was awarded the Canada Centennial Medal for his contributions to Canadian barley re-search and development. He was a fellow of the Institute of Brewing (U.K.). He was elected an associate of the CIC in 1938 and a fellow in 1942.

Meredith and his wife were active mem-bers of the Fort Garry Historical Society. It was responsible for saving three heritage Franco Manitoban houses from destruction. They were restored and formed the basis of a heritage museum and park at St. Norbert, MB. For this work, Meredith was awarded the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal in 2003. In retirement, they continued to travel, often joining friends in Europe, New Zealand, and the Canadian Rockies. Meredith was an out-standing parent, mentor, and a wonderful loving grandfather.

Students—Nominate Your Faculty Advisor Has your Faculty Advisor taken an active role in working with your Student Chapter throughout the year? Why not recognize him or her with one of the Faculty Advisor Awards? Three awards are given annually , one per Society. Terms of Reference are available at www.cheminst.ca/faculty_advisor. Nominations are due March 30, 2007.

Soumettez la candidature de votre conseiller Votre conseiller aux étudiants a-t-il joué un rôle actif dans votre chapitre étudiant au cour s de l ’année? Récompensez son travail en sou-mettant sa candidature pour le Prix du conseiller de l’année. Trois prix sont octroyés chaque année, un pour chaque société. Les conditions de mise en candidature se trouvent à www.cheminst.ca/faculty_advisor. Les candidatures doivent nous parvenir le 30 mars 2007.


Chemist seeks position. PhD in analytical chemistry. Experience in atomic spectroscopy, AAS, GFAAS, hydride generation, cold vapors, ICP-AES, ICP-AF and chromatography GC, HPLC, EC. Research and development of analytical methods environmental mentoring. Analy-sis of trace and ultra trace of elements and substances in different kinds of matrixes. Please contact [email protected].

EMPLOYMENT WANTED

CanadaConferencesMay 26–30, 2007. 90th Canadian Chemistry Conference and Exhibition , Winnipeg , MB, www.csc2007.ca

May 29–June 1, 2007. International Chemical Recovery Conference —“Efficiency and Energy Management,” Québec, QC, 514-392-6964

October 28–31, 2007. 57th Canadian Chemical Engineering Conference , Edmonton , AB, www.chemeng.ca

May 24–28, 2008. 91st Canadian Chemistry Conference and Exhibition , Edmonton , AB, www.csc2008.ca

October 19–22, 2008. 58th Canadian Chemical Engineering Conference , Ottawa , ON, www.csche2008.ca

August 23–27, 2009. 8th World Congress of Chemical Engineering and 59th Canadian Chemical Engineering Conference, Montréal, QC, www.wcce8.org

Student ConferencesMarch 17, 2007. 35th Southwestern Ontario Undergraduate Student Chemistry Conference (SOUSCC), University of Ontario Institute of Technology, Oshawa, ON, [email protected]

May 4–6 2007. Western Undergraduate Student Chemistry Conference, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, [email protected]

May 2007. 32nd CIC-APICS Undergraduate Chemistry Conference (ChemCon2007), Acadia University, Wolfville, NS

October 26, 2007. Colloque annuel des étudiants et étudiantes de 1er cycle en chimie, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC, [email protected]

U.S. and OverseasJune 21–23, 2007. Chemtech 2007, Institute of Chemistry, Ceylon, Colombo , Sri Lanka, [email protected], www.ichemc.com

July 22–26, 2007. 23rd Annual Meeting of the International Society of Chemical Ecology, Jena, Germany, www.chemecol.org/meetings/meetings.htm

September 16–21 2007. 6th European Congress of Chemical Engineering (ECCE-6) Copenhagen, Denmark, www.ecce6.kt.dtu.dk

EVENTS ÉVÉNEMENTS

COLLEGE CHEMISTRY CANADALA CHIMIE COLLÉGIALE AU CANADAThe 34th conference of College Chemistry Canada will be held jointly with the Chemical Society of Canada, May 26–31, 2007, in Winnipeg, MB. The host college for C3 members will be the Collège universitaire de Saint-Boniface, who will organize the social and special events. For more information go to:http://sp.cusb.ca/cusb/c3conference/index.html.

Upcoming Green Chemistry Events Joint meeting of the 1st Asian-Oceanian Conference on

Green and Sustainable Chemistry and the 7th Annual

Green and Sustainable Chemistry Symposium

March 7–9, 2007, Tokyo, Japan

Engineering Sustainability 2007—Innovations that

Span Boundaries

April 15–18, 2007, Pittsburgh, PA, U.S.A.

2007 NSF Pan-American Advanced Studies on

Sustainability and Green Chemistry

May 29–June 10, 2007, Mexico City, Mexico

11th Annual Green Chemistry and Engineering

Conference

June 25–28, 2007, Washington, DC, U.S.A.

3rd International Conference on Green and Sustainable

Chemistry

July 1–5, 2007, Delft, The Netherlands

CHEMRAWN-XVII and ICCDU-IX Conference on

GREENHOUSE GASES: Mitigation and Utilization

July 8–12, 2007, Kingston, ON, Canada


90e CONGRÈS ET EXPOSITION CANADIENS DE CHIMIE

Présentation d’affi ches des étudiants de 1er cycleTravaillez-vous présentement à un projet de recherche et souhaitez-vous partager vos résultats? Présentez-vous un exposé à un Congrès pour étudiants de 1er cycle en chimie de la Société canadienne de chimie (SCC) et aimeriez-vous le présenter à nouveau sous forme d’affi che? Aimeriez-vous présenter une affi che pour la première fois? Voici l’occasion de démontrer à vos pairs et aux professionnels en chimie ce dont vous êtes capable.

Le 90e Congrès et exposition canadiens de chimie de la SCC aura lieu du 26 au 30 mai 2007 à Winnipeg (Manitoba). Nous vous invitons à participer à la présentation d’affi ches des étudiants de 1er cycle que se tiendra durant l’événement.

Les affi ches peuvent être présentées dans les domaines de la chimie analytique, inorganique, organique et physique ainsi que de la biochimie. Deux prix seront remis dans chaque domaine (1er prix de 150 $ et 2e prix de 50 $). Ces montants peuvent augmenter selon le nombre de participants.

Une aide de voyage est disponible pour les étudiants de 1er cycle qui assistent au congrès .

AdmissibilitéCe concours est ouvert aux étudiants actuellement au 1er cycle, ou aux étudiants qui ont obtenu leur diplôme moins de quatre mois auparavant, dans tous les secteurs de la chimie.

Les affi ches peuvent traiter de la recherche effectuée dans le cadre d’un cours de 1er cycle, d’un projet coopératif ou d’un emploi d’été dans un environnement universitaire, gouvernemental ou industriel.

Les étudiants des cycles supérieurs qui n’ont pas complété plus de deux trimestresde leur programme peuvent soumettre une affi che portant sur le travail effectué en tant qu’étudiant de 1er cycle, à condition que le sujet de l’affi che diffère de celui du sujet de recherche actuel.

Dates de soumission des résumésLes résumés doivent être transmis en ligne à compter du 10 mars 2007. La date limitede réception pour la présentation des affi ches des étudiants de 1er cycle est le mercredi 18 avril 2007 à minuit (HNE).

Veuillez consulter le site Web du congrès (www.csc2007.ca) pour de plus amples renseignements sur les caractéristiques des affi ches, l’aide de voyage, l’inscriptionau congrès et l’hébergement.

DATE LIMITE : le 18 avrille 18 avril 20072007

90th CANADIAN CHEMISTRY CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION

Undergraduate Student Poster CompetitionAre you working on a research project and want to share your results? Do you havea paper to present at a Canadian Society for Chemistry (CSC) Undergraduate Student Chemistry Conference and would like to present it again in poster format? Are you interested in presenting a poster for the fi rst time? Here is an opportunity to show your peers and chemical professionals what you can do.

The CSC’s 90th Canadian Chemistry Conference and Exhibition will be taking place May 26–30 in Winnipeg, MB. We invite you to participate in the undergraduate poster competition that will be organized during this event.

Posters will be accepted in the general areas of analytical, inorganic, organic and physical chemistry, as well as in biochemistry. Two awards will be given in each area ($150 for 1st prize and $50 for 2nd prize). The amount may increase depending on the number of participants.

Some travel assistance is available to undergraduate students attending the conference .

EligibilityThis competition is open to current undergraduate students, or students who graduated within the last four months, in all branches of chemistry.

Posters may be based on research done as part of an undergraduate course, co-op project, or summer job in a university, government or industrial setting.

Graduate students, who have not completed more than two semesters of their graduate studies program, may present a poster on work done as an undergraduate student on the condition that the poster topic is different from their current research topic.

Abstract Submission DatesAbstracts must be submitted on-line beginning March 10, 2007; the deadline for receipt of abstracts for the Undergraduate Student Poster Competition is midnight (EST), Wednesday, April 18, 2007.

Please visit the conference Web site (www.csc2007.ca) for more information about poster specifi cations, travel assistance, conference registration, and accommodation.

DEADLINE: April 18,April 18, 20072007

2008AWARDSThe Chemical Institute of Canada

The Chemical Institute of Canada Medal is presented as a mark of distinction and recognition to a person who has made an outstanding contribution to the science of chemistry or chemical engineering in Canada . Sponsored by the Chemical Institute of Canada.Award: A medal and travel expenses.

The Montréal Medal is presented as a mark of distinction and honour to a resident in Canada who has shown signifi cant leadership in or has made an outstanding contribution to the profession of chemistry or chemical engineering in Canada. In determining the eligibility for nominations for the award, administrative contributions within The Chemical Institute of Canada and other professional organizations that contribute to the advancement of the professions of chemistry and chemical engineering shall be given due consideration. Contributions to the sciences of chemistry and chemical engineering are not to be considered. Sponsored by the Montréal CIC Local Section.Award: A medal and travel expenses.

The Environmental Improvement Award is presented to a Canadian company, individual , team, or organization for a signifi cant achievement in pollution prevention , treatment, or remediation. Sponsored by the Environment Division.Award: A plaque and travel assistance.

The Macromolecular Science and Engineering Award is presented to an individual who, while resident in Canada, has made a distinguished contribution to macromolecular science or engineering. Sponsored by NOVA Chemicals Ltd.Award: A framed scroll, a cash prize and travel expenses.

The CIC Award for Chemical Education (formerly the Union Carbide Award) is presented as a mark of recognition to a person who has made an outstanding contribution in Canada to education at the post-secondary level in the field of chemistry or chemical engineering . Sponsored by the CIC Chemical Education Fund.Award: A framed scroll and a cash prize.

Nominations are now open for

Do you know an outstanding person who deserves to be recognized? Act now!

DeadlinesThe deadline for all CIC awards is July 3, 2007 for the 2008 selection.

Nomination ProcedureSubmit your nominations to:Awards ManagerThe Chemical Institute of Canada130 Slater Street, Suite 550Ottawa, ON K1P 6E2Tel.: 613-232-6252, ext. 223Fax: [email protected]

Nomination forms and the full Terms of Reference for these awards are available at www.cheminst.ca/awards

The Canadian Society for Chemistry

The Alcan Award is presented to a scientist residing in Canada who has made a distinguishing contribution in the fi elds of inorganic chemistry or electrochemistry while working in Canada. Sponsored by Alcan International Ltd. Award: A framed scroll, a cash prize, and travel expenses.

The Alfred Bader Award is presented as a mark of distinction and recognition for excellence in research in organic chemistry carried out in Canada. Sponsored by Alfred Bader, HFCIC.Award: A framed scroll, a cash prize, and travel expenses.

The Strem Chemicals Award for Pure or Applied Inorganic Chemistry is presented to a Canadian citizen or landed immigrant who has made an outstanding contribution to inorganic chemistry while working in Canada, and who is within ten years of his or her fi rst professional appointment as an independent researcher in an academic, government , or industrial sector. Sponsored by Strem Chemicals Ltd.Award: A framed scroll, travel expenses for a lecture tour.

The Boehringer Ingelheim Award is presented to a Canadian citizen or landed immigrant whose PhD thesis in the fi eld of organic or bioorganic chemistry was formally accepted by a Canadian university in the 12-month period preceding the nomination deadline of July 3 and whose doctoral research is judged to be of outstanding quality. Sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim (Canada) Ltd.Award: A framed scroll, a cash prize, and travel expenses.

The Clara Benson Award is presented in recognition of a distinguished contribution to chemistry by a woman while working in Canada. Sponsored by the Canadian Council

of University Chemistry Chairs (CCUCC).Award: A framed scroll, a cash prize, and travel expenses.

The Maxxam Award is presented to a scientist residing in Canada who has made a distinguished contribution in the fi eld of analytical chemistry while working in Canada . Sponsored by Maxxam Analytics Inc.Award: A framed scroll, a cash prize, and travel expenses.

The R.U. Lemieux Award is presented to an organic chemist who has made a distinguished contribution to any area of organic chemistry while working in Canada. Sponsored by the Organic Chemistry Division.Award: A framed scroll, a cash prize of $1,000, and travel expenses up to $1,000.

The Merck Frosst Cenre for Therapeutic Reasearch Award is presented to a scientist residing in Canada, who shall not have reached the age of 40 years by April 1 of the year of nomination and who has made a distinguished contribution in the fi elds of organic chemistry or biochemistry while working in Canada. Sponsored by Merck Frosst Canada Ltd.Award: A framed scroll, a cash prize, and travel expenses.

The Bernard Belleau Award is presented to a scientist residing in Canada who has made a distinguished contribution to the field of medicinal chemistry through research involving biochemical or organic chemical mechanisms. Sponsored by Bristol Myers Squibb Canada Co.Award: A framed scroll and a cash prize.

The Fred Beamish Award is presented to an individual who demonstrates innovation in research in the fi eld of analytical chemistry, where the research is anticipated to have signifi cant potential for practical applications. The award is open to new faculty members at

a Canadian university and they must be recent graduates with six years of appointment. Sponsored by Eli Lilly Canada Inc.Award: A framed scroll, a cash prize, and travel expenses.

The Keith Laidler Award is presented to a scientist who has made a distinguished con-tribution in the field of physical chemistry while working in Canada . The award rec-ognizes early achievement in the awardee’s independent research career. Sponsored by Systems for Research.Award: A framed scroll and a cash prize. The W. A. E. McBryde Medal is presented to a young scientist working in Canada who has made a significant achievement in pure or applied analytical chemistry. Sponsored by Sciex Inc., Division of MDS Health Group.Award: A medal and a cash prize.

2008AWARDSNominations are now open for

Do you know an outstanding person who deserves to be recognized? Act now!

DeadlineThe deadline for all CSC awards is July 3, 2007 for the 2008 selection.

Nomination Procedure Submit your nominations to:Awards ManagerThe Canadian Society for Chemistry130 Slater Street, Suite 550Ottawa, ON K1P 6E2Tel.: 613-232-6252, ext. 223Fax: [email protected]

Nomination forms and the full Terms of Reference for these awards are available at-www.chemistry.ca/awards

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ACCN careers section and www.chemjobs.caPM

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Documents

Feb 2007: ACCN, the Canadian Chemical News