May 2005: ACCN, the Canadian Chemical News

l’actualité chimique canadienne canadian chemical news MAY MAI • 2005 • Vol. 57, No./no 5

PM40021620

ACCN

A fresh look at PHARMACEUTICALS

ACCN

MAY MAI • 2005 • Vol. 57, No./no 5

A publication of the CIC/Une publication de l’ICC

Ta ble of Contents/Ta ble des matièr es

Feature Ar ticles/Ar ticles de fond

Guest Column/ Chroniqueur invité . . . . . . . . 2 Chemistry in Canada—Planning Ahead

R. Stan Brown, FCIC Letters/Lettres . . . . . . . . . . 3 Personals/Personnalités . . . . . . 3 News Briefs/ Nouvelles en bref . . . . . . . . . 4 Chemputing. . . . . . . . . . . . 10 A Tale of Two Mini Databases Marvin D. Silbert, FCIC Chemfusion . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Good Drugs Joe Schwarcz, MCIC Chemical Shifts . . . . . . . . . . 15 Cathleen Crudden, MCIC, and Hans-Peter Loock, MCIC

12 R E M E M B E R W H E N 18 The Recent Evolution of the Pharmaceutical Industry Canadian and international perspectives Sébastien Breau

22

’Net Benefits?

Internet pharmacies in Canada Daphne C. Ripley, MCIC

24

Allergies and the Good Life

Are allergies the new anti-aphrodisiacs? New data and clinical research suggest that seasonal allergies are taking a significant toll on our Canadian quality of life.

Ross Chang, MD

CIC Bulletin ICC . . . . . . . . . 28 CSC Bulletin SCC . . . . . . . . . 31 CSChE Bulletin SCGCh . . . . . . 38

26

Confusion in the Aisles

Nearly half of Canadians are confused when selecting allergy medication.

Local Section News/ Nouvelles des sections locales . . . 44 Student News/ Nouvelles des étudiants . . . . . . 44 Careers/Carrières . . . . . . . . . 45 Events/Événements . . . . . . . . 49

Cover/Couver ture ACCN looks at the pharmaceutical industry of the 21st century. Issues involving pharma have hit the mainstream. They extend beyond the lab—and over the counter.

GUEST COLUMN CHRONIQUEUR INVITÉ

Editor-in-Chief/Rédactrice en chef Michelle Piquette

CHEMISTRY IN CANADA— PLANNING AHEAD

Managing Editor/Directrice de la rédaction Heather Dana Munroe Graphic Designer/Infographiste Krista Leroux

R. Stan Brown, FCIC

I

n the January 17, 2005 issue of Chemical and Engineering News, American Chemistry Society (ACS) president William F. Carroll unveiled Enterprise 2015—a major visionary exercise to assess the state of chemistry in the U.S. ten years from now. It represents the collective thinking of 30 leaders in industry and academia. The document can be viewed on the ACS Web site and I encourage everyone to read it.

It struck me that Canada faces the same challenges in five major categories relevant to chemistry—the shape of the enterprise; economics; science and technology; government policy; and education, workforce and career. The part that gave me considerable pause for thought was education since this ultimately brings the seeds of change to the other categories.

Canada has a strong university and college system with fine undergraduate and graduate chemistry programs. The quality of these has eroded over the last 25 years as provincial governments snipped away at the budgets for postsecondary institutions. Accordingly, chemistry departments, like all others, have seen faculty and support staff decline at the same time that student enrolment increased. This situation forced negative changes in the way programs are delivered because of increasing class sizes, decreased student contact with professors and increasing use of machine-graded exams.

There are, however, recent signs that increased funding for post-secondary education might be found within provincial government budgets. Ontarians have been told that up to 70% of new jobs will require some form of postsecondary schooling. In early February, the Alberta government proposed an ambitious expansion of post-secondary schooling. It seems now that provincial governments are considering reinvestment in advanced education and that chemistry departments, like all other disciplines, could receive significant increases aimed at improving teaching. If the current climate of accountability to government

2 L’ACTUALITÉ CHIMIQUE CANADIENNE MAI 2005

prevails, it will be necessary to provide assurance that new money buys quality measurable by some standard.

Chemistry departments continually modify their curricula to meet the changing needs of students and the discipline within constraints forced by their budgets. Call me an optimist, but I believe that future increases in funding may allow us to do something more far-reaching than we’ve considered over the last three decades. So in anticipation of the possibilities for increased funding, it seems to me that this is a perfect time for a department to undertake a comprehensive evaluation of the current state of its curricula, to decide how effective its programs are, how one academic year builds upon preceding years, the relationship of practical labs to service and specialist courses, and how to measure the success of the programs.

If chemistry in Canada is to prosper, we will have to stimulate student interest by making our programs more appealing, pedagogically better, more exciting, and more obviously relevant. I hold that one of the most effective ways to encourage early student interest is through dedicating additional effort into our first- and second-year exposures to chemistry by increasing student contact with professors, decreasing class sizes, re-evaluating the pedagogical role of the laboratory components of courses, and reducing the reliance on machine-graded examinations.

In academia opportunities for change that bring extra dollars are rare, but they do occur.

The departments that benefit the most are those that have well-conceived plans that are ready to go. Those without such plans are often the losers when accessing additional institutional funding. A top-to-bottom curriculum review and implementation exercise anticipating funding increases is time-consuming, but in the end will ensure that our programs are among the best in the world.

R. Stan Brown, FCIC, is president of the Canadian Society for Chemistry.

Editorial Board/Conseil de la rédaction Terrance Rummery, FCIC, chair/président Catherine A. Cardy, MCIC Cathleen Crudden, MCIC John Margeson, MCIC Milena Sejnoha, MCIC Bernard West, MCIC Editorial Office/Bureau de la rédaction 130, rue Slater Street, Suite/bureau 550 Ottawa, ON K1P 6E2 613-232-6252 • Fax/Téléc. 613-232-5862 editorial@accn.ca • www.accn.ca Advertising/Publicité advertising@accn.ca Subscription Rates/Tarifs d’abonnement Non CIC members/Non-membres de l’ICC : in/au Canada CAN$55; outside/à l’extérieur du Canada US$50. Single copy/Un exemplaire CAN$8 or US$7.

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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ISSN 0823-5228

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LETTERS LETTRES

PERSONALS PERSONNALITÉS

Industry

All Kidding Aside Dear Editor, I was dismayed to see a picture of unsafe conditions in a lab environment—I am referring to the University of Winnipeg Calendar shown on p. 32 of the February 2005 issue of ACCN. Surely somebody at the university should have taught the students that gas cylinders should always be kept in an upright position?

B. Bruce Sitholé, FCIC

The Right Fluff Dear Editor, I read, with great interest, the guest column by Joe Schwarcz, MCIC (ACCN, March 2005). I have also had occasion to see his contributions in the media. Not to be critical to educators, as they have complex curriculum issues, but if high school chemistry students were exposed to Schwarcz’s style, or angle, in presenting chemistry, institutions would be filled with eager future chemists/engineers/technologists.

The “fluff,” as Schwarcz puts it, including the Chemfusion articles in ACCN, continues to stir my own interests in chemistry.

Thanks for a great article.

Julie Laliberté, doctorante en biochimie, a reçu le prix d’excellence en biochimie 2004 de la société Roche Diagnostic. Ce prix, accompagné d’une bourse, récompense l’étudiante ou l’étudiant à la maîtrise ou au doctorat en biochimie qui présente le meilleur dossier scolaire de l’année en cours. Sous la supervision de Simon Labbé, Laliberté étudie les bases moléculaires et biochimiques déficientes chez les patients atteints de sclérose amyotrophique latérale, appelée aussi maladie de Lou Gehrig.

Mark Stradiotto, MCIC, has been awarded a considerable research grant from Boehringer Ingelheim Canada for a project entitled, “Cationic and Zwitterionic Catalysts Featuring a New Class of Planar-Chiral Metalloligands: Applications in Enantioselective Addition Reactions Based on E-H Bond Activation.”

University Alfred Bader, FCIC, was granted an honorary doctor of science degree from Simon Fraser University for 2005. Bader was among nine other recipients who were honoured for making outstanding contributions that have made a difference in our world. Bader is the co-founder of Aldrich Chemical Co., now Sigma-Aldrich, the world’s largest supplier of research chemicals. As well as being a chemist, he is also well-known for being an art historian and philanthropist.

Government The University of Saskatchewan’s Jian Yang, MCIC, was among researchers awarded up to 40 percent of their project costs by the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) New Opportunities Fund. Yang’s work at the College of Pharmacy and Nutrition looks at how an environmental pollutant is degraded by microorganisms.

Mark Bonneau, MCIC

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Send your replies to editorial@accn.ca

Distinction

Killam Research Fellow for 2005. Seven continuing Killam Research Fellows have also been renewed for a second year. One of Canada’s most prestigious research awards, the Killam Fellowships are administered by the Canada Council for the Arts.

“This is terrific news,” says vice-principal (research) Kerry Rowe. “This very prestigious Fellowship recognizes the tremendous impact that Becke’s work has had over the past decade in the chemical and physical sciences. We wish him continued success in advancing this research through the tenure of his Killam.”

Becke is internationally renowned for his research in the field of computational chemistry—the simulation of molecular structures, energies, and chemical reactions by computer calculations. His best-known work, published in 1993, was the mostcited Canadian paper of the 1990s, and the second-most-cited in the world.

A Fellow of both the CIC and the Royal Society of Canada, Becke is a leader in the development of a relatively new approach to computational chemistry known as density functional theory. This theory allows scientists to perform computer simulations on much larger problems than are possible with other approaches, opening the way to exciting new applications in chemistry, physics, materials science, and biology.

University of Saskatchewan chemistry professor emeritus, Ron Sutherland, FCIC, has earned the title Chartered Scientist from Britain’s Science Council. The title was awarded through the Royal Society of Chemistry. The designation provides professional recognition across a range of scientific disciplines.

In Memoriam The CIC extends its condolences to the families of: Ross G. Donovan, FCIC Mohammad A. Kasem, MCIC Paul D. McLean, FCIC Maria Santos, MCIC

Queen’s University chemistry professor Axel Becke, FCIC, is one of seven outstanding Canadian researchers to be named a new MAY 2005 CANADIAN CHEMICAL NEWS 3

SFU chemistry lecturer Sophie Lavieri, MCIC (centre), research assistant Shivanand Balram (left), and teaching assistant Daniel Stevens agree that getting research published is vital to academic success.

Science Writing Course in Demand There appears to be a huge demand for a full-time course or a regular workshop on getting research papers published for graduate students and faculty.

The Centre for Writing-Intensive Learning (CWIL) at Simon Fraser University (SFU) sent up a trial balloon to gauge interest in such an offering when it launched Writing for Science Publication, the nine-week, sixsession workshop, in January. No sooner was the word out than the workshop filled with 22 people and another 10 were wait-listed.

Wendy Strachan, CWIL director, says the centre surveyed various disciplines for their interest in such a workshop before launching this one, which is being sponsored by the faculty of science. “The biggest response came from the sciences,” says Strachan.

“We’re now looking into securing ongoing financial support for a regular workshop series and are hoping an SFU faculty member will teach it.”

Iain Taylor, a retired University of British Columbia (UBC) biology professor and a successful editor of scholarly publications is the only academic widely known in BC to teach a writing-for-publication workshop to

4 L’ACTUALITÉ CHIMIQUE CANADIENNE MAI 2005

scholars. So the CWIL brought in Taylor to share his tablet of commandments.

“A researcher’s work will have less or no impact unless it can be read by a science journalist, or more importantly, an individual who makes policy for government or industry,” argues Taylor. The assistant editorin-chief of the National Research Council Canada Research Journals emphasizes the importance of creating a well-structured draft and developing solid author-peer reviewer relations. “The scientific sin is to adopt the attitude that those who don’t know the field should not be reading the paper.”

Taylor started offering his workshops at UBC in 1993 to help scholars, “drive out a first draft of a research paper that is readable by more than the author’s immediate clique.

Far too many papers were being refused publication because they were poorly presented, and many well-established researchers did not understand the process of publication.” Taylor notes that 80 percent of published papers are never cited, adding, “That indicates a good lot are never read because of inaccessible writing.”

Sophie Lavieri, MCIC, and Shivanand Balram feel that they are getting invaluable tips on writing for publication. They are part way through Taylor’s workshop. “The greatest strength of this workshop is having an experienced journal editor at the controls,” says

Balram, a department of geography research assistant pursuing his doctorate. “Transferring this knowledge can shortcut many frustrating trial and error mistakes out of the graduate student writing experience.”

“No matter what you are writing about, it has to be written in a way that anyone can read it and understand what you have done, how you did it, and why,” says Lavieri, a chemistry lecturer who has already written several papers.

Daniel Stevens, a master of science candidate in geography, withdrew two sessions into Taylor’s workshop because he realized his thesis was not at the publishing stage.

However, he still picked up some valuable tips. Stevens says, “Getting published in peer-reviewed journals at the graduate level is proof of those soft-skills that we like to put on our résumés but have trouble verifying without an extensive work history.”

Carol Thorbes, Simon Fraser University News

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Please send orders to Bob Douglas at Camford Information Services Inc., 38 Groomsport Crescent, Scarborough, ON M1T 2K9; telephone 416-291-3215; e-mail bdouglas@camfordinfo.com.

Camford Chemical Report

NEWS BRIEFS NOUVELLES EN BREF

Rx&D Supports Smart Regulation Canada’s Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies (Rx&D) association welcomes the federal government’s plan to renew Canada’s regulatory system. This renewed initiative, under the Smart Regulation Report on Action and Plans, highlights three areas of importance to patients, physicians, health care stakeholders, and the research-based pharmaceutical community in Canada: the timeliness, efficiency, and transparency of the drug review process; the exercise of greater vigilance regarding the safety and therapeutic effectiveness of products currently on the market; and access by Canadians to appropriately prescribed and cost-effective drug therapies.

“This is a significant step forward to align Canada’s regulatory system with other countries involved in innovation and discovery of new medicines,” states Rx&D president Russell Williams.

As this renewal process gets underway, Rx&D is confident the initiatives to improve the drug approval process, monitor the safe and effective use of medicines, and improve access to new medicines will meet the federal government’s objective of making Canada internationally competitive.

“Our member companies are committed and ready to work in partnership with patients, stakeholders, and governments to ensure the health care initiatives under the Smart Regulation will achieve what is best for those who matter most—patients,” concludes Williams.

Camford Chemical Report

Petro-Canada to Operate Oil Sands Petro-Canada will become a partner in the Fort Hills Oil Sands Mining Project, currently owned by UTS Energy. Under the terms of the agreement, Petro-Canada will assume a 60 percent interest and become

the operator of the project. UTS will own the other 40 percent.

To pay for its stake, Petro-Canada will pay 75 percent of UTS’ portion of the next $1 billion of development capital, or $300 million. Current plans call for an initial mining development producing 50,000 barrels/day and corresponding upgrader.

Subsequent development phases would expand production up to 190,000 barrels/day of bitumen integrated with upgrading. With Petro-Canada assuming operatorship, the partners will consider a range of options, including a 100,000 barrels/day initial mining operation, before finalizing the development plan.

Camford Chemical Report

Photo by Ersa Su

MAY 2005 CANADIAN CHEMICAL NEWS 5

Nano Applications in Pulp Sector NanoQuébec and the Pulp and Paper Institute of Canada (Paprican) have signed an agreement targeting the development of nanotechnology applications for the forestry sector.

Paprican sees nanotechnology development as one of the keys in improving the competitiveness of the Canadian forestry sector in very challenging world markets. “We must recognize the level of competitiveness that we face,” says Wright. “To meet this challenge, and to ensure our survival, it is absolutely essential that we bring to our industry the most innovative technologies.”

Under the agreement, the two organizations will bring together their network relationships. Both NanoQuébec and Paprican have strategic links with universities, industry, and government. In addition, Paprican will involve its sister institutes—Forintek and the Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada.

With an initial time frame of three years, the agreement aims to optimize the impact of nanotechnology on the forestry sector and to reinforce the competitive position of the key companies in the sector.

Camford Chemical Report

6 L’ACTUALITÉ CHIMIQUE CANADIENNE MAI 2005

Photo by Steve Ford Elliott

NEWS BRIEFS NOUVELLES EN BREF

Stellar and Dalton Join Forces Stellar International, a domestic pharmaceutical developer, has signed agreements with Dalton Chemical Laboratories to manufacture Stellar’s NeoVisc and Uracyst products for domestic and international distribution.

Dalton Chemical Laboratories is a contract pharmaceutical manufacturer located in Toronto, ON, that supplies chemistry and analytical services to the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries in the areas of medicinal chemistry, fine chemical manufacture, custom peptides, and antisense oligo production. Dalton has a site establishment licence and is registered with Health Canada as a drug-testing lab.

Dalton Chemical provides cGMP manufacturing and sterile filling capabilities to its customers at any stage of the regulatory process (Phase I, II, III, or commercial). In its cGMP facilities, the company can produce APIs at the gram or kilogram scale.

Dalton can carry out sterile fills to produce batches of finished drug product in filled vials or syringes, either aseptically filled or terminally sterilized, under fully validated conditions.

“Working with some of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies to create new drugs and optimize the synthesis, production, and sterile fill of their therapeutic candidates, Dalton is pleased add our relationship with Stellar to our growing list of innovative customers,” says Dalton’s president and CEO, Peter Pekos, MCIC. Stellar’s president and CEO, Peter Riehl, adds, “Stellar’s business has grown substantially over the past few years and out-licensing agreements will push this growth over the capacity of our current facility. Dalton Chemical has the ability to meet this increased demand well into the future. Dalton Chemical will also allow Stellar to meet the quality standards of a growing, global customer base. This is a great opportunity for two maturing Canadian companies to enhance their presence in domestic and international markets.”

Camford Chemical Report

President of Toshiba of Canada Limited, Mitsuhiro Kurihara (right), stands with the creators of Body M.A.S.S. (left to right) Audrey Tran, Monica Segall (teacher), Sinthu Varatharajah, John Zhu, and Ivan Chak.

Students Shine Bright at ExploraVision Coached by their chemistry teacher, Monica Segall, four grade 11 students from Don Mills Collegiate Institute in Toronto, ON, have designed a drug-dispensing garment that has attracted international attention.

Segall’s students are among 24 regional winning teams in one of the world’s largest science and technology competitions—the 13th annual Toshiba/National Science Teachers Association ExploraVision Awards program. The students compose one of only 24 teams chosen from a total of 4,405 team entries, representing the participation of 13,597 students from Canada and the U.S. Their winning project is entitled “Body M.A.S.S.” It proposes a special garment that would monitor a wearer’s life signs and crucial nutrient and mineral levels, administering pharmaceutical products when needed. Non-intrusive glucose and cholesterol monitors would complement the network of embedded sensors and provide regular updates.

This year, the ExploraVision program competition saw a dramatic increase in overall Canadian participation. There was a 48 percent increase in participating Canadian schools, resulting in a 40 percent increase in the number

of Canadian-team entries submitted. In addition, 33 other teams in Canada received an Honourable Mention. ExploraVision, sponsored by Toshiba and administered by the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) asks students to imagine ideas for future technologies that could exist in 20 years. The projects were judged on proposed innovative ideas that combine imagination with scientific principles.

“Toshiba congratulates the students of Don Mills Collegiate for their achievements.

As a technology company, Toshiba understands the importance of supporting science education and helping promote imaginative thinking among young people,” says Mitsuhiro Kurihara, president and CEO, Toshiba of Canada Limited. “Today’s students represent the future, and their innovative ideas form the foundation of all future progress.”

For the next phase of the competition, the winning teams will create working Web sites to convey their ideas. Eight finalist teams will be selected this month. Students on each of the four first-place teams will each receive a $10,000 U.S. Savings Bond. Eight finalist teams will attend the ExploraVision Gala Awards Weekend in Washington, DC, in June where they will receive their prizes.

Media Profile

MAY 2005 CANADIAN CHEMICAL NEWS 7

NEWS BRIEFS NOUVELLES EN BREF

New Class of Antibiotics for Superbugs Affinium Pharmaceuticals has selected a drug candidate for development of a novel MRSA antibiotic to be used in hospital and community settings. The candidate is one of multiple compounds from Affinium’s Galapagos program.

“It is important that our development candidate operates via a novel mechanism of action with very novel chemistry, and distinct from any other antibiotic on the market. Our drug candidates selectively inhibit a bacterial pathway to kill bacteria without any detectable side effects to the analogous human pathway. Because of their unique way of working, we believe resistance will be slow to develop,” said Judd Berman, senior vice-president of chemistry.

“Our team selected Affinium’s first development candidate after evaluating animal data from over 150 front-runner compounds with potent MRSA activity from this new antibiotic class. We selected the first compound for its potential as an IV and oral antibiotic for hospital and community MRSA.” “The recent advancements of our MRSA program represent an important milestone in the development of a new class of breakthrough antibiotics for us. The last time the industry targeted a new pathway with an antibiotic that bugs had never seen before was the fluoroquinolone class in the 1960s. Fluoroquinolones now represent over $7 billion in world wide annual sales,” said John D. Mendlein, Affinium’s Chair and CEO. “In its early stages, our Galapagos project was probably too pioneering for big pharma to support. There were too many “news”—new target, new pathway, new chemistry, new paradigm, and new drug design technology. However, Affinium’s novel approach to drug discovery has allowed our team to accelerate the development of our MRSA program. In addition, we are currently working to leverage our new class for commercially attractive second-generation products to treat other serious bacterial infections. With further scientific insights, substantial additional investment in R&D,

8 L’ACTUALITÉ CHIMIQUE CANADIENNE MAI 2005

and more hard work, we have the potential to turn our Galapagos project into multiple medical breakthrough products for patients who are suffering from a wide range of bacterial infections. Given almost daily reports of antibiotic-resistant infections both in institutional and community settings worldwide, we believe our Galapagos franchise is potentially of great significance to public health and the overall reduction of health care costs.”

Affinium Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Alberta Hydrocarbon Upgrading Strategy The petrochemical industry in Alberta has undergone very significant growth based on natural gas-derived ethane feedstock. Today, very few expansion opportunities remain as there is insufficient incremental ethane extraction potential beyond what is needed to supply existing operations, allowing for some minor incremental expansion through debottlenecking. As gas production from the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin has probably peaked, any new petrochemical investments in Alberta will have to be founded on a different business model.

Alberta is in the fortunate position of having vast hydrocarbon resources over and above conventional oil and gas, specifically oil sands and coal. The province’s vision for the year 2020 sees: • Alberta producing 430,000 barrels/day of conventional oil; another 300,000 bbl/d will flow through the Alberta Hub from other provinces and territories; • Alberta producing 11 billion cubic feet/ day of natural gas; another 10 Bcf/d will flow through the Alberta Hub from the North and other provinces; • Alberta producing three million bbl/d of bitumen with two million bbl/d being upgraded to synthetic crude oil (SCO).

Of this, one million barrels/day are converted into refined petroleum products in regional refineries or used as petrochemical feedstocks. The remaining bitumen and SCO will be exported;

• Alberta producing 40 million tonnes/year of coal; • Alberta exporting 2.5 million MWh/year of electricity.

The key feature of this vision is to maximize the amount of resource upgrading that occurs within the province rather than simply exporting crude resources. Upgrading to SCO yields a better return to the economy than exporting crude bitumen. Value-added processing to refined petroleum products and petrochemicals pushes the multiplier to even higher levels.

A consortium of companies has been working with the Alberta government over the past two years to explore the feasibility of using oil sands-derived fractions as feedstocks for producing refined petroleum products and petrochemicals. Achieving this vision will require an estimated $100 billion in new capital investments from a number of companies, to build: • two new upgraders/refineries; • two new flexible feed crackers; • eight new petrochemical derivative plants; • expanded pipeline infrastructure.

Industry Canada

Photo by Zela Flick

NEWS BRIEFS NOUVELLES EN BREF

Gareth Chaplin, MCIC

Young PhD Tackles Pharmaceutical Drying Techniques The University of Saskatchewan (U of S) has its own Doogie Howser. And although he may not be a teenage whiz-kid doctor working in the emergency room, at 26, Gareth Chaplin, MCIC, is significantly ahead of his peers after completing his PhD in chemical engineering this year.

“I beat all my friends from high school to the PhD!” he continued, “But it’s pretty crazy, I never thought I could finish my PhD this young. In fact, at one point, I wasn’t sure I’d finish one at all.”

An undergraduate student at the University of New Brunswick in 2000, Chaplin worked under the tutelage of Todd Pugsley, MCIC. After Pugsley took a job at the U of S, three undergraduate students who had worked closely with him, including Chaplin, decided they’d head west with their professor.

After fast-tracking his master’s and writing the PhD qualifying exam (which he cites as one of the toughest hurdles he faced in completing his doctorate), Chaplin settled in to his research, which focused on the drying process of pharmaceuticals.

He looked at the fluidized bed drying of pharmaceutical granules. The unit operation dries the pharmaceutical powders by forcing air through them at such a high velocity that it causes bubbling and vigorous mixing.

This is similar to what you see in a pot of vigorously boiling water, explained Chaplin.

By analyzing pressure fluctuations collected throughout the drying process using a chaos analysis technique, Chaplin was able to

detect changes in the hydrodynamics within the vessel, which could not be determined using traditional signal analysis techniques.

These changes may be critical in the application of this drying process in the production of future protein- or peptide-based and highpotency pharmaceuticals.

“This was really interesting to me because it was practical and because it was new,” said Chaplin. “A lot of pharmacists looked at this process, but not a lot of engineers, even though it’s an engineering process. So I was excited to be bringing something new to the actual industrial engineering process.”

Chaplin was also the first to apply Electrical Capacitor Tomography (ECT) to the drying of pharmaceuticals. This tomographic technique, similar to those used in medical imaging (such as CAT scanners), allowed for imaging of the inside of the dryer during operation throughout the drying process.

The information provided by this technique allowed for the interpretation of the results from the pressure fluctuation measurements.

In the future, this sensor could be implemented industrially, giving operators valuable information about the changes in the process that may lead to product degradation.

Having his research partially funded by the government through an NSERC grant and an industrial drug company was an ideal situation, explained Chaplin. “It wasn’t too controlled by the company, but it wasn’t too controlled by me doing whatever I wanted.”

Now that his PhD research is complete, Chaplin has spent the past term as a teacher himself—something he believes is going to be a big part of his future—but maybe not quite yet.

“I’ve really enjoyed teaching, but I think I’m going to try to get into industry to gain a different perspective on engineering.”

David Hutton, University of Saskatchewan On Campus News

Apotex Supports Manitoba’s New Pharmacy Facility

of pharmacy in building a new teaching and research facility. In recognition of this gift, the building will be called the Apotex Centre.

“A new building to house the next generations of pharmacists is key to alleviating the shortage of pharmacists in this country, and we are proud to be a part of it,” says Jack Kay, president of Apotex Inc. “Apotex is a great Canadian business success story, but it does not stop there—giving back to our communities is just as important and also, Manitoba is home to a significant portion of Apotex Group companies and employees.”

“We are delighted that Jack Kay and his corporation share in the university’s vision of developing an advanced teaching and research facility for the faculty of pharmacy, which will see increased collaboration between pharmacy students and those in the faculties of medicine and dentistry,” says Emöke Szathmáry, president and vice-chancellor of the university.

The new facility will double teaching and research capacity to 70,000 square feet.

Components of the new facility will include advanced lecture theatres, an undergraduate teaching laboratory with bench space for 75 students, a manufacturing lab designed to provide hands-on experience in aseptic formulation and small-scale manufacturing techniques, a pharmaceutical care lab that will include a simulated dispensary system and patient counselling area, and comprehensive research facilities.

“The Prescription for the Future: Supporting Pharmacy Teaching and Research at The University of Manitoba” campaign was launched to raise $17 million towards establishing a new facility. The Manitoba government has already contributed $7 million to the project through its commitment for infrastructure renewal at the university.

The Apotex Group has 5,300 employees in 21 facilities in Ontario and Manitoba. It exports to 115 countries over 250 medicines that it develops and manufactures in Canada.

The Apotex Group is the largest research and development spender in Manitoba and first across Canada in the pharmaceutical industry.

The University of Manitoba Bulletin

Apotex Inc. has pledged $3 million to assist The University of Manitoba’s faculty

MAY 2005 CANADIAN CHEMICAL NEWS 9

CHEMPUTING

A Tale of Two Mini Databases Filing your notes with Card 2000 and AZZ Cardfile

T

here are numerous database programs available for filing large masses of data.

The CIC National Office has one for membership records and the Canada Revenue Agency has one to keep track of taxpayers and their payments. What about those relatively small jobs that used 3" x 5" filing cards a few years ago? Microsoft included a very primitive file program called Cardfile with Windows 3.1. The screen showed a string of small cards sorted alphabetically by title. When 3.1 was phased out, Cardfile was dropped. I copied it over to 95 and continued to use it for another decade as my address book. It was simple and could dial the first number it found in each card. I kept hoping for a version 2, capable of using some of the bells and whistles that MS added as Windows progressed from 3.1 to XP, but that didn’t happen.

With a bit of help from Chemputing, Vic Forde, FCIC, and I recently got together again after some four decades. We discussed a need for a simple database. We located two shareware products: Card 2000 (www.asprosoft. com) and AZZ Cardfile (www.azzcardfile. com). Vic tried AZZ. He and the developer Antanas Zdranys are both amateur radio operators. I tried 2000 as it claimed to be a replacement for my old Cardfile address book.

Vic was kind enough to summarize his comments for me. Our experiences were quite similar. Both programs are simple to use and fully compatible with the latest versions of Windows. They also incorporate many of those extra bells and whistles that were lacking in Cardfile. One might describe them as next-generation Rolodex filing systems. These virtual versions don’t clutter up your desk and there are no restrictions to the amount of information that can fit on a card or how many

10 L’ACTUALITÉ CHIMIQUE CANADIENNE MAI 2005

cards you can use. You’re never going to run out of space. If you want to set up a number of separate databases, e.g. an address list, an equipment inventory, a list of references, or a list of recipes, there’s no need to go out and buy another Rolodex. You just put them into separate files and call them as you need them.

Unlike the Rolodex, these programs have the capability to print a single card or the entire database. The files can also be exported to a word processor program.

To use it as a Rolodex, just start a new card. This could be a reference to a published article or an item for an inventory of what’s in your house. Give it a title and enter the information manually. Each new card will automatically be sorted by title. You can also grab information from any open file. Highlight and press Ctrl-C to copy and go over to your card and press Ctrl-V. If the document is not too complex, the formatting should come over intact. If it’s a highly formatted document, you can expect to lose some of that formatting and may have to work at it a bit.

Remember how people taped business cards on Rolodex cards in the past? Now, they can be scanned and pasted as graphics images.

Individual cards can be customized with coloured backgrounds and a choice of fonts, complete with colour, underlining, bold, and italics. With the old Rolodex you could easily lose track of where you put things. These programs can be searched for individual words or phrases. AZZ uses the Windows Ctrl-F and 2000 keeps the Cardfile F4 and F6.

Vic set out to catalogue many years of material from his files. You know the type of job. You have one of those big piles that you are always planning to organize tomorrow, but you have that fear of filing and

Marvin D. Silbert, FCIC

conveniently find something else to do to put it off. AZZ provided a simple way to get things rolling. For years, I had used Cardfile to dial the numbers and Word to print my hard copy.

It’s not the best way to do things, but I wasn’t ready to tackle the job of reorganizing them.

I wanted a single address book that would: (a) take my Cardfile list directly; (b) dial the number; and (c) print the list in a convenient booklet. 2000 did everything for me and in a much better way than I had been doing things before. My biggest complaint about Cardfile was that it would dial the first number it found. This required formatting the entry with the telephone number first and multiple records for companies where I contact people with different numbers. With 2000, they all go in a single record with no formatting restrictions. To telephone someone, just highlight the appropriate number and click the little telephone icon. If the entry includes e-mail or Web site addresses, click on them to bring up the respective e-mail program or Web browser. If this doesn’t function properly for you with 2000, it’s not seeing the riched20. dll file in the c:\windows\system32 directory.

Place another copy in the 2000 directory.

Vic and I were happy with our respective choices. Which is right for you? Being shareware, you can try them and then buy the one you prefer. The respective costs are US$19.95 and $12.00.

You can reach our Chemputing editor, Marvin D. Silbert, FCIC, at Marvin Silbert and Associates, 23 Glenelia Avenue, Toronto, ON M2M 2K6; tel. 416-225-0226; fax: 416-225-2227; e-mail: marvin@silbert.org; Web site: www.silbert.org.

CHEMFUSION

Good Drugs

Modern pharmacology is a fascinating blend of “natural” and “synthetic” substances

N

ow repeat after me: “The properties of a substance depend on its molecular structure and not on its ancestry; whether the substance is synthetic or natural is totally irrelevant when it comes to assessing effectiveness and safety.”

The belief that “natural is better” is so widespread, and so … wrong! A thousandth of a milligram of botulin toxin will kill an adult.

And it’s perfectly natural. Scorpion venom, cocaine, nicotine, morphine, and a myriad of other naturally occurring substances are remarkably toxic as well. They are not toxic because they are natural. They are toxic because their molecules just happen to interfere with some aspect of body chemistry. Of course, such interference is not necessarily negative. Although morphine is highly toxic, at appropriate doses it is a wonderful pain killer.

The same is true for synthetic substances.

Have you ever considered vitamin C as a synthetic substance? Almost all of the vitamin C sold in the world is synthetic. In the most common process, glucose is treated with hydrogen at high pressure to convert it to sorbitol, which is then fermented with the bacteria Acetobacter xylinum to yield sorbose. A series of chemical reactions then converts sorbose to vitamin C. This vitamin C is identical in every way to that found in fruits and vegetables. It is “nature-identical.” While isolation of vitamin C from natural sources is certainly technically possible, it is financially prohibitive and functionally unnecessary. Simply stated, what matters is the final molecular structure, not how it was arrived at. Some drugs are isolated from natural sources and used unaltered, some are isolated and chemically modified, and others are synthesized from scratch.

Modern pharmacology is a fascinating blend of

“natural” and “synthetic.” The “statin” drugs used to reduce blood cholesterol levels are a good case in point.

Many people think of cholesterol as the villain involved in causing heart disease. But there would be no life without cholesterol. It is an important component of cell membranes and the precursor for important biomolecules such as testosterone and bile acids. There is, however, no requirement for cholesterol in the diet since we are quite capable of synthesizing it. But as early as 1910, researchers recognized that cholesterol also had a nasty side. It was present in the arteriosclerotic “plaques” that clog arteries and cause heart disease. Scientists became interested in the mechanism by which cholesterol was made in the body, with hopes of exploring possibilities to limit its synthesis and perhaps reduce the risk of cardiovascular problems. Beginning in the late 1940s, researchers learned that most cholesterol synthesis takes place in the liver where a series of enzymes piece the molecule together. The critical step in the synthesis involves an enzyme with the tongue-twisting name of hydroxymethyl glutaryl coenzyme A reductase (HMG CoA reductase). Researchers figured that if the activity of this enzyme could be impaired, cholesterol synthesis could be reduced, perhaps offering some benefit to people with high blood levels of cholesterol. But where would one search for a substance that could interfere with a cholesterol synthesizing enzyme?

Scientists at Sankyo Pharmaceuticals in Japan had an idea. They knew that many plants and fungi produce toxins to deter animals from eating them. Poison ivy and poison mushrooms are classic examples. Akira Ando and colleagues reasoned that since herbivores rely on cholesterol biosynthesis, some plants

Joe Schwarcz, MCIC or fungi may have developed protective mechanisms by producing chemicals that interfered with such synthesis. These plants or fungi would then be toxic to non-carnivorous animals. So the researchers began a systematic investigation of organisms that might produce HMG CoA reductase inhibitors. Molds of the penicillium species were good candidates because they produce compounds that interfere with life, i.e., the “antibiotics.” In 1976, Ando isolated a compound from a mold fermentation broth that turned out to be an effective inhibitor of cholesterol biosynthesis. Compactin, as the compound came to be called, offered great hope for reducing blood cholesterol levels.

Unfortunately, due to numerous side effects, the hope was not realized. But compactin did clearly demonstrate the principle that cholesterol could be reduced by means of HMG CoA reductase inhibitors! The challenge was to find one with a better safety profile.

Numerous pharmaceutical companies mounted research programs to find an “improved” compactin. Merck hit pay dirt with lovastatin (Mevacor), another fungal metabolite. Then chemists went to work altering the molecule in hopes of coming up with an even better version. Such efforts yielded simvastatin (Zocor), which can be appropriately labelled as a “semi-synthetic” compound. Of course, many compounds are synthesized before a successful one is found as chemists slowly learn the structural features a molecule needs for efficacy and ones that are responsible for side effects. Then comes the ultimate challenge of making a molecule that incorporates the desirable features from scratch. One of the most popular statins, Pfizer’s atorvastatin (Lipitor), is an example of a totally synthetic statin and has an excellent risk-benefit profile.

MAY 2005 CANADIAN CHEMICAL NEWS 11

Popular science writer, Joe Schwarcz, MCIC, is a chemistry professor and 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 and on CFRB in Toronto. The broadcast is available on the Web at www.CJAD.com.

To celebrate the CIC’s 60th anniversary this year, ACCN will feature photos, articles, stories, letters, and other memorabilia related to the chemical industries.

This special retrospective will appear in each issue in this section called REMEMBERWHEN.

Submit YOUR memories to editorial@accn.ca.

12 L’ACTUALITÉ CHIMIQUE CANADIENNE MAI 2005

REMEMBERWHEN

Bayer’s cerivastatin (Baycol) was also a synthetic statin, but it was removed from the market because of side effects. And of course, compactin—the prototype statin—was never marketed because of unacceptable side effects.

And it was all “natural.” So repeat after me … the properties of a substance depend on its molecular structure, not on whether it is natural or synthetic

REMEMBERWHEN MAY 2005 CANADIAN CHEMICAL NEWS 13

REMEMBERWHEN 14 L’ACTUALITÉ CHIMIQUE CANADIENNE MAI 2005

Chemical Shifts

What’s new in chemistry research? Chemical Shifts offers a concentrated look at Canada’s latest developments.

Cathleen Crudden, MCIC, and Hans-Peter Loock, MCIC

Ring around the Ruthenium— New advances in olefin metathesis The Ruthenium-catalyzed olefin metathesis reaction has revolutionized organic chemistry. No reaction has been introduced in the past decade that has had such an effect on the way organic chemists make molecules.

Although ring-opening metathesis reactions have been well known in the polymer community since the 1950s, it wasn’t until the early 1990s that Grubbs and co-workers described ring-closing variants of interest to

Scheme 1

Scheme 2

organic chemists. Since that time, the reaction has expanded such that virtually any type of olefin can be prepared via metathesis chemistry.

A major reason for the success of the metathesis reaction is the well-defined catalysts that have been developed for this reaction, such as ruthenium alkylidenes 1a and 1b. The two common catalysts have either a phosphine or a carbene ligand as the non-labile ligand on Ru (Scheme 1). The active catalyst is then generated by dissociation of the phosphine trans to this ligand, which is often the slow step of the reaction.

The presumed mechanism of the reaction is based on a proposal made by Chauvin in the 1950s. The reaction begins by dissociation of a ligand cis to the alkylidene, followed by complexation of the olefin substrate. The reversible formation of a 4membered ring ruthenacycle is the key step, which is followed by a retro cycloaddition in the opposite sense to give the newly formed olefin. Despite the fact that this mechanism has been in the literature for almost 50 years, and despite the significance of the reaction to organic and polymer chemistry, the ruthenacycle has never been observed. In fact, theoretical calculations have predicted that for certain catalysts, the ruthenacycle may be only a transition state!

In a recent development (Angew. Chem.

Int. Ed. 2004, 43, 6161), the Piers group at The University of Calgary has developed a catalyst that does not need to be initiated by phosphine loss. Remarkably, by changing the nature of the alkylidene ligand, Piers and co-workers can isolate a stable 14 electron complex (2, Scheme 2). More remarkably, Piers and graduate student Patricio Romero, ACIC, have recently been able to observe the key ruthenacycle for the first time by reaction of 2a with one equivalent of ethylene (J. Amer. Chem. Soc. 2005, ASAP, Scheme 2). Upon addition of 13C-labeled ethylene to a solution of 2a, the Piers group observes incorporation of the label into the ruthenacycle and production of 13CH2=CHPCy3+.

The incorporation of the label is also shown to be reversible by the use of excess 13CH =13CH , which results in scrambling 2 2 of the label into all the sites on the metallacycle. The complex is also highly active for the ring closing metathesis of the standard substrate employed to test catalysts, diethyl diallyl malonate, with reaction taking place even at –50°C, and going to completion upon warming to room temperature.

The stability of the ruthenacycle is strongly dependent on the ancillary ligand, such that the phosphine-ligated species 2b does not

MAY 2005 CANADIAN CHEMICAL NEWS 15

give an observable ruthenacycle at temperatures from –50°C to room temperature, but rather shows starting material at low temperature, followed by onset of catalytic activity at higher temperatures without any observable intermediates. The authors postulate that the highly electron rich, σ-donating Ν-heterocyclic carbene in 2a stabilizes the electron deficient Ru (IV) intermediate.

A strong bond between the nobles: spectroscopy of XeAuF Noble gases and noble metals are quite selective in the elements they form bonds to. One would therefore think that they are even less likely to form covalent bonds to each other.

On the other hand there are now quite a few neutral molecules that display fairly strong noble-gas (Ng) to noble-metal (M) bonds.

Over the past years Michael Gerry, FCIC, postdocs Corey Evans (now at Leicester) and Stephen Cooke and their co-workers at The University of British Columbia have identified a large number of molecules of the general form NgMX where Ng = Ar, Kr, Xe; M = Cu, Ag, Au and X = F, Cl, Br. The molecules have been characterized by Fourier transform microwave spectroscopy, and it was found that all of them are linear and the Ng-M bond is short and rigid. The interaction strength between the noble gas atom and the noble metal increases in the orders of Ar<Kr<Xe and Ag<Cu<Au, leading one to suspect that the molecule XeAuF should show the strongest of these bonds. In a recent publication in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (126, 51, 2004, p. 17000) Gerry and Cooke confirmed spectroscopically that this is indeed the case. The XeAu bond really is shorter than the sum of benchmark Xe and Au covalent radii. Also, nuclear quadrupole hyperfine structure has shown a major reorganization of the electron distribution of both Xe and Au on complex formation. Ab initio calculations indicated a XeAu bond energy of about 100 kJ/mol, i.e., well into the regime for covalent bonds and much larger than expected for van der Waals bonding. It is then interesting to ask how much of the bond strength actually arises from the attraction of the Au-F dipole to the polarizable xenon atom. Using empirical calculations, Gerry and Cooke found that only about ten percent of the bond energy can be attributed to purely electrostatic interactions.

The ab initio calculations have also produced

16 L’ACTUALITÉ CHIMIQUE CANADIENNE MAI 2005

a significant negative local energy density at the XeAu bond critical point, implying a buildup of electron charge at that point and formation of a genuine XeAu covalent bond.

Chemical Shifts also noted that the title of the paper, “XeAuF,” must be one of the shortest in the chemical literature, proving again that good things come in small packages.

The nitrogen HOMO undergoes a CAT scan Most chemists treat molecular orbitals as abstract mathematical constructs that help explain, for example, the geometry and reactivity of molecules. Direct probing or even imaging of the “electron clouds” is complicated because electrons are so darn small, light, and fast. Also, since the entire molecular system is actually described by a single wavefunction, it is not clear if single-electron orbitals even exist. Scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) as well as electron momentum spectroscopy (EMS) can provide spatially resolved electron densities but do not have a high spatial resolution and are not readily suitable for time-dependent studies. Recently, researchers at the National Research Council Canada (Ottawa) have added another technique that makes use of electron scattering to construct “tomographic” images of the highest-occupied molecular orbitals of small molecules. In a highly readable article in Nature (Dec. 16, 2004, Vol. 432, p. 867) David Villeneuve, together with NRC researchers Paul Corkum, Jiro Itatani (now at Berkeley),

graduate student Jérôme Levesque, post-docs Hiromichi Niikura and Dirk Zeidler as well as INRS-EMT researchers Henri Pépin and Jean-Claude Kieffer, describe how molecular orbitals can be mapped with very high spatial resolution using a sequence of two cleverly prepared femtosecond laser pulses.

Not only does this technique give a spatial resolution comparable to what can be calculated using accurate ab initio methods, but it also lends itself to time-resolved measurements, bringing up the tantalizing possibility that the evolution of molecular orbitals in the course of a chemical reaction might eventually be observable.

Similar to medical tomography, the researchers first require their subject to hold still, while they are taking the “picture.” This is achieved by creating a rotational wavepacket using a 60 fs laser pulse. After 4.1 ps, the wavepacket rephases, and for all practical purposes, the sample molecules are aligned in space. Then a 30 fs laser pulse is launched, which ejects an electron from the HOMO. Due to the use of an intense, non-resonant laser, only the highest energy electron is able to tunnel out, thereby making the process selective to the HOMO. Within the first optical cycle of the laser pulse, i.e., within 2.7 fs, the electron is first propelled away from the molecule. But as the electric field changes direction, the electron is forced back to recollide with the molecular ion. What has been described as a classical motion is, of course, really a quantum mechanical electron wave packet with a width that is large compared to the dimensions of the

target molecule. This means that the N2+ ion “sees” a plane electron wave colliding with its remaining electrons. The electron has a small probability of recombining with the parent ion, and as it does so, it radiates in the XUV portion of the spectrum in a series of harmonics of the driving laser frequency. Previously, the NRC group had demonstrated the generation of up to the 47th harmonic of the 800 nm laser pulse. Here, it is observed that the spectrum of harmonics emitted from the recollision process depends on the angle at which the electron wave hits the target molecule. This angle can be changed simply by rotating the polarization plane of the 30 fs pump laser pulse with respect to the molecular alignment axis. In some way, this procedure is in analogy to a rotating X-ray source in 3D tomography (CAT scans). Harmonic spectra obtained at 19 different angles were analyzed and the 3D shape of the molecule’s wave function was derived.

The results of the NRC group have attracted considerable attention for a number of reasons. First, the method actually probes molecular wave functions and not electron densities. Also, it only probes the molecular wave functions (orbitals) to which the recolliding wavepacket has a “coherence relationship”—in this case the HOMO! Second, the measurement is fast on the timescale of nuclear motion, and it should therefore be possible to map out the evolution of molecular orbitals as the molecules are changing shape, e.g. during a bond fission or even a unimolecular chemical reaction. The authors argue that the technique can also be extended to larger molecules as long as the field that drives the electron’s motion is close to zero at the time of recollision. Finally, other orbitals may be probed by using electronic excitation prior to the tomography experiment, which would simply populate a higher lying molecular orbital thereby making it the new HOMO.

Sulfur compounds with incredibly high bond orders— Passmore strikes again!

Although triply bonded species are commonplace in organic chemistry, with alkynes being stable, easily prepared and handled species, the same is not true of the heavier main group elements. In fact, significant effort has gone into preparing even doubly bonded species of elements such as silicon and germanium, although these are now well accepted

structures thanks to the work of two prominent Canadian chemists, Adrian Brook and Kim Baines, among others. The next challenge is triply bonded main group elements, which brings us into considerably murkier waters.

As a row in the periodic table is descended, the heavier elements have less and less tendency towards the formation of multiple bonds. Quite recently, a compound with the formula of RSiSiR has been prepared. Analysis of the material by X-ray crystallography shows that it is bent, indicating more double bond character than triple (Sekiguchi, A., Kinjo, R., Ichinohe, M., Science 2004, 305, 1755–1757.

West, R., Science 2004, 305, 1724-1725). Calculations put the bond order of this compound at 2.6, while other calculations have predicted bond orders in the range of 1.9–2.3 for related structures (Malcom, N. O. J., Gillespie, R. J., Popelier, P. L. A., J. Chem. Soc., Dalton Trans.

2002, 333–3341. Bridgeman, A. J., Irland, L. R. Polyhedron 2001, 20, 2841–2851). The corresponding lead compound is even more bent and very likely contains a Pb–Pb single bond, with the remaining electrons residing as lone pairs on the Pb atoms.

Interestingly, the elements of group 16 and 17 are known to form relatively stable multiply bonded structures, even without large bulky groups as stabilizers, such as S=SF2, which has a bond order of greater than 2. Despite this fact, these elements have remained under the radar of most main group chemists trying to prepare molecules with unusually high bond orders. Thankfully, Jack Passmore’s group at the University of New Brunswick specializes in the chemistry of this part of the periodic table. As early as 1980, they reported the crystal structure of two interesting sulfur compounds: S2I4 (MF6)2 (where M = As or Sb), which have the shortest S–S bond lengths reported for an isolated compound (1.854(6) and 1.818(10) Å) (Chem. Commun., 1980, 289). These values correspond to Pauling bond orders of 2.4 and 2.7! Note that S2I42+ is isoelectronic to P2I4, which contains a P-P single bond, so the expected S-S bond order was one.

Although previous attempts to obtain FT-Raman spectra were unsuccessful, the Passmore group, in collaboration with researchers from Karlsruhe Germany and Jyväskylä Finland, has recently succeeded in obtaining solution FT-Raman data confirming the extremely high bond order in these molecules (Scott Brownridge, T. Stanley

Cameron, Hongbin Du, Carsten Knapp, Ralf Kö1ppe, Jack Passmore, J. Mikko Rautiainen, and Hansgeorg Schnölckel, Inorg. Chem., 2005, 44, 1660). The bond distances derived from more accurate X-ray data obtained by crystallographer T. Stanley Cameron from Dalhousie University, the stretching frequencies and force constants all point to very high bond orders for the S–S and I–I bonds in these molecules.

The newly determined bond distances for the AsF6 salt put the bond distance at 1.842(4) Å, implying a bond order of 2.4. In addition, the stretching frequency of the S–S bond was found to be 734 cm–1, which indicates that the bond order should be 2.2 after a normal coordinate analysis, gave a force constant of 5.08 mydn/Å. Importantly, the solution phase data show that the short bond distance is not a crystallographic artifact, and that the S2I42+ species has an extremely high bond order, in the same range as that recently reported for the first isolated disilyne, without the need for large bulky groups protecting the S–S multiple bond. Based on all of the data collected by the Passmore group, it appears that the best representation of this remarkable compound is as a multiply bonded S2 cation, weakly bound to two I2 partial charged cations.

Cathleen Crudden, MCIC, is an associate professor at Queen’s University in Kingston, ON. Hans-Peter Loock, MCIC, is an assistant professor at Queen’s.

MAY 2005 CANADIAN CHEMICAL NEWS 17

THE RECENT EVOLUTION OF THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY Canadian and international perspectives

A

lthough at first glance, defining the nature of the pharmaceutical industry seems fairly straightforward, the task is actually complex. The industry cannot be narrowed down to one specific group of companies. It is made up of a number of stakeholders, each of which pursues its own interests in a market environment constrained by government regulations. Borrowing a sports analogy first used by Gordon and Maule, “The drug game becomes complicated because of the number of players with differing and interacting interests, and because government plays the role of supplier, customer, and insurer as well as referee, and has to change roles as circumstances dictate.”1 In Canada, as in most industrialized countries, the major players are governments (federal and provincial), manufacturers and researchers (i.e., innovators), distributors (including wholesalers and retailers), hospitals, and finally the customer. Together with industry, government and consumer associations, regulatory bodies, and so forth—the pharmaceutical industry constitutes an extensive web indeed. Within this scheme, as we shall see, the team captain or pivotal player is the manufacturer/producer of pharmaceutical products.

Consequently, the scope of this study will focus on the industrial production or manufacturing component of the pharmaceutical industry. However, since research and development is a vital part of the industry and given that manufacturers themselves often take on the roles of wholesalers/distributors, we will also review these two components.

What exactly is the pharmaceutical industry? The standard definition of the pharmaceutical and medicine industry, according to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), is the following: the industry comprises “establishments primarily engaged in manufacturing drugs, medicines, and related products for human 18 L’ACTUALITÉ CHIMIQUE CANADIENNE MAI 2005

Sébastien Breau

or animal use. These establishments may undertake one or more of several processes, including basic processes, such as chemical synthesis, fermentation, distillation and solvent extraction, grading, grinding and milling, and packaging in forms suitable for internal and external use, such as tablets, vials, ampoules, and ointments.”2 Although this definition encompasses a wider range of products than the outdated Standard Industrial Classification (SIC [1980]) system, it still remains too constraining since it is centred exclusively on pharmaceutical manufacturing firms, too often ignoring the growing number of health-related biotechnology companies and products—which have become known as biopharmaceuticals.

Furthermore, because of its significant knowledge-based component and in an effort to better grasp the economic weight of the pharmaceutical industry as a whole, we shall broaden the definition to include professional, scientific, and technical services along with some health care services. In particular, we look at research and development activities in the life sciences, which comprise establishments primarily engaged in conducting research and experimental development in the fields of medicine, health, biology, biotechnology, Share your CICWe memories pharmacy, veterinary, and other allied subjects. will also include memorabilia with ACCN . medical and diagnostic laboratoriesand mainly engaged in providing analytic or diagnostic services. These services are generally provided Send your to the medical profession or to the patient onmaterials referraltofrom a health editorial@accn.ca practitioner. or mailprocess them to the Taking a closer look at the production alsoNational helps Office. to draw a clearer picture of who is involved in the pharmaceutical industry, Please label each what is produced, and how. Generally speaking, wepiece can break down with your name, a caption the process through which a pharmaceutical product flows, into four and your complete address basic steps: research, primary production, secondary production, and to ensure safe return to you. distribution and commercialization (see Figureits1).

Following is a brief description of each of those steps.

MAY 2005 CANADIAN CHEMICAL NEWS 19

Research is at the source of the industrial process. As stated by Harry C. Eastman in his pioneering “Report of the Commission of Inquiry on the Pharmaceutical Industry,” research activity is made up of fundamental (or basic), applied, and clinical research including preclinical research.3 The goal of basic research is the advancement of scientific knowledge, with no thought being given to a specific application. Typically, it involves the synthesis of chemical compounds, the discovery of new biological/biotechnological processes, as well as animal experimentation.4 This type of research is generally carried out by in-house researchers and is concentrated in the U.S., Germany, Switzerland, the U.K., and France, where most pharmaceutical multinationals have their head offices. In some instances, however, and one could argue that this is becoming increasingly the case, basic research takes place in specialized institutes, universities, or hospitals renowned for the high quality of their research.

Applied research, as the name implies, is aimed at the advancement of scientific knowledge with a specific practical application.

For example, one could study production processes to better the quality of products or reduce their production costs. For that reason, it is conducted at a centre of manufacturing activity, which more often than not is at company headquarters.

As for clinical research, it consists of screening new products and testing them on humans with a view to winning regulatory approval. This research is conducted through private contract research organizations and/or clinical trials networks/laboratories (universities and hospitals) in each market country in order to meet domestic regulatory requirements.

The next step in the supply chain is primary production.5 The primary production of active ingredients—the chemical substance responsible for the claimed pharmacological effect of a drug6—has its roots in fine chemistry, organic chemistry, and, increasingly, biotechnologies. This process is usually based on economies of scale—high volumes of production at the least possible cost—and requires large amounts of capital, sophisticated equipment, and highly qualified personnel.

Piggybacking off research and development, this production phase is considered an input to the actual pharmaceutical transformation process, which occurs in the following stage.

20 L’ACTUALITÉ CHIMIQUE CANADIENNE MAI 2005

Indeed, secondary production (or formulation) takes place when active ingredients are formulated or manufactured into pharmaceutical products in their final dosage form. This process is far less intricate than primary production, and as a result it is usually much more decentralized to domestic market countries in order to meet specific requirements (i.e., packaging, labelling, etc.).

Finally, distribution of the products is also decentralized to domestic market countries.

From wholesalers to hospitals and retailers (pharmacies), the funnelling of drug products to consumers is the last important component in the production process.

All things considered, pharmaceutical products can be categorized according to their intended purpose—that is: • diagnostic (to aid in the detection of a disease); • therapeutic (treatment); and • vaccines and other biological products (prevention).

Products included in the diagnostics category are instruments and reagents used for the screening, diagnosis, and monitoring of diseases. For the most part, they consist of: • immunoassays (tests for hormones, allergies, HIV, etc.); • clinical chemistry (enzymatic, electrochemical, and chromatographic techniques); • hematology testing (blood counts); • diabetes (omnipresent on the home-testing market); and • microbiology tests (supplies of bacterial cultures and various probe tests for specific microorganisms).

From the industry’s standpoint, therapeutic drugs are typically labelled according to their patent status. For instance, patented drugs (also known as innovative or brandname drugs) provide a manufacturer with the exclusive right to make and sell a drug for a certain period of time. Non-patented drugs, in contrast, refer to generic copies of existing patented drugs and other specialty products that were previously subject to patent protection.7 For the average consumer, on the other hand, drugs are most often referred to as either prescription or non-prescription medicines. In the first case, prescription medicines are usually prescribed by physicians and dispensed by pharmacists, both in hospitals and in the community via drugstores. As for non-prescription

medicines, or over-the-counter (OTC) drugs, they consist of self-medication drugs available without a prescription at assorted retail outlets. Among the more familiar OTCs are remedies for headaches, colds, and upset stomachs. But therapeutics also include natural health remedies, the functional foods, and nutraceuticals technology. Their emergence into the sphere of pharmaceuticals can be attributed, among other things, to the increasing use of traditional medicines derived from plants, herbs, and other natural sources as alternatives to modern medicine and pharmaceuticals.

Finally, the emergence of biotechnologies has also injected new life into vaccines and other biological products. Combined with the fact that vaccination is no longer limited to infants, a growing number of companies are focusing their resources on the development of new and improved vaccines. Advances in vaccines against sexually transmitted diseases, flu vaccines, adjuvants (substances pooled with antigens to enhance the immune response), and high-tech vaccines such as naked DNA vaccines (that involve genes instead of proteins) are expanding the boundaries of this field. In addition to vaccines, this group of products contains other biological materials such as plasma, blood products, insulin as well as scores of other hormones, serums, and enzymes.

In short, the pharmaceutical industry is made up of a wide variety of players, each of which engages in one or more functions in the production process.

References 1. J. Gordon and C. Maule, “Who Are the Players?”, The Canadian Pharmaceutical Journal (February 1989): 68–73.

2. In keeping with the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), products manufactured include anesthetics , antibiotics (including veterinary ), antiseptics (medicinal), blood derivatives (for human or veterinary use), botanical products (medicinal, ground, grade, and milled), contact lens solutions, contraceptive preparations, cough medicines, diagnostic agents, endocrine products, feed additives, herbs (grinding, grading, and milling), hormones and derivatives, vaccines, veterinary products, vitamins, and water

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

decontamination or purification tablets (Statistics Canada, Ottawa, 1997).

H. C. Eastman, Report of the Commission of Inquiry on the Pharmaceutical Industry (Ottawa, 1985), 450.

Patented Medicine Prices Review Board (PMPRB), Eleventh Annual Report (31 December 1998).

Québec, ministère de l’Industrie, du Commerce et de la Technologie, Point de mire sur l’industrie pharmaceutique au Québec (Québec, 1993).

As labelled by the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board.

A note to the reader: most innovative companies in Canada are regrouped under the Rx&D association, Canada’s Research-

Photo by Patti Adair

Based Pharmaceutical Companies (formerly the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association of Canada), while generic companies are represented by the Canadian Drug Manufacturers Association (CDMA).

Sébastien Breau joined the Canadian Institute for Research on Regional Development as an economist/researcher in 1999. His primary research interests are regional economics and the knowledge-based economy. Most recently, his work has focused on the changing

Chapter I, “The Recent Evolution of the Pharmaceutical Industry: International and Canadian Perspectives,” from Sébastien Breau’s Profile and Prospects of the Biopharmaceutical Industy in Atlantic Canada, Moncton, CIRRD, 2001 was reprinted with permission from the Canadian Institute for Research on Regional Development. For the full report, visit http://dsp-psd.pwgsc.gc.ca/ Collection/C89-4-85-2001E.pdf.

structure of economic activity in Atlantic Canada, the dynamics of regional labour markets, interprovincial migration trends, and the phenomenon of convergence between Canadian provinces.

MAY 2005 CANADIAN CHEMICAL NEWS 21

‘NET BENEFITS?

Internet pharmacies in canada

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nternet pharmacies first appeared in 1999. Since then, the number of Internet pharmacies has grown into the hundreds worldwide, with a large number centred in Canada, selling drugs primarily to Americans.

It is difficult to assess the number of Internet pharmacies operating in Canada. However, recent Health Canada statistics approximate 270 Canadian pharmacies operating either strictly via the Internet, or a combination of traditional methods and the Internet, and/or other means of distance dispensing (e.g. ordering by e-mail or fax and delivery by mail, courier, taxi, or messenger). It is also estimated that Canadian Internet pharmacies sold about $840 million worth of pharmaceuticals to about 1.8 million Americans in 2003, representing about 60 percent of the cross-border traffic in pharmaceuticals for that year. These figures represent about half the annual sales made to American consumers by foreign pharmacies.

The primary reason Americans are purchasing pharmaceuticals in Canada is Canada’s cap on the price of patented medicines set by the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board (PMPRB). The cap has resulted in some cases in a 40 percent or greater price savings over corresponding medicines purchased in the U.S. While it is not illegal in Canada to export pharmaceuticals to another country, Internet pharmacies do give rise to Canadian concerns. For instance, under Canadian law, only written prescriptions from provincially licensed physicians can be filled by a Canadian pharmacy, including a Canadian Internet pharmacy.

Some Canadian physicians are reviewing information provided by the patient and a U.S. prescription from an American physician, and providing a prescription to the Internet pharmacy without seeing the patient or having any other form of direct patient contact. Provincial medical regulatory authorities consider this a violation of their rules and are cracking down. For example, in 2004, Manitoba’s College of Physicians and Surgeons found two physicians in contravention of its prescribing practices; in one case fining the physician $10,000.

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Daphne C. Ripley, MCIC The federal government is also considering action. In addition to concerns surrounding prescribing practices, the government is concerned about adequate supply of pharmaceuticals for Canadians. The Minister of Health is reportedly considering: • prohibiting the export of drugs at PMPRB prices; • prohibiting the sale of prescription drugs outside of an established patient-practitioner relationship; • limiting the sale of prescription drugs to patients present or resident in Canada; and • prohibiting or limiting drug exports, especially of certain drug products, where there is reason to believe that supply could be compromised.

While currently legal to export pharmaceuticals under Canadian law, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) position is that U.S. law prohibits the importation of foreign versions of FDAapproved drugs, and re-importation of FDA-approved drugs by other than the manufacturer. Importation of drugs may also be illegal under other U.S. laws, including those governing the proper labelling and packaging of pharmaceuticals. For the most part, the FDA has not enforced these laws against individual consumers. A reason being the difficulty in policing importation by individuals, and a general policy exempting importation of pharmaceuticals for personal use under certain conditions.

There has been some movement in the U.S. to legalize importation of foreign prescription drugs. For instance, the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act (the MMA) was passed in December 2003, giving the Secretary of Health and Human Services the authority to promulgate regulations to allow importation of certain prescription drugs from Canada. Under the MMA, importation by pharmacists, wholesalers, and individual consumers would be possible. Regulations haven’t been passed, and as a condition precedent, the Secretary must first certify that such a program will pose no additional risk to public health and safety, and will result in

Photo by Mark Csabai

Photo by Patti Adair

significant cost reduction to American consumers. It is not expected that the Secretary will pass such regulations, particularly in view of the December 2004 Department of Health and Human Services Task Force on Drug Importation “Report on Prescription Drug Importation.” The task force was instituted as a result of the MMA, and among its key findings are the extraordinary difficulty and cost of ensuring the safety and effectiveness of products imported by individuals, and the projected small percentage of overall national savings by legalizing commercial importation.

Concerns over the safety of pharmaceuticals obtained over the Internet are not unfounded. In a recent study by the U.S. General Accounting Office of drugs ordered from Internet pharmacies from around the globe, reported problems included: • absence of a label providing patient instructions for use; • absence of warning information; • unconventional packaging; • damaged packaging; • receipt of non-FDA-approved drugs; and • receipt of counterfeit or non-comparable products.

For instance, it was reported that a sample purporting to be the narcotic pain medication OxyContin was shipped in a plastic compact disc case wrapped in brown packing tape without labels or instructions. It was also reported that samples received of Viagra, OxyContin, and Accutane (an acne medication) were counterfeit or not comparable to the U.S. marketed product, either having less quantity of the active ingredient or having a significantly different chemical composition. Fewer problems were reported with drug products received from Canadian

Internet pharmacies than the other foreign Internet pharmacies studied.

Health Canada’s Health Products and Food Branch Inspectorate is also monitoring the safety of Canadian Internet pharmacies. In a recent study of 11 pharmacies involved in distance dispensing, all were found generally compliant. Noted areas of non-compliance involved potentially unsafe shipping practices of temperature-sensitive medications, obtaining prescription drugs from pharmacies not having the appropriate licence to wholesale drugs, and the filling of electronically signed or rubber-stamped prescriptions—all of which were reported rectified. Potential areas of non-compliance with other laws outside of Health Canada’s jurisdiction were reportedly brought to the attention of the appropriate regulatory authorities. Health Canada is planning further inspections this year.

The control of Internet pharmacies has not just been addressed at the governmental level. Some pharmaceutical companies have taken matters into their own hands by blacklisting Internet pharmacies, refusing or limiting supply, in an effort to prevent sales of their drug products to American consumers.

The first company to attempt to block Internet pharmacies from selling to Americans in this manner was GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).

Complaints to the Competition Bureau of Canada resulted in a March 2003 decision by the Bureau not to proceed against GSK; the Bureau found no evidence that the Competition Act was violated. More recently, according to a February 10, 2005 Pfizer news release, Pfizer has commenced private legal action against two Internet pharmacies relating to the sale of counterfeit Viagra.

Despite the potential for harm, there are many in favour of Internet pharmacies.

Many argue that Canadian Internet pharmacies are safe, and effectively provide the same drug product that is available in the U.S. Social policy concerns over providing affordable drugs to Americans who could not otherwise afford the treatment and the number of people employed in the Internet pharmacy business are also considered by many as points in favour of Internet pharmacies.

Nevertheless, based on the strong comments made by the Minister of Health, it is very likely that some federal regulation of Canadian Internet pharmacies is on the horizon.

References In addition to references noted in the body of the text, the following references were also consulted, and relied upon in preparing the above article: 1. “Summary Report of the Compliance Inspections of Canadian Pharmacy Sites Involved in the Sale of Prescription Drugs Via the Internet or Via Distance Dispensing,” Health Products and Food Branch Inspectorate, November 2004.

2. Evidence presented to House of Commons Standing Committee on Health—Internet Pharmacies on February 14 and 16, 2005 in Ottawa.

3. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Task Force on Drug Importation “Report on Prescription Drug Importation,” December 2004.

4. Paul Samyn, “Ottawa Eyes Ban on Export of Patented Drugs: Generic Drugs Not Part of Plan,” Winnipeg Free Press, Saturday, February 19, 2005.

6. U.S. General Accounting Office Report on “Internet Pharmacies: Some Pose Safety Risks for Consumers,” June 2004.

Daphne C. Ripley, MCIC, is an associate with the intellectual property law firm of Smart & Biggar. She is a lawyer and patent agent, with a focus in procuring patent protection for chemical inventions.

She received her MSc in chemistry from Queen’s University in Kingston, ON.

MAY 2005 CANADIAN CHEMICAL NEWS 23

ALLERGIES AND THE GOOD LIFE Are allergies the new anti-aphrodisiacs? New data and clinical research suggest that seasonal allergies are taking a significant toll on our Canadian quality of life.

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s a runny nose ruining the mood? With the season of sniffles, sneezes and itchy, swollen eyes upon us, new data suggests that not only do our romantic lives slow down March through June, but allergies might be affecting more than our libido. Two thousand Canadians were surveyed in a study conducted in February by the allergy medication manufacturer Reactine. According to the Reactine Quality of Life* data, productivity, social interactions, relationships, and our sense of self are all significantly hampered by symptoms of allergies. With life so stretched and pollen counts peaking, it begs the question: How are allergies affecting our overall well-being?

“The World Health Organization defines quality of life as related to health as a state of complete physical, psychological, and social wellbeing—not merely the absence of disease,” says Iris Greenwald, MD, leading Toronto-based family practitioner. “The concept of quality of life surrounding allergies is taking centre stage and will become a major topic of discussion in coming years—the term allergy ‘sufferer’ is well coined.”

How are you?

Canadians coping with seasonal allergies are considered the “silent sufferers”—because they are rarely hospitalized, don’t require surgery or other sophisticated interventions and their dayto-day survival is not threatened, allergies are not taken seriously as having a major impact on their lives. The effects, however, are well documented and suggest that the physical and corresponding psychological effects of allergic symptoms play a significant role in reducing overall quality of life.

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Ross Chang, MD

“During allergy season, my life slows to a stop,” says a seasonal allergy sufferer surveyed. “I go to work, I take care of my family, but I just get by on the bare minimum. I feel like I’m at 50 percent of myself four months of the year.”

The data suggests that Canadian allergy sufferers relate to this feeling, with 74 percent stating that their suffering increases irritability and fatigue and 55 percent claiming reduced productivity (housework, on-the-job, academia). This corresponds with previous Reactine data, which suggests that 83 percent of human resource professionals feel that employee productivity is diminished due to allergic symptoms.

From a social perspective, a further 43 percent state that allergies hinder or reduce social interactions and 26 percent claim reduced libido—ranging from 23 percent among women to 31 percent among men.

It’s no wonder we’re not feeling sexy. Sufferers claim that their allergies cause them to feel: irritable (57 percent), lethargic (29% percent),

He said / She said Canadian male allergy sufferers are more likely to claim … allergies reduce productivity, social interactions and libido

Canadian female allergy sufferers are more likely to claim … allergies make them irritable, lethargic, unattractive, and unbearable

they would have more intimate relations if they could rid themselves of their allergies

they would be in a better mood and more productive at home/work if they could rid themselves of allergies

they use allergies as an excuse for not having romantic/intimate interaction with their partner

they use allergies as an excuse for calling in sick to work and cancelling social engagements

Photos by Reid Parham and Mela

unattractive (14 percent), and unbearable (13 percent). Interestingly, only 16 percent of sufferers claim that if they could rid themselves of their allergy suffering, the area of their life that would improve the most would be intimate relations. Sufferers are focused more on sleep (58 percent), being in a better overall mood (52 percent), and increasing productivity (44 percent).

How do we achieve the good life?

“You can live in a bubble,” says Greenwald, who states that while this would reduce symptoms, overall quality of life would continue to be compromised by not being able to enjoy day-to-day activities and social interaction. “But because you can’t run or hide from pollen and other allergens, the most effective solution to increasing quality of life is to block allergens.”

Numerous studies looking at the impact of allergies on quality of life have been

published that suggest that regular treatment can lead to not only significant reduction in symptoms, but also an overall increase in quality of life. In the report “Improvement of Quality of Life by Treatment with Cetirizine in Patients with Perennial Allergic Rhinitis,” J. Allergy Clin. Immunol. (August 1996), J. Bousquet et al. showed that comparing the second-generation antihistamine cetirizine to placebo after one and six weeks improved quality of life across nine domains, with an improvement of at least 30 percent in seven domains. The domains include physical functioning, physical role, bodily pain, general health, vitality, social functioning, emotional role, and mental health.

The group’s follow-up study, “Further Improvement of Quality of Life by Cetirizine in Perennial Allergic Rhinitis as a Function of Treatment Duration,” J. Invest Allergol. Clin.

Immunol. (March–April 2000), suggested that while there was significant improvement after one week of treatment, a further five-week course of therapy not only maintains this

improvement, but continues to enhance quality of life significantly above and beyond this.

Greenwald states that to achieve this level of satisfaction, choosing the best treatment option is key. Greenwald also states that in addition to reduced quality of life, untreated allergies are a serious health issue, which can include asthma and other complications, such as sinus infections and possibly ear infections. “Living in a reduced overall state is not necessary—treating your allergies is key to enjoying the good life March through June.” * Reactine Quality of Life data, Decima Research, March 2004. This national sample of 663 Canadian allergy sufferers, 18 years or older, is accurate within +/-X percentage points.

Ross Chang, MD, is a leading Vancouver-based allergy specialist and president of the BC Society of Allergy and Immunology.

Quality of Life— the Canadian Allergic Mosaic As our allergies peak at varying times across the country, the impact of our symptoms vary as well …

• To be or not to be? Albertans are more likely to state allergies cause irritability and fatigue, but interestingly, they are least likely to describe themselves as irritable when suffering from allergies.

• Chill out! Allergy sufferers in the Atlantic provinces are the least bothered by their allergy suffering—they’re not likely to blame their symptoms on reduced productivity or lethargy nor as an excuse to call in sick to work or to avoid romance.

• No surprise! Ontario allergy sufferers are most likely to claim allergy suffering reduces productivity and makes them unattractive.

• Social butterlies? Albertans are most likely to hide away and avoid social interactions when suffering and are most likely to use allergies as an excuse to cancel social engagements. Allergy sufferers in British Columbia are quite the opposite—not allowing allergies to get in the way of a little fun.

• Oooh la la: Quebec allergy sufferers are most likely to claim allergy suffering reduces their libido, while sufferers in British Columbia least likely.

However, British Columbians are more likely to use allergies as an excuse not to be romantic!

Reactine Quality of Life data

Photo by Michael Slonecker

MAY 2005 CANADIAN CHEMICAL NEWS 25

CONFUSION IN THE AISLES Nearly half of Canadians are confused when selecting allergy medication.

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ccording to a recent poll by Decima Research*, a whopping 48 percent of Canadians say selecting an allergy medication is confusing. Being perplexed when perusing the allergy aisle is hardly the best scenario with allergy season in full swing. So, Pfizer Consumer Healthcare went directly to the source—allergy sufferers— to try to find some clarity among the confusion.

What grabs the attention of allergy sufferers?

Let’s face it—the allergy aisle can be overwhelming. But most allergy sufferers are off to a good start, with an astounding 87 percent reading the labels of the allergy medication they purchase. But with so many Canadians confused, this begs the question: Do we understand what these labels mean? Is it lack of information or do sufferers even know what to look for?

“Knowledge is the key,” says Marvin Bernstein, a Toronto-based pharmacist. “Allergy medications are so vastly different. If you don’t understand the active ingredients among the various brands or how the treatment is processed within the body, you may be choosing the wrong allergy medication. A lot of the confusion comes from not understanding what information is essential to make an informed choice.”

According to the data, Bernstein is 100 percent correct. While the poll revealed that allergy sufferers are reading labels, their purchasing decisions are not heavily influenced by the ability of the antihistamine to diminish their symptoms. In fact, only 15 percent are influenced by the medicinal ingredient in the medication and 22 percent are influenced by the symptoms listed on the label. Quebecers are most influenced by symptoms listed on the label at 33 percent, while this is a concern for only 14 percent of sufferers in British Columbia.

In fact, brand recognition is what leads purchase decisions at 31 percent, with Albertans leading the pack (39 percent), followed by British Columbians (38 percent) and Atlantic Canadians (37 percent).

26 L’ACTUALITÉ CHIMIQUE CANADIENNE MAI 2005

Poll results also revealed that only one-third of allergy sufferers consider “long-lasting relief of symptoms” as the most important function of their medication, while 24 percent look to “fast-acting symptom relief” and 21 percent consider “lack of side effects” to be most crucial.

“Allergy sufferers need to be educated,” says Bernstein. “Brand recognition is of course important—consumers want safe products they can trust. But each of these brands is using different types of active ingredients, which vary in their side effects [and in] the way the ingredients are processed in the body and their appropriateness for children.”

Bernstein cites the active ingredient cetirizine as a good example.

“Cetirizine is the most widely used second-generation anthistamine in Canada and worldwide because it is not processed by the liver, resulting in low risk of drug interaction and incidence of side effects.

This also means the medication is active immediately, providing relief within the hour, often within 20 minutes.”

Inquiring minds Pharmacists are frequently asked about allergy medications—in fact several times a day. Bernstein suggests that taking control of your allergies means asking your medical professional these important questions, understanding your triggers, finding ways to avoid them, and making educated choices about your allergy medication.

“Understanding allergy labels is essential to managing your condition. Of course, it’s always advisable to talk to your family doctor or pharmacist about your specific symptoms and current medications when looking for the most appropriate treatment.” * This independent survey was conducted by Decima Research in Spring 2004. This national sample of 2,000 Canadian adults 18 years or older is accurate within +/- 2.2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

Photo by Kristofer Schwab

Allergy Aisle Know-How Understanding what’s behind the label For the 48 percent of Canadians who find choosing an allergy medication extremely confusing*, effectively stopping or controlling symptoms—especially when the pollen count is high—may be a source of great frustration. But that doesn’t have to be the case. Pharmacist Marvin Bernstein provides Canadians with the “Three S’s” behind allergy medication know-how. Being able to read the label effectively will help stop symptoms before they stop you.

The Three S’s 1. Solution Label reading—choose the right medication for allergy relief If you have allergies, you suffer from rhinitis (swelling of the lining of the nose). While the label doesn’t always indicate it, what you want to reach for is an antihistamine. Antihistamines combat the effects of histamine. Histamine is a chemical released by certain cells in the body during an allergic reaction, causing the traditional symptoms of allergies: runny nose and watery eyes.

Antihistamines are classified into two categories: • First generation—with a long history in the market, first generation antihistamines are effective, but can cause drowsiness; • Second generation—second-generation antihistamines are a good choice to manage allergy symptoms and allow you to function normally.

For those really bad days, when your sinuses are feeling the pressure, use an antihistamine that also features a decongestant for sinus control. There are also a number of products on the market designed specifically for children from age two. Be sure to consult with your doctor prior to use.

2. Symptoms Label reading—look for your symptoms listed on the label Read the label to ensure you choose the appropriate antihistamine medication for your symptoms.

• Labels should indicate the symptoms the medication will treat or prevent, for example: itchy, watery eyes; sneezing; runny nose; sinus congestion; and/or itching due to allergic skin reactions such as hives; • Most allergy medications have “fast” on their labels—but this can be misleading, as certain medications are more fasting-acting at relieving symptoms than others. Some antihistamines only start to work any where from one to three hours.

3. Substance Label reading—look for the active ingredient listed on the label Not all antihistamines are created equal. It’s the active ingredient that makes the difference, especially as overmedicating/drug interactions are key concerns for allergy sufferers.

Dosage • Most antihistamines come in two strengths—a regular and an extra strength. Also, make sure you read the label for its recommended dosage instructions. Many brands on the market offer relief for a 24-hour period, which means only one dosage per day. * This independent survey was conducted by Decima Research in Spring 2004. This national sample of 2,000 Canadian adults 18 years or older is accurate within +/- 2.2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

Photo by Cém Ozdogan

MAY 2005 CANADIAN CHEMICAL NEWS 27

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THE CHEMICAL INSTITUTE OF CANADA 2005 AWARD WINNERS LAURÉATS ET LAURÉATES DES PRIX 2005 DE L’INSITUT DE CHIMIE DU CANADA The CIC Medal La Médaille de l’ICC The CIC Medal is presented as a mark of distinction to a person who has made an outstanding contribution to the science of chemistry or chemical engineering in Canada.

La Médaille de l’ICC est décernée à une personne en guise de reconnaissance pour sa contribution exceptionnelle à la chimie ou au génie chimique au Canada.

1978. Among his many honours, Guthrie has held the Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship, the E. W. R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship, the Syntex Award (CSC), the Alfred Bader Award (CSC), a Killam Fellowship, and was recently made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

Guthrie has always been an active member of the Canadian chemical community, serving as a member of the NSERC Grant Selection Committee, chair of the Biochemistry Division of the CSC, a member of the CSC Accreditation Committee, and has organized and participated in countless CSCCE and POMS meetings.

The common theme in Guthrie’s research has been the search for deeper understanding of the factors governing rates of chemical reactions so that these rates may be predicted from the structures of the reactants. His research up until 1995 is summarized in his Syntex Award Lecture, and more recent work is summarized in his Bader Award Lecture, both published in the Canadian Journal of Chemistry.

The CIC Award for Chemical Education J. Peter Guthrie, FCIC, FRSC Department of Chemistry The University of Western Ontario J. Peter Guthrie, FCIC, was born in Port Elgin, ON, in 1942, and received a BSc from The University of Western Ontario in 1964. He obtained his PhD from Harvard in 1968 under the direction of Frank Westheimer. After a post-doctoral fellowship at Princeton, he joined the faculty at Western in 1969 as an assistant professor, becoming a full professor in

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Le Prix de l’ICC pour l’enseignement de la chimie (Formerly the Union Carbide Award) (Anciennement le prix Union Carbide) Sponsored by / Parrainé par The Chemical Education Fund / Le Fonds de l’enseignement de la chimie The CIC Award for Chemical Education Award recognizes a person who has made

outstanding contributions in Canada in education at the post-secondary level in the field of chemistry or chemical engineering.

Le Prix de l’ICC pour l’enseignement de la chimie souligne l’importante contribution d’une personne dans le domaine de l’enseignement de la chimie ou du génie chimique au Canada au niveau postsecondaire.

Ron Martin, FCIC Department of Chemistry University of Waterloo Ronald Martin was born in Québec City. He completed his BSc and MSc at St. Francis Xavier University in 1963 and 1965, respectively, followed by a PhD at The University of Western Ontario in 1969. After a post-doctoral position at the University of Southampton, he returned to Western in 1970. He has served on the executive of the Chemical Education and Environmental Divisions of the CIC and has received numerous teaching awards.

He has been active in initiatives in university teaching including the establishment

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of the Graduate Environmental Chemistry Program at Western. He carries out an active research program with nearly 60 papers in peer-reviewed journals with an emphasis on innovative interdisciplinary research including cooperative programs with Surface Science Western and the Universities of Auckland, Heidelberg, and South Australia.

The most recent research using Synchrotron Radiation Analysis has been carried out jointly with the biology and anthropology departments at Western; this work will be assisted by the new Canadian Light Source at the University of Saskatchewan.

Martin was appointed adjunct research professor at the Ian Wark Research Institute, University of South Australia, in 2004.

Future work will include the development of interdisciplinary graduate courses with departments such as anthropology while continuing synchrotron-based research on metals in the rhizosphere and human teeth.

The Environmental Improvement Award Prix pour l’amélioration de l’environnement Sponsored by / Parrainé par The CIC Environment Division / La Division de l’environnement de l’ICC The Environmental Improvement Award is presented to a Canadian company, individual, team, or organization for a significant achievement in pollution prevention, treatment, or remediation.

Le Prix pour l’amélioration de l’environnement est décerné à une compagnie, un individu, une équipe ou une organisation canadienne pour une réussite significative dans le domaine de la prévention et le traitement de la pollution au Canada.

The Macromolecular Science and Engineering Award Le Prix des sciences et du génie macromoléculaires Sponsored by / Parrainé par NOVA Chemicals Corporation The Macromolecular Science and Engineering Award is presented to an individual who has made a distinguished contribution to macromolecular science or engineering.

Sam Marcuson Inco Technical Services Limited Sam Marcuson graduated from The College of William and Mary with a BS in chemistry in 1972. Having gained an interest in the extraction of metals, he went on to receive MS and EngScD degrees in mineral engineering from Columbia University. In 1980, after three years in the research department of Engelhard Minerals and Chemicals Corporation, he joined Inco Limited at the Sheridan Park technical centre in Mississauga working to develop pyrometallurgical processes. In 1988, he transferred to Inco’s Copper Cliff Smelter as supervisor of process development to lead the development of a novel method for copper processing—one of the key components of Inco’s Copper Cliff sulphur dioxide abatement program. After 13 years in technical management in Copper Cliff, Marcuson moved to Inco Technical Services Limited as director of product research, leading research into new products such as nickel powders.

Marcuson is a member of the Metallurgical Society of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) and served as president in 1986–1987. While in Sudbury, ON, he was a member of Laurentian University’s Engineering Advisory Council and was also an adjunct professor. He continues his professional involvement as chair of the Metallurgical Society’s of CIM Publications Committee. Marcuson has published over 20 refereed papers and holds seven patents relating to research he has conducted while at Inco.

Le Prix des sciences et du génie macromoléculaires est décerné à un individu pour sa brillante contribution dans les domaines des sciences ou du génie macromoléculaires.

Eugenia Kumacheva, MCIC Department of Chemistry University of Toronto Eugenia Kumacheva is one of the most eminent polymer chemists in Canada. Her research on polymer thin films, polymer nanostructured materials, and self-assembly has achieved broad international acclaim.

Kumacheva’s reports on confinementinduced phase transitions in thin liquid films was published in Science. Her work on the new mechanism of lubrication by polymer brushes was published in Nature.

Kumacheva ’s studies of supramolecular assembly of rigid-rod polymers shed light on the mechanisms of fibrogenesis of proteins.

Her studies of forces acting between thin

MAY 2005 CANADIAN CHEMICAL NEWS 29

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layers of polymer gels led to the fundamental understanding of the mechanisms of polymer association and biolubrication. Her group has pioneered studies of convection in polymeric fluids, and for the first time, trapped and replicated highly non-equilibrium periodic patterns in the solid films.

Kumacheva opened up a new field in polymer materials science. Her group has discovered novel strategies for synthesis and fabrication of polymer nanocomposites with periodic structures and thus produced unique polymer materials—photonic crystals for 3D optical data storage, optical limiters and switches, strain and biosensors, and films for security documents.

Recently, her interests shifted to polymer materials with structural hierarchy embracing nano-, meso, and micrometer length scales.

She also developed a highly novel strategy to polymerization in constrained geometry of microfluidics. At the University of Toronto, her highly innovative work resulted in 12 patent applications (three patents issued).

Kumacheva has published about 84 papers and given about 60 invited lectures. In recognition of her accomplishments, she was awarded a Canada Research Chair in Advanced Polymer Materials, the Clara Benson Award, the (CSC) Schlumberger Award (Oxford University), the Premier’s Research Excellence Award, and the International Chorafas Foundation Award. Her achievements in the field of nanostructured materials have been reported in The Globe and Mail, Silicon Valley North, Mclean’s (2001), High Tech Materials Alert, Inventive Women (2001), Chemical Innovation (2002), Photonics Research (2002, 2004), and Science Today (2004).

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The Montréal Medal La Médaille Montréal Sponsored by / Parrainé par The Montréal Local Section / La Section locale de Montréal

Margaret-Ann Armour, FCIC Department of Chemistry University of Alberta Margaret-Ann Armour was born in Scotland and educated at Edinburgh University where she obtained BSc and MSc degrees. She worked as a research chemist in the papermaking industry for five years before going to the University of Alberta in Edmonton, and graduating in 1970 with a PhD in physical organic chemistry. After post-doctoral fellowships at the Universities of Edinburgh and Alberta, she joined the chemistry department at the University of Alberta as supervisor of the undergraduate organic chemistry laboratories 1979–1989 and since July 1, 1989 has been assistant chair.

Her research has been in the handling and disposal of small quantities of hazardous

chemical wastes. The results of the work are described in the Hazardous Laboratory Chemicals Disposal Guide, published by CRC Press (third edition, 2003). Armour is vicechair and convenor of Women in Scholarship, Engineering, Science and Technology (WISEST), a committee of the vice-president (research) with a mandate to take action to increase the proportion of women in decisionmaking roles, especially in the sciences and engineering. In 1994, WISEST won a Michael Smith Award and in 1996 the Excellence in Science and Technology Public Awareness Prize from the Alberta Science and Technology Leadership Foundation.

Armour has received a number of awards for her teaching, encouragement of women into the chemical sciences, sharing her love of science with school children and the general public, and her research. Her most recent awards include the Sarah Shorten Award of the Canadian Association of University Teachers (2001), the Governor General’s Award in Commemoration of the Persons Case (2002), the Gordin Kaplan Award of the Canadian Federation of Biological Societies (2003), Maclean’s honor roll of Ten Canadians Making a Difference (2003), the American Chemical Society Award for Encouraging Women into the Chemical Sciences (2004), the Distinguished Alumna Award from the University of Alberta (2004), and one of 100 Edmontonians of the Century (2004).

Armour serves as vice-chair of the Board of St. Andrew’s and St. Stephen’s Colleges, and is on the Board of SHAD International and the Board of the Pacific Basin Consortium for Hazardous Waste Research and Management. She is a past president of the Edmonton Glenora Rotary Club.

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CANADIAN SOCIETY FOR CHEMISTRY 2005 AWARD WINNERS LAURÉATS ET LAURÉATES DES PRIX 2005 DE LA SOCIÉTÉ CANADIENNE DE CHIMIE The Alcan Award Le Prix Alcan Sponsored by / Parrainé par Alcan International Limited The Alcan Award is presented to a scientist residing in Canada who has made a distinguished contribution in the fields of inorganic chemistry or electrochemistry.

Le Prix Alcan est décerné à un scientifique résidant au Canada qui a contribué de façon remarquable aux domaines de la chimie inorganique ou de l’électrochimie.

Warren Piers, MCIC Department of Chemistry The University of Calgary Warren Piers obtained his BSc degree at The University of British Columbia (UBC) in 1984 and continued there as an NSERC Postgraduate Scholar under the tutelage of Michael Fryzuk, FCIC. He then spent two years at the California Institute of Technology as an

NSERC and Killam Post-Doctoral Fellow with John Bercaw. From 1990–1995, he was an assistant professor at the University of Guelph.

He then moved back to western Canada to join the chemistry department at The University of Calgary as an associate professor. In July 2000, he was appointed to the S. Robert Blair chair in Polymerization Catalysis and Polymer Synthesis, an endowed research chair sponsored by NOVA Chemicals, and promoted to full professor. His research interests include chemistry of perfluoroaryl diboranes, mechanistic organometallic chemistry in catalysis, and in the development of novel boron-based organometallic materials. Piers has more than 95 independent scholarly publications. Honours awarded include the John C. Polanyi Prize in Chemistry (1991), an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Research Fellowship (1996–2000), an NSERC E. W. R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship (2000–2002), the Royal Society of Canada Rutherford Medal in Chemistry (2000), the Catalysis Lecture Award (2002), and the Merck Frosst Centre for Therapeutic Research Award (2003). Other interests include ski and general mountaineering and he has bagged more than 40 summits in the Canadian Rockies.

Alfred Bader Award Le Prix Alfred Bader Sponsored by / Parrainé par Alfred Bader, HFCIC The Alfred Bader Award is a mark of distinction and recognition of a scientist under the age of 60, for excellence in organic chemistry research.

Le Prix Alfred Bader souligne l’excellence des travaux recherche d’un chercheur de moins de 60 ans en chimie organique.

John Vederas, FCIC Department of Chemistry University of Alberta John Vederas is a professor of chemistry and holds a Canada Research Chair in Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry. He obtained a BSc degree in chemistry from Stanford University and a PhD in synthetic organic chemistry with the late George Büchi from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He subsequently worked with Christoph Tamm at the University of Basel in Switzerland and with Heinz Floss at Purdue University. He joined the University of Alberta in 1977 as an assistant professor. He has received recognition for research and teaching from the University of Alberta, including the Rutherford Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching (1995), the University Cup for Research and Teaching (1998), the J. Gordin Kaplan Award for Excellence in Research

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(2003), and the Killam Award for Excellence in Mentoring (2003). He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (1997) and was awarded the Merck Sharp Dohme Award (1986), the John Labatt Award (1991), and the R. U. Lemieux Award (2002) from the CSC. He has served in numerous scientific organizations, was president of the CSC (2002–2003), and a member of Council at NSERC (2001–2004) and chair of its Committee on Scholarships and Fellowships.

Award for Pure or Applied Inorganic Chemistry Le Prix de chimie inorganique pure ou appliquée Sponsored by / Parrainé par The Inorganic Chemistry Division / La Division de chimie inorganique The Award for Pure or Applied Inorganic Chemistry is awarded for outstanding contribution to industrial or academic inorganic chemistry, within the five calendar years preceding the year of nomination.

Le Prix de chimie inorganique pure ou appliquée est remis en reconnaissance de l’apport exceptionnel à la chimie inorganique dans le milieu industriel ou universitaire au cours des cinq années civiles précédant la mise en candidature.

Canada. He completed his BSc at the University of Alberta in 1987 and his PhD in organometallic chemistry with Martin Cowie, MCIC, at the University of Alberta in 1990.

He was an NSERC post-doctoral fellow in organometallic chemistry at Oxford University with Malcolm Green in 1991, and at Caltech in 1992–1993 with John E. Bercaw. After a short stint with Jeff Stryker at the University of Alberta studying Ziegler-Natta catalysis, he switched fields to study nanoporous materials as a post-doctoral associate with Jackie Ying at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology department of chemical engineering from 1994–1996. He is currently a professor of chemistry at the University of Windsor and directs a research group focused on hydrogen storage and the electronic and catalytic properties of electroactive mesoporous transition metal oxides. Antonelli is the author of over 50 publications and was the winner of the Ontario Premier’s Research Excellence Award, a Royal Society of Britain Research Award, and the NSERC AGENO award.

The Bernard Belleau Award Le Prix Bernard Belleau Sponsored by / Parrainé par Bristol Myers Squibb Canada Co.

of California, Berkeley (MSc, D. S. Noyce), and met his enduring passion, synthesis, at the University of Oregon (PhD, V. Boekelheide) and National Research Council Canada, Ottawa (post-doc, O. E. Edwards). He was appointed to the faculty at the University of Waterloo in 1967 and stayed, including from 1992 as Monsanto/NSERC chair, until 1998, at which time he accepted the Bader chair in Organic Chemistry at Queen’s University.

Following the early contributions of Beak, Meyers, and many others, Snieckus has developed the directed ortho metalation reaction to its current status as a key concept in aromatic chemistry. The anionic orthoFries, DoM-Suzuki, anionic Friedel-Crafts, and remote metalation are synonymous with Snieckus group chemistry. Over 100 graduate students and 70 post-doctoral fellows have received training in his laboratories.

Snieckus has received 16 major awards; since 2001, the Cope Scholar and the Arfvedson-Schlenk Awards, and the Order of the Grand Duke Gediminas of Lithuania. He is consultant to 12 companies and editor of the Canadian Journal of Chemistry, Synlett and Science of Synthesis (Lithium). He now plays less hockey and listens to more jazz.

Boehringer Ingelheim Award Le Prix Boehringer Ingelheim Sponsored by / Parrainé par Boehringer Ingelheim (Canada) Ltd. The Boehringer Ingelheim Award is awarded to a Canadian citizen or landed immigrant whose PhD thesis in the field of organic or bioorganic chemistry was formally accepted by a Canadian university in the 12-month period preceding the nomination deadline of March 1 and whose doctoral research is judged to be of outstanding quality.

Victor Snieckus, FCIC Department of Chemistry Queen’s University David Antonelli, MCIC Department of Chemistry University of Windsor David Antonelli was born in Chicago, IL, in 1963 and raised in the U.S., U.K., and

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Victor Snieckus fell under the spell of organic chemistry through the teachings of Ayer, Brown, Crawford, Darwish, and especially Rube Sandin at the University of Alberta (BSc, Honours). He learned respect for physical organic chemistry at the University

Le Prix Boehringer Ingelheim est remis à un citoyen canadien ou à un résident permanent dont la thèse de doctorat dans le domaine de la chimie organique ou bio-organique a été officiellement acceptée par une université canadienne au cours des douze mois précédant la date limite de mise en candidature, à savoir le 1er mars, et dont les travaux de recherche se démarquent par leur qualité.

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The Clara Benson Award Le Prix Clara Benson Sponsored by / Parrainé par The Canadian Council of University Chemistry chairs (CCUCC) / Le Conseil des directeurs de département de chimie des universités canadiennes (CDDCUC) The Clara Benson Award is presented to a woman for her distinguished contribution to chemistry.

Rami Hannoush, MCIC Department of Chemistry Harvard University Rami Hannoush completed his PhD in bioorganic chemistry (dean’s honour list) at McGill University in 2002, where he discovered a novel class of RNA inhibitors of HIV-reverse transcriptase under the supervision of Masad J. Damha, FCIC. While at McGill, he received the Winkler Award for Best PhD Thesis, and the D. W. Ambridge Prize for the most outstanding graduate in science and engineering.

During the course of his doctoral studies, Hannoush was awarded an NSERC post-graduate scholarship, and he was involved with the synthesis and physicochemical studies of novel 2’,5’-RNA motifs and evaluation of their promise for anti-HIV therapeutic applications.

In 2003, he was awarded an NSERC Post-Doctoral Fellowship, which he tenured at Harvard University with Matthew D. Shair and Tom Kirchhausen, studying the cellular process of protein secretion by using natural product mimetics. Hannoush is currently interested in the area of chemical biology, with special emphasis on novel approaches to identify the target and biological mechanism of small chemical molecules that inhibit the growth of cancer cells.

Le Prix Clara Benson est décerné à une femme pour souligner sa contribution remarquable au domaine de la chimie.

sciences laboratory at Fort Saskatchewan and representing R&D on the Fort Saskatchewan site leadership team.

Fairhurst has held various executive positions in the Edmonton Local Section of the CIC and served as treasurer for the 1992 CSC Conference in Edmonton, AB. In addition, she has been involved in numerous scientific review and assessment committees for the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) and the Alberta Science and Research Authority (ASRA). She has also served on both the Alumni Council and the Senate of the University of Alberta and is an active supporter of the WISEST program.

The E. W. R. Steacie Award Le Prix E.W.R. Steacie Sponsored by / Parrainé par MDS Sciex The E. W. R. Steacie Award is given to a scientist for a distinguished contribution to chemistry.

Le Prix de E.W.R. Steacie est décerné à un chercheur pour souligner sa contribution remarquable dans le domaine de la chimie.

Mary Fairhurst, FCIC Dow Chemical Canada Inc. Mary Fairhurst was born in Montréal and received her BSc Honours in chemistry from Marianopolis College. She taught chemistry as a CUSO volunteer in Ghana for two years before beginning graduate studies at the University of Alberta. Her graduate work in analytical chemistry was focused on the use of NMR spectroscopy to study the solution chemistry and kinetics of metal-amino acid complexes. Fairhurst spent one year as a Killam Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Trace Analysis Research Institute at Dalhousie University in Halifax, NS. She joined Dow Chemical Canada as an analytical chemist and has worked at Dow’s Fort Saskatchewan location for more than 23 years. Fairhurst’s career at Dow has covered a variety of areas, including analytical method development and process research along with a few assignments in Dow’s production laboratories. Her current position as R&D resource leader involves leading the analytical

Tom Ziegler, FCIC Department of Chemistry The University of Calgary Tom Ziegler was raised in Denmark and graduated from the University of Copenhagen in 1972 with a Cand.Scient degree in theoretical chemistry. He obtained a PhD from The University of Calgary (1978) where he has been a full professor since 1991 and currently holds a Canada Research Chair in theoretical

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inorganic chemistry. In the last 30 years, he has worked with the development of density functional theory as a practical tool in transition metal chemistry and homogeneous catalysis. This has lead to computational methods of use in spectroscopy, thermochemistry, structure determination, and molecular dynamics. He is a Fellow of both the Royal Danish and Royal Canadian Societies.

The Fred Beamish Award Le Prix Fred Beamish Sponsored by / Parrainé par Eli Lilly Canada Inc. The Fred Beamish Award is given to recognize individuals who demonstrate innovation in research in the field of analytical chemistry, and whose research is anticipated to have significant potential for practical applications.

Le Prix Fred Beamish vise à reconnaître les chercheurs qui font preuve d’innovation dans le domaine de la chimie analytique et dont les travaux de recherche laissent entrevoir des possibilités d’applications concrètes considérables.

Post-Doctoral Fellow (1998–2000) at the University of Alberta with D. J. Harrison where he worked on microfluidic devices that incorporate functionalized micro-spheres for solid phase extraction and electrochromatography. Oleschuk then joined the department of chemistry at Queen’s University as an assistant professor in 2000. His current interests are in the development of polymeric microfluidic systems. His laboratory is investigating polymer surface modification strategies to enhance micro device performance as well as developing novel strategies to couple microfluidic devices with mass spectrometry.

The Maxxam Award Le Prix Maxxam Sponsored by / Parrainé par Maxxam Analytics Inc. The Maxxam Award is presented to a scientist residing in Canada who has made a distinguished contribution to the field of analytical chemistry while working in Canada.

Le Prix Maxxam est décerné à un chercheur résidant au Canada qui s’est distingué dans le domaine de la chimie analytique alors qu’il travaillait au Canada.

promoted to his current position of senior research scientist.

He has published 140 technical reports and papers, and five books. He founded the biennial international conference EnviroAnalysis—the sixth meeting is planned for May 2006. Clement has taught environmental/analytical chemistry at the University of Waterloo, The University of Western Ontario, and Sheridan College, and coordinates the hiring of co-op and summer students at the MOE laboratory. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the Canadian Council for Human Resources in the Environment Industry (CCHREI), and frequently presents lectures and workshops to undergraduate students on environmental employment and job search strategies.

As a member of the Environmental and Analytical Divisions of the CSC, Clement has been involved with the organization of several conference sessions over the years, and in the award programs of both divisions. As Environment Division chair in 1992–1993, he helped revive the Environmental Improvement Award.

Clement received the 1991 Francis W. Karasek Award for achievements in environmental analytical chemistry, the 1992 McBryde Medal for a significant achievement in pure or applied analytical chemistry, and was one of the first winners of the Amethyst Award in 1993 for outstanding achievements

by Ontario civil servants. Clement earned the distinction of Fellow of Canadian Certified Environmental Practitioner (CCEP) in 2002 (Environmental Research category).

The Merck Frosst Centre for Therapeutic Research Award Richard Oleschuk, MCIC Department of Chemistry Queen’s University Richard Oleschuk obtained his PhD degree in analytical chemistry from The University of Manitoba in 1998. His research involved the development of polymer-based extraction methods for metal complexes, and polymeric membrane sample preparation for the MS under the direction of Art Chow, FCIC. He then spent two years as an NSERC

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Le Prix du Centre de recherche thérapeutique Merck Frosst Ray Clement, FCIC Ontario Ministry of the Environment After graduating from the co-op chemistry program at the University of Waterloo, Ray Clement earned his PhD in analytical chemistry. In 1982, he joined the Ontario Ministry of the Environment (MOE), Laboratory Services Branch, where he supervised the Dioxin laboratory for several years before being

Sponsored by / Parrainé par The Merck Frosst Centre for Therapeutic Research / Le centre de recherche thérapeutique Merck Frosst The Merck Frosst Centre for Therapeutic Research Award is given for a distinguished contribution in the field of organic chemistry or biochemistry by a young scientist.

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Le Prix du Centre de recherche thérapeutique Merck Frosst est attribué à un jeune scientifique qui s’est distingué dans les domaines de la chimie organique ou de la biochimie.

cyclophanes (including their possible link to baldness), non-planar polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, inverse electron demand DielsAlder chemistry, synthetic methodology, and the total synthesis of natural products.

The R. U. Lemieux Award Le Prix R.U. Lemieux Sponsored by / Parrainé par The Organic Chemistry Division / La Division de chimie organique The R. U. Lemieux Award recognizes a distinguished contribution in organic chemistry.

Graham Bodwell, MCIC Department of Chemistry Memorial University of Newfoundland Graham Bodwell was born hairless in Epsom, Great Britain in 1962. He moved to BC in 1971, where he graduated from high school in 1979 with a full head of hair. He studied chemistry (co-op program) at the University of Victoria and obtained his BSc (Honours) degree in 1984 with some signs of thinning on top. His Honours and subsequent MSc research with Reg Mitchell, FCIC, spawned a lifelong interest in cyclophane chemistry. Following completion of this degree with more substantial thinning in 1986, he moved to Braunschweig, West Germany, to pursue doctoral studies in the group of Henning Hopf, again working on cyclophanes. After receiving his doctorate (rer. nat., with distinction and an ever-growing bare patch) in 1989, he crossed the Channel to join the group of Steve Davies at Oxford, where he worked in the area of asymmetric synthesis and grew his remaining hair very long in a vain attempt to divert attention from the ravages of nature. In 1992, he accepted an assistant professorship at Memorial University of Newfoundland.

Bodwell was tenured and promoted to associate professor in 1997, at which point he joined forces with nature and laid waste to the few remaining pockets of resistance.

This cleared the way to the President’s Award for Outstanding Research in 1998, the PetroCanada Young Innovator Award in 1999 and promotion to full professor in 2001. Bodwell’s current research interests are in the areas of

Le Prix R.U. Lemieux souligne une contribution remarquable dans le domaine de la chimie organique

chemistry at McMaster University, where he still remains and where, in 1989, he became professor emeritus.

In 1969, he was awarded the degree of DSc in organic and biochemistry by the University of London and, much more recently, in 2004, the DSc honoris causa by McMaster. In 1971, and again in 1989, he spent a semester as an “academic guest” at the ETH, Zurich. He served as visiting professor in the department of organic chemistry of the Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, in 1977, at the University of Karlsruhe in 1981 with a NATO Senior Scientist Award, in the department of pharmaceutical chemistry, University of Tokyo, in 1983 with a Canada–Japan Exchange Award, and in the department of pharmaceutical biology, University of Bonn, in 1989.

In 1980, he was elected to Fellowship in the Royal Society of Canada. He received the CIC John Labatt Award in 1983.

Ian Spenser, FCIC Department of Chemistry McMaster University Ian Spenser graduated with a BSc Honours in chemistry from the University of Birmingham in 1948. He obtained a PhD in biochemistry from King’s College, University of London, in 1952. A post-doctoral year in 1953–1954 in the group of Léo Marion at the National Research Council Laboratories in Ottawa, ON, introduced him to Canada and to the investigation of natural product biosynthesis—a field of study that became the focus of his research career.

After a brief return to the U.K. to a Lectureship in the department of biochemistry and chemistry at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical College, University of London, he came back to Canada in 1957 to an assistant professorship in the department of

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CANADIAN JOURNAL OF CHEMISTRY

REVUE CANADIENNE DE CHIMIE

On-line submission and peer review (OSPREY) takes flight

Le système OSPREY – Soumission et examen en direct des articles – prend son essor

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râce à un nouveau système de soumission par le Web, la Revue canadienne de chimie se prépare à devenir une revue électronique véritablement internationale Soumettre un article en dix minutes… l’envoyer pour examen aux directeurs scientifiques et à des pairs des quatre coins du globe en évitant les retards postaux… soumettre des évaluations et prendre des décisions par Internet… obtenir l’acceptation en quelques semaines au lieu de plusieurs mois.

Le rêve de l’édition électronique est demeuré un songe pour de nombreux éditeurs scientifiques. Les systèmes électroniques d’examen par les pairs et d’édition se sont révélés être fastidieux et coûteux. La promesse d’un flot de travail sans papier ne s’est pas réalisée, comme toute personne qui a examiné un article ou qui a publié une revue peut vous le dire.

La Revue canadienne de chimie a fait un grand pas en avant pour devenir véritablement internationale et électronique, grâce au lancement en mars dernier d’un nouveau système électronique de soumission et d’examen par les pairs.

La Revue canadienne de chimie est reconnue par la Société canadienne de chimie (SCC) comme son principal organe de publication des articles de recherche. La Revue, publiée depuis 1929 par les Presses scientifiques du CNRC, s’efforce de répondre aux besoins des chercheurs de la SCC en améliorant l’efficacité de l’examen par les pairs et de la publication. Qui plus est, de nombreuses innovations électroniques sont prévues au cours des prochains mois.

La première de ces innovations est un nouveau système de soumission et d’examen en direct des articles, mis au point par les Presses scientifiques du CNRC en collaboration avec la Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), l’homologue du CNRC en Australie. Tout comme le CNRC, la CSIRO possède un important service d’édition de revues; outre qu’il est très occupé, il a besoin de rejoindre un public mondial et de publier rapidement. En combinant les besoins différents des deux organisations, il a été possible de créer un système souple qui peut être adapté pour répondre aux besoins précis des 30 et quelques revues qui l’utiliseront.

Le système a été baptisé OSPREY (on-line submission and peer review – soumission et examen en direct par les pairs), d’après le magnifique oiseau, le balbuzard pêcheur, indigène à l’Australie et au Canada.

La Revue utilise un système de soumission et d’examen en direct depuis de nombreuses années, mais la version précédente avait été critiquée par ses utilisateurs. En outre, le fabricant avait fait faillite, laissant le CNRC devant un choix – maintenir le système existant ou en créer ou en acheter un nouveau? L’approche concertée a permis de concevoir un système fabriqué sur mesure pour répondre à nos besoins.

ith a new Web-based submission system, the Canadian Journal of Chemistry is poised to become a truly international electronic journal.

Submitting an article in ten minutes … sending it to editors and peer reviewers around the globe without mail delays … submitting reviews and making decisions over the Internet… getting to acceptance in weeks, not months.

The dream of electronic publishing has remained just that—a dream—for many scientific publishers. Electronic peer review and publishing systems have turned out to be cumbersome and expensive. And the promise of a paperless workflow has not held true, as anyone who has reviewed an article or published a journal can tell you.

The Canadian Journal of Chemistry (CJC) has taken a major step toward becoming truly international and electronic, with the introduction of a new on-line submission and peer review system at the end of March 2005.

CJC is recognized by the CSC as its principal organ for the publication of research papers. The journal, published since 1929 by the NRC Research Press, is working to meet the needs of CSC researchers by improving the efficiency of peer review and publication. Many electronic innovations are planned over the coming months.

The first of these is a new on-line submission and peer review system, developed by NRC Research Press in collaboration with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)— NRC’s counterpart in Australia. Like the NRC, CSIRO has a large and busy journal publishing operation, and needs to be global and fast to publication. Combining the different needs of the two organizations has led to the creation of a flexible system that can be tailored to the precise requirements of the 30 or so journals that will be using it.

The system has been dubbed OSPREY (On-line Submission and Peer Review), after the magnificent bird native to both Canada and Australia.

CJC has had on-line submission and peer review for many years, but the earlier system had been critiqued by its users. As well, the manufacturer had gone under, leaving the NRC at a crossroads—to maintain the existing system or to make or buy a new one? The collaborative approach made it possible to design a custom-built system to meet our needs.

Benefits of the new system to CJC’s editorial office and users include: • Completely Web-enabled. Offices and users only need a current Internet browser (Netscape or Internet Explorer) to use the system from anywhere in the world; • Notification by e-mail. An e-mail goes to the next user at each step, to ask him or her to review a manuscript, make a decision, or revise a manuscript; • Security. The confidentiality of manuscripts and peer review is protected by a username/password system as well as by a secure site;

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Les avantages que le nouveau système apporte au bureau de la rédaction de la Revue et aux utilisateurs sont les suivants :

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• Ease of submission. Submission takes as little as ten minutes, and authors can submit their tables and figures as part of their manuscript file, or in separate files; • PDF-based file management. Files move through peer review and decision in PDF format—accessible by anyone working anywhere; • Documentation of all steps. A complete history of all submissions, reviews, revisions, and correspondence is held on the system; • Speed. Peer review proceeds without mail, saving valuable time and speeding the steps to acceptance and publication; • A work in progress. Comments from editorial offices and users are welcome, and the software is improved and revised at least once a year. All users benefit from the feedback of all other users.

Visit OSPREY to submit your manuscript to CJC: cjc.nrc.ca/osprey.

Or click on “For Authors” from the CJC home page (www.cjc.nrc.ca).

Carolyn Brown Manager of the journals program at the NRC Research Press

• Entièrement exploitable sur le Web. Les bureaux de rédaction et les utilisateurs n’ont besoin que d’un navigateur Web à jour (Netscape ou Internet Explorer) pour utiliser le système depuis n’importe quel endroit du monde.

• Notification par courrier électronique. Un message électronique est transmis au prochain utilisateur à chaque étape pour lui demander d’évaluer un manuscrit, de prendre une décision ou de réviser un manuscrit.

• Sécurité. La confidentialité du manuscrit et de l’examen par les pairs est protégée par un système de nom d’utilisateur/mot de passe ainsi que par un site sécurisé.

• Facilité de soumission. Il faut à peine 10 minutes pour faire une soumission, et les auteurs peuvent présenter leurs tableaux et figures comme partie de leur fichier de manuscrit ou dans des fichiers distincts.

• Gestion de fichiers architecturée autour du format PDF. Les fichiers passent par le processus d’examen confraternel et décisionnel en format PDF, ce qui assure une accessibilité à tous, peu importe leur emplacement.

• Documentation de toutes les étapes. Un historique complet de l’ensemble des soumissions, des examens, des révisions et de toute la correspondance est maintenu dans le système.

• Rapidité. L’examen par les pairs se déroule sans courrier, ce qui permet d’économiser du temps précieux et d’accélérer les étapes menant à l’acceptation et à la publication.

• Un travail en évolution. Les commentaires du personnel des bureaux de rédaction et des utilisateurs sont les bienvenues et le logiciel est amélioré et révisé au moins une fois l’an. Tous les utilisateurs profitent de la rétroaction des autres utilisateurs.

Visitez OSPREY pour soumettre votre manuscrit à la Revue canadienne de chimie (http://endeavour.cisti.nrc.ca/publisher/access.view?journ alCode=CJC&language=f), ou cliquez sur « Aux auteurs » à partir de la page d’accueil de la Revue (http://revcanchim.cnrc.ca).

Carolyn Brown Gestionnaire du programme des revue aux Presses scientifiques du CNRC.

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CANADIAN SOCIETY FOR CHEMICAL ENGINEERING BOARD OF DIRECTORS NOMINATIONS (2005–2006) PRÉSENTATION DES CANDIDATS POUR LE CONSEIL D’ADMINISTRATION DE LA SOCIÉTÉ CANADIENNE DE GÉNIE CHIMIQUE (2005-2006)

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he Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering (CSChE) Nominating Committee, appointed under the terms of CSChE bylaws Article 8, Section k, has proposed the candidates listed below to serve as CSChE officers for 2005–2006. Jean-François Legault, MCIC, CSChE past-president and chair of the Nominating Committee, is pleased to announce the candidates for the 2005–2006 election of the CSChE. Additional nominations for candidates may be submitted by members to be received at National Office no later than Tuesday, May 17, 2005. Ten or more voting members must support additional nominations in writing. Those elected, whether by ballot or acclamation, will take office immediately following the AGM of the Society in Toronto on October 18, 2005.

President 2005–2006 Paul Stuart, MCIC, is a professor in the department of chemical engineering at École Polytechnique de Montréal, and the holder of an NSERC Environmental Design Engineering chair whose theme is Process Integration in the Pulp and Paper Industry. He received his PhD in chemical engineering from McGill University in 1992—he was the last student of the late William Gauvin, a founding member of the CSChE and its president in 1966–1967. Prior to joining École Polytechnique in 2000, Stuart was a process engineer for 12 years serving the pulp and paper industry including as company associate and manager of process engineering at Beak Consultants Limited, as partner and manager of environmental services at Simons Environmental Group, and as director of the Montréal process and environmental engineering group of H.A. Simons Limited. Stuart is active on many committees related to his field of research including currently as a 38 L’ACTUALITÉ CHIMIQUE CANADIENNE MAI 2005

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e comité des candidatures de la Société canadienne de génie chimique (SCGCh), nommé aux termes de l’article 8 de la section k des règlements de la SCGCh, propose les candidats suivants aux postes d’administrateurs de la SCGCh pour l’exercice 2005-2006. JeanFrançois Legault, MICC, président sortant de la SCGCh et président du comité des candidatures, est heureux de présenter les candidats aux élections pour l’exercice 2005-2006. Les membres peuvent présenter d’autres candidats au plus tard le mardi 17 mai 2005. Les mises en candidature supplémentaires doivent être appuyées par écrit par au moins dix membres votants. Les personnes élues, au scrutin ou sans concurrent, entreront en fonction immédiatement après l’Assemblée générale annuelle de la Société qui se tiendra le 18 octobre 2005.

Président, 2005-2006 Paul Stuart, MICC, enseigne au sein du département de génie chimique de l’École polytechnique de Montréal et est titulaire d’une chaire CRSNG en génie de conception environnementale dont le thème est l’intégration des procédés sans l’industrie des pâtes et papiers. Il a obtenu son doctorat en génie chimique de l’Université McGill en 1992 – il a d’ailleurs été le dernier étudiant de feu William Gauvin, un membre fondateur de la SCGCh dont il fut président en 1966-1967. Avant de se joindre à l’équipe de l’École polytechnique en 2000, Stuart a travaillé comme ingénieur des procédés durant 12 ans au service de l’industrie des pâtes et papiers, notamment à titre d’associé et gestionnaire des procédés opérationnels de Beak Consultants Limited, de partenaire et directeur des services de l’environnement du Simons Environmental Group et en tant que directeur du groupe de génie des procédés et de l’environnement de Montréal de H.A. Simons

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member of the NRCan Advisory Board on Energy Science and Technology (NABEST), vice-chair of the Canadian Design Engineering Network (CDEN), and he is on the NSERC Strategic Grants panel. He is a professional engineer in the Province of Quebec and continues to consult to the pulp and paper industry through his company, Processys Inc. Stuart has been an active member of the CSChE since 1982. He served in various capacities with the Montréal Local Section during the 1980s including a term as chair, and was technical program co-chair of the Canadian Chemical Engineering Conference held in Montréal in 2000. He was also director of conferences from 2000–2003 and vicepresident from 2004–2005 on the CSChE Board. He has co-chaired the Symposium in Process Integration at the CSChE conference for the last four years, and is organizing the first Forum on Design in Chemical Engineering at this year’s conference in Toronto.

2005 Statement to the CSChE As a technical association for chemical engineers, the CSChE has provided a focus for the development of Canadian chemical engineering for the benefit of society. With the emerging challenges and opportunities of globalization, the role of chemical engineering in the wellbeing of humanity has assumed increasing importance. Canadian chemical engineering has become a global leader in the technologies used to secure clean air, water, and soil and to develop fuel cells, heavy oil extraction and upgrading, nuclear power generation, chlorine-free pulp bleaching, and generic pharmaceutical manufacturing. The CSChE LIVE plan developed in 1997 was visionary and has served the CSChE well. The CSChE must continue to develop programs that will offer its members opportunities for Lifelong learning, Involvement and commitment, Voice of reason, and Ethics and responsibility.

Competence and productivity will determine the future prosperity of Canada. Continuous training will ensure competence. Process and product innovations will improve productivity. As the leading technology disseminator of chemical engineering, the CSChE must institute a continuous improvement program to enhance the effectiveness of the annual conference and the CSChE’s journal, The Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering.

Globalization is demanding competitiveness beyond technical competence. To achieve multi-disciplinary capability without diluting its own core competence, the CSChE must seek reputable partners to offer training programs in ecology, logistics, international trade, financing, technology commercialization, venture capital, and organizational management. To deliver improved value of membership with the limited corporate resources, traditional and non-traditional partners will be sought to provide comprehensive benefit packages. The CSChE will help its members excel in technical competence, innovate with confidence and achieve financial success.

Limited. Stuart est membre actif de plusieurs comités liés à son domaine de recherche. En effet, il est présentement membre du Comité consultatif de RNCan sur les sciences et les technologies énergétiques (CCRSTE), vice-président du Réseau canadien de la conception en ingénierie (RCCI) et membre du comité des subventions stratégiques du CRSNG. Il travaille toujours comme ingénieur professionnel dans la province de Québec et continue d’apporter ses services d’expert-conseil à l’industrie des pâtes et papiers par l’entremise de son entreprise, Processys Inc. Stuart est membre de la SCGCh depuis 1982. Il a occupé plusieurs fonctions au sein de la division locale de Montréal durant les années 1980, notamment celles de président et de coprésident du programme technique du Congrès canadien de génie chimique qui a eu lieu à Montréal en 2000. Il a été directeur des congrès de 2000 à 2003 et vice-président de 2004 à 2005 au sein du conseil d’administration de la SCGCh. Il a également coprésidé le Symposium sur l’Intégration des procédés lors des quatre derniers congrès de la SCGCh et travaille à l’organisation du tout premier forum sur la Conception en génie chimique pour le congrès de cette année à Toronto.

Exposé à la SCGCh pour 2005 En tant qu’association technique pour les ingénieurs chimistes, la SCGCh offre un point de concentration pour le développement du génie chimique canadien au bénéfice de la société. Étant donné l’émergence des défis et d’opportunités résultant de la globalisation, l’importance du rôle du génie chimique dans le bien-être de l’humanité connaît une croissance constante.

Le génie chimique canadien joue un rôle de leader dans les technologies utilisées pour assainir l’air, l’eau et le sol, et dans le développement de piles à combustible, l’extraction et l’amélioration de l’huile lourde, la production d’énergie nucléaire, le blanchiment sans chlore des pâtes et papiers, et la fabrication de médicaments génériques. Le plan LIVE de la SCGCh élaboré en 1997 était visionnaire et a très bien servi la SCGCh, qui doit continuer d’élaborer des programmes offrant à ses membres la possibilité d’apprentissage continu, de participation et d’engagement, de raisonnement, et d’éthique et responsabilité.

La compétence et la productivité assureront la prospérité future du Canada. La formation continue assurera la compétence. Les innovations apportées aux produits et aux processus amélioreront la productivité. En sa qualité de premier diffuseur des technologies en génie chimique, la SCGCh se doit d’instituer un programme de formation continue dans le but d’améliorer l’efficacité du congrès annuel et du Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering.

La mondialisation exige une compétitivité qui va bien au-delà des compétences techniques. Pour atteindre une capacité multidisciplinaire sans pour autant diluer ses compétences essentielles, la SCGCh doit s’adjoindre des partenaires dignes de confiance lui permettant d’offrir des programmes de formation en écologie, logistique, commerce international, finances, commercialisation des technologies, capital de risque et gestion organisationnelle. Pour assurer une plus-value au statut de membre malgré un effectif limité, la SCGCh s’associera à des partenaires traditionnels et non traditionnels qui lui permettront d’offrir des programmes complets. La Société aidera ainsi ses membres à atteindre l’excellence dans leurs compétences techniques, à innover en toute confiance et à atteindre le succès financier.

MAY 2005 CANADIAN CHEMICAL NEWS 39

CSChE BULLETIN SCGCh

Vice-President 2005–2006 David T. Fung, MCIC, is the chair and CEO of the ACDEG group of companies. He has investment partnerships in North America and Asia, especially China and Canada. He obtained his BSc, MSc, and Doctorate degrees in chemical engineering from McGill University in Montréal, QC, and completed the senior business executive program at Queen’s University in Kingston, ON. Fung was the research manager of C-I-L Inc. and managed the C-I-L Chemical Research Laboratory in Mississauga, ON. Subsequently, he became the president of Chemetics International Company of Vancouver with five divisions on four continents and chemical plant projects on six continents. He has sponsored research projects at and commercialized technologies from Canadian universities. Fung is actively involved on the boards and/or advisory boards of educational institutions, professional associations, and trade associations. He is chair of the International Trade Committee of the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters (CME), British Columbia Division, member of the CME’s national Board of Directors, and that of the Canada China Business Council.

Fung is a professional engineer in BC and has been an active member of the CSChE since 1970. He is a member of the Economics and Business Management Division and CSChE award selection committees. He was the vice-chair and chair, respectively, of the 1991 and 2002 Canadian Chemical Engineering Conferences in Vancouver, BC.

Statement of Policy The CSChE was created in 1966, and has evolved along with the Canadian chemical engineering community over nearly four decades. We can be proud of its role as a technical association serving the interests of chemical engineers in industry, academia, and government.

The Society should continue to build on its existing programs and strengths, and create new initiatives to increase its visibility nationally and internationally in the coming years.

I will work hard to focus on this overall vision.

First and foremost, the CSChE must have a strong balance sheet in order to achieve its goals. The Society should follow through on the measures that have been outlined and executed over the past few years to ensure a balanced budget. We should focus on our existing program strengths, continuing to increase membership as we have over the last several years. Certain programs should be evaluated, and possibly modified to enhance their impact on our overall financial position.

Canada will host the 2009 World Congress of Chemical Engineering. As we approach this exciting event, it is appropriate that we distinguish ourselves relative to other chemical engineering societies around the world, including when appropriate, taking a position on important issues where chemical engineering knowledge is pertinent to the debate.

We should identify opportunities within existing programs to celebrate our evolution as a Canadian engineering community, our successes in research and innovation, and our traditions as an open and inclusive community.

Our annual conference has a unique and informal format. It effectively captures Canadian research activities, and has an increasingly strong international reputation. We can also be proud of The Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering. We need to examine these two vehicles, and as 2009 approaches, develop initiatives that raise the visibility of Canada’s chemical engineering community and thereby further strengthen our Society.

Canadian chemical engineers have a lot to be proud of. The CSChE needs to collaborate with Canadian chemical engineering departments and Canadian industry to prepare for 2009, which should provide a great forum to celebrate successes with our peers from around the world.

40 L’ACTUALITÉ CHIMIQUE CANADIENNE MAI 2005

Vice-président, 2005-2006 David T. Fung, MCIC, est président directeur général du groupe d’entreprises ACDEG. Il possède des partenariats d’investissement en Amérique du Nord et en Asie, plus précisément en Chine et au Canada. Son baccalauréat, sa maîtrise et son doctorat en génie chimique ont été obtenus à l’Université McGill de Montréal (Québec), et il a complété un programme de gestion supérieure à la Queen’s University de Kingston (Ontario). Fung était directeur de la recherche à C-I-L Inc. et dirigeait le Laboratoire de recherche chimique de C-I-L à Mississauga, en Ontario. Il est par la suite devenu président de Chemetics International Company à Vancouver, entreprise qui possède cinq divisions dans quatre continents et des projets d’usines chimiques dans six continents. Il a commandité des projets de recherche et commercialisé les technologies d’universités canadiennes. Fung s’implique activement au sein de conseils et/ou de conseils consultatifs de maisons d’enseignement, d’associations professionnelles et d’associations commerciales. Il est président du Comité du commerce extérieur des Manufacturiers et exportateurs du Canada (MEC), Division de la Colombie-Britannique, membre du Conseil d’administration national des MEC et du Conseil commercial CanadaChine.

Fung est ingénieur enregistré en Colombie-Britannique et est membre actif de la SCGCh depuis 1970. Il est également membre des comités de sélection des prix de la Division de gestion économique et commerciale et de la SCGCh. Il était respectivement vice-président et président des Congrès canadiens de génie chimique de Vancouver (C.-B.) en 1991 et 2002.

Énoncé de politique La Société canadienne de génie chimique (SCGCh) a été créée en 1966. Depuis près de 40 ans, elle évolue de pair avec la communauté canadienne de génie chimique. Nous pouvons être fiers de son rôle en tant qu’association technique représentant les intérêts des ingénieurs chimistes de l’industrie, du monde de l’enseignement et des gouvernements.

La Société devrait continuer de miser sur ses programmes actuels et ses forces ainsi qu’amorcer de nouvelles initiatives pour accroître sa visibilité aux niveaux national et international au cours des prochaines années. Je vais déployer des efforts soutenus pour atteindre cet objectif.

D’abord et avant tout, la SCGCh doit afficher un solide bilan afin de pouvoir atteindre ses objectifs. Elle devrait donner suite aux mesures définies et mises en oeuvre ces dernières années pour assurer un budget équilibré. Nous devrions nous concentrer sur les points forts de nos programmes et continuer d’accroître le nombre de nos membres comme nous avons réussi à le faire au cours des dernières années. Certains programmes devraient être évalués et éventuellement modifiés pour accroître leur impact sur notre situation financière générale.

Le Canada accueillera le Congrès mondial de génie chimique en 2009. Au moment où nous approchons de cet événement d’importance, il faut se distinguer des autres sociétés de génie chimique du monde entier, y compris, le cas échéant, se prononcer sur des questions importantes lorsqu’elles font appel à des connaissances en génie chimique pertinentes pour le débat. Nous devrions relever au sein des programmes existants les possibilités de célébrer notre évolution en tant que communauté canadienne de génie, nos réussites dans le domaine de la recherche et des innovations ainsi que nos traditions en tant que communauté ouverte et favorisant l’intégration.

La formule de notre congrès annuel est unique et informelle. Elle intègre efficacement les activités canadiennes de recherche et, de plus en plus, elle acquiert une solide réputation au niveau international. Nous pouvons aussi être fiers de la revue The Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering. Nous devons examiner ces deux moyens de diffusion et, à l’approche de 2009, créer des initiatives qui augmentent la visibilité de la communauté canadienne de génie chimique et, par le fait même, renforcent davantage notre position.

Les ingénieurs chimistes canadiens ont beaucoup de raisons d’être fiers. La SCGCh doit collaborer avec les départements de génie chimique et l’industrie canadienne pour se préparer au congrès de 2009, qui devrait assurer une tribune privilégiée pour célébrer nos réussites avec nos pairs du monde entier.

CSChE BULLETIN SCGCh

Treasurer (2005–2008) Ali Esmail, MCIC, received his BSc in chemical engineering from the University of Saskatchewan in 1987.

After graduation, he joined Dow Chemical working in process design, plant operations, environmental management, and supply chain management. Since 2000, he has managed projects in the oil and gas industry and now holds a project development position at Shell Canada Ltd. From 1991 to 1995, Esmail was active as the industrial liaison in the Edmonton CSChE local section, organizing community science projects and member professional development. From 2003 to 2004, he was on the executive of the Association of Professional Engineers, Geologists, and Geophysicists of Alberta (APEGGA), Calgary Branch. Most recently, he was treasurer for the CSChE 2004 conference in Calgary, AB. He is fluent in French and English. Esmail is also a member of APEGGA, the Project Management Institute, and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

Directors (2005–2008) Tom Boughner, MCIC, general manager of Pope & Talbot Ltd. in Mackenzie, BC, hails from Charlotteville Township on Ontario’s “South Coast,” graduating from secondary school in Port Dover in 1965. He received a BASc in chemical engineering from the University of Waterloo in 1970. He is a registered PEng in British Columbia and Ontario and has served on two PEO Chapter executives. He has 35 years of technical, engineering, operations, and capital project experience in pulp and paper mills in three provinces. His career spans ever-increasing levels of responsibility: process engineer, maintenance and engineering manager, pulp production manager, paper production manager and general manager.

Boughner has significant production management experience in kraft pulp manufacturing, supplemented with production responsibility for groundwood specialty paper. In April 1999, he was appointed to his current position with responsibility for all operational and business aspects of a 225,000 tpy bleached chemical market pulp mill with 255 employees and gross annual sales of $200 million.

Boughner is a member of the Pulp and Paper Technical Association of Canada (PaPTAC). He has served on three committees in the U.S. and in Brazil. He currently serves as CSChE Process Safety Management Division chair. He is a Rotarian, is certified by Hockey Canada as a coach and instructor; is chair of the Board of CHMM-FM community radio, is the manufacturing industry spokesperson on the Mackenzie Community Policing Committee, and serves on the chemical engineering industrial advisory committee of The University of British Columbia.

Trésorier (2005-2008) Ali Esmail, MICC, a obtenu son baccalauréat en génie chimique de la University of Saskatchewan en 1987. Diplôme en main, il s’est joint à l’équipe de conception des procédés de fabrication de Dow Chemical, passant ensuite aux opérations de l’usine, à la gestion de l’environnement puis à la gestion de la chaîne d’approvisionnement. Depuis 2000, il a dirigé des projets dans l’industrie pétrolière et gazière et occupe présentement un poste de développement de projets chez Shell Canada Ltée.

De 1991 à 1995, Esmail assurait la liaison avec les entreprises au sein de la section locale de la SCGCh d’Edmonton, organisant des projets scientifiques communautaires et encourageant le développement professionnel des membres. De 2003 à 2004, il faisait partie de la direction de l’Association of Professional Engineers, Geologists, and Geophysicists of Alberta (APEGGA), section de Calgary.

Plus récemment, il agissait comme trésorier au congrès de 2004 de la SCGCh à Calgary.

Il est parfaitement bilingue (français et anglais). Esmail est également membre de l’APEGGA, du Project Management Institute, et de l’American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

Directeurs (2005-2008) Tom Boughner, MICC, directeur général de Pope & Talbot Ltd. à Mackenzie (C.-B.), est originaire de Charlotteville Township, sur la « Côte Sud » de l’Ontario et obtenait son diplôme de l’école secondaire de Port Dover en 1965. Il a complété un B.Sc.A. en génie chimique à la University of Waterloo en 1970. Il est ingénieur enregistré en Colombie-Britannique et en Ontario et a siégé au sein de deux comités exécutifs de chapitres PEO. Il compte 35 ans d’expérience technique, en génie, exploitation et projet d’immobilisations en pâtes et papiers dans trois provinces. Au cours de sa carrière, son niveau de responsabilité n’a cessé d’augmenter, passant d’ingénieur des procédés à directeur de l’entretien et du génie, directeur de la production des pâtes, directeur de la production du papier et directeur général.

Boughner a une importante expérience en gestion de la production dans la fabrication de la pâte kraft, ainsi que dans la production du papier de pâte mécanique. En avril 1999, il a été nommé à son poste actuel et assume la responsabilité de tous les aspects opérationnels et commerciaux d’une usine de pâte blanchie de 225 000 tonnes par an comptant 255 employés et un chiffre d’affaires annuel de 200 millions de dollars.

Boughner est membre de l’Association technique des pâtes et papiers du Canada (ATPPC). Il a siégé au sein de trois comités aux États-Unis et au Brésil. Il est actuellement président de la Division de gestion de la sécurité des procédés à la SCGCh. Il est membre du Club Rotary, est un entraîneur et instructeur certifié par Hockey Canada, est président du Conseil de la radio communautaire CHMM-FM, est porte-parole de l’industrie manufacturière au sein du Mackenzie Community Policing Committee, et siège au comité consultatif industriel en génie chimique de la University of British Columbia.

MAY 2005 CANADIAN CHEMICAL NEWS 41

CSChE BULLETIN SCGCh

Ajay K. Dalai, MCIC, obtained his BSc and MTech from India and his PhD in chemical engineering from the University of Saskatchewan (USask). He is a professor and Canada Research Chair in bioenergy and environmentally friendly chemical processing in the department of chemical engineering at USask. Dalai has been a member of CIC since 1987. He was chair of North Saskatchewan Section in 1997–2000, and has been a member of the executive committee of the Catalysis Division since 2000.

Dalai has a reputed and widely known catalysis and chemical reaction engineering laboratory (CCREL) for academic and industrial research, and has tremendous contacts in industry and academia, both nationally and internationally. He has a high energy level and the ability to motivate and interact successfully with both those who work with him and with his many colleagues and peers who work beside him.

Dalai’s current focus has been the development of gas to liquid (GTL) technologies including biodiesel and Fischer-Tropsch synthesis process. His other research interests are value-added products from biomass, solid acid catalysis for the production of alkylates, activated carbon production and applications for mercury and hydrogen sulfide capture, and hydroprocessing of heavy gas oil derived from Athabasca bitumen. He has published over 90 research papers in international journals and conference proceedings. He has written over 60 research reports for funding agencies, and has presented over 115 papers at national and international conferences. Dalai has supervised/co-supervised over 50 graduate students and post-doctoral fellows. He has been a member of many international professional societies and has organized many national and international symposiums including the Canadian Chemical Engineering Conference (1999 and 2001), North American Catalysis Society Conference (2001), the AIChE Conference (2003), and the Pacifichem Conference (2005). He has given over 20 invited lectures in his areas of expertise in Canada, the U.S., Australia, China, and India. He is a member of many national and international strategic initiates on bio-economy. He has held the Petro-Canada Young Innovator Award (1999), the Syncrude Owl Award (2003), and most recently, the Kentucky Colonel Award (2004).

42 L’ACTUALITÉ CHIMIQUE CANADIENNE MAI 2005

Ajay K. Dalai, MICC, a obtenu son baccalauréat et sa maîtrise technique en Inde, et son doctorat en génie chimique de la University of Saskatchewan. Il est professeur et membre du Programme des chaires de recherche du Canada en bioénergie et traitement chimique écologique au département de génie chimique de la University of Saskatchewan. Dalai est membre de l’ICC depuis 1987. Il a été président de la section Saskatchewan Nord pendant trois ans (1997–2000) et est membre du comité de direction de la Division des catalyses depuis 2000.

Dalai possède un laboratoire réputé de catalyse et de génie des réactions chimiques pour la recherche universitaire et industrielle et il a de nombreux contacts dans ces deux domaines à l’échelle nationale et internationale. Il est très énergique et sait motiver et interagir tant avec ses subordonnés qu’avec ses nombreux collègues et collaborateurs. Dalai travaille actuellement au développement des technologies gaz-liquide, y compris le biodiésel et les processus de synthèse Fischer-Tropsch. En recherche, il s’intéresse également aux produits à valeur ajoutée dans les domaines de la biomasse, la catalyse des acides solides dans la production d’alkylats, la production de charbon actif et les applications de capture de mercure et de sulfure d’hydrogène, ainsi que l’hydrotraitement du gasoil lourd dérivé du bitume d’Athabasca. Il a publié au-delà de 90 mémoires de recherche dans des revues internationales et comptes rendus de congrès. Il a rédigé plus de 60 rapports de recherche pour des organismes de financement et a présenté plus de 115 exposés dans le cadre de congrès nationaux et internationaux.

Dalai a supervisé ou co-supervisé plus de 50 étudiants de deuxième cycle, de troisième cycle et post-doctorat. Il a été membre de plusieurs corporations professionnelles internationales et a organisé de nombreux symposiums nationaux et internationaux, y compris le Congrès canadien de génie chimique (1999 et 2001), le Congrès de la North American Catalysis Society Conference (2001), le congrès de l’AIChE (2003) et le congrès Pacifichem de 2005. Il a été invité à présenter plus de 20 conférences dans son domaine de compétence au Canada, aux États-Unis, en Australie, en Chine et en Inde. Il est membre de plusieurs comités stratégiques nationaux et internationaux en bioéconomie. Il a reçu un soutien financier dans le cadre du Programme de récompenses aux jeunes innovateurs de Pétro-Canada (1999), le prix Syncrude Owl (2003), et récemment, le prix Kentucky Colonel (2004).

CSChE BULLETIN SCGCh

Emily Moore, MCIC, completed her BSc in engineering chemistry at Queen’s University in 1992. She then studied physical chemistry at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, completing her doctorate in gas phase reaction kinetics in 1996. Since 1997, she has worked for the Xerox Research Centre of Canada as a research scientist, and is now a principal engineer in the scale-up engineering group. Moore served as chair of the XRCC University Partnership Committee from 2001–2003 and is currently a member of the NSERC Advisory Committee on UniversityIndustry Grants. She is also a member of the Queen’s University Council and a member of the Board for St. Mildred’s-Lightbourn School in Oakville, ON. Moore has been involved in public outreach in science and engineering since she was an undergraduate, and has shared her enthusiasm for her career in presentations to elementary, secondary, and university students. She has also given guest lectures on scale-up engineering to chemical engineering design classes.

Emily Moore, MICC, a complété son baccalauréat en génie chimique à la Queen’s University en 1992. Elle s’est perfectionnée en chimie physique à la Oxford University en tant que récipiendaire d’une bourse de la Fondation Cecil Rhodes, où elle a complété son doctorat en cinétique des réactions en phase gazeuse en 1996. Depuis 1997, elle est à l’emploi du Xerox Research Centre of Canada en qualité de chercheure scientifique, et agit présentement comme ingénieure principale au sein du groupe d’ingénierie de mise à niveau. Moore a été présidente du comité de partenariat des universités du XRCC de 2001 à 2003 et est présentement membre du Comité consultatif sur les subventions universités-industrie du CRSNG. Elle est également membre du Conseil de la Queen’s University et membre du Conseil de la St. Mildred’s-Lightbourn School d’Oakville (Ontario). Depuis qu’elle est étudiante de premier cycle, Moore est très impliquée dans la sensibilisation du public aux sciences et à l’ingénierie. Elle a partagé son enthousiasme envers sa carrière au cours de présentations faites à des étudiants du niveau élémentaire, secondaire et universitaire. Elle a également été invitée à donner des cours sur l’extrapolation à des classes de conception en génie chimique.

Milena Sejnoha, MCIC, graduated from McGill University in Montréal, QC, from the department of chemical engineering with a BEng in 1983, and an MEng in thermodynamics in 1986. She worked at QIT Fer et Titane in Sorel, QC, for six years as a research engineer and as a project development supervisor developing new products and managing pilot plants.

For nine years, Sejnoha worked at CANMET’s Energy Diversification Research Laboratory in Varennes, QC, where she was head of the process engineering section in charge of developing, licensing, and deploying new industrial drying and reactor technologies. During the last three years, Sejnoha has held the position of manager of Climate Change Technology Development Group at the Office of Energy Research and Development of Natural Resources Canada and is responsible for developing and managing S&T delivery programs for climate change mitigation. She was a member of the organizing committee for the 50th Canadian Chemical Engineering Conference in Montréal in 2000.

Milena Sejnoha, MICC, a obtenu son BEng du département de génie chimique de l’Université McGill à Montréal (Québec), en 1983, et sa MEng en thermodynamique en 1986. Elle a travaillé chez QIT Fer et Titane, à Sorel (Québec), pendant six ans comme ingénieure de recherche et superviseure de développement de projets pour l’élaboration de nouveaux produits et la gestion d’usines pilotes. Pendant neuf années, elle a travaillé au Laboratoire de recherche en diversification énergétique de CANMET, à Varennes (Québec), où elle était chef de la section du génie des procédés, responsable de l’élaboration, de la production sous licence et du déploiement de nouvelles technologies de séchage et de réacteurs. Pendant les dernières trois années, Sejnoha a travaillé comme gestionnaire, Initiatives des technologies reliées aux changements climatiques, aux Bureau de recherche et de développement énergétiques, Ressources naturelles Canada et est responsable pour le développement et la gestion de programmes de S&T. Elle été membre du Comité d’organisation du 50e Congrès de génie chimique qui a eu lieu à Montréal en l’an 2000.

MAY 2005 CANADIAN CHEMICAL NEWS 43

LOCAL SECTION NEWS NOUVELLES DES SECTIONS LOCALES

Science and Engineering Olympics, Ottawa, ON February 22, 2005, the Canada Science and Technology Museum was the venue for the Science and Engineering Olympics for teams of middle and high school students. Since 2005 is the International Year of Physics, there was a physics flavour to the day.

As well as the various competitions, Dick BourgeoisDoyle gave an entertaining presentation about George Klein, a prolific Canadian inventor who worked at the NRC, who is also a member of the Canadian Science and Engineering Hall of Fame. The Ottawa CIC Local Section representative, Helen P. Graves Smith, MCIC, was on hand to judge the Intermediate Fun Machine Competition and to present the Section’s plaque to the winning Intermediate team.

This year’s winners are: For the intermediate level (Grades 7–8) 1st: Hopewell Avenue Public School 2nd: D. Roy Kennedy Public School 3rd: École secondaire catholique Béatrice-Desloges For the senior level (Grades 9–12) 1st: Colonel By Secondary School 2nd: Bell High School 3rd: École secondaire catholique Béatrice-Desloges Helen P. Graves Smith, MCIC

STUDENT NEWS NOUVELLES DES ÉTUDIANTS

5th Annual Western Canada CSCT Student Symposium

Front row (left to right): Erynn Holaday, Amanda Jack, Shauna Bulmer, Jeanine Autio, Susan Courty, Susan Marler, Alison Stauffer, and Tara Yuen. Back row (left to right): Ryan Neibrandt, Scott Sawyshyn, Kelly Borys, Elyse Busch, Collin Campbell, Scott Raposo, and Tom Sutton, FCIC. The Chemical Technology program at SIAST–Kelsey Campus, in Saskatoon, SK, hosted the 5th Annual Canadian Society for Chemical Technology Western Canadian Student Symposium on March 19, 2005. Held on-site at SIAST, the symposium attracted 25 registrants from Saskatoon as well as 20 from the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) in Edmonton, AB. Featured at the symposium were 13 oral presentations and 3 poster presentations on a variety of topics pertaining to this year’s theme, “Canadian Chemical Technology: Your Chance to Become the Expert.” The presenters competed for cash prizes to be awarded at the Banquet and Awards Ceremonies on Saturday evening. CSCT president Tom Sutton, FCIC, judged the event. A tour of the chemical technology program’s laboratory facilities at Kelsey was held after the presentations were completed.

Winding up the weekend’s activities, the awards banquet was held in the elegant Kelsey dining room. The awards ceremony was hosted by the symposium co-chairs, Shauna Bulmer and Scott Sawyshyn. The oral presentations award winners were presented with their honours as follows: first prize to Shauna Bulmer, SIAST, for her presentation, “Biodiesel Fuels;” second prize to Ryan Neibrandt, SIAST, for his presentation, “Methodology Used in Detecting Leaks in Boiler Heat Exchangers;” and to Jeanine Autio and Tara Yuen, NAIT, for their presentation, “A New Outlook for Waste Management.” The poster presentations first prize went to Richelle Levesque and Melanie Skoretz, SIAST, for their presentation on polymers and adhesives.

Thank you to sponsors: Gold sponsors CIC Chemical Education Fund, Canadian Light Source, Inc., ClearTech Industries, Anachemia Science, Saskatchewan Research Council, Husky Energy, Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Science and Technology (SIAST) including the Kelsey Student Association, Rose Scientific Ltd., Dow Canada.

Silver Sponsors Mosaic, Old Dutch, Moxie’s Classic Grill, Meyers Norris Penny LLP, Clear-Green Environmental Inc., Hot 93 FM, CJWW 600, Magic 98.3 FM, K’ (Prime) Technologies Inc., Scotiabank, Sunview Solariums Ltd., Hitachi, The Bolt Supply House Ltd., Erco Worldwide

44 L’ACTUALITÉ CHIMIQUE CANADIENNE MAI 2005

Photo by Eric Mead, FCIC

CAREERS CARRIÈRES

Your Career in Chemistry and the CSC Conference The CSC will be hosting both a Career Fair and a Graduate Studies Fair at the Canadian Chemistry Conference and Exhibition in Saskatoon, SK, on May 31, 2005.

Career Fair The Canadian Society for Chemistry (CSC) is organizing

The CIC’s

Career Services

a Career Fair to give graduating students (BSc, MSc and PhD), post-doctoral fellows, and unemployed members the opportunity to meet with a number of industrial representatives and explore the possibility of future employment.

Résumés will be circulated in advance to the companies. Some companies may collect additional résumés on site. The companies will hold information sessions and/or interviews during the CSC conference.

A list of participating companies will be available at www.csc2005.ca. Résumés should be e-mailed in Word or WordPerfect format. You may add a cover letter if you wish. Send your résumé by May 15 to Gale Thirlwall-Wilbee at gwilbee@cheminst.ca.

Graduate Studies Fair The opportunities available after graduation are not exclusive to industry; there is also the vast domain

• CareerSite: The CIC’s job search and résumés— on-line service is available at www.chemjobs.ca.

• Employer list: Over 1,600 Canadian company listings—available to CIC members only.

• Free membership: Full-fee members are entitled to up to two years free membership while unemployed.

• ACCN: Post an Employment Wanted ad, check the Careers section for openings and keep abreast of issues in your community.

• Attend the CSC and CSChE Graduate Studies Fairs and Career Fairs: These fairs are part of the annual conferences for the Societies.

of graduate studies. The CSC has invited universities to present their various research areas and projects.

Undergraduate students will have the chance to evaluate

• Networking opportunities: Local Sections and Divisions can keep you connected.

the quality and depth of research across the country, and graduate students can explore the possibilities of further studies.

• Need information on certification, professional status, or immigration issues: We can direct you on where to find help.

Join the Meet and Greet Reception for a FREE light lunch.

This is an opportunity for students to meet informally with the graduate studies representatives as well as the industrial representatives. Free tickets will be available for the lunch at the CIC Career Services Booth at this event.

MAY 2005 CANADIAN CHEMICAL NEWS 45

CAREERS CARRIÈRES

Something caught your

eye?

Send your commments to editorial@accn.ca

MAY 2005 CANADIAN CHEMICAL NEWS 47

CAREERS CARRIÈRES

REMEMBERWHEN? SHARE YOUR MEMORIES!

LOOKING

Share your CIC memories and memorabilia with ACCN. Send your materials to editorial@accn.ca or mail them to the National Office.

for the right

Please label each piece with your name, a caption, and your complete address to ensure its safe return to you.

End your

www.chemjobs.ca

CHEMICAL POSITION? SEARCH NOW!

www.chemjobs.ca

The Chemical Institute of Canada Career Site

48 L’ACTUALITÉ CHIMIQUE CANADIENNE MAI 2005

EVENTS ÉVÉNEMENTS

Canada Conferences June 16–19, 2005. 32nd Conference of College Chemistry Canada, St. John’s, NL. Contact: Ian McMaster; e-mail: ian.mcmaster@cna.nl.ca; Web site: www.c3.douglas.bc.ca.

July 31–August 4, 2005. 18th Biennial Chem Ed Conference, the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC. Web site: http://nobel.scas.bcit.ca/chemed2005/welcome.htm.

August 7–12, 2005. IUPAC 17th International Symposium on Plasma Chemistry, Toronto, ON. Contact: Javad Mostaghimi; tel.: 416-978-5604; e-mail: mostag@me.utoronto.ca.

August 14–18, 2005. IUPAC 11th International Symposium on Novel Aromatic Compounds (ISNA-11), St. John’s, NL. Contact: Graham Bodwell; tel.: 709-737-8406; e-mail: gbodwell@mun.ca.

August 16–19, 2005. 12th Canadian Semiconductor Technology Conference, National Research Council Canada and the Electronic Materials and Processing Division of the American Vacuum Society, Ottawa, ON Web site: www.canadiansemiconductor.org.

August 19–26, 2005. 20th International Symposium on Polycyclic Aromatic Compounds (ISPAC 20), Toronto, ON. Contact: Chris Marvin; tel.: 905-319-6919; e-mail: chris.marvin@ec.gc.ca.

August 19–26, 2005. 25th International Symposium on Halogenated Environmental Organic Pollutants and POPs (Dioxin 2005), National Water Research Institute, Toronto, ON. Contact: Mehran Alaee; tel.: 905-336-4752; e-mail: mehran.alaee@ec.gc.ca; Web site: www.dioxin2005.org.

October 17–18, 2005. CSCT professional development course— ICPES–Inductively Coupled Plasma Emission Spectroscopy.

Toronto, ON. Web site: www.cheminst.ca/profdev.

EMPLOYMENT WANTED DEMANDES D’EMPLOI

Looking for the Perfect Position?

• Post a free Employment Wanted ad in ACCN • Read the Careers Section for openings

October 17–18, 2005. CSCT professional development course— Laboratory Safety. Toronto, ON. Web site: www.cheminst.ca/profdev.

• Check the CIC Chemjobs site at www.chemjobs.ca!

U.S. and Overseas June 20–24, 2005. 2nd International Conference on Green and Sustainable Chemistry and the 9th Annual Green Chemistry and Engineering Conference, Washington, DC. Contact: Robin Rogers; e-mail: rdrogers@bama.ua.edu.

July 10–14, 2005. 7th World Congress of Chemical Engineering, Glasgow, Scotland. Contact: Sarah Fitzpatrick; e-mail: sarah.fitzpatrick@concorde-uk.com; Web site: www.chemengcongress2005.com.

August 13–21, 2005. IUPAC 43rd General Assembly, Beijing, China. Contact: IUPAC Secretariat; tel.: +1 919-485-8700; fax: +1 919-485-8706; e-mail: secretariat@iupac.org.

MAY 2005 CANADIAN CHEMICAL NEWS 49

The Chemical Institute of Canada Medal is presented as a mark of distinction and

The Macromolecular Science and Engineering Award is awarded to

recognition to a person who has made an

an individual who, while resident in Can-

outstanding contribution to the science

ada, has made a distinguished contribution

of chemistry or chemical engineering

to macromolecular science or engineering.

in Canada.

Sponsored by NOVA Chemicals Ltd.

Award: A medal and travel expenses.

Award: A framed scroll, a cash prize of $1,500, and travel expenses.

The MontrĂŠal Medal is presented

The Chemical Institute of Canada

2006 AWARDS

as a mark of distinction and honour to

The CIC Award for Chemical Education

a resident in Canada who has shown

(formerly the Union Carbide Award) is

significant leadership in or has made

awarded as a mark of recognition to a person

an outstanding contribution to the

who has made an outstanding contribution

profession of chemistry or chemical

in Canada to education at the post-secondary

engineering in Canada. In determining

level in the field of chemistry or chemical

the eligibility for nominations for the

engineering. Sponsored by the CIC Chemical

award, administrative contributions

Education Fund.

within The Chemical Institute of Canada

Award: A framed scroll, $1 000 cash

and other professional organizations

prize, and up to $400 travel expenses

that contribute to the advancement of

to the annual conference.

the professions of chemistry and chemical engineering shall be given due consid-

Deadlines

eration. Contributions to the sciences

The deadline for all CIC awards is July 4,

of chemistry and chemical engineering

2005 for the 2006 selection, except the

are not to be considered. Sponsored by

Catalysis Award, the deadline for which

the MontrĂŠal CIC Section.

is October 3, 2005 for the 2006 selection.

Award: A medal and travel expenses.

The Catalysis Award is awarded

Please submit your nominations to:

biennially to an individual who,

Awards Coordinator

while resident in Canada, has made a

The Chemical Institute of Canada

distinguished contribution to the field

130 Slater Street, Suite 550

of catalysis. Sponsored by the Canadian

Ottawa, ON K1P 6E2

Catalysis Foundation.

Tel.: 613-232-6252

Award: A rhodium-plated silver medal and

Fax: 613-232-5862

travel expenses to present the award lecture.

awards@cheminst.ca

The Environmental Improvement

Nomination forms and the full Terms

Award is awarded to a Canadian com-

of Reference for these awards are avail-

pany, individual, team, or organization

able at www.cheminst.ca/awards/

for a significant achievement in pollution

cic_index_e.html.

prevention, treatment, or remediation.

Sponsored by the Environment Division.

Award: A plaque and travel assistance.

Important ...

Submission deadline is July 4, 2005

Nomination Procedure

The Canadian Society for Chemistry

2006 AWARDS Important ... Submission deadline is July 4, 2005

The Alcan Award is awarded to a scientist residing in Canada who has made a distinguishing contribution in the fields of inorganic chemistry or electrochemistry while working in Canada. Sponsored by Alcan International Ltd. Award: A framed scroll, a cash prize of $2,000, and travel expenses.

contribution to industrial or academic inorganic chemistry while working in Canada, and who is within ten years of his or her first professional appointment as an independent researcher in an academic, government, or industrial sector. Sponsored by the Inorganic Chemistry Division.

Award: A framed scroll, travel expenses for a lecture tour, and the registration fee to the CSC Conference in the year of the award to enable presentation of an award lecture at the conference.

The Boehringer Ingelheim Award is awarded to a Canadian citizen or landed immigrant whose PhD thesis in the field of organic or bioorganic chemistry was formally accepted by a Canadian university in the 12-month period preceding the nomination deadline of July 4 and whose doctoral research is judged to be of outstanding quality. Sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim (Canada) Ltd. Award: A framed scroll, a cash prize of $2,000, 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 of $1,000, and travel expenses.

The Maxxam Award is awarded to a scientist residing in Canada who has made a distinguished contribution in the field of analytical chemistry while working in Canada. Sponsored by Maxxam Analytics Inc. Award: A framed scroll, a cash prize of $1,000, and travel expenses.

The Alfred Bader Award is presented as a mark of distinction and recognition to a scientist who will not have reached the age of 60 by January 1 of the year of nomination, for excellence in research in organic chemistry carried out in Canada.

Sponsored by Alfred Bader, HFCIC. Award: A framed scroll, a cash prize of $3,000, and travel expenses.

The Award for Pure or Applied Inorganic Chemistry is awarded to a Canadian citizen or landed immigrant who has made an outstanding

The R.U. Lemieux Award is awarded 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.

The Merck Frosst Centre for Therapeutic Research Award is awarded 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 fields of organic chemistry or biochemistry while working in Canada. Sponsored by Merck Frosst Canada & Co. Award: A framed scroll, a cash prize of $2,000, 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, $2,000 cash, and to cover travel expenses to present a lecture at the annual conference.

The E.W.R. Steacie Award is presented to a scientist residing in Canada who has made a distinguished contribution to chemistry while working in Canada. Sponsored by Sciex Inc., Division of MDS Health Group.

Award: A framed scroll, a cash prize of $2,000, and travel expenses.

The Fred Beamish Award is awarded to an individual who demonstrates innovation in research in the field of analytical chemistry, where the research is anticipated to have significant potential for practical applications.

The award is open to new faculty members at a Canadian university and they must be recent graduates with four years of appointment. Sponsored by Eli Lilly Canada Inc. Award: A framed scroll, a cash prize of $1,000, and travel expenses.

Deadline The deadline for all CSC awards is July 4, 2005 for the 2006 selection.

Nomination Procedure Please submit your nominations to: Awards Coordinator The Canadian Society for Chemistry 130 Slater Street, Suite 550 Ottawa, ON K1P 6E2 Tel.: 613-232-6252 Fax: 613-232-5862 awards@cheminst.ca Nomination forms and the full Terms of-Reference for these awards are available at-www.chemistry.ca/awards/ csc_index_e.html.

Enantioselective Synthetic Chemistry Research Program Call for Applications Applications are invited for the Enantioselective Synthetic Chemistry Research Program. It is the intention of the Enantioselective Synthetic Chemistry Research Program to support the development and application of methods for enantioselective synthetic organic chemistry and related fields such as the development of catalysts for chiral transformations, and more specifically, research projects directed to: 1. the development and application of methods for enantioselective synthetic organic chemistry and related fields; 2. the development of novel catalysts for the formation of carbon-carbon bonds and the creation of chiral centres through functional group manipulation; 3. the development and application of novel and efficient chiral auxiliaries for functional group manipulation, alkylation, oxidation, carbon-carbon bond formation; 4. novel uses of enzymes and biosystems to perform chiral transformations; 5. kinetic resolution technologies.

Funding will normally be provided up to $30,000 per year for a two-year period.

Applicants must be Canadian citizens or permanent residents and must be researchers at a Canadian university. Joint applications from investigators with different areas of expertise (e.g. organic synthesis and polymer or organometallic chemistry) are encouraged.

Applications will be accepted until May 31, 2005, for the year 2005.

This program, sponsored by AstraZeneca Canada Inc., Boehringer Ingelheim (Canada) Ltd. and Merck Frosst Canada & Co., and administered by the Canadian Society for Chemistry (CSC), will provide grants to support research in chemistry and related fields.

It is expected that proposals should have potential to fulfill NSERC requirements for industrial-oriented research matching grants, and applicants are encouraged to submit their proposals to the NSERC Collaborative Research and Development Grants Program in order to obtain additional funding.

The sponsoring pharmaceutical companies will support these applications.

How to apply Please provide form 100 part I and Appendices – Personal Data – and form 101 part I – Application for a Grant (the same as a normal NSERC application). These forms are found at www.nserc.ca/ forms/formtable_e.htm. Seven (7) copies of your submission, signed by your department head, are required for the peer review committee. Form 183A (ex-form 120), Information Required from Organizations Participating in Research Partnerships Programs, will be requested later only from the successful applicants.

For additional information, please contact: Awards Coordinator Canadian Society for Chemistry 130 Slater Street, Suite 550 Ottawa, ON K1P 6E2 E-mail: awards@cheminst.ca Tel.: 613-232-6252 Fax: 613-232-5862 or visit:

www.chemistry.ca/awards/csc_index_e.html

Programme de recherche en chimie de synthèse énantiosélective Appel de candidatures La présente est un appel de candidatures pour le Programme de recherche en chimie de synthèse énantiosélective. Ce programme a pour objet d’appuyer le développement et la mise en œuvre de méthodes applicables à la chimie organique de synthèse énantiosélective et aux domaines connexes, comme le développement de catalyseurs pour les transformations chirales et, plus spécifiquement, les projets de recherche ayant pour objectifs : 1. l’élaboration et la mise en œuvre de méthodes applicables à la chimie organique de synthèse énantiosélective et aux domaines connexes; 2. l’élaboration de nouveaux catalyseurs pour la formation de liaisons carbone-carbone et la création de centres chiraux par l’entremise de la manipulation de groupes fonctionnels; 3. l’élaboration et la mise en œuvre d’auxiliaires chiraux nouveaux et efficaces pour la manipulation de groupes fonctionnels, l’alkylation, l’oxydation et la formation de liaisons carbone-carbone; 4. les utilisations nouvelles d’enzymes et de biosystèmes dans les transformations chirales; 5. les technologies de résolution cinétique.

Le financement accordé pourra normalement atteindre 30 000 $ par année pendant deux ans.

Les demandeurs doivent être des citoyens ou des résidents permanents du Canada et doivent effectuer leurs recherches dans une université canadienne. On encourage la présentation de candidatures conjointes de chercheurs de spécialités différentes (par exemple synthèse organique et chimie des polymères ou chimie organométallique).

Pour l’année 2005, les candidatures seront acceptées jusqu’au 31 mai 2005.

Ce programme, parrainé par AstraZeneca Canada Inc., Boehringer Ingelheim (Canada) Ltée. et Merck Frosst Canada & Co., et administré par la Société canadienne de chimie (SCC), accordera son soutien financier à la recherche en chimie et dans les domaines connexes. Les candidatures devraient avoir le potentiel de respecter les exigences du CRSNG pour des subventions similaires en recherche à vocation industrielle, et l’on encourage les demandeurs à soumettre leurs propositions au Programme de subventions de recherche et développement coopérative du CRSNG afin d’obtenir un financement supplémentaire. Les compagnies pharmaceutiques qui parrainent le programme appuieront ces candidatures.

Comment soumettre sa candidature Les demandeurs doivent fournir le formulaire 100, Formulaire de renseignements personnels – Partie 1 et annexes, et le formulaire 101, Demande de subvention – Partie 1 (comme pour toute demande au CRNSG). Ces formulaires se trouvent à l’adresse www.nserc.ca/forms/formtable2_f.htm. Vous devez fournir sept (7) exemplaires de votre demande signés pas le directeur de votre département pour le comité d’évaluation par les pairs. Le formulaire 183A (anciennement formulaire 120), Renseignements requis des organismes participant aux programmes de partenariats de recherche, sera exigé ultérieurement des demandeurs qui auront été acceptés.

Pour obtenir plus de détails, veuillez communiquer avec : Coordonnatrice des prix Société canadienne de chimie 130, rue Slater, bureau 550 Ottawa (Ontario) K1P 6E2 Courriel : awards@cheminst.ca • Tél. : 613-232-6252 • Téléc. : 613-232-5862 ou visitez :

www.chemistry.ca/awards/csc_index_e.html

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