Cathleen M. Crudden is a Canadian chemist. She is a

Canada Research Chair Canada Research Chair (CRC) is a title given to certain Canadian university research professors by the Canada Research Chairs Program. Program goals The Canada Research Chair program was established in 2000 as a part of the Government of Canada ...

in Metal Organic Chemistry at

Queen's University at Kingston Queen's University at Kingston, commonly known as Queen's University or simply Queen's, is a public university, public research university in Kingston, Ontario, Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Queen's holds more than of land throughout Ontario and ...

. In February 2021, she took up the role of Editor-in-chief at

ACS Catalysis ''ACS Catalysis'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal established in 2011 by the American Chemical Society. The journal covers research on all aspects of heterogeneous, homogeneous, and biocatalysis. The editor-in-chief is Cathleen Crudd ...

Education

Crudden earned a Bachelors of Science at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

in 1989, working with

Mark Lautens Mark Lautens, Order of Canada, OC, (born July 9, 1959) is a Canadian organic chemist and is a University Professor at the University of Toronto and current Chair (officer), Chair of the Chemistry Department. He is known for his involvement in ...

, with whom she went on to complete her master's degree. She moved to

University of Ottawa The University of Ottawa (), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a Official bilingualism in Canada, bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ot ...

for her PhD, working under the supervision of

Howard Alper Howard Alper, (born October 17, 1941) is a Canadian chemist. He is a Professor of Chemistry at the University of Ottawa. He is best known for his research of catalysis in chemistry. Career and research Born in Montreal, Quebec, he received a Bac ...

, which she completed in 1995.

Research and career

Crudden was appointed a

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC; , CRSNG) is the major federal agency responsible for funding natural sciences and engineering research in Canada. NSERC directly funds university professors and students as ...

postdoctoral fellow at

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United States. Established in 1867, it is the f ...

working with

Scott E. Denmark Scott Eric Denmark is an American chemist who is the Reynold C. Fuson Professor of Chemistry at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). Denmark received an S.B. degree from MIT in 1975 and the D.Sc.Tech. degree from ETH Zurich i ...

in 1995. She moved to

University of New Brunswick The University of New Brunswick (UNB) is a public university with two primary campuses in Fredericton and Saint John, New Brunswick. It is the oldest English language, English-language university in Canada, and among the oldest public universiti ...

in 1996 where she started her own research group. In 2002, she was appointed a Queen's National Scholar and moved her research lab to Kingston, Ontario. Crudden was the first to identify an enantiospecific Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling reaction of chiral boranes. In 2014 she designed more stable nitrogen-based

self-assembled monolayer Self-assembled monolayers (SAM) are assemblies of organic molecules that form spontaneously on surfaces by adsorption and organize themselves into more or less distinct domains (head group, chain/backbone, and tail/end group). In some cases, mole ...

treatments for metal surfaces. The

N-heterocyclic carbene A persistent carbene (also known as stable carbene) is an organic molecule whose natural resonance structure has a carbon atom with octet rule, incomplete octet (a carbene), but does not exhibit the tremendous instability typically associated with ...

s can be used in a range of applications, including biosensors. Her interests lie in

hydroboration In organic chemistry, hydroboration refers to the addition of a hydrogen-boron bond to certain double and triple bonds involving carbon (, , , and ). This chemical reaction is useful in the organic synthesis of organic compounds. Hydroboration ...

organometallic chemistry Organometallic chemistry is the study of organometallic compounds, chemical compounds containing at least one chemical bond between a carbon atom of an organic molecule and a metal, including alkali, alkaline earth, and transition metals, and so ...

chiral Chirality () is a property of asymmetry important in several branches of science. The word ''chirality'' is derived from the Greek language, Greek (''kheir''), "hand", a familiar chiral object. An object or a system is ''chiral'' if it is dist ...

materials and

persistent carbene A persistent carbene (also known as stable carbene) is an organic molecule whose natural resonance structure has a carbon atom with octet rule, incomplete octet (a carbene), but does not exhibit the tremendous instability typically associated with ...

s. In 2010 Crudden became head of a

CREATE award in

materials, worth $1.6 million. She became President of the Canadian Society of Chemistry. In 2015, as Principal Investigator of a group of ten collaborators, Crudden was awarded $8.8 million from the Canada Foundation for Innovation for major infrastructure purchases. She won the Queen's University Research Opportunities Fund, which she used to create inexpensive, sensitive biosensors. Her group prepares carbon-based ligands for metal surfaces, which can be used as sensing systems based on surface plasmon resonance. In 2016, she and Dr. Suning Wang held a trilateral Canada-Japan-Germany symposium at Queen's looking at ''Elements Functions for Transformative Catalysis and Materials''. Crudden is a joint Professor at the Institute of Transformative Bio-Molecules, based out of

Nagoya University , abbreviated to or NU, is a Japanese national research university located in Chikusa-ku, Nagoya. It was established in 1939 as the last of the nine Imperial Universities in the then Empire of Japan, and is now a Designated National Universit ...

in Japan, where she runs a satellite lab. She is one of only four international collaborators at this Institute. She was recognised as having made the most distinguished contribution to the field of catalysis by the

Chemical Institute of Canada The Chemical Institute of Canada is a Canadian professional umbrella organization for researchers and professionals in the field of chemistry. It was founded in 1921 as the Canadian Institute of Chemistry until it merged with other groups in 1945 ...

in 2018, when they awarded her the Catalysis Award. Crudden also often comments on developments in the field of organic chemistry in various media outlets.

Awards

* 2022 Alfred Bader Award * 2020

Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; , SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities, and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bilingual council of distinguishe ...

* 2019 Montreal Medal * 2019

American Chemical Society The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 155,000 members at all ...

Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award * 2018 Queen's University prize for ''Excellence in Research'' * 2018

Catalysis Award * 2018 Precious Metal Institute Carol Tyler Award * 2017

Canadian Society for Chemistry The Chemical Institute of Canada is a Canadian professional umbrella organization for researchers and professionals in the field of chemistry. It was founded in 1921 as the Canadian Institute of Chemistry until it merged with other groups in 1945 ...

R.U. Lemieux Award

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crudden, Cathleen Living people Canadian women chemists Organic chemists University of Toronto alumni University of Ottawa alumni Scientists from Belfast Emigrants from Northern Ireland to Canada 20th-century Canadian chemists 20th-century Canadian women scientists 21st-century Canadian chemists 21st-century Canadian women scientists Canada Research Chairs Year of birth missing (living people)