Nobel laureate Richard Schrock to give Carty Lecture at Waterloo

WATERLOO - Nobel laureate Richard Schrock will give an open academic talk on the latest breakthroughs in chemistry as part of the Arthur J. Carty Lectureship on Tuesday, May 18.

Schrock, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, shared the 2005 Nobel Prize in chemistry for his work in the area of olefin metathesis, a technique that has become very important in the synthesis of pharmaceuticals and polymers.

Schrock will give a lecture entitled The Third Generation: Thousands of New Catalysts for Olefin Metathesis. It will describe recent research results in this area.

The Arthur J. Carty Lectureship was established by distinguished professor emeritus Francis W. Karasek to honour Arthur J. Carty, a former chair of the Waterloo chemistry department and the current executive director of the Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology.

“We are very pleased to welcome Nobel laureate Richard Schrock to our campus, where he will share his advanced knowledge of chemistry with faculty, staff and students,” said Carty. “Now in its fourth year, the Arthur J. Carty lectureship continues to attract prominent individuals who possess a variety of scientific expertise.”

Schrock was the first to explain the structure and mechanism of the so-called "black box" olefin metathesis catalysts. His work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has led to a detailed understanding of a group of molybdenum alkylidenes and alkylidynes, which are active olefin and alkyne metathesis catalysts, respectively.

Next week's event is hosted by the faculty of science and will be held in the William G. Davis Computer Research Centre, room 1350. The lecture on Tuesday begins at 3 p.m. and will be followed by a reception.

Admission is free and all are welcome. Parking will be available at lots M and N for $3 on entrance.

To register, please RSVP to scienceevents@uwaterloo.ca.