News

Chemistry graduate students smash their study stress away in “destructive therapy” sessions.

In-house glassblower Brian Ditchburn invites chemistry graduate students to his workshop to release tension by crushing unsalvageable glass lab equipment.

“Whether they’re behind or exams or their chemistry is not going as well as they want, it gives them a chance to release that stress by breaking something that looks expensive but is not,” said Ditchburn, who has an open door policy...

Congratulations to Raksha Kandel (PhD student in the MacLachlan group) for her communication as a VIP (Very Important Paper) in Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.! 

For this work, Raksha constructed a rotaxane where a platinum-containing macrocycle is threaded onto a molecular axle. When the platinum centre is oxidized, the rotation dynamics of the molecule are affected. When the molecule is oxidized to platinum(III), in particular,...

Readily available thermoelectric generators operating under modest temperature differences can power CO2 conversion, according to a proof-of-concept study by chemists at the University of British Columbia (UBC).

The findings open up the intriguing possibility that the temperature differentials encountered in an array of environments—from a typical geothermal installation on Earth to the cold, desolate surface of Mars—could power the conversion of CO2 into a range of useful fuels and...

Imagine a world where you don’t need to constantly sanitize your hands after touching surfaces, like during the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s exactly the problem Postdoctoral Fellow Saeed Ataie (Schafer group), set out to solve.

Polyethylene, the world’s most commonly used plastic, covers everything from tables to door handles. In the study, Ataie and researches found a way to improve this plastic by adding special nitrogen-...

An asteroid has helped researchers discover the largest molecule ever detected by radioastronomy, and the third-largest identified in space.

Dr. Ilsa Cooke, assistant professor in the UBC department of chemistry, has co-authored the discovery which was published today in Science. The discovery, which is co-senior authored by Dr. Brett...

The Department of Chemistry welcomes new Adjunct Professor, Hua Yang. Dr. Yang is currently a research scientist at TRIUMF and is interested in developing new and improved radiopharmaceuticals to image and treat cancers.

Welcome Dr. Yang!

What is wildfire smoke made of and why is it harmful to humans?

Wildfire smoke composition varies depending on factors like the type of fuel and whether the fire is smoldering or flaming, says UBC Chemistry Assistant Professor Dr. Nadine Borduas-Dedekind. The smoke can contain oxygenated organic molecules, carcinogenic polyaromatic hydrocarbons, trace metals, and more.

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A new publication in Nature from the lab of Dr. Stephen Withers (Department of Chemistry, Associate Member of the Michael Smith Laboratories), led by graduate researcher Seyed Amir Nasseri, is a reminder that there are always new discoveries to be made in science. In this latest study, Nasseri discovered a new and distinct pathway through which gut bacteria break down the linkages found in carbohydrates...

The Department of Chemistry is pleased to announce Dr. Laurel Schafer as our new Head. Dr. Schafer’s research group develops new catalytic methods which minimize waste to result in sustainable methods for chemical transformations. She has served as the Associate Head, Research since 2016 and is the first woman to be appointed as Head of the UBC Chemistry Department.