The Current Team "The Muppets"

Jarrett Hanearin-Balczer

Jarrett Hanearin-Balczer as of 2024 is a chemistry major in his fourth year at Mount Royal University. He did Judo for most of his life and enjoys listening to music and playing guitar. He wants to do environmental related chemistry experiments and potentially get into the pharmaceutical industry.

Recently, Jarrett completed an independent research project and presented the work as a poster at MRU research day, secured the FST Student Research Assistantship for the Summer of 2024, and is volunteering at a local pharmacy.

Kieran Mounce-McKinney

Kieran is in his third year of chemistry at Mount Royal and is very excited to have joined the team thanks to the FST student research assistantship. His passions for chemical synthesis inspire him to pursue a career in developing novel compounds and materials.

In his free time, Kieran enjoys playing Dungeons and Dragons with his friends, playing games with family, swimming, and reading fantasy novels.

Past Muppets

Irish Casue Fall 2022 - Spring 2024
Krizel Quiros Fall 2022 - Spring 2024
Emily Trew Fall 2022 - Spring 2024 Grad School, University of Lethbridge, Prof. Paul Hayes
Maliha Farooq Spring 2023 - Spring 2024
Liza Zamani Spring 2023 - Fall 2023
Tigist Tilahun Spring 2023 - Fall 2023 Grad School, University of Ottawa, Prof. Jaclyn Brusso

The Current Projects

Ligand Synthesis and Catalysis

This project involves the design and synthesis of asymmetric ligands containing the triazole functional group. These ligands are synthesized via the "Click" reaction, a simple yet effective way to combine two organic fragments, one bearing an azide, the other a terminal alkyne.

The aim is to use these ligands to generate catalysts that can be easily altered during their synthesis, exploring the differing electronics and steric bulk brought in by either starting material (the azide or the alkyne).

The complexes efficacy in ring-opening polymerization and asymmetric catalysis is being tested for use in generating biodegradable polymers and a more reliable route to organic targets.

Natural Products

There is a strong push to sustainable organometallics. Our contribution is to use naturally sourced bioactive compounds. Natural products!

The compounds that nature has produced for us are already unique and active compounds, so why not use them as ligands?

Our current research has been using cannabinoids as a source of naturally derived starting materials and we are looking at hallucinogenic mushrooms as a rich source of novel compounds that could be turned into ligands.

This project has been an exciting area for students to being their research journey!

Anything goes!

Those with the Webb Research Group are enthusiastic to be involved with anyone who is passionate about chemistry. Here, we believe collaborations and working together are the way to achieve greatness in science.

If you are a collaborator who wants some synthetic research conducted, we are are here for your needs. If you are a student who has a project that involves chemistry, we want to assist in anyway possible. Be it material science to synthetic chemistry, we would love to hear from you!

Research and Team Updates

Convocation - 14th June 2024

It was bitter sweet to be on stage and be with so many students I have taught and had in the group as they receive their degrees. They are all off to bigger and better things but that doesn't make it any less difficult to say goodbye. Emily, Krizel, Irish, Maliha, and Liza were all graduating from the group this year.

Luckily I was able to get a few final photos before they go off into the big scary world (Emily, Krizel, and Liza pictured)

The staff is not included in my regalia, but if I am going to look like a wizard I might as well go all in.

Congratulations to all the graduating students of 2024!

CSC2024 Winnipeg - 2nd-7th June

Not just an observer this CSC! I gave a talk in the "Waving the Green Flag" symposium to share the approach the research program is taking towards more sustainable organometallic chemistry and Emily gave a talk (pictured) about the work the group has been doing in the Ligand Design symposium, emphasizing all the contributions she has made - a great victory lap before she graduates and leaves for grad school :'(

A small group of us attended the conference, including, left to right in top left picture: Dr. Karen Ho (pictured with her son), Dr. Webb, Yen Luong, Michael De Los Santos (both are Karen's students, they did a joint poster presentation), The Emily Trew, and Caden Albright (Dr. Jeella Acedo's student). Missing is Aidan Surcon (included in the top right photo, Dr. John Chik's student). A diverse group this time round and lots of student presentations. Me and MRU are proud of you all for traveling and presenting this CSC!

Several of us went and enjoyed the sights of Winnipeg, including The Leaf botanical gardens (butterflies were a welcomed surprise), the Canadian Mint, and Forks Market. Loads of fun overall, I was happy to be the unofficial CSC guide for the MRU students.

Group Outing - 19th April 2024

The second annual outing for the group, most of us taking the bus together. Another escape room, but this time we completed "Kings of Cocaine" at Escape60. There wasn't a leader board this time, but a good time was had, including some chemistry themed drinks!

From left to right in the celebration picture: Maliha, Irish (sitting), Emily, Dr. Webb, Jarrett, Krizel (sittting)

Some extra socializing afterwards for those that were available at Best of Kin where Liza joined us (the table was for 7 people, but only 5 came...), great to see her again after she finished all her coursework in the Fall of 2023.

A nice way to finish off the semester before so many of the group graduate (leaving poor Jarrett behind) A busy but productive semester, as always.

Looking forward to a break in the Spring before convocation in June!

Winter Semester Recap - 2024

A whirlwind of a semester! It was difficult to get research done with how busy we all were!

The first MRU Research Day (27th of March) featuring students from the Webb lab. Jarrett presenting work from his CHEM5201 - Independent Research project from the semester and Emily showing off all the ligand synthesis she has done including the three crystal structures she obtained with the aid of Prof. René T. Boeré at the University of Lethbridge. Emily will be presenting, along with myself at CSC2024 in Winnipeg this June!

Emily has even been accepted to graduate school down at the University of Lethbridge, how fitting given all her success over the past year.

Jarrett, along with Kieran (a new lab member, to be included over the Summer) secured the FST Student Research Award so they will both be paid to conduct research over the Summer and Fall months. Awesome work both of you! How rare it is to get 2 students for such a competitive award.

Krizel & Maliha had been busy with me, designing the new CHEM4411 - Organometallics lab component, including a complete synthesis and purification of ferrocene. Such beautiful crystals after sublimation!

Ashpreet joined as a directed reading student (under the CHEM4299 course) and presented some very cool literature on hallucinogenic mushrooms, I wonder what kind of natural products I am interested in... ?

Also, I am getting married in May, and the department put on a small celebration for me (cake pictured above) before the semester came to an end, thankfully there are limited recent public photos of me for them to use...

So many of the current team will be graduating come June, tears will be shed! But, I am glad I got such a productive team for the first two years of my time at MRU

End of Fall Semester - 2023

Moments before Irish Casue gives her CHEM5201 - Independent Research presentation!

A lot of nerves, but a lot of good moments from this work marking the beginning of natural products being used in the Webb lab! Congrats Irish!

Fall Semester - 2023

A fruitful semester with Emily obtaining several crystal structures with help of our new collaborator, Prof. René T. Boeré at the University of Lethbridge. One the structures is presented above, the research groups first organometallic compound! Hopefully the first of many! The other structures were various ligands we have been working with.

I was given associated status with the School of Graduate Studies down at the University of Lethbridge. This opens up the door for many collaborations, student supervision, and guest lecturing. It is great to be working with familiar faces again.

Students Tigist Tilahun and Liza Zamani joined the group for the semester, conducting some ground breaking work on the natural product project (more to come on this in the new year). Unfortunately time with Tigist was short lived as she will be moving for her graduate studies, good luck Tigist! Hope my reference letters helped!

Maliha & Krizel managed to work through many of the new undergraduate experiments, and Irish worked on her CHEM5201 course material. Jarrett aided in many of the above research projects, but a busy semester was had by all and figuring out schedules was definitely a challenge.

Too many students, and not enough time but lots of exciting work is being conducted here and there are more collaborations with Lethbridge to come. We are looking forward to the CSC in Winnipeg, many of the students are excited to join this time round.

CSC2023 Vancouver - 4th-8th June 2023

A fantastic time in Vancouver, British Colombia, for the Canadian Chemistry Conference and Exhibition (CSC2023).

Sunny weather prompted a group to hike up Grouse Mountain (with chemistry education researchers, including, Prof. McCollum, his student Tejas, Dr. Pullen, Dr. Graulich, and Prof. McNeil) before heading back to actually attend some symposia.

A late night out with the Acedo group following the Organic Mixer, along with Dr. Acedo's students Zafina and Jenna, and fellow MRU student Michael (pictured top left).

In-between talks, time was spent catching up with fellow researchers from around the country, including a close friend Edward Hsiang, being introduced by Prof. Kozak, presenting some of his PhD work.

Looking forward to more conferences where I can represent MRU in the future!

Convocation - 2nd June 2023

From left to right: Dr. Chik, Ciara Spaan, Dr. Webb, Prof. Ackroyd, Dr. Slawinski, Dr. Sadiq, Jhoseling Garcia, Dr. Diaz-Avila, and Dr. Kapocsi-Kiss

It was great to be on stage for convocation this time around, rather than being the one walking across. A great turnout from the department of chemistry and physics, not all of which were in the above photos. I look forward to seeing more and more familiar faces crossing the stage in the future.

Congrats to all the grads!

RA Pizza Lunch - 18th May 2023

From left to right in both pictures: Maliha, Irish, Dr. Webb, and Jarrett

To celebrate students sticking around over the spring semester to do some research, and those who have research assistantship positions, MRU put together an informal pizza lunch for everyone. This way, we all know who could be around the research space and no one would be strangers!

We grabbed a quick photo of those in the group who attended. Maliha is the new addition to the group, she had been testing out the new experiments for the inorganic labs in the Fall. We all tried to pose and remain stoic, like Jarrett, in the left photo. Both were taken outside the chemistry study room, where students are typically found.

Group Outing - 25th April 2023

From let to right in both pictures: Irish, Krizel, Dr. Webb, Emily, and Jarrett

The first outing for the group at Exit Calgary. We successfully completed the escape room "A Wizard's Curse" and got on the leader board! The promise of "appetizers paid for if we were successful" was uphold at Porch on 17th avenue along with a few cocktails to celebrate a productive semester.

Earlier in the month, Emily was awarded the Faculty of Science and Technology award to be a Student Research Assistant over the Spring and Summer semesters. A huge congratulations to Emily, looking forward to the awesome research we will do over the Spring and Summer!