Prof. Laurel Schafer

Poster for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. #OrangeShirtDay Symbol in the middle that says Every Child Matters

At this most horrible moment in our world's history, I'm going to take a moment to remember our past atrocities.

Great news! Congratulations to you both!! #PhDone ##ProudSupervisor

Monthly reminder: Many people have a book in them, but it takes a special kind of freak to leave the Land of Laziness, cross the Plains of Procrastination and Insecurity Mountain, find the Blade of No One Made You Do This, and use it to cut your chest open and yank that book out.

Check out the hotel deals - and I just got a great price on a return flight to Honolulu!! #Pacifchem2025

At #Pacifichem2025 innovation knows no borders.

Join us, as we work together to solve the most pressing challenges facing the world of chemistry: pacifichem.org/attend/

Hope to see you in Hawaii!! 🇨🇦 Is the host country and we welcome you!!

Thanks for the opportunity to connect with global OM colleagues at this European event! Great science thanks to @swisschemistry.bsky.social, @evaheviagroup.bsky.social & Martin Albrecht! #EuroCupBern

Great wrap-up presentation Cam!! Such a wonderful assembly of catalysis and selective organic synthesis. #ProudSupervisor 🙂

May is Asian, Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month! It's a time to recognize the history and contributions of these groups.

How have you celebrated Asian, Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month? #Pacifichem2025

What a win!! Such fun - Go Jets!! @winnipegjets.com #WhiteOut

What a goal!! @winnipegjets.com #WhiteOut

Did you know that Ernest Rutherford – one of the pioneers of atomic and nuclear physics – was from New Zealand? In fact, he was the first Oceanian to win the Nobel!

While he spent his later career in England, the work that led to his Nobel Prize was conducted in Canada!

#Pacifichem2025

Thanks to everyone who has submitted abstracts for #Pacifichem2025! We have already received well over 10,000 abstracts!

Submissions close April 16 - check our website for more information: pacifichem.org/scientific-p...

Tomorrow's the last day! Come to beautiful Hawaii - central to the Pacific Rim and far from DC!! Canada 🇨🇦 is the host country of Pacifchem 2025 and we welcome you!! #SubmitAbstracts

Last call for abstracts for #Pacifichem2025! Get all your information in before 23:59 Hawaii time on April 16th.
More details: brnw.ch/21wS0qL

Regioselective Hydroaminoalkylation with Silylated Alkenes for β-Amino Acid Synthesis Catalyst and substrate steric and electronic features that influence regioselectivity in hydroaminoalkylation were leveraged to develop a synthetic approach for the selective synthesis of β-amino acids. An in situ generated tantalum-ureate catalyst was used to prepare 18 γ-silylated amines in up to 93% yield from internal silylated alkenes. β-Amino silane regioisomer production was rarely observed, making this work one of the few examples of highly regioselective hydroaminoalkylation with unsymmetric internal alkenes. These γ-amino silanes were converted to γ-amino alcohols with a modified Tamao–Fleming oxidation strategy followed by two additional steps to prepare β-amino acids, including a key fragment of the anticancer drug candidate Ipatasertib.

Congrats to Max Thompson and team, who show that highly functionalized small molecules can be assembled using hydroaminoalkylation. Insights into catalyst and substrate control. A lesson in patience and persistence - his 1st paper, a 1st author JACS!! 🔥🔥 pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

So excited to learn that alumni, faculty and departmental friends are giving generously to support the excellence of our students. Many thanks for your contributions to this new summer research award!

What a great day to celebrate the achievements of our outstanding alumni!! Thanks to all for attending!

Whenever you hear someone sneer about scientific research that seems useless to them — “they’re studying the spit of lizards?!” — remind them that’s exactly how we got Ozempic.

globalnews.ca/news/9793403...

was talking to my therapist about how i feel a little ashamed to not be well educated, informed, or insightful enough to have opinions on a lot of things that matter and she’s like… maybe you shouldn’t compare yourself to people who don’t know anything and overconfidently express bad takes anyways

The comic that got us demonetised on Facebook back in August. (We’re no longer on Facebook).

Happy New Year

Now head of department - little flexible time it seems, but these past few days, my Christmas gift to myself has been to checkout journal websites to enjoy new chemistry that is not related to our program. #ChristmasTreats!

"One of the great tragedies of mankind is that morality has been hijacked by religion. So now people assume that religion and morality have a necessary connection. But the basis of morality is really very simple and doesn't require religion at all."

Arthur C. Clarke

Next stop, @ubcchem.bsky.social , with my excellent host David Perrin! Amazing to see @coreystephenson.bsky.social and Corinna Schindler in Canada! Caught up with new chair @laurelschafer.bsky.social and @nadineborduas.bsky.social . Finally met Eva Nichols and @ilsastellar.bsky.social

Congratulations to @bnadeau.bsky.social for an excellent PhD thesis defense and discussion. Thanks to Sam Johnson as external examiner, Suzana Straus, @coreystephenson.bsky.social @jasonhein.bsky.social for the insightful questioning. Great to shared moment @jenlove.bsky.social #ProudSupervisors

Rosie’s an amazing Scientist and great mentor! This a great opportunity to learn some highly innovative chemistry! #ChemSky #organometallics

Scientists, academics, researchers: We’re excited to share that @altmetric.com is now tracking mentions of your research on Bluesky! 🧪

It was a great day!