Niagara Falls a dramatic backdrop for chem conference

COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS
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More than 1,000 researchers, academics, students and industry representatives came together for the 64th Canadian Chemical Engineering Conference in the spectacular setting of Niagara Falls October 19-22. The theme of the conference was “Advanced Materials, Energy, and Sustainability.”

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In Memorium

COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS
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The Chemical Institute of Canada wishes to extend its condolences to the families of Philip Ashbaugh of Burlington, Ont., Richard (Dick) Ford, FCIC, of Parry Sound, Ont. and Martin B. Hocking, FCIC, of Victoria.

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Nanoparticles could relieve annoying dry eye syndrome

NANOTECHNOLOGY

Nanoparticle technology being developed at the University of Waterloo could come to the rescue of individuals taking cyclosporin eye drops to treat dry eye syndrome. Users — who sometimes find they must administer the medication several times a day — could ultimately wind up applying the drops just...

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Nanoparticles improve chemotherapy treatment

NANOTECHNOLOGY

A device developed by chemists at Université de Montréal promises to improve the way a powerful cancer-fighting drug is administered to patients. By using nanoparticles to generate optical effects, this new technology will make it possible to determine almost immediately how much of the drug remains in...

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National Chemistry Week passes the acid test in TO

COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS
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IndigoKids at the Toronto Eaton Centre was the place to be Oct. 19 for a little bit of chemistry magic to celebrate National Chemistry Week. he hands-on activities, sponsored by the Chemical Institute of Canada (CIC), included a demonstration of fruit batteries, where galvanized nails...

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It’s all relative when rewriting oxidation state limits

FUNDAMENTALS

Oxidation states — describing the number of electrons an atom loses or gains when it joins [IrO4]+with other atoms in chemical compounds — have fascinated Gary Schrobilgen since his graduate school days in the 1970s, when he managed to make the first bromine VII cation, [BrF6]+. Today, as a chemistry professor...

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High hydrochloric acid levels measured in stratosphere

ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY

Canada’s SCISAT satellite, which last year marked 10 years of actively observing more than 30 different molecules in our planet’s upper and lower atmosphere, has earned a reputation for providing a unique collection of measurements that sometimes contain surprises. This reputation was reinforced this past...

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Grapevine

COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS
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Drew Bennett, a Banting Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Waterloo, is this year’s winner of the $20,000 John Charles Polanyi Prize for Chemistry.

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Unravelling the atomic puzzle of vanadium oxide

PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY

At 68 C, vanadium oxide (VO2) undergoes a significant change in electronic properties that has vexed physicists and chemists for more than 50 years. In 1959 it was discovered that as the material cools, it changes from a metal to a semiconductor while its atoms reorganize themselves from a tetragonal to monoclinic crystal structure.

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Double, double, smoke and bubbles

COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS
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About 1,000 people, including many primary grade school students, flocked to Malvern Town Centre in Scarborough, Ont. Oct. 25 to explore the fun and fascinating side of chemistry...

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Shoot for the stars

POLICY PUNDIT

World-renowned mathematician and physicist Neil Turok, director of the Perimeter Institute for TheoreticalPhysics in Waterloo, Ont., discusses Canada’ s place in the emerging quantum age and the need for scientists...

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The Chemists’ War

HISTORY
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The Second Battle of Ypres by Richard Jack was commissioned by the Canadian War Memorials Fund to commemorate the first major action of Canadian troops at the Western Front during...

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Marking a major molecular milestone in Canada

TECHNIQUES

A decade after the official launch of Canada’s first synchrotron in Saskatoon, many members of the nation’s research community might start to wonder how they ever managed without this powerful investigative resource. For his part, University of Saskatchewan biochemist Miroslaw Cygler points to the...

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