Members of the Department

This special issue of the newsletter features the following introduction to all the current members of the department.

Professor Emeritus Richard F.W. Bader, F.R.S.C., joined the faculty of the chemistry department in 1963. His research is concerned with a theoretical understanding of the concepts of chemistry. His group has four graduate students and two postdoctoral fellows, one shared with Ron Gillespie.

Professor Alex D. Bain joined McMaster in 1987 from Bruker Spectrospin. His principal research area is the development and application of dynamic nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, including pulse sequence and two dimensional methods. His research group currently includes one graduate student and one visiting professor.

Associate Professor Jacques Barbier came to McMaster in 1987. He and his graduate student elucidate and describe mineral crystal structures using techniques such as X-ray diffraction and high-resolution electron microscopy.

Professor Emeritus Russell A. Bell joined McMaster in 1964. His research interests include organic synthesis of contrast reagents used in medical radio-imaging and MRI (magnetic resonance imaging).

Assistant Professor (of Chemistry and the School of Geography and Geology) Pierre Brassard joined the department in 1994. He and his three graduate students study processes affecting the transport of metals in natural waters, and their distribution in aquatic systems.

Professor John Brennan has just joined McMaster from Brock University. His research is in the area of biosensor development, focusing on fibre-optic interfacing and sol-gel protein encapsulation.

Professor Michael A. Brook joined McMaster in 1985. He and his six graduate students are interested in the combination of silanes and silicones with proteins, starch and other biopolymers and with inorganic minerals. His research interests also include organic and inorganic synthesis using organosilanes.

Professor Ronald F. Childs came to McMaster in 1968. He and his group of three graduate students and two postdoctoral fellows are concerned with the synthesis and characterization of pore-grafted and photochemically active membranes.

Professor Peter T. Dawson came to McMaster in 1967. His research includes studies of surface catalysis and thin film growth using Auger electron spectroscopy and low energy electron diffraction. His group has one graduate student.

Associate Professor Randall S. Dumont joined McMaster in 1988. He and his graduate student are concerned with the theoretical description and computation of molecular dynamics. Recent efforts include the numerical simulation of dynamic NMR spectra of liquids and solids.

Professor Emeritus Ronald J. Gillespie, F.R.S., F.R.S.C., joined McMaster in 1958. He and his postdoctoral fellow, shared with Richard Bader, are interested in the nature of chemical bonding as described in terms of electron density.

Professor John E. Greedan came to McMaster in 1974. His research in solid state and materials chemistry includes synthesis, structure determination and exploration of electronic properties of transition metal oxides. His group has three graduate students and two postdoctoral fellows.

Assistant Professor Paul H.M. Harrison joined the department in 1989. He and his graduate student are concerned with the elucidation of biosynthetic pathways, using isotopic labelling, and the synthesis and development of biomimetic reagents.

Professor Emeritus O. E. Hileman Jr. came to McMaster in 1964. His research is in the area of applied analytical chemistry, including studies on desulfurization technologies and on waste water treatment. His group has one graduate student and one research assistant.

Professor Adam P. Hitchcock joined the faculty of the chemistry department in 1979. His research focusses on chemical analysis via electron energy loss and X-ray inner-shell spectroscopies. His group includes four graduate students, three postdoctoral fellows and one research associate.

Professor Joseph D. Laposa came to McMaster in 1969. He is the coordinator of Year-One chemistry and acts as undergraduate student advisor.

Professor William J. Leigh joined McMaster in 1983. He and his group of eight students work in the areas of organic and organometallic photochemistry, with emphasis on the use of fast time-resolved spectroscopic techniques to study the chemistry of reactive intermediates. He is currently Associate Chair of the department.

Assistant Professor Lijuan Li came to McMaster in 1995. She and her group of four graduate students and one postdoctoral fellow are interested in new inorganic materials and biological activity of transition metal complexes.

Professor Brian E. McCarry joined McMaster in 1976. His principal research interest concerns the identification and analysis of organic toxins in the environment. His group of seven graduates includes students co-supervised in Biology and Geology.

Professor Michael J. McGlinchey joined McMaster in 1972. He and his group of five graduate students and two postdoctoral fellows are concerned with organo-transition metal chemistry, including the use of transition metals to stabilize reaction intermediates. Mike is currently Chair of the department.

Professor Gary J. Schrobilgen joined the Chemistry Department faculty in 1980. His research is primarily in two major areas of synthetic inorganic chemistry and structural characterization: the fluorine chemistry of the main group and transition metal elements, with emphases on noble gas chemistry and the high oxidation state transition metal fluorides and oxofluorides, and the polyatomic anions of the main-group elements. His group has four graduate students and a research associate.

Professor Emeritus Ian D. Spenser, F.R.S.C., joined McMaster in 1957. He and his two postdoctoral fellows are currently elucidating biochemical pathways leading to vitamin biosynthesis.

Associate Professor Harald D.H. Stöver came to McMaster in 1989. His research interests concern synthetic and colloid polymer chemistry, with emphasis on microspheres and microgels. His current group has five graduate students and one research assistant.

Professor Johan K. Terlouw joined McMaster in 1989 from the University of Utrecht. His research is in the area of mass spectrometry ranging from chemical analysis to the detailed chemistry of radical neutrals and cations in gas phase. His group has four graduate students.

John Thornback, Adjunct Professor since 1997, heads Resolution Pharmaceuticals in Mississauga and provides valuable expertise in radioisotopes.

Professor Emeritus John Warkentin joined McMaster in 1960. He and his five graduate students study organic reactive intermediates and their applications in syntheses.

Professor Nick H. Werstiuk came to McMaster in 1967. He is concerned with organic reaction mechanisms and the structure of reaction intermediates. His group has one graduate student and one postdoctoral fellow.

Associate Professor Françoise M. Winnik joined McMaster in 1994. Her research is in the area of polymer chemistry and photophysical analysis of polymer-based assemblies, including the synthesis of nanostructured magnetic composites. Her group has three postdoctoral fellows and five graduate students, including an exchange student from Osaka, Japan.

Departmental Office News

Carol Dada serves as Departmental Administrator, while the smooth running of the office and departmental chores are in the capable hands of Josie Petrie and Marilyn McIntyre. In August 1997, long-time secretary to the Chair, Paula Martin, resigned and moved to Vancouver Island. Marilyn has filled the vacant position. More recently, Nancy Kolenski has left to take a new position in the University Development Office.

Stop by the office coffee pot and say hello. The ladies are always happy to see you.

Recent Invited Talks

Alex Bain presented "Chemical Exchange of a Strongly Coupled Spin System Among Five Unequally Populated Sites", co-authored by Paul Hazendonk, at the 39^th Experimental NMR Conference in Asilomar, California, in March 1998.

Michael Brook spoke on "Silicone Degradation" at the Telemark University in Porsgrunn, Norway. He presented "(Metal) Complex Solutions to some Synthetic (Silicon) Problems" at the 1998 American Chemical Society National Meeting in Dallas. T. Kuhnen, M.J. McGlinchey, R. Ruffolo, M. Stradiotto and J. Urschey were co-authors of the latter paper.

Ronald Gillespie presented "Molecular Geometry of Ionic Molecules: a Ligand Closed-Packing Model", at the 17^th Austin Symposium on Molecular Structure in Austin, Texas, March 1998. At the 1998 American Chemical Society National Meeting in Dallas, he delivered "Chemical Bonding in the General Chemistry Course".

William Leigh gave talks at the 31st Organosilicon Symposium in New Orleans in May 1998 ("Fast Kinetic Studies of the Mechanisms of Silene Substituent Effects on Silene Reactivity"), the 5^th International Conference on Heteroatom Chemistry in London (ON) in August ("Kinetics and Mechanisms of the Reactions of Silicon-Carbon and Germanium-Carbon Double Bonds") and at the 17^th IUPAC Symposium on Photochemistry, Sitges (Barcelona) Spain, in August ("The Photochemistry of Silacyclobutanes and Disilacyclobutanes. Reactive Intermediates in Organosilicon Chemistry").