Organization:University of Toronto Department of Chemistry

Short description: Academic department at the University of Toronto

Department of Chemistry

Type	Academic department
Established	1843 (1843)
Parent institution	Faculty of Arts and Science University of Toronto
Chair	Robert Batey
Academic staff	99
Location	Toronto , Ontario , Canada
Website	chemistry.utoronto.ca

The University of Toronto Department of Chemistry, established in 1843, is an administrative unit within the Faculty of Arts and Science.

History

In 1843, Henry Croft arrived from England to become the first professor of chemistry and experimental philosophy at the University of King’s College (which is now known as the University of Toronto). In 1849, Croft resided in the first purpose built chemistry laboratory in Canada in the "Round Room", now known as the Croft Chapter House.

The Senate officially renamed the Chair of Chemistry and Experimental Philosophy to be known as the Department of Chemistry in 1880.

After 1894, the department moved from the Old Chemistry Building to the Wallberg Building, before finally moving to the Lash Miller Laboratories in 1964, which is where the department resides today.

In 1986, Professor John Polanyi became the first faculty member in the department to win the Nobel Prize in chemistry. He, along with Professor Dudley R. Herschbach of Harvard University and Professor Yuan T. Lee of UC Berkeley were recognized for "their contributions concerning the dynamics of chemical elementary processes."

Scientific discoveries

Brook Rearrangement

In the late 1950s, Adrian Brook discovered a rearrangement reaction in organosilicon chemistry that was later named the Brook rearrangement. He also synthesized the first stable compounds containing silicon-carbon double bonds.

Photodegradable Plastics

While attempting to create polymers that were less resistant to ultraviolet rays from the sun, Jim Guillet discovered, through a Norrish reaction, a process for making plastics (such as foam coffee cups and fast food clam-shell containers) decompose in sunlight.

Frustrated Lewis Pairs

Douglas Stephan is the pioneer of the Frustrated Lewis pair, a compound or mixture containing a Lewis acid and a Lewis base that cannot combine to form a classical adduct. They have many uses in small molecule activation, catalysis and carbon capture.

Research

The department has eight research divisions

• Analytical Chemistry
• Biological and Organic Chemistry
• Chemical Physics
• Environmental Chemistry
• Inorganic Chemistry
• Physical Chemistry
• Polymer and Materials Chemistry

Ranking

The Department of Chemistry at the University of Toronto consistently ranks among the highest in the world. In 2020, the University of Toronto was ranked first in Canada (and 18th worldwide) in the subject of Chemistry by the QS World University Rankings.

Research Faculty

There are 53 research faculty members with primary appointments to the department of chemistry. These include:

• Jonathan Abbatt
• Alán Aspuru-Guzik
• Rebecca Jockusch
• Eugenia Kumacheva
• Mark Lautens
• R. J. Dwayne Miller
• Geoffrey Ozin
• John Polanyi
• Douglas Stephan

Notable Alumni

• Robert Ackman
• Clara Benson
• Walter Dorn