Undergraduate Research

Over the last 22 years, there have been many undergraduates participating in the research that takes place in our group.  Below is a summary of the projects they have worked on.  I have highlighted the undergraduate co-author where appropriate.

Gas-phase ion dynamics:

  • Samuel Charpentier-St-Pierre (gas-phase chemistry of perfluorinated compounds, 2022-23)

  • Stasa Skorupan, Nathan Comin, Anais Hamelin and Xiao Ma (2021-22 Honours) "Laboratory simulations of atmospheric reactions of aldehydes"

  • S. Overton,  P. Chea,  and P.M. Mayer. Probing fragmentation mechanisms of deprotonated isomaltotriose: charge-remote or charge-directed? Chem. Phys. (in press 2022, September).

  • Daniel Anderson and Helena Charron (URS) "Neutralization-reionization mass spectrometry of PAHs" summer 2021, 2022

  • Callum Blaney (2021 Honours) "Unimolecular reactions of per-hydrogenated PAHs"

  • Yuen Ling Anita Luong, Kian Mansour,  Arpana Wadhwani Summer 2020 "Mass spectrometry of terpenes"

  • Malick Diedhiou*, Jake Burner*, Brandi J. West* and Paul M Mayer**. (2019). Structure Affecting Dissociation Energy in Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Ions. Chem. Phys. Lett, 726, 93-98.

  • Brandi J. West*, Lukas Lesniak* and Paul M. Mayer**. (2019). Why do large ionized polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons not lose C2H2?. J. Phys. Chem. A, 123, 3569-3574. doi:10.1021/acs.jpca.9b01879

  • Lukas Lesniak*, Juana Salas*, Jake Burner*, Malick Diedhiou*, Maxi A Burgos Paci, Andras Bodi** and Paul M Mayer **(2019). Trifluoroacetic Acid and Trifluoroacetic Anhydride Radical Cations Dissociate Near the Ionization Limit. J. Phys. Chem. A. 123, 6313-6318.

  • Jake Burner, * Brandi West* and Paul M Mayer** (2018). What Do We Expect from the Dissociation of Ionized Nitro-Substituted Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in the Interstellar Medium. Int. J. Mass Spectrom, 434, 81-86.

  • West, Brandi; Lowe, Bethany*; Mayer, Paul**. (2018). The unimolecular dissociation of 1-methylpyrene cations: why are 1-methylenepyrene cations formed and not a tropylium-containing ion?. J. Phys. Chem A, 122, 4730–4735. doi:10.1021/acs.jpca.8b02667

  • Brandi West, Sarah Rodriguez Castillo, * Alicia Sit, * Sabria Mohamad, * Bethany Lowe, * Christine Joblin, Andras Bodi and Paul M Mayer**. (2018). Unimolecular Reaction Energies for Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Ions. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys, 20, 7195-7205. doi:10.1039/C7CP07369K

  • S. Rashid, * A. Sit, # B. West* and P.M. Mayer**. (2017). Colliding the hydrocarbon building blocks of astrochemical polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons with 8 keV He+· and H2+· ions: luminescence from methane, acetylene, benzene and naphthalene. Chem. Phys. Lett, 667, 129-136.

  • Burner, Jake*; West, Brandi*; Mayer, Paul**. (2019). What will photo-processing of large, ionized amino-substituted polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons produce in the interstellar medium? J. Phys. Chem. A, 123(24), 5027-5034.

  • J. Halvachizadeh, A. Mungham, and P. M. Mayer “The Dehydrogenation of Alcohols and Hydrocarbons by Atomic Metal Anions” Eur. J. Mass Spectrom 21 (2015)487-495

  • B. West,  A. Sit, A. Bodi, P. Hemberger and P M Mayer,* “Photodissociation of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Fragments: An iPEPICO study of the TPES and Dissociation of Four Substituted Benzene Radical Cations” J. Phys. Chem A. 118 (2014) 11226–11234
  • B. West, A. Sit, S. Mohamed, C. Joblin, V. Blanchet,  A. Bodi, P. M. Mayer,* “Dissociation of the Anthracene Radical Cation:  A Comparative Look at iPEPICO and Collision-Induced Dissociation Mass Spectrometry Results” J. Phys. Chem A. 118 (2014) 9870–9878
  • J. Renaud, S. Overton and P.M. Mayer*, “Energy and entropy at play in competitive dissociations:  the case of uneven positional dissociation of ionized triacylglycerides”  Int. J. Mass Spectrom. 352 (2013) 77-86.
  • Amanda Comeau 2011 "Exploring non-covalent complexes of peptides and sugars"  Amanda presented the results of her research at the 28th Trent Conference on Mass Spectrometry , August 2011
  • A.N.Comeau, J. B. Renaud, G. G. Mironov, M. V. Berezovski, P. M. Mayer*. “Investigating the relationship between the gas-phase conformations of simple peptide – saccharide complexes and their dissociation energetics” Int. J. Mass Spectrom.316-318 (2012) 31-39.  (special issue in honour of Alex Harrison).
  • S. Curtis, J. DiMuzio, A. Mungham, J. Roy, D. Hassan, J. Renaud and P. M Mayer*, “Reactions of Atomic Metal Anions in the Gas Phase: Competition between Electron Transfer, Proton Abstraction and Bond Activation” J. Phys Chem A.48 (2011)14006–14012
  • Alex Mungham 2011 "Reactions of Bare Metal Anions"  Alex presented the results of his research at the 28th Trent Conference on Mass Spectrometry , August 2011.
  • Julie Roy 2011 "Reactions of Bare Metal Anions"  
  • Dhiya Hassan  2011 "Generating Bare Metal Anions in the Gas Phase".  Dhiya presented the results of his research at the 28th Trent Conference on Mass Spectrometry , August 2011.S. Curtis, J. DiMuzio, A. Mungham, J. Roy, D. Hassan, J. Renaud and P. M Mayer*, “Reactions of Atomic Metal Anions in the Gas Phase: Competition between Electron Transfer, Proton Abstraction and Bond Activation” J. Phys Chem A. 48 (2011) 14006–14012.

Computational Chemistry:

  • C. Poon and P.M. Mayer, "Electron spin and methyl-substitution effects on bonds in closed and open-shell systems: A G3 ab initio study of small boron-containing molecules and radicals" Can. J. Chem. 80 (2002) 25-30. This project was based on summer research.
  • Janeen Auld 2001 "Molecular Mechanics/Molecular Dynamics Simulations to model Polymer ion conformations in the gas phase" Summer research. J. Casey, A. Alhazmi and P.M. Mayer,* “Conformation effects on the dissociation of ionized polymers” Euro J. Mass Spectrom. 11 (2005) 557-563

Analytical Chemistry:

  • Nicole St. Aubin, Kaitlyn Jang, Eelana Surendran (2022-23); Sreejita Das, Joseph Thottungal, Johanes Utami, Dan Taylor (summer 2022) have been advancing a new research program in the chemical analysis of natural products, notably plant hydrosols.  the work involves a variety of extraction methods, sample preparation and GC-MS and LC-MS analysis.
  • Jenna Hamilton 2012 (Honours research project) J. V. Hamilton, J. B. Renaud and P. M. Mayer,* “Experiment and Theory Combine to Produce a Practical Negative Ion Calibration Set for Collision Cross-Section Determinations by Traveling Wave Ion Mobility Mass Spectrometry” Rapid Commun Mass Spectrom. accepted 4 May 2012.
  • Abid Ismail 2009 “Characterizing molecular components of biofuels derived from biowaste conversion” (summer 2009).
  • Jonathan Fafard 2008/9 “Characterizing molecular components of biofuels derived from biowaste conversion” (Honours thesis)
  • Justin Renaud 2008 “Protonating polymers to enhance sequencing information” (summer research) J. Renaud, A. M. Alhazmi and P. M. Mayer*, “Comparing the fragmentation chemistry of gas-phase adducts of poly(dimethylsiloxane) oligomers with metal and organic ions” Can. J. Chem. 87 (2009) 453-459.
  • Didier Savard 2008 “Strategies for using ESI-MS for air and water-sensitive catalysts” (Honour’s Thesis)
  • Andrew Stewart 2007 “Modifying polymer ion fragmentation by forming amino acid adducts” (summer research)
  • Laura Vanier 2007 “Analysis of PBDEs near a city landfill” (Honour’s Thesis)
  • Annie Valliere 2007 “Analysis of PAHs near a city landfill” (Honour’s Thesis)
  • Mohammad Qadura 2004 "Interaction of Mercury with DNA methyltransferase" (Honour's Thesis)
  • Erica Rose 2003 " Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers in Vegetation Surrounding the Trail Waste Facility in Nepean, On" (Honour's Thesis)
  • Melanie Titley 2003 " Determination of Total Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers in Foliage by LC-MS using an APCI Interface" (Honour's Thesis)
  • Manon Lavoie 2002 " Identification des complexes de cuivre-chlorophylle dans l'huile d'olive" (Honour's Thesis).
  • Clement Poon 2002 "Peptide Sequencing with Electrospray Mass Spectrometry: A Study of Protonated and in vacuo Methylated N-Terminal Peptides" (Honour's Thesis) [C. Poon, H. Kaplan and P.M. Mayer, "Methylating peptides to prevent adduct ion formation also directs cleavage in CID mass spectrometry", Euro. J. Mass Spectrom. 10 (2004) 39-46.]
  • 2001"PCB analysis near a waste treatment facility in Cornwall, On" (summer research) [C. Poon, I. Gregory-Eaves, L. A. Connell, G. Guillore, P. M. Mayer, J. Ridal and J. M. Blais, "Air-vegetation partitioning of polychlorinated biphenyls near a point source" Environ. Tox. Chem. 24 (2005) 3153-3158.]
  • Danielle Dubien 2001 "Analysis of Poly(methyl methacrylate) by Electrospray Ionization - Triple Quadrupole Mass Spectrometry" (Honour's Thesis)
  • Gaille Guillore 1999 "PCB analysis near a waste treatment facility in Cornwall, On" (Honour's Thesis). [C. Poon, I. Gregory-Eaves, L. A. Connell, G. Guillore, P. M. Mayer, J. Ridal and J. M. Blais, "Air-vegetation partitioning of polychlorinated biphenyls near a point source" Environ. Tox. Chem. 24 (2005) 3153-3158.]