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ANNUALAUGUST 2016

Q-CHeMC H R O N I C L E S

Dr. Guojun Liu

Congratulations to Dr. Guojun Liufor receiving a Queen’s UniversityPrize for Excellence in Research!

Dr. Liu presented his award-winningresearch to the university community in a public lecture on the evening ofMonday, April 11th.

Since joining Queen’s University as aTier 1 Canada Research Chair in MaterialsScience in 2004, Dr. Liu has been therecipient of the Captain Alfred E. HungAward from the Society of Tribologistsand Lubrication Engineers in 2011, theMacromolecular Science and

Engineering Division Award fromChemical Institute of Canada in 2007and the Distinguished Overseas ChineseYoung Investigator Award from theChinese Academy of Sciences in 2006.Dr. Liu has authored 100 refereedjournal publications since 2004 and theLiu group’s publications have garneredmore than 5000 citations during thistime period. In addition, two of the Liugroup’s developed technologies havebeen licensed for commercialization.

Dr. Liu’s early research was focused on general methodologies for creating

Dr. Guojun Liu Awarded a Queen’s Prizefor Excellence in Research

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intricate nanostructures from polymers.Since 2004, his research has graduallyshifted towards developing applicationsfor these nanostructured polymermaterials. In collaboration with a majorUS oil and additives company, hisgroup’s first venture along this directionwas to explore the application ofnanometer-sized polymer particles forfriction reduction. With a smart polymer design, adding a small amount of theirnanoparticles to automobile engine oilreduced the friction coefficient of the oil in the boundary friction regime(encountered during city driving) by85%. This coefficient represented afurther reduction of 66% than what was achievable with the commercialadditive in widespread use at that time.The use of this new additive shouldgreatly reduce automobile fuelconsumption and engine wear, helpingto reduce costs and benefitting theenvironment.

His group was contracted to work on oil- and water-repellent coatingsbecause the Canadian military wantedto develop a coating that would protecttheir equipment from contamination by chemical warfare agents. Withoutprior experience in self-cleaningcoatings, the Liu group initially followedthe mainstream approach and tried toaccomplish liquid repellency bydeveloping coatings that exhibited highcontact angles with different liquids.One key requirement was that thecoatings would have a lower surfaceenergy than the liquids encountered inorder to prevent them from spreadingon it. The spreading would be furtherreduced by creating coatings that wererugged and possessed large surfaceareas. While this approach yieldedcoatings on which oil and water dropletspossessed high contact angles, a severeshortcoming was that the rugged orrough coatings were neither wear-resistant nor durable. In addition,

expensive fluorinated polymers wererequired to meet the low surface tensionrequirement for the coatings.

Taking a path much less travelled, theLiu group has recently developed morepractical slippery coatings, which theyhave nicknamed NANOGLIDE Coatings.On these coatings, the contact angles oftest liquids are not necessarily high.However, most test liquids can cleanlyslide off these surfaces without leaving atrace, even at slight tilting angles of lessthan five degrees. These coatings workbecause their surfaces are covered witha thin layer of a covalently bound liquidpolymer that possesses both a lowfriction coefficient and a low surfaceenergy. An example of such a liquidpolymer is poly (dimethyl siloxane)(PDMS), which is non-fluorinated andinexpensive. Test liquids readily slide onPDMS because the liquid PDMS, unlikea solid surface, does not grab otherliquids well. Through innovativenanoengineering, PDMS has beenincorporated into commonly usedcommercial coatings such as polyurethaneand epoxy to yield optically clearcoatings. These coatings can be appliedusing methods traditionally used toapply polyurethane and epoxy coatingsand bind strongly to most substrates.The coatings are also wear-tolerantbecause PDMS is present not only onthe coating surface but also exists asnanoreservoirs that are dispersedthroughout the coating.

As the surface wears down, the PDMSnanoreservoirs within the coatingmatrix are ruptured and the newlyreleased PDMS replenishes the worncoating surface and thus renews thecoating’s repellent properties. Thesenew coating materials will have far-reaching applications in addition topossibly meeting the initial objective of the Canadian military, and they have thus attracted global attention.

JUNE 2015

Adeela Manzoor (Baird group) isB

awarded a Dalton TransactionsPoster Prize at the CSCConference in Ottawa, June 13-17,2015. Her presentation wasentitled “An Investigation of NiCl(PPh3)3, a Nickel(I) Cross-coupling Catalyst”.

JULY 2015

Congratulations to Philip Jessop onB

becoming a Fellow of the Royal Society ofChemistry in the U.K.

AUGUST 2015

Annette Keyes retires as the GraduateB

Assistant after 17 years in the Department ofChemistry.

Michelle Boutilier transitions to theB

Graduate Assistant role.

The CREATE Chiral Materials Symposium isB

held on August 13th and 14th . Symposiumspeakers include Dr. Kenichiro Itami, theDirector of the Institute of TransformativeBio-Molecules at the Nagoya University inJapan, and Dr. Chris Baddeley from theUniversity of St. Andrews, UK.

SEPTEMBER 2015

Congratulations to Suning Wang onB

becoming a newly elected Fellow of theRoyal Society of Canada.

Elisa Bulak joins the main office staff as theB

department’s Office Assistant.

The Queen’s Chemistry GraduateB

Symposium run by the chemistry graduatestudents is September 11th. The Harrison/MacRae Lecturer, Dr. Bernard Kippelen fromthe Georgia Institute of Technology, is thekeynote speaker.

2015-2016DepartmentalHighlights

OCTOBER 2015

As part of Homecoming activities, aB

presentation and a reception to honourWalter Szarek’s 50 years as a member of theChemistry department are held on Oct. 24thin Chernoff Hall.

A study by Prof. Ruibing Wang (Queen’sB

Ph.D 2007) and co-workers at the Universityof Macau, and Professor Donal Macartney,Ian Wyman and Jessica Liu (NSERC USRAstudent) on the ability of the macrocyclichost molecule cucurbit[n]uril to reversegeneral anesthesia in a zebrafish model ispublished in RSC Advances and featured in RSC Chemistry World.

Gang Wu and co-workers solve a 170-year-B

old chemical mystery regarding the reactionbetween nitroprusside and sulfide. The workwas highlighted in C&EN. Nitroprusside isused to treat hypertension and the newfindings could aid understanding its modeof action.

NOVEMBER 2015

Angela Lyon (M.Sc. 1996) with DonalB

Macartney) becomes a Fellow of theIntellectual Property Institute of Canada.Angela has been a practicing Patent Agentfor more than seven years at Queen’sUniversity’s technology transfer office,PARTEQ Innovations. 

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DECEMBER 2015

The annual holiday potluck lunch is heldB

Dec. 10th in the 4th floor lounge.

An Organometallics publication by MikeB

Baird and Alex Dunlop-Brière,“[Cp2TiCH2CH2(SiEt2CHMe2)]+, an alkyl-titanocene(IV) complex containing anunconventional TiC(b)-Si mode of bonding”is selected as an ACS Editors’ Choice. UnderACS Editors’ Choice, articles are sponsoredfor immediate open access by ACS due to itspotential for broad public interest, an honorgiven to one article each day of the year.

Guojun Liu is awarded $364,000 from theB

NSERC Collaborative Research andDevelopment program to develop oil andwater repellant industrial coatings incollaboration with Lorama.

Congratulations to M.Sc. student Zijie WangB

of Dr. Guojun Liu’s group. Under the labsupervision of Ph.D. student Yu Wang, Zijiehas functionalized cotton fabrics so thatthey can separate oil from oil-in-wateremulsion rapidly and cleanly. This task wasachieved with fabric pore sizes of 200 µmdespite emulsion droplet sizes of 4 µm. His results have been published in Angew.Chem. Int. Ed. and a patent has been filedon this technology.

The Department of Chemistry congratulatesB

Dr. Françoise Sauriol on receiving a Queen’sUniversity Staff Recognition Award at thePrincipal’s holiday reception. This awardrecognizes staff members who consistentlyprovide outstanding contributions duringtheir workday, directly or indirectly, to thelearning and working environment atQueen’s University at a level significantlybeyond what is usually expected. Françoiseis the NMR Instrumentation Manager in theDepartment of Chemistry.

JANUARY 2016

Congratulations to Dr. Gregory JerkiewiczB

and his research team on receiving a$4,000,000 Discovery Frontiers grant fromNSERC on Friday Jan. 8th.

FEBRUARY 2016

Suning Wang’s former Ph.D. student ZacB

Hudson, now an Assistant Professor at theUniversity of British Columbia, is awarded aTier 2 Canada Research Chair in SustainableChemistry for his work on efficient lightingtechnologies. Minister of Science Dr. KirstyDuncan and Parliamentary Secretary forScience Terry Beech were on hand for theannouncement.

The Oleschuk lab and their collaborators atB

the Center for Optics, Photonics and Lasers(COPL) in Laval publish ground breakingwork in Scientific Reports. This workhighlights the possibility of usingmicrostructured fibers with predefineddoped regions to produce functionalmicrostructures at a fiber facet withdifferential chemical etching.

MARCH 2016

The Chemistry Department Student CouncilB

banquet is held on March 20th. Dr. NickMosey receives the Graduating Class Awardfor Excellence in Teaching Chemistry, JasonRygus (Crudden group) receives the TA ofthe Year Award, and Lyndsay Hull receivesthe Staff of the Year Award.

Congratulations to Soren Mellerup, a Ph.D.B

student in Suning Wang’s group who is therecipient of a prestigious Vanier CGS Award.

Emeritus ProfessorB

Mike Baird is awarded the 2015McMaster UniversityDistinguished Alumni Award.

APRIL 2016

The 4th year project presentations are heldB

on April 4th. The Smith and the SullivanPrizes for outstanding achievement infourth year research projects are awarded toRebecka Forward and Owen Larsen,respectively. The judges for bothcompetitions were Kevin Stamplecoskie andRalph Whitney.

The following students win national NSERCB

graduate scholarships for the 2016/2017academic year: Christene Smith (PGSD,Crudden group), Yagya Prasad Paudel (CGSD,Ross group).

Ontario Graduate Scholarship recipients B

for the 2016/2017 academic year are: JasimeBuddingh (Liu), Joshua Clarke (Crudden),Marco Gibaldi (Jerkiewicz),Timothy Wright(Evans), Kyle Bachus (Oleschuk/Liu), KyleBoniface (Jessop), and Kaitlyn Pinkett(Zechel).

Dr. Kevin Stamplecoskie is awarded a grantB

for $130,000 from the Canadian Foundationfor Innovation. The grant will be used topurchase an ultrafast laser system. Thegroup will be equipped with the tools todetermine the excited state properties ofunique photonic materials, and gainimportant information like how materialscan use the energy absorbed from light inapplications like solar cells and advancedoptics.

MAY 2016

Len Rose, Undergraduate LaboratoryB

Technologist, announces his retirement asof August 31, 2016. Len joined theDepartment of Chemistry in the analyticalgroup in 1974.  He transitioned to working in the organic labs for a few years and, sincethen, has tirelessly worked to keep ourundergraduate first year labs runningsmoothly.  We thank Len for his tirelessdedication to our many students, their TAs,and the Department! 

Under the supervision of Prof. Guojun Liu,B

PhD student Yu Wang’s research on blockcopolymer encapsulated air nanobubbles is highlighted by Nature Nanotechnology.

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2014-2015DepartmentalHighlights

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Greetings Alumni and Friends! The past year has been chock full of news, awards, and events.

First, I have some sad news to share.Emeritus Professor Ken Russell passedaway this spring. He will always befondly remembered by departmentmembers, past and present. Dr. RalphWhitney has prepared some reflectionsand reminiscences of Dr. Russell’s careerand many years at Queen’s (see Page 16).The inaugural Russell Lectureship washeld on April 15th, with ProfessorKrzysztof Matyjaszewski from CarnegieMellon University presenting a talk on“Macromolecular Engineering by TamingFree Radicals”. Sadly, Dr. Russell passedaway the week before the lecture but weare comforted in the knowledge that hewas pleased that the inaugural lecturewas approaching, with Dr. Matyjaszewskias the speaker. A heartfelt thanks to ouralumni for your support of the RussellLectureship.

The department welcomed new facultymember Dr. Kevin Stamplecoskie inJanuary. Since his arrival, Kevin has been busy setting up his lab, meeting his colleagues in the department, andwelcoming students to his group. Dr. Stamplecoskie’s research mission

is to develop new photonic materials withoptical properties tailored to applicationsthat include chemical sensing, biomedicine,optical electronics, light-harvesting andsolar energy.

Two long-time staff members have retired.Graduate Assistant Annette Keyes retired in2015 and Len Rose, Laboratory Technician,retired in 2016. Over the years, theirmany contributions have been honoredwith Queen’s University Staff Awards -Annette in 2009 and Len, as part of theChemistry Dream Team, in 1997. Annettehas been a knowledgeable and kindresource person for all of our graduatestudents, but her supportive guidance has been most essential for students new to Queen’s. Len has been with thedepartment for over forty years, with thelast twenty years serving as the technicianfor our first year program. Our first yearstudents have benefitted from Len’stremendous knowledge and years ofexperience, ensuring that the laboratoryis ready and runs smoothly every day. On behalf of the whole department, ahuge thanks to Len and Annette for their many years of service!

The Department was in the news in 2016, starting with the announcement of a Discovery Frontiers grant led by Dr. Gregory Jerkiewicz, and including Drs. Nick Mosey, Diane Beauchemin,Andy Evans and Mark Daymond(Mechanical and Materials Engineering)from Queen’s. Distinguished guests,including Minister of Science Dr. KirstyDuncan, NSERC President Dr. MarioPinto and Member of Parliament MarkGerretsen, toured the Jerkiewicz lab andthe Surface Analysis Facility in ChernoffHall before the official announcement to a standing-room-only audience inRichardson Hall. In March, Drs. RichardOleschuk and Rob Knobel (Physics)hosted a tour of the KingstonNanofabrication Facility at Innovation

Park by Ontario Premier KathleenWynne, MPP Sophie Kiwala and MayorBryan Patterson.

Chemistry faculty, students, staff, andalumni received a number of awards inthe past year. Dr. Guojun Liu received aQueen’s University Prize for Excellencein Research, Dr. Suning Wang waselected Fellow of the Royal Society ofCanada, Dr. Philip Jessop was elected to the Royal Society UK, and EmeritusProfessor Dr. Mike Baird received the2015 McMaster Distinguished AlumniAward. Dr. Françoise Sauriol was therecipient a Queen’s Staff Award inrecognition of her outstandingmanagement of our NMR facility. Soren Mellerup, a graduate studentworking with Dr. Suning Wang, receivedan NSERC Vanier Canada GraduateScholarship. Alumna Angela Lyon is nowa Fellow of the Intellectual PropertyInstitute of Canada and alumnus Dr. Zac Hudson has been awarded aTier 2 Canada Research Chair inSustainable Energy at the University of British Columbia.

Our first year program has been growingand changing. We welcomed our largestcohort into CHEM 112 last year, withnearly 1200 students completing thecourse. Last Spring and Summer saw theinaugural offering of online first yearchemistry at Queen’s. The launch wentvery well and we are offering the onlinecourse again this year, with anenrolment that has almost doubled. Inthe Fall, first year chemistry was part ofthe science curriculum at the BaderInternational Study Center, located atthe beautiful Herstmonceux Castle, UK.It’s a small world; an alumnus, Dr. GeoffNelson was part of the BISC Chemistryteaching team.

The Queen’sQuality Assurance reviewof the department is well underway,with the department preparing adetailed self-study of our graduate andundergraduate programs, student

feedback, research milestones, facilities,and many other aspects of our operations.The self-study is a team effort and, withthat in mind, the process was launchedwith a retreat in September 2015. A two-day site visit will occur in 2016/2017 to continue the review process. In conjunction with the review, ourundergraduate programs are due for re-accreditation by the CanadianSociety for Chemistry. Thankfully, the re-accreditation visit will occur concurrentlywith the quality assurance process.

Several Chemistry faculty have hostedconferences here at Queen’s over thepast few months. Dr. Jean-Michel Nunziorganized and co-chaired this year’s“Energy and the City of the Future”conference. The conference includedaround 25 participants, and wassponsored by the French Embassy inCanada. The “Boron in the Americas(BORAM)” conference, a biennialresearch conference focusing on boronchemistry, took place for the first time inCanada! Professor Suning Wang was thehost of the 2016 conference held inChernoff Hall. It was the largest BORAMconference ever, with attendees fromCanada, the United States, Germany,Great Britain, Japan, China, andelsewhere. Immediately following theBORAM conference, Drs. Suning Wangand Cathleen Crudden hosted the Core-to-Core symposium involving researchteams from Queen’s, Nagoya and KyotoUniversities in Japan, and MuensterUniversity in Germany, with about 60participants. This symposium wassupported by a Queen’s grant for“Collaborative Research on Catalysis and Materials”.

This issue of QChem Chronicleshighlights some of the events withinChemistry over the past year. Enjoy!Thank you always for your ongoingsupport of the department. We hope to see you at Homecoming this year;Queen’s is celebrating its 175th anniversary!

Message from the Head

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Greetings Q-CHeM ChroniclesReaders! This year has been anexciting year for the department,

with a number of positive advances andchallenges. Some highlights:

The Quality Assurance ProcessB

(QUQAPs) Review – Currently, andover the past 9 months, the Departmenthas been preparing for our departmentalQUQAPs review. This review is aquality review framework mandated by the Council of Ontario Universities(COU) and ensures the continuinghigh quality of both existing and newundergraduate and graduate programs.The Department’s faculty and staffhave all been tirelessly aggregating,reviewing, and assessing data to noend! We’re nearing the home-stretchand will all celebrate once the finalreport is submitted and the reviewcomplete.

Improvements to Science Stores –B

I’m delighted to report that ourScience Stores has been undergoingsome technological updates andrecently added Interac Debit to ourexisting point-of-sale system. While itmay seem like a small change, it aimsto streamline and provide addedconvenience to better serve ourstudents. We are also gearing up for

the next academic year, whichtypically brings more than 1300students to the counter purchasingtheir lab supplies. Additionally, inorder to further move us along theprocurement evolution curve andinto real-time payment processingabilities for orders, Science Stores has recently started working withStrategic Procurement Services toreview the potential adoption of anew e-Procurement system thatshould improve the procure-to-payprocedures of its operations.

Staff Retirements – Annette Keys,B

our Graduate Assistant, paddled offinto retirement in August 2015. Shejoined the department in 1997 andwas instrumental in establishing theGraduate Secretary position that laterevolved into the Graduate Assistantposition. We definitely miss herprofessional, approachable andcaring personality in the department.Additionally, it is with mixed emotionsthat I report the retirement of LenRose this summer. Len joined theDepartment of Chemistry in 1974.His dedication to the many students,their TAs, and the Department willalways be remembered. Although wewill miss him, we wish Len all the bestas he starts a new chapter in his life.

These are just a few notable highlightson the operational side. Furthermore, I would like to take this opportunity toacknowledge the incredible faculty andstaff in our department that contributeto our ongoing success – Thank you! I look forward to continuing to supportthe teaching and research endeavors ofour students, staff, and faculty, workingcollaboratively with everyone in thedepartment. I also look forward to theopportunities and challenges that willundoubtedly arise over the next year.

Many thanks!

Message from the Manager Congratulations to Dr. Françoise SauriolBy Dr. Suning Wang

Congratulations to Dr. FrançoiseSauriol for winning a Queen’sUniversity Staff Recognition Award!

Françoise completed her PhD in 1978,under the direction of Maurice St-Jacques at the Université de Montréal, in conformational studies by dynamicNMR. Subsequent post-doctoral studieswere at Dalhousie University with Prof.T.B. Grindley. From 1981 to 1999,Françoise was the NMR manager in theMcGill Chemistry Department whereshe also taught advanced NMR courses.In August 1999, Françoise moved to theQueen’s Department of Chemistry, tobecome the NMR manager here and todevelop a web site to show differentaspects of NMR. In addition, Dr. Sauriolteaches two graduate courses focusedon the identification of organic andorganometallic compounds using 1D, 2Dand 3D NMR. Dr. Sauriol is a co-authoron more than 100 publications.

As the Instrumentation Manager for the NMR facility, Françoise has done a wonderful job in maintaining andmanaging the facility. Because of herdedication, experience, and soundjudgement, our six NMR spectrometershave been running mostly trouble freefor the past 17 years. Besides doing anoutstanding job in the daily operationsof our NMR facility, she has done anexcellent job training and educating ourresearchers on NMR spectrometry andits applications in modern chemicalresearch. The NMR spectrometers are akey research tool for organic, inorganic,physical and analytical chemistry andare routinely used by undergraduatestudents (4th year research thesis, orsummer research), graduate students,and postdoctoral fellows in ourdepartment. Dr. Sauriol has done anoutstanding job in training about 100 Dr. Francoise Sauriol in the NMR facility

researchers per year in the knowledgeable,competent, and safe use of the spectrometers.

Françoise has made a big difference inenriching students’ learning and trainingexperience! The research of manygraduate students and faculty membershas greatly benefited from her exceptionalefforts in helping to solve difficultresearch problems, above and beyondthe expectations for a facilities manager.Many students from our department(and others) have become highly skilledat NMR because of the outstandingtraining they obtained from Dr. Sauriol.The skills and knowledge they havelearned has enabled them to carry outindependent NMR analysis as part oftheir research here at Queen’s and,afterwards, working at academicinstitutions or in industry.

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Undergraduate LifeBy Christina Diaz and Morgan Lehtinen

As another academic year comes to an end, the Department StudentCouncil (DSC) co-presidents Morgan

Lehtinen and Cristina Diaz are honouredto share the successes and adventures the DSC has had during the 2015/2016academic year. The Chemistry DSC, madeup of undergraduate students from eachyear of study, meets weekly throughout the school year; the purpose of the DSCis to promote a comfortable, enjoyablelearning environment for all students aswell as to create a sense of communitybetween undergraduates, graduates, facultyand staff. Queen’sUniversity is incrediblebut, for some students, it can also bedaunting and our goal is to make eachundergraduate’s four years at Queen’s asfulfilling as they can be. Every year theDSC hosts educational, social, andinformative events for the department toraise funds for a celebratory end of yearbanquet and to provide students with anopportunity to relax and socialize. Thesocial events held throughout the yearinclude pub-crawls, “Pool with Profs”,departmental clothing sales, and twocoffeehouses in conjunction with theChemistry graduate students.

The 2015/2016 end of year banquet washeld at the Renaissance and it was anincredible night of dining and dancing tocelebrate our accomplishments.Departmental awards were given out to aProf, a staff member, and a TA who havegone above and beyond for the studentsthis year; Nicholas Mosey received theGraduating Class Award for Excellence inTeaching Chemistry, Lyndsay Hull receivedthe Staff Member of the Year, and JasonRygus, the TA of the Year.

Additionally, the DSC held multipleacademic events and information sessionsto help the students with their current andfuture studies. The events offered includeda first year information session to aid with

the decision of choosing a major(hopefully chemistry!), a session for thirdyear students regarding thesis projects inthe department, and finally an introductionmeeting to the very exciting dual Master’sdegree with the University of Stuttgart. The Chemistry DSC also volunteered withthe annual “Majors Night” for first yearstudents and the Open House events forhigh school students who are entering post-secondary education.

The Chemistry DSC also completes manyadministrative duties each year includingteaching evaluations, meetings with otherdepartmental DSCs, reporting to ASUS, andparticipating in monthly Faculty Boardmeetings. We took on the additionalchallenge this year by tackling QUQAPs, the Queen’sUniversity Quality AssuranceProcess. We worked very hard to createsurveys and receive feedback from allundergraduate students to find out how to improve the department in the future.We truly did appreciate the opportunity to assist the department in creating thisdocument and helping to create positivechange.

We are extremely honoured to have beenyour DSC Co-Presidents this year and wecould not have imagined a more rewardingway to end our incredible time at Queen’sUniversity. We want to thank our DSCmembers from the bottom of our hearts fortheir hard work and dedication; we couldnot have done it without each and everyone of you. We would also like to thank theQGCS and the Chemistry departmentadministration for their support andguidance. We look forward to seeing whatthe new DSC Presidents, Karim Gordonand Kasia Donovan, have in store.

Graduate Student Life in the DepartmentBy Lacey Reid

At the end of the Spring term, theQueen’sGraduate Chemistry Society(QGCS) can reflect back on the

vibrant graduate student life in thedepartment this past year. The QGCSexecutive is the “finger on the pulse” ofthe chemistry graduate student group, andstrives to hold a mix of social, educationaland charitable events throughout the yearto bring students, staff and faculty together.As the President (aka “Prez”) this year, I amproud to have led such a dedicated andcreative team of leaders and am compelledto introduce you to the rest of the outgoingexecutive committee: Lily Huang, VPInternal; Nakkiran Arulmozhi, VPExternal; Amy MacLean, VP Finance;Edi Cieplechowicz, 5th Floor Rep; JiahuiShen, 4th Floor Rep; Hao Chen, 3rdFloor Rep; Ahmed Al Hejami, UnionRep; Josh Clarke, Sports Rep; and ZachAriki, Secretary.

Our biggest event of the year was theGraduate Symposium, a full day ofresearch talks from summer undergrads,graduate students, and post-docs. Heldduring orientation week, this was also awelcome event to introduce new studentsto the department and the excitingresearch happening here. This year weoffered cash prizes for every session andalso held a poster session and a Three-Minute-Thesis competition. We’repassionate about the continuity of thisannual event, and additionally excited thatgraduate students were able to nominateand invite Prof. Don Tilley (UC Berkeley)for next year’s Jones Lectureship.

The QGCS celebrated National ChemistryWeek in style, with chemistry trivia, pizzaand a periodic table of cupcakes. Forcharity we’ve raised funds through Run forthe Cure, and also donated over $100 to

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The Walter A. Szarek Lecture Seriesby Jason Z. Vlahakis

In the 2017/2018 academic year, theChemistry Department will be officiallylaunching the Walter A. Szarek Lecture

Series in honour of Emeritus ProfessorWalter Szarek. We look forward to theinaugural lecture! In connection with the establishment of this endowedlectureship, the Department hosted apresentation and reception honoringProfessor Szarek during Homecoming2015 and would like to thank everyonewho attended that event last fall. Wewere pleased to greet many students,colleagues, fellow scientists, alumni, and friends at the event!

The speakers offered captivatingreflections of their time spent in theSzarek Lab and only the kindest ofwords to say with respect to the man ofthe hour. The department thanks formerSzarek students Drs. Mario Pinto(President of NSERC), Dinesh Vyas(Bristol-Myers Squibb), and Allan Rey(Apotex PharmaChem), and collaborator

Dr. Ian Crandall (University of Toronto)for their contributions to the event, andof course to Walter for giving the finalheart-felt speech of the day.

Dr. Szarek’s research is at the interfaceof chemistry and medicine, in particularfocusing on drug discovery anddevelopment. Those that know himusually mention his involvement in the establishment of Neurochem (nowBellus Health, Inc.) and successful drugcandidates such as KIACTA for thetreatment of Amyloid A Amyloidosis,Alzhemed for the treatment of Alzheimer’sDisease, and the nutraceutical VIVIMINDfor the protection of memory function. All these drug candidates were synthesizedin the Szarek Laboratory at Queen’sUniversity.

I would like to draw attention to anothercategory of compounds developed by Walter in connection with OstaBiotechnologies and the Department of

Almost Home in Kingston, a supportfacility for families with children beingtreated at local hospitals, from theproceeds of our Pie(π)-Your-TA event.During Career Week we all learnedvaluable networking skills and got topractice them with the Queen’sChemistryInnovation Council (QCIC) as they helpedus answer an important question: Whatshould I do next? We also have fun whilewe work, having organized severalfundraisers throughout the year. Youmight have noticed us dancing in thecourtyard enticing you to “Have a burger!”at our fundraiser BBQs, or proudly wearingour QGCS T-shirts, designed in house, and sporting the elements of the earth.

We work hard and we play hard. This yearthe QGCS continued the Holiday Banquetat the Grizzly Grill with a three-coursemeal, plenty of door prizes, and greatconversation. We also love being outdoors,particularly if it’s kayaking or hiking in the

The 2016/2017 elected executives of Queen’sGraduate Chemistry Society (QCGS) are: Zach Ariki, President; Josh Clarke, VP InternalAffairs; Sarah Piotrkowski, VP President External;Amy MacLean, VP Finance; Jaddie Ho, SportsRep.; Lucas Choma, 3rd Floor Rep.; MarshallTimmermans, 4th Floor Rep.; Jenny McLeod, 5th Floor Rep.; Kelsey Viner, Secretary.

At the reception on Oct. 24, 2015. Left to right: Mario Pinto, Jason Vlahakis, Dinesh Vyas, Walter Szarek,and Inka Brockhausen.

Summer and Fall, or sledding and iceskating in the wintertime. This yearmarked the launch of our Coffeehausseries where we held an “open-mic” oversnacks and coffee here in the department,where many of us got to explore ourmusical side (and got front row seats to arendition of “If My Prof Had a MillionDollars”). Our expression through song orT-shirt designs might seem trivial, but Ithink it’s important to highlight theabundance of creative and original contentgenerated within the department becauseit serves to complement our chemistrywork. This was certainly evident in thequality of talks at the Symposium, and the quality of hallway conversations and “back-of-the-napkin” ideas they inspired.The QGCS strives to inspire ideas byfostering the kind of positive environmentwhere these spontaneous interactions cantake place. With this, I pass the torch tothe next executive, and I’m excited to see what they have in store for us!

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Queen’s Chemistry Innovation Council

The 2015 Innovation Councilmeeting started off with awelcoming reception and dinner

on October 22nd. This year we had the honor of hosting Dr. Mario Pinto,President of NSERC, as our after-dinnerspeaker. The annual general meetingbegan the next day, where councilmembers heard from student representatives,and learned about recent events, newinitiatives, and upcoming challenges inthe department. The council membersalso met new faculty members Drs. AvenaRoss and Kevin Stamplecoskie andlearned about their research interests.Prior to the official start of the meeting,several council members met withstudents and post-doctoral researchersto discuss careers in chemistry and offercareer advice. As in the past few years,we have scheduled the AGM to coincidewith Homecoming, allowing our Councilmembers to extend their stay and enjoythe weekend events.

Steve Leach, an alumnus of theEngineering Chemistry program, hastaken on the leadership of the InnovationCouncil as Dr. Wayne Schnarr steppeddown after two years as the CouncilChair and 10 years of dedicated serviceas a member of the Council. TheDepartment of Chemistry thanks Waynefor his commitment to the department,contributions to CHEM 894: BusinessSkills in the Chemical Industry, leadershipon the QCIC, and sound advice over theyears. On behalf of the department,thank you Wayne!

Dr. Will Rogers and Eleanor Barkerkindly led the CHEM 894 class in 2015.Around fifteen graduate studentslearned about financial accounting,organizational design, marketing andbusiness strategy, R&D projectmanagement, and other topics. Studentgroups applied their knowledge by

undertaking technology assessments fordiscoveries from chemistry researchersin the areas of forensic analysis ofhuman hair (Dr. Diane Beauchemin),improved solar cells (Dr. Jean-MichelNunzi), anti-smudge coatings (Dr. GuojunLiu), and phosphorescent light-emittingdiodes (Dr. Suning Wang).

In 2016, we look forward to a new formatfor the annual general meeting. Councilmembers will be inviting guests toattend the meeting to learn about thedepartment, and most importantly tohear from a few chemistry faculty ontheir latest research. Alumni interestedin assisting the QCIC should contactdepthead@chem.queensu.ca.

About the Council: The Queen’s ChemistryInnovation Council is an advisory group ofalumni and friends serving to enable “greaterinteraction among the Dept of Chemistry,Queen’s University, Industry, Governmentand Society to the benefit of the Dept ofChemistry and its people. The Council[works] with the Department to achieverecognized leadership, excellence andinnovation in the fields of scientificdiscovery, development and education.”http://www.chem.queensu.ca/people/queens-chemistry-innovation-council

Biomedical and Molecular Sciences here at Queen’s University. The projectinitially involved the design ofinhibitors of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1),an enzyme responsible for theregulation of many physiologicalprocesses. Using strategic chemicalstructure modification and biologicaltesting, with a dash of X-raycrystallography and seasoned scientificintuition, the first highly selective HO-1 inhibitors weredeveloped. With therealization that HO-1expression is much higher inhormone refractory prostatecancer cells (such as PC3),Walter’s team focused ontreating these drug-resistant,aggressive, and metastaticcancer cell lines with the HO-1inhibitors. With continuedeffort, the project succeededand a suite of compounds thatdisplayed wide-spectrum anti-tumor activity was synthesized.By ‘suite’ I mean a set of nearly500 compounds, one inparticular was called OB-24.

This compound impressively reducestumor size, reduces metastatic activity,and induces apoptosis with effectscomparable to the well-known drugTaxol. The true highlight however, is theability of this compound to worksynergistically with Taxol againstaggressive tumors; the combination of OB-24 and Taxol being especiallyeffective. Sometimes, a picture is all youneed to describe great research:

Dramatic decrease in tumor size upon treatment with thecombination of OB-24 and Taxol (right) compared to the sizeof the control (Ctl) tumors (left). Results are from in vivostudies of human PC3 cells implanted in mice. For moreinfo see: Cancer Research 2009, 69, 8017–8024.

Contributions towards the Walter A. Szarek Lecture Series to bring world-renowned scientiststo Queen’s University to talk about their scientific discoveries can be made atwww.givetoqueens.ca/ProfSzarek .

From left to right, QCIC members Allan Rey,Wayne Schnarr, and Peter Kazmaier greetingnew faculty member Kevin Stamplecoskie.

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Kenneth Edwin RussellProfessor Emeritus of Chemistry, Queen’s University, 1924-2016By: Ralph Whitney

On Sunday, April 10,2016, Professor KenRussell passed

away at home in Kingston,Ontario at the age of 91.For more than 60 years,Ken Russell was acolleague, mentor andfriend to faculty, staff and

students in the Department of Chemistry.Born in England, he received his formaleducation in chemistry at the University ofCambridge (B.A.’45, M.A. and Ph.D. ’48)where he completed graduate researchon the kinetics of the cationicpolymerization of isobutylene under the supervision ofProfessor R.G.W. Norrish, recipient of the1967 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. His interestin polymer chemistry arose throughwartime work on commercial productionof butyl rubber. This led to a Ph.D. thesison isobutene polymerization by FriedelCrafts catalysts, including kinetic studies ofthe effects of various co-initiators.

Ken came to Queen’s in 1954, having hadresearch experience in polymer chemistry atCambridge and Princeton, in thermodynamicsof rocket fuels at Penn State and in kineticsof atom recombination at Manchester. His research at Queen’s led to anunderstanding of the dual role of a widerange of co-initiators. His other mainresearch areas, inspired in large measureby parallel work at DuPont Canada,consisted of structural studies ofpolyethylene and the grafting of vinylmonomers to polyethylene. He, alongwith colleagues in the ChemistryDepartment and collaborators at DuPont,were instrumental in bringing the firsthigh-field NMR spectrometer to Queen’sin 1981 through an unprecedenteduniversity-industry collaboration.

In addition to cationic polymerization, Ken developed further research interestsin radical-mediated processes and theirrelevance to polymer chemistry. In particular, this included hydrogen atomabstraction reactions, their effect onradical polymerization and on polymergraft modification reactions.

Ken will be well remembered by many ofour alumni for his lectures in first-yearchemistry, and for upper year courses inpolymer chemistry and industrial chemistryin Canada, as well as his supervision ofmany alumni as graduate students andpostdoctoral fellows. Retiring officially in1990, Ken remained research active formore than a decade, with his researchpublications in polymer science spanning55 years, from 1947 to 2002.

In 2014 to recognize his many contributionsto the Department and the University, theChemistry Department established theRussell Lectureship, intended to featuredistinguished researchers in polymerchemistry and related areas of materialscience, as visiting speakers. The inauguralRussell Lecture, “MacromolecularEngineering by Taming Free Radicals”,took place on Friday, April 15, and wasdelivered by Professor KrzysztofMatyjaszewski, Carnegie MellonUniversity, one of the most distinguishedpolymer chemists of our time.

I last spoke with Ken in March of this year.He was both delighted and honoured thatKris Matyjaszewski was to be theinaugural Russell Lecturer. On behalf ofthe Department I would like to thank all ofour alumni who so generously contributedto the endowment for the RussellLectureship, allowing us to establish thistribute to our much respected colleague.

Minister of Science Kirsty Duncan announces$4-million NSERC Discovery Frontiers Grant 2016 kicked off with thedepartment and itsresearchers in the news. OnJanuary 8th, a $4,000,000NSERC Discovery Frontiersgrant the title of which isEngineered Nickel Catalystsfor Electrochemical CleanEnergy (Ni Electro Can) wasannounced. The Ni ElectroCan research team is led byDr. Gregory Jerkiewicz, andincludes Drs. DianeBeauchemin, Nick Mosey,and Andy Evans from theChemistry Department, andDr. Mark Daymond of theDepartment of Mechanicaland Materials Engineering.Queen’s and the ChemistryDepartment had thehonour of welcoming distinguishedguests, Minister of Science Dr. KirstyDuncan, Member of Parliament MarkGerretsen, and NSERC President Dr.Mario Pinto. The official visit began in Chernoff Hall with a tour of theJerkiewicz laboratory and the surfaceanalysis facility. The official announcementwas hosted by Vice-Principal (Research)Dr. Steven Liss and held in RichardsonHall, with a large crowd gathered forthe event.

Only one Discovery Frontiers proposalis selected every two years and the NiElectro Can project was the successfulproposal in the 2015 competition, whichhad thirty letters of intent and six fullapplications. The Discovery Frontiersprogram funds high-risk high pay-offresearch initiatives that “addressnational research priorities and globalchallenges” * The full research teamincludes 14 researchers from Canadianuniversities – Queen’s, University ofVictoria, Simon Fraser, INRS Universitéde Recherche, University of Toronto,University of Ottawa and McMaster –with a global team of collaborators –from Brazil, France, Germany, Israel,Japan, Norway, and the US – and anumber of industry partners, Ballard,AFCC, Nissan, Mantra Energy, ZincNyx,Calera, and CNEM. The project ismanaged by Dr. Titichai Navessin ofPacific Rim Research. Following theofficial launch, with the Ni Electro Canteam on hand, the researchers met later

Minister Duncan tours the Jerkiewicz lab inChernoff Hall.

Dr. Gregory Jerkiewicz, the Ni Electro Can research team, anddistinguished guests.

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Premier visits the Kingston NanofabricationLaboratory

On March 31st 2016 Dr. RichardOleschuk (Chemistry) and Dr. Rob Knobel (Physics)

welcomed Ontario Premier KathleenWynne, MPP Sophie Kiwala and MayorBryan Patterson for a Lab Tour at theKingston Nanofabrication Laboratory.The facility housed at Queen’s InnovationPark was constructed and outfitted witha combination of federal, provincial,University and Industrial funding. Thelaboratory is being managed by CMCmicrosystems and Dr. Graham Gibson, a Queen’s Chemistry graduate, isoverseeing its operation. The laboratorycontains highly specialized equipment(photolithography, laser micromachining,e-beam lithography etc.) and advancedexpertise that provides users with moreautomated, faster and cost-effectivemethods and processes for transforminginnovation research into physical

prototypes. Prototyping is an expensivebut crucial step in developing the materials,components and circuitry that drive thefuture of technological innovation.Several Queen’s chemistry students and faculty are now using the facility on a regular basis for fabrication andcharacterization.

in the day to begin their work withinaugural meetings of the ScientificSteering Committee and the ProjectManagement Committee. The NiElectro Can team in our Departmentwill grow to include a postdoctoralresearcher, several MSc and PhDstudents, and several undergraduatessupporting the work during the summer months.

The Ni Electro Can project aims todevelop the next generation of nickel-based materials for alkaline waterelectrolysers and alkaline fuel cells,which will give Canada’s clean energysector a competitive advantage.

Congratulations to the Class of 2016!

TA Teaching Awards Promoting Excellence in ChemicalEducation

TA Award recipients (left to right): Daniela Negru,David Thomas Teaching Assistant Award forSynthetic Laboratory; Lily Huang, Friends ofChemistry TA Award for Excellence in Teaching;Annica Freytag, William Patrick Doolan Prize inChemistry; Nausheen Sadiq, Fisher ScientificTeaching Award for Chemistry Tutorials.

Please join us on Saturday, October 15th

Starting at 10 am for department tours

and a BBQ hosted by

the Chemistry graduate students.

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Canada is a major producer of nickel,and this research has the potential toboost the national nickel industry withthe development of new, innovativenickel-based nanomaterials. The NiElectro Can team will be developingthese new materials to reduce waste byconverting glycerol, a by-product ofbiodiesel production, into value-addedchemicals, to develop new fuel cells forclean energy production, and to improvehydrogen-based energy storage.

* http://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/Professors-Professeurs/Grants-Subs/DF-FD_eng.asp.

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2016 Departmental Picture

We are pleased toannounce that thefollowing speakers havebeen confirmed for our2016-2017 SeminarSeries. For moreinformation and dates,please visit our websiteathttp://www.chem.queensu.ca/departmental-seminar-series

Prof. Jens Mϋller, University of Saskatchewan

Prof. Francoise Winnik, Universitė de Montrėal, Quebec

Prof. John Montgomery, University of Michigan, USA

Prof. Gary Hieftje, Indiana University, USA

Prof. Alán Aspuru-Guzik, Harvard University, USA

Prof. Piotr Zelenay, Los Alamos National Laboratory, USA

Prof. Daniel Mindiola, University of Pennsylvania, USA

Prof. Steven Holdcroft, Simon Fraser University, USA

Prof. Garnet Chan, Princeton University, USA

Prof. Don Tilley, University of California