Group News
Oct 11:
Stuart’s paper on the
formation of N-fused indolines is accepted in
Chemistry – A European Journal!
Sept 11:
The group welcomes Jiaqi, a new graduate student, as well as Matt, an
additional 494 student. Eric enjoyed
the summer so much that he is staying on to conduct his 494
research too.
The
indanone Organic Syntheses prep. is
now available online. Congratulations again Fillion
group alumni!
Aug 11:
The group welcomes
Magda, who joins as a 494 student.
July 11:
Prof. Fillion has been promoted to full Professor.
May 11:
The group welcomes
Eric, who joins as a summer NSERC student.
Apr 11:
Stuart wins the McNeil
Graduate Scholarship in natural products chemistry from the GWC2.
Mar 11:
Hope presented a talk
on his thesis project at SOUSCC held on home turf this year.
Feb 11:
Prof. Fillion wins the Merck Frosst
Centre for Therapeutic Research Award.
Jan 11:
The
group welcomes Ganna, who joins as an MSc student.
Three new fumehoods are installed in C2-360!
Dec 10:
Prof.
Fillion delivered a well received
talk on our group’s research at Pacific Chem held in
Hawaii.
Jérôme completed his stay in the lab and returned to
France just in time for the holidays.
Nov 10:
Yen
presented a poster on her hydrogenolysis research at
QOMSBOC held at Brock.
Sept 10:
The
lab welcomes three new 494 students: Hope, Richard and Tyler.
Tim
and Chan bid farewell to the lab as they start their graduate studies at U. of Toronto
(Prof. Yudin and Prof. Lauten’s group, respectively)
May 10:
Yen
and Stuart present exciting research at the 93rd Canadian Chemistry
Conference in Toronto.
Recent
graduate, Ashraf Wilsily is awarded the W. B. Pearson medal in Chemistry from
the university, for recognition of
creative research as presented in his thesis. Congratulations!
Apr 10:
Stuart
wins the Charles S. Humphrey Graduate Fellowship from the GWC2!
(continuing the Fillion group streak started by Aaron and Ash)
Mar 10:
Chan ,
Tim (both CGS-M) and Stuart (PGS-D) are
successful in the NSERC competition!
Tim
and Greg’s research presentations were well received at the 38th
SOUSCC at Western. Congratulations to Tim for placing first in the Organic
Division for the second consecutive year!
Feb 10:
Chan
and Tim are successful in the summer NSERC competition. Congratulations!
The
problems with the new server are fixed and the website is back in business.
Jan 10:
Stuart
and Aaron’s paper on asymmetric addition of alkenylstannanes was
highlighted in Synfacts!
Yen
and Ash’s hydrogenolysis paper was highlighted
in Synfacts!
The
Fillion lab adds postdoc Jérôme Jacq to the roster.
Dec 09:
Alex’s
paper on Rhodium Catalyzed Asymmetric Conjugate Alkynylation with TMS-acetylene
was highlighted
in Synfacts!
Aaron’s
article on Meldrum’s Acids in Catalytic Carbon-Carbon Bond-Forming Processes
was published in
Accounts of Chemical Research!
Aaron bodes farewell to the Fillion
group as he prepares for his postdoctoral studies with Prof. Jeffrey Bode at
ETH, Zürich beginning in
January
2010. Best of luck Aaron!
Nov 09:
Ash
bodes farewell to the Fillion group as he prepares for his postdoctoral studies
with Prof. Gregory Fu at MIT beginning in January 2010.
Best
of luck Ash!
Oct 09:
Stuart
and Aaron’s paper on asymmetric addition of alkenylstannanes was published in Organic
Letters!
Ash’s
full paper on asymmetric conjugate addition was published in JOC!
Ash
and Yen’s paper on the hydrogenolysis of Meldrum’s acid derivatives was published in JACS!
Sept 09:
Alex’s
paper on the Rh catalyzed asymmetric addition of TMS-acetylene to benzylidene
Meldrum’s acids was published
in JACS!
Aaron
defended his PhD thesis entitled “Development of New Domino Reactions of
Alkylidene Meldrum’s Acids Involving Friedel-Crafts
Chemistry
and Catalytic Conjugate Addition of Alkylidene Meldrum’s Acids” with Prof.
Dennis Hall as his external examiner. Congratulations Dr. Dumas!
Welcome
the undergrads for 494 projects to the lab.
Tim and Chan are continuing on in their research projects and new
additions, Greg and Miles, are working
with
Ash to continue the study of unusual H-bonding.
Aug 09:
Ash
defended his PhD thesis entitled “Enantioselective Conjugate Additions to
Meldrum’s Acid Acceptors for the Synthesis of Quaternary Centres and Studies on
Persistent Intramolecular C–H•••X (X = O, S, Br, Cl, and F) Hydrogen Bonds
Involving Benzyl Meldrum’s Acids” with Prof. André Charette as his external
examiner. Congratulations Dr. Wilsily!
Alex
defended his MSc thesis on Rh catalyzed asymmetric alkynylations. Best of luck
Alex!
June 09:
The
group was well-represented at the 2009 Canadian Chemistry Conference held in
Hamilton. Aaron, Tim, and Alex all gave talks in the Organic division, while
Ash journeyed into strange territory and presented in the Physical Organic section
(brave man). Stu was our sole representative in the Poster presentation.
The
papers keep on coming… Stu, Dave, and Jon’s work on activation of benzylic C-H
bonds in alkylidene Meldrum’s acid was published in
Tetrahedron Letters!
May 09:
A
very productive month sees three of our groups papers published:
Ash and Tim’s work on additions of dimethylzinc
to alkylidene Meldrum’s acids will appear in a special issue of Synthesis on
the use of phosphoramidite ligands.
A full account of our group’s work on Pd/Al
dimetallic species was reported in Organometallics. Congratulations to all the former
Fillion group members who contributed to project, and special thanks to Jarkko
for putting together the massive Supporting Information!
The work of our former colleague Dan Fishlock
on the mechanism of Friedel-Crafts acylation using Meldrum’s acid was published
in Tetrahedron. This will appear in a special issue dedicated to Prof. Larry
Overman to celebrate his receipt of the Tetrahedron Prize. Prof Overman was
Prof. Fillion’s postdoc supervisor.
Welcome
back to the lab Tim Lou and Chan Lau, our hardworking undergrads who were both
here last summer as well.
Apr 09:
Aaron’s
paper on conjugate allylations of alkylidene Meldrum’s acids was published in
Organic Letters!
Mar 09:
Two
of our undergrad students, Tim Lou and Jon Hollinger, gave talks at the 37th SOUSCC at
Brock University. Congratulations to them both, as they each took first place
in their divisions!
Dec 08:
Ash
and Dan’s (Ph.D. Fillion group 2005) paper on an usual C-H hydrogen bond in
benzylic Meldrum’s was published in JOC. A great way for the group to end the
year!
Sept 08:
Welcome
to Yen Nguyen, who joined the group as a Ph.D. student. She previously earned a
M.Sc. from U of T working with Prof. Jik Chin.
Dave
Moon defended his Master’s thesis work on an interesting C-H bond
functionalization using alkylidene Meldrum’s acids. He is moving on to work at
Dalton Chemical Laboratories in Toronto. Good luck Dave!
Two
undergrads are doing their CHEM 494 project in the group this year. Jen Liu is
returning after spending the summer here as an NSERC student, and we are happy
to welcome Jon Hollinger who escaped from the lower floors to come learn
organic chemistry.
Aug 08:
Ash
and Aaron attended the ACS National Meeting in Philadelphia. Ash gave a talk on
his work on asymmetric conjugate addition, and Aaron presented an overview of
the group’s Friedel-Crafts acylation methodology.
June 08:
Prof.
Fillion was hosted by Amgen in Thousand Oaks, CA and presented a talk on our
group’s work on C-C bond forming
reactions using Meldrum’s acid derivatives.
Group
alumna Julie’s paper describing her Master’s work on Pd-catalyzed
cyclopropanations using diphenylketene was published in
Organometallics.
May 08:
Jarkko
presented a poster “Pd-Catalyzed Intramolecular Reaction of
(E)-2,2-Disubstituted-1-alkenyldimethylalanes with Aryl Triflates” at the 91st
CSC Conference in Edmonton, AB.
After
a couple of semesters without any, the Fillion group is again rich with
undergrad students. We are very happy to welcome back E-ting Liao for her third
straight summer! Joining us for the first time are three NSERC USRAs Chan Lau,
Tim Lou, and Jennifer Liu and an CHM 494 student Andre McKay.
Apr 08:
Ash’s
paper on enantioselective conjugate addition to functionalized alkylidene
Meldrum’s acid was published in
Org. Lett.
Mar 08:
Aaron’s
paper on regioselectivity in Friedel-Crafts acylations of indoles was published in
JOC.
Jan 08:
A
great start to the year! Our former members Seb, Lauren, and Vince have their
paper on conjugate addition of functionalized alkenyl nucleophiles published in
Organic Letters! See the publications
page for a link.
Congratulations
to Ash and Aaron, who were awarded Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate
Scholarships!
Oct 07:
Ash
and Aaron attended the 18th QOMSBOC in Montreal. Ash gave a great
talk about his work on enantioselectiveconjugate addition to functionalized
alkylidene Meldrum’s acid that was very well received. Aaron presented a poster
on his investigations into the regioselectivity of intramolecular
Friedel-Crafts acylation of indoles.
Sept 07:
Long-time
Fillion Group member Julie gave a great talk in defense of her Master’s thesis
and received a well-deserved M.Sc. Luckily for us, she has not left us
completely, as she accepted a position just down the hall as coordinator of the
undergrad organic labs. For some of us, that means she’s gone from our
co-worker to our boss!
Julie’s
departure was quickly filled by the arrival of 3 new graduate students! Welcome
back to Alex Zorzitto, who did his CHM 494 with us earlier this year. Stuart
Mahoney joins us from the University of Windsor, and Jarkko Heikkinen has
replaced Seb as the resident European, coming all the way from Finland.
Aug 07:
After
a productive year and half in Canada, our 1st postdoc, Seb, has
returned to France and has taken a position at the Université Joseph Fourier in
Grenoble. Best of luck to him.
Our
paper on a useful method of preparing alkylidene Meldrum’s acids was published
in Tetrahedron Letters! See the publications
page for a link
May 07:
Adam
had such a great time working with Aaron for his 794 that he decided to join
the group for the summer as well (defecting to the other lab to work with
Julie). We’re happy to welcome E-Ting Liao back into the fold for another
summer working with Ash. We are also joined by John Su, a NSERC USRA awardee,
and Lucas Pouthiers who came from France as an exchange student.
April 07:
Congratulations
to Ash and Aaron who both won awards from the GWC2 at this years
annual meeting. Ash was awarded the McNeil Graduate Scholarship for Natural
Products Synthesis (the 2nd group member to win this prize!). Aaron
won the Ph.D Graduate Seminar Prize, as well as the Charles S. Humphrey
Graduate Fellowship.
March 07:
The
35th SOUSCC was held this year at UOIT. Our undergrads Alex, Adam,
Tammy, and James did a great job of presenting their research. We wish them all
good luck and congratulations on completing your B.Sc.
Dec 06:
A
fruitful year for the Fillion Lab (5 papers in 2006) was capped off by the
publication of Vince’s paper on the carbenoid behavior of a tin-palladium
organodimetallic in Organometallics. See the publications
page.
Nov 06:
After
a great talk and a grueling defense, Vince became the 2nd Ph.D to
graduate from the Fillion Lab. Congratulations Vince, and good luck! He will be
joining the lab of Prof. K.C. Nicolaou as a post-doc in January 2007.
Seb
gave a talk about his work on vinylstannane conjugate additions at the 17th
QOMSCOB in London, ON. Ash, Julie, and Aaron presented posters.
Congratulation
to Dr. Fillion, who was awarded an Early Researcher Award from the Government
of Ontario. Learn more about the awards here.
Aaron
and Sylvia’s paper on the construction of tetrahydrofluorenes has been
published in the Journal of Organic Chemistry. See the publications
page.
Ash
and E-Ting’s work on enantioselective 1,6-conjugate additions was published in
Tetrahedron: Asymmetry. See the publications
page.
Sept 06:
We
welcome a new graduate student, Dave Moon, to the group!
There
are 4 undergrads doing their CHM 494 projects in the lab this year: Tammy
Sitler, Alex Zorzitto, Adam Seed, and James Nattress.
June 06:
Congratulations
to Tim and Lauren, who received their B.Sc. degrees this month.
Congratulations
to Aaron, who’s talk at the CSC placed 2nd in the Organic Division
May 06:
Another summer means another crop of slave
labor: Lauren and Tim are continuing their 494 projects, Tammy Sitler has
rejoined us fulltime (but has defected from Aaron to work with Julie) and we
are very pleased to welcome E-Ting Liao to the group.
Aaron closed the 89th CSC conference
with “Domino Reactions of Meldrum’s Acid Alkylidenes Involving Friedel-Crafts
Chemistry”.
April
06:
Congratulations
to Aaron and Julie, who received OGS and OGSST scholarships, respectively.
We’re rich! (sort of)
March
06:
The
Fillion group is happy to welcome its first post-doc, Sebastien Carret!
Sylvia,
Tim, and Lauren presented their CHM 494 projects at the SOUSCC, which was held
at York University.
Congratulations to Ash, who received a prestigious CGS-D award for Sept
2006!! Another NSERC scholarship went to Lauren, who got a PGS-M! Aaron and
Julie are still nervously awaiting news from OGS (fingers crossed).
February
06:
Two in a row! Ash’s paper on enantioselective
conjugate additions to form chiral
benzylic quaternary centers has been published in JACS. There is a link on the publications
page
January
06:
A great start to the new year: our paper on the
synthesis of dihydrocoumarins, chromanones, coumarins and chromones was
published in the first JOC issue of 2006. See the publications
page for a link to the paper.
December
05:
Anna did a fantastic job defending her thesis on Dec 8th. She
is the 3rd Master’s student to graduate from the Fillion lab.
Congratulations Anna!
November
05:
Ash presented a talk, and Vince and Aaron had posters at the 16th
QOMSBOC hosted by McGill University Nov 11-13.
September
05:
Congratulations to
Aaron who received an OGS scholarship for 2005-2006.
The lab is in full swing again and ready to start another semester!
Three undergrads have joined the Fillion Lab to complete their Chem 494
project: Lauren Mercier is back with the group after a year-long absence. The
newcomers are Tim Rasmusson and Sylvia Hogg.
August
2005:
Dan successfully defended his Ph.D thesis on June 21st and
has gone on to post-doctoral studies with Dr. Robert M. Williams at the
University of Colorado in Fort Collins,
CO. Dan is the first Ph.D student to graduate from the Fillion Group and has a
set a high standard for the rest us.
Congratulations to Julie, who was awarded an OGSST scholarship for the
Fall 2005 term.
Vincent will be presenting a talk on “Palladium-Catalyzed Carbon-Carbon
Bond-Forming 1,2-Ligand Migration of Organoalanes”, at the ACS conference in
Washington, DC. The talk is Tuesday, August 30 as part of the Metal-Mediated
Reactions and Syntheses section.
The Fillion group’s first major total synthesis, (±)-Taiwaniaquionol B,
was completed by Dan and accepted for publication in the Journal of the
American Chemical Society. This was published on the Web August 30th
and has since made its way into a recent issue (see Publications page).
June
2005:
Dr. Fillion has been awarded the AstraZeneca
Award in Chemistry in recognition of his contributions
to organic chemistry.
Dan won an award at the 89th CSC in
May
2005:
Two new undergraduates, Neil and Bryan, joined the Fillion lab as NSERC
USRAs for the summer.
April
2005:
Congratulations to Julie for placing 1st in Organic Chemistry
at the Southern Ontario Undergraduates Students Chemistry Conference held at
the
Two well-deserved NSERC scholarships were awarded to members of the
Fillion group: Vincent received a PGS-D2 and Ash accepted a CGS-M.