Chemistry
Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...
at the
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...
, a post he has held since 2008.
Education
Stephan was educated at McMaster University where he was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in 1976 and the
University of Western Ontario
The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by resident ...
where he was awarded a PhD in 1981 for research investigating
enantioselective synthesis
Enantioselective synthesis, also called asymmetric synthesis, is a form of chemical synthesis. It is defined by IUPAC as "a chemical reaction (or reaction sequence) in which one or more new elements of chirality are formed in a substrate molecul ...
supervised by Nicholas C. Payne. Stephan was also a NATO PDF with Dick Holm at Harvard from 1980-1982.
Research and career
Stephan's work uses fundamental studies to develop new methods for producing useful chemical products. He is best known for his work on frustrated Lewis pairs, which has enabled the development of metal-free methods of
hydrogenation
Hydrogenation is a chemical reaction between molecular hydrogen (H2) and another compound or element, usually in the presence of a Catalysis, catalyst such as nickel, palladium or platinum. The process is commonly employed to redox, reduce or S ...
catalysis
Catalysis () is the process of increasing the rate of a chemical reaction by adding a substance known as a catalyst (). Catalysts are not consumed in the reaction and remain unchanged after it. If the reaction is rapid and the catalyst recyc ...
. Stephan has also devised new approaches for the activation of small molecules such as
alkyne
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Acetylene
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Propyne
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1-Butyne
In organic chemistry, an alkyne is an unsaturated hydrocarbon containing at least one carbon—carbon triple bond. The simplest acyclic alkynes with only one triple bond and n ...
s and
olefin
In organic chemistry, an alkene is a hydrocarbon containing a carbon–carbon double bond.
Alkene is often used as synonym of olefin, that is, any hydrocarbon containing one or more double bonds.H. Stephen Stoker (2015): General, Organic, an ...
s. Other highlights include research on compounds that contain both early and late transition elements, and studies of the chemistry of both
zirconium
Zirconium is a chemical element with the symbol Zr and atomic number 40. The name ''zirconium'' is taken from the name of the mineral zircon, the most important source of zirconium. The word is related to Persian '' zargun'' (zircon; ''zar-gun'', ...
–
phosphorus
Phosphorus is a chemical element with the symbol P and atomic number 15. Elemental phosphorus exists in two major forms, white phosphorus and red phosphorus, but because it is highly reactive, phosphorus is never found as a free element on Ear ...
complexes and catalytic phosphorus–phosphorus bonds. In his early career, Stephan's work provided new insights and understanding of ligand design and synthesis for reactivity and catalysis. In the 1980s and 1990s, his work focused on synthesis and applications of "early-late" heterobimetallic complexes, zirconium-phosphorus and titanium-sulfur chemistry. In the mid-1990s, Stephan discovered a new class of olefin polymerization catalysts, that was commercialized in NOVA Chemical's plant in Joffre, Alberta, Canda, the largest solution polymerization plant in the world. This development placed Stephan as one of a handful of chemists worldwide whose fundamental advances have translated to commercial success, widespread use and impact.
Awards and honours
Prof. Stephan has received considerable recognition for his work including the 2001 Alcan Award (top award for Canadian inorganic chemistry). He received an Av Humboldt Foundation Senior Research Award in 2002, the 2003 NSERC Synergy Award, the 2004 Ciapetta Lectureship Award from the North American Catalysis Soc., and the 2005 LeSueur Memorial Award from the Canadian Soc. Chemical Industry, 2005. He was appointed as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2005. Stephan was also appointed to a Canada Research Chair at Windsor in 2005 and in Toronto in 2008 and reappointed in 2015. He has been awarded a Killam Research Fellowship (2009–2011), a re-invitation from the Humboldt Foundation for a Senior Research Award (2011) and the Ludwig Mond Award and Lectureship (Royal Soc. Chemistry UK, 2012), and the 2013 H.M. Tory Medal from the Royal Society of Canada. In 2013, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (London). In 2014, he was elected a Corresponding Member of North-Rhein-Westfalia Academy of the Sciences and Arts (Germany) and was awarded the Applied Catalysis Award (Royal Society of Chemistry, UK), Canadian Green Chemistry, and Engineering Award, and CIC Medal (Chemical Institute of Canada). In 2015, he was a distinguished adjunct professor, at King Abdulaziz University and became only the second chemist to be named an Einstein Visiting Fellow at the Technical University of Berlin for 2016–2019. He was on the Thompson-Reuters "Highly Cited Researcher" in 2014-2019 and was named to the 2015 list of "Most Influential Scientific Minds." In 2019, he was awarded the Steacie Award (Chemical Institute of Canada) and the Polanyi Award from NSERC of Canada. In 2020 he was named Zhedong Scholar Chair Professor at Ningbo University and received a Guggenheim Fellowship from the Guggenheim Foundation and in 2021 he received the Killam Prize in Natural Sciences from the Canada Council for the Arts and a Centenary Prize from the Royal Society of Chemistry in the UK and in 2022 he received the F.A. Cotton Award in Synthetic Inorganic Chemistry from the American Chemical Society.