Keith Fagnou (June 27, 1971 – November 11, 2009) was a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

organic chemist Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the science, scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic matter, organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain ...

and studied education and was a professor of chemistry at

University of Saskatchewan The University of Saskatchewan (U of S, or USask) is a Universities in Canada, Canadian public university, public research university, founded on March 19, 1907, and located on the east side of the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon, Saskatch ...

and associate professor of

organic chemistry Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the science, scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic matter, organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain ...

at the

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 ...

. His research focused on developing new reactions that avoid unnecessary activation of substrates and that can instead directly functionalize C–H bonds of simple molecules and introduce C–C bonds.

Biography

Dr. Keith Fagnou was born on June 27, 1971, in

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Hig ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

. Fagnou, a former naval reserve officer, pursued studies at the University of Saskatchewan and received a Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) in 1995. After teaching at the high school level for a short period, he continued his studies in chemistry 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 1998 under the supervision of Mark Lautens. In 2000 he received his M.Sc. degree, and in 2002 his Ph.D. Professor Lautens said that Keith "was exceptionally bright and exceptionally down-to-earth and was the most productive person, in the history of his research group." After his PhD, he joined the faculty at the

as an

assistant professor Assistant professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States, Canada, Japan, and South Korea. Overview This position is generally taken after earning a doct ...

and in 2007 was promoted to

associate professor Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''. In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a position ...

with

tenure Tenure is a type of academic appointment that protects its holder from being fired or laid off except for cause, or under extraordinary circumstances such as financial exigency or program discontinuation. Academic tenure originated in the United ...

and awarded a University of Ottawa Research Chair in the Development of Novel

Catalytic Catalysis () is the increase in reaction rate, rate of a chemical reaction due to an added substance known as a catalyst (). Catalysts are not consumed by the reaction and remain unchanged after it. If the reaction is rapid and the catalyst ...

Transformations. While at the University of Ottawa, he established a research program primarily devoted to the development of novel "direct arylation" reactions which allow for the rapid synthesis of important building blocks in medicinal chemistry. Of note, the development of direct arylation of

benzene Benzene is an Organic compound, organic chemical compound with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecular formula C6H6. The benzene molecule is composed of six carbon atoms joined in a planar hexagonal Ring (chemistry), ring with one hyd ...

and pyridine N-oxide. Members of his research group are sometimes referred to as "The Fagnou Factory". His contributions in the field were rewarded with numerous awards and have been included in reviews published on the subject. Dr. Keith Fagnou died of complications resulting from a

H1N1 Influenza A virus subtype H1N1 (A/H1N1) is a subtype of influenza A virus (IAV). Some human-adapted strains of H1N1 are endemic in humans and are one cause of seasonal influenza (flu). Other strains of H1N1 are endemic in pigs ( swine influen ...

influenza infection on November 11, 2009, at the age of 38. The University of Ottawa established the "Keith Fagnou Scholarship in Science" in his memory. The members of his research group also organized a symposium (KFOS) in his honour which was held May 5–7, 2010. The Pacifichem chemistry conference also held a memorial symposium titled "C-H Functionalization, Memorial Symposium for Professor Keith Fagnou". In 2011, Keith was recognized as the #77 chemist in the world over the period 2000-2010 on the basis of citations per paper, according to Thomson-Reuters' Sciencewatch.com."Top 100 Chemists, 2000-2010
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Awards

Rutherford Memorial Medal The Rutherford Memorial Medal is an award for research in the fields of physics and chemistry by the Royal Society of Canada. It was dedicated to the memory of Ernest Rutherford Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson (30 August ...

(2009) *OMCOS Award (2009) *Sloan Research Fellowship (2008) *Merck Process Award (2008) *Eli Lilly Grantee (2007–2009) *NSERC Discovery Accelerator Supplement Award (2007–2009) *Amgen Young Investigator's Award (2007) *Astra Zeneca Award for Chemistry (2007) *University of Ottawa Research Chair in Novel Catalytic Transformations (2007–2012) *Merck Process Research Award (2007) *University of Ottawa Young Researcher of the Year (2006) *Ichikizaki Travel Grant Award (2006) *Boehringer Ingelheim Young Investigator Award in Organic Chemistry (2005) *Cottrell Scholar Award (2005) *Ichikizaki Travel Grant Award (2005) *Premier's Research Excellence Award (2003) *

John C. Polanyi John Charles Polanyi (; born 23 January 1929) is a German-born Canadian chemist. He was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his research in chemical kinetics. Polanyi was born into the prominent Hungarian Polányi (Pollacsek) fami ...

Award in Chemistry (2003)

References

External links

Fagnou Research Group
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fagnou, Keith 1971 births 2009 deaths Organic chemists Canadian chemists Scientists from Saskatchewan People from Saskatoon University of Saskatchewan alumni Academic staff of the University of Ottawa University of Toronto alumni 20th-century Canadian scientists 21st-century Canadian scientists