Urgent - 44th POMs - November 4 - 6, 2016

Just one month to go. As I have said elsewhere, the next POMs is being organized by Travis Dudding for November 4 - 6, 2016, at Brock University, in St. Catherines, ON.

The primary web address for the 44th POMs is HERE - from which one has access to the "Registration", here.
To quote from the meeting's website -
" The 44th Ontario-Quebec Physical Organic Mini-Symposium (POMs) will be held on November 4th-6th, 2016 at Brock University. POMs is one of the premier North American physical organic chemistry symposiums held annually to showcase recent research in all fields of science pertaining to physical organic chemistry such as bio-organic chemistry, theoretical organic chemistry, organic photochemistry, and mechanistic studies. This conference strongly encourages the active participation of graduate students and post-doctoral fellows. ​Participants are able to present either a short talk or poster presentations on recent work in the friendly, but rigorous atmosphere of a POMs meeting. " 

Next POMs in Windsor

As predicted months ago, using non-standard, non-linear, ad hoc methodology, the 43rd Ontario-Quebec POMs is being organized by Holger Eichhorn at the University of Windsor.  The dates for it are Friday, October 30 - Sunday, November 1, 2015, and the website link is .... HERE.

For future reference, Travis Dudding has offered to host the 44th POMs at Brock University, in 2016.

I was there, where were you?

University Hall, at McMaster U.

The 42nd POMs, held at McMaster on November 7-9, 2014, is now in the history books. There were just over 50 registrants, some of whom presented the 21 talks and 15 posters. The topics ranged from - Acetylation to Zinc catalysis. The pdf of the program was - here.

Talk of Anabel Lanterna (U of Ottawa)

As we have come to expect at POMs , the quality of the student talks and posters was very high, in part because "our protégées" really know how to take advantage of modern graphics packages and how to use Powerpoint well.  I think us profs should take lessons from them!

John Warkentin, Ossie Tee and Nick Werstiuk on the French River.

Several speakers made references to former Mac professor John Warkentin, who died earlier in 2014. They included John Pezacki and Adrian Schwan (below), and the after-dinner speaker (moi, Ossie Tee) at the Banquet held in the University Club. My after-dinner speech largely involved a few serious and several amusing incidents involving JW over many years.

John Pezacki (left) and Adrian Schwan (right)

     John Pezacki (NRC, Ottawa) gave the last talk, entitled "Using Physical Organic Chemistry as a guide for how to best label living Bacteria". He dedicated his talk to the memory of John Warkentin who was his Ph.D. supervisor and long-time mentor. He suggested that JW's oxadiazoline method for generating nucleophilic carbenes should be referred as the "Warkentin Method".  Also, he reminded us of the J. Warkentin bursary, at McMaster, and encouraged us to support for the benefit of the next generation of chemists at McMaster. Donations may be made to the John Warkentin Bursary through -- www.givetomcmaster.ca - specifying where the contribution is to be directed.
     Sponsors of the 42nd POMs were the Faculty of Science, the School of Graduate Studies, and the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, all of McMaster University, and also the Hamilton Section of the C.I.C. They afforded the prizes awarded to students: for talks - Serena Singh (Kluger, Toronto) and Lee Belding (Dudding, Brock); posters - Roya Mirabdolbaghi (Dudding, Brock) and Seyedeh Taimoory (Dudding, Brock). So, the Travis Dudding Group (below) almost had a shut-out.

Maryamdokht T., Travis Dudding, Lee Belding, Roya M.

Reminder: This year's POMs is scheduled for the University of Windsor, where the contact person is Holger Eichhorn. The website link is … here.

Next POMs - Windsor

The 43rd POMs is being organized by Holger Eichhorn at the University of Windsor.  The dates for it are Friday, October 30 - Sunday, November 1, 2015, and the website link is .... HERE.

42nd POMs Update

"Listen very carefully, I shall say this only once" - The website for the next POMs is up and running at ... http://poms.mcmaster.ca, as was foretold.

Let's hope it does not rain!

To be sure of your place at the Banquet, you should register before October 24th.  The e-mail address is poms@chemistry.mcmaster.ca 

The University Club - not raining!

Now, it's a good time to register!

The Next POMs

This is to confirm that the dates of this year's POMs at McMaster are November 7, 8 and 9.

As indicated already, the contact person is Willie Leigh.  The meeting website will be located at …. Poms.McMaster.CA.

John Warkentin (1931-2014)

As some of you know already, my long-time friend and M.Sc. supervisor, John Warkentin, died on March 30th. His family obituary is - HERE.
    John came from Grunthal, in southern Manitoba, and was a student at the University of Manitoba, in Winnipeg.  After completing his B.Sc., he worked on his M.Sc. with Gerry Dunn (1919-2013) there, and then went south to Iowa State College to work with George Hammond (1921-2005) for his Ph.D. degree.  When George moved to Caltech, John joined him briefly as a post-doc, and then had a longer post-doc stint with Paul Bartlett (1907-1997) at Harvard.  So, his credentials were pretty sound!

     In 1960 John went on staff at McMaster, and I worked with him during 1963-65. Later, he got tenure and promotion, and he remained at Mac until he retired in 1996, but he continued doing research for several years after. Over the years John carried out various responsibilities in his Department up to Chairman.  He also contributed to his profession - helping to organize symposia, refereeing, working as an Associate Editor for Can. J. Chem., and serving on NSERC Committees, at least once as chairman.
    John was a fine scientist, an excellent teacher, a mentor and role model, as well as a solid friend to many of us. He was widely known and respected for his research in the area of free radical and carbene chemistry.  Many of his mechanistic and synthetic studies involved studies of oxadiazolines which he showed to be versatile precursors of of diazo compounds (upon photolysis) and of carbenes (upon thermolysis), as depicted below.

    John and his students were frequent participants in POMs meetings, and they also talked about their research at national and international symposia.  His reputation overseas was such that he collaborated with several reputed chemists around the world, well as in Canada.

The upcoming 42nd POMs at McMaster in November will be an excellent time to remember John and his contributions to physical organic chemistry, to his Department, and to his profession.

Where's the next POMs?

The next POMs, our 42nd, is provisionally scheduled for November 14, 15 and 16, at McMaster University, but it may have to be moved to November 7, 8 and 9.  Please watch this space.
The principal organizer is Willie Leigh.

A Reminder

  

The next POMs, the 41st, will be on November 1, 2, and 3, and held at Concordia University in downtown Montreal.  The website for the meeting is - HERE.

Shedding light

Our (old) friend Tom Tidwell has a recent article entitled "Sunlight and free radicals", in Nature Chemistry 5 (8) 637-9 (2013).  He writes about the little-known proposal by two 19th century British chemists, Downes and Blunt, of the photo- chemical formation of free-radicals, published over twenty years before Gomberg prepared the triphenyl-methyl radical, the first relatively stable organic radical.  Their proposal for radical formation in 1879 was unequivocal, and was published in a major journal, but it has been largely overlooked for more than a century.
   

Of interest earlier this year, Meyer, von Schleyer and coworkers published a paper on the “Crystal Structure Determination of the Non-Classical 2-Norbornyl Cation”, Science 2013, 341, 62-64.  Cited therein are theoretical studies of the iconic cation by POMs pals Nick Werstiuk and Heidi Muchall. 

Continuing the theme of revisionism, Robin Cox has a chapter in Advances in Physical Organic Chemistry, Volume 46, 2012, pages 1-55 on “Revised Mechanisms for Simple Organic Reactions”.  It also sheds new "light" on old problems.
    

By the way, Robin Cox wrote recently to me that he has just had major surgery, so he will not be with us at the next POMs in Montreal.  I am sure that all POMs people join me in wishing him well in his recovery.

In a lighter vein, Tom Tidwell showed me an interesting article on “Chocolate Consumption, Cognitive Function, and Nobel Laureates”, from the New England Journal of Medicine, 367, No. 16, 1562-64 (2012).  It identifies a fairly good relationship between the yearly per capita consumption of Chocolate in different countries and their number of Nobel Laureates! Canada is very much where it should be whereas as Germany, Ireland, the UK, and Finland are decidedly below the correlation.  Perhaps these countries consume more chocolate than is good for them.  The one data point decidedly above the correlation is for Sweden which leads the authors to write “one cannot quite escape the notion that either the Nobel Committee in Stockholm has some inherent patriotic bias when assessing the candidates for these awards or, perhaps, that the Swedes are particularly sensitive to chocolate, and even minuscule amounts greatly enhance their cognition.”  It also seems clear that for the Chinese to gain more Nobel Prizes they much increase their use of chocolate dramatically.  The recent Nobel Prize to Alice Munro, a Canadian author, reflects a recent increase in chocolate consumption, here, no doubt.
     

Reminder:  The 41st POMs will be in Montreal, on November 1, 2, and 3.
   

Adrian Brook (1924-2013)

Sadly, I report that Adrian Brook (University of Toronto) died on July 10, 2013. He was well-known for his original research on Organo-silicon chemistry, and especially for discovering the “Brook Rearrangement”.  

Adrian was a frequent participant of POMs in the early years and he was a valued colleague to many of us. I first met him when I was a post-doc at U of T, with Keith Yates. When Adrian was Acting Chairman I sometimes lectured on Intro Organic Chem for him when he was “away”. He lent me his notes and his overheads which made for an easy introduction to lecturing. Best of all, I had no marking to do.

In 2007, Adrian and W.A.E. McBryde published a book, "Historical Distillates", which examines the history of the Chemistry Department at the University of Toronto from its beginnings in 1843.  I am hoping to get a copy from Santa Claus.

Adrian's obituary, which appeared in the Globe & Mail and in the Toronto Star, can be viewed online - here.

Where has the summer gone?

As mentioned earlier, the 41st POMs is being organized by Heidi Muchall for November 1, 2, and 3, 2013. It will be held at Concordia University, in Montreal, Quebec. For more details check the website - HERE.

In related business, here is a message from Andy Bennet, of Simon Fraser U:

"Dear Colleagues,
I am organizing a Physical Organic Symposium at next year's CSC meeting in Vancouver. In order that the symposium is a success, I am requesting input from the mechanistic community concerning:
1) What areas would you like to see covered.
2) Suggestions for invited speakers, especially early career Canadians.
3) Any other suggestions for the symposium.
All the best, I hope to see you at POMS this year and in Vancouver next.

Andy Bennet "

Link for the 97th Canadian Chemical Conference and Exhibition. 

A New Year ...

has arrived and so has Winter.  Major snowstorms recently hit southern Ontario ...

Winter has finally reached Rotary Park, Cobourg, Ontario.

... and also nearby Quebec, in a big way.

In Montreal - "Which is my car?"

So, it's time to extend my best wishes to all POMs enthusiasts, participants, supporters and sponsors for the New Year of 2013.  May your involvement with Phys-Org Chem and your personal lives be productive and satisfying.

Looking ahead, there are several meetings that may be of interest -

• 14^th Florida Heterocyclic & Synthetic Conference (Flohet-2013),  March 3 - 6, 2013, Gainesville, FL
• 2nd International Symposium on Green Chemistry, May 21 - 24, 2013 - La Rochelle - France
• 96th Canadian Chemistry & Exhibition, May 26 - 30, 2013, Quebec City, QC
• 12th International Conference on Calixarenes, July 14 - 17, 2013, St. Johns, NL
• 44th IUPAC World Chemistry Congress, Aug 11-16, 2013, Istanbul - Turkey

POMs 2012

The 40th incarnation of POMs was held on November 2-4, 2012, at Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario.  It was ably organized by Jean-Michel Nunzi, his wife Gabriela Nunzi, and his graduate student Thomas Kraft.

Most of the 60 participants

The 60 participants at POMs 2012 presented 22 posters and 26 talks.  The meeting opened with the 2012 J. Phys. Org. Chem. Award Lecture, given by Shih-Yuan Liu of the Department of Chemistry, University of Oregon.  The POMs 2012 website was - here.

Queen's Chemistry at night

Next year, the 41st POMs will be held in Montreal, with Heidi Muchall as the primary organizer.

The 40th POMs - today

Today is the day to head for Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, for the 40th POMs.  Check the POMs 2012 Website - HERE.

The mixer starts at 7.30 pm, in the University Club. 

POMs Photos

Since the appearance of digital cameras, I have accumulated a number of photos taken at POMs meetings.  Many of these are accessible on the Web, but you have to know where to look, of course.  Recently, I have revised and edited the webpages I control, and I have added more pictures.

Some of Tito Scaiano's Group at the 37th POMS, in Buffalo.

The primary portal is the POMs photos webpage, in which there are links to other pages for specific meetings.  Also, I have uploaded most of the photos I have into sets on the image hosting website – Flickr.  These POMs photos sets are located – HERE.

If anyone has photos to add to these collections, please contact me - through my profile (at left).

Linda Johnston at Kathy McGilvray's poster (P36), at the 36th POMs.

Reminder: It's now time to register for the 40th POMs in Kingston.

More Sad News

Sadly, I have to report the death of Professor Rory More O'Ferrall, in Dublin.  He was born on November 9th, 1937, and he died recently on June 15th, 2012, after battling with cancer for several years.

Though he never attended a POMs meeting, as far as I recall, Rory was well-known to many of the POMs fraternity through his many and varied contributions to the field of Physical Organic Chemistry. These include, most famously, the introduction of simplified 3D-energy diagrams to analyze how reaction mechanisms may be altered by changes in the structures of the reactants. Their use was championed and exploited by Bill Jencks (1927-2007), an old friend, so much so that they became known as “More O’Ferrall-Jencks diagrams”.

Other research contributions included the measurement and interpretation of kinetic hydrogen isotope effects, quantitative studies of reactive intermediates, the chemistry of beta-lactam antibiotics, developments in free energy relationships, and interpretations of acid, base, metal ion and enzymatic catalysis.  A testimony to the importance of his work was provided by the large number of invitations that Rory received to speak at conferences and universities around the world.

As well, Rory was a leader of the teaching of Chemistry in Ireland and Europe.  He was the Head of Department at University College, Dublin, for four years, and was involved in the organization of specialist conferences and student workshops.  He was also influential by virtue of the students that he taught and the graduate students and post-docs that he infused with his love of Organic Chemistry.

He was a gracious friend and a generous colleague, and he will be sadly missed.

(Thanks to those who told me of Rory’s passing, and to those who provided me with biographical information.)

The Next POMs

The 40th POMs, is scheduled for the fall of 2012, at Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario. 

The dates for it are Friday, Nov 2 – Sunday, Nov 4.  The website for the meeting is to be found here .  It is being organized by Jean-Michel Nunzi and his colleagues.

As most readers of this blog will already know, the 39th POMs was held in London, Ontario, on November 4-6, 2011.  The meeting was skillfully organized by J. Peter Guthrie, with the help of his wife Muriel, his colleague, Mark Workentin, and other coworkers.  It was supported by the Department of Chemistry, and the Faculty of Science of the University of Western Ontario, which is now to be known as Western University. 

Here is a link to the POMs 2011website. There were 66 registrants and the program featured 45 presentations (21 talks and 24 posters).  These numbers are somewhat lower than normal (for various reasons) but the quality of the student and post-doc presentations ranged from good to very good to excellent.  Well done, everybody!

For details of earlier POMs meetings consult the main website, especially the pages: Recent POMs meetings and the POMs history.  Also you can click on the tab - Previous Meetings, above.

Farewell - Adieu

Recently, POMs lost three distinguished colleagues: Saul Wolfe, Richard Bader and A.J. Kresge.

Saul Wolfe, Dick Bader, Yvonne Chiang and Jerry Kresge

 1. Saul Wolfe (1933-2011) was for many years an active participant in POMs, and he helped organize two meetings at Queen’s University, in Kingston, where he spent much of his academic career before he was lured away to Simon Fraser U.  

Saul became involved with Phys. Org. Chem., working on his Ph.D. with Ray Lemieux, then at the University of Ottawa.  Later on, through collaboration with Imre Czimadia (U of Toronto), he got into theoretical calculations, first semi-empirical and then ab initio.  Some of his early studies were on the origins of the “Anomeric Effect” – a largely Canadian enterprise also known as the “Edward-Lemieux Effect”, after Jack Edward (another POMs participant and organizer) and Ray Lemieux.  

Much of Saul’s other research was related to penicillin-type derivatives, their synthesis and their mode of action as antibiotics. An obituary of Saul appeared in ACCN.

2. In January 2012, we lost another theoretical chemist, and sometime POMs participant, Richard Bader (1931–2012).  I first met Dick in 1963 when I was a graduate student at McMaster U. and where he had just joined the faculty. Although I took no courses from him he was helpful to me when I was preparing for exams in theoretical chemistry. Throughout the years I followed the evolution of his ideas and was pleased to see him receive credit for them late in his career.  Dick is now best known for his “Atoms in Molecules” (AIM) approach and the use of stationary points in electron density to analyze chemical bonding, as expounded in his published papers, reviews and books. See his website  and links therein.

Younger folk may not know that Dick started out as a physical organic chemist.  His Master’s research, with Art Bourns at McMaster, was a study of the mechanism of the Chugaev reaction, using kinetic isotope effects, and his Ph.D. work with C. Gardner Swain (M.I.T.) was mainly on the origins and interpretation of solvent isotope effects.  It was as a post-doc. with H.C. Longuet-Higgins (Cambridge, UK) that he got into the deeper, murkier waters of theoretical chemistry.

There was very interesting article about Dick Bader in Scientific Computing World (2003).

3. As reported earlier on the POMs main website, we also recently lost A. Jerry Kresge (1926-2010). Besides being one of the most eminent practitioners of physical organic chemistry in North America, Jerry was also one of POMs' most stalwart members. He died just two years after his wife and long-time collaborator, Yvonne Chiang.  From the earliest years of POMs, in the 1970s, Jerry and Yvonne were active participants and frequent contributors.

Jerry Kresge and Yvonne Chiang

A good synopsis of Jerry's career and his contributions to physical organic chemistry can be read in a biographical essay written by John Richard and Rory More O'Ferrall, Advances of Physical Organic Chemistry, Volume 44, pages xiii - xxiii (2010). 

Welcome - Bienvenue

Welcome to the new POMS Blog!  I have created this blog to make it easier to update POMs news.  In the first instance, it will be used to supplement the POMs website but in due course it may well supercede it.

For readers who are unfamiliar with the Ontario-Quebec Physical Organic Mini-symposia, the first one was held in 1973.  The most recent one, the 39th POMs, was hosted by the Department of Chemistry at the University of Western Ontario, in London, Ontario.  The website for it was here.

By the way, the official name of UWO has been changed to "Western" which most of us have used for years!

For an overview of past POMs meetings and related matters go to the POMs website or use one of the POMs links in the left-hand column.