Background
Doctor Keith Fagnou was born on June 27, 1971 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
Doctor Keith Fagnou was born on June 27, 1971 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
Fagnou, a former naval reserve officer, pursued studies at the University of Saskatchewan and received a Bachelor of Education (Bachelor of Education) in 1995. Degree, and in 2002 his Doctor of Philosophy 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 Doctor of Philosophy, he joined the faculty at the University of Ottawa as an assistant professor and in 2007 was promoted to associate professor with tenure and awarded a University of Ottawa Research Chair in the Development of Novel Catalytic Transformations.
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. After teaching at the high school level for a short period, he continued his studies in chemistry at the University of Toronto in 1998 under the supervision of Mark Lautens. In 2000 he received his Master of Science
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 and pyridine North-oxide. His contributions in the field were rewarded with numerous awards and have been included in reviews published on the subject.
Doctor Keith Fagnou died of complications resulting from a H1N1 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 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.
Rutherford Memorial Medal (2009) OMCOS Award (2009) Sloan Research Fellowship (2008) Merck Process Award (2008) Eli Lilly Grantee (2007–2009) Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council 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 Award in Chemistry (2003).
Members of his research group are sometimes referred to as "The Fagnou Factory". The members of his research group also organized a symposium (KFOS) in his honour which was held May 5–7, 2010.
