astronomy

Mark Lautens

Mark Lautens is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Mark Lautens rather than just read about it. In short: Mark Lautens (born July 9, 1959) is a Canadian organic chemist who is a professor at the University of Toronto and chair of the Chemistry Department. He is known for his involvement in the developments of asymmetric ring-opening chemistry, synthetic utility and scope of the Catellani Reaction including the use of ligands to facilitate the reaction, carbohalogenation, multi-component multi-catalyst reactions, and dom…

Key takeaways

Mark Lautens belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Mark Lautens to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Mark Lautens from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Mark Lautens (born July 9, 1959) is a Canadian organic chemist who is a professor at the University of Toronto and chair of the Chemistry Department. He is known for his involvement in the developments of asymmetric ring-opening chemistry, synthetic utility and scope of the Catellani Reaction including the use of ligands to facilitate the reaction, carbohalogenation, multi-component multi-catalyst reactions, and domino catalysis.

Education and career Born in Hamilton, Ontario, Lautens received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Guelph in 1981. He then moved to the University of Wisconsin–Madison for his Ph.D. (1981-1985) working with Barry M. Trost with an NSERC Postgraduate Scholarship. Following graduation, he was an NSERC PDF at Harvard University (1985-1987) in the laboratories of David A. Evans. In 1987 he was appointed as an NSERC URF assistant professor at the University of Toronto and was promoted to professor in 1995. Since 2012, he has held the rank of University Professor, awarded to up to 2% of the faculty at the University of Toronto. As of 2023, he took on the role of Chair of the Chemistry Department for a 5-year term.

Science advocacy Lautens has made an effort to improve government support for funding science in Canada, and for young researchers in particular, by contributing op-ed pieces to various newspapers including The Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail and The Hill Times. He has also described his personal experiences while presiding at citizenship ceremonies and has also questioned why there are not more scientists running for office. As of 2023, he has presided over 100 citizenship ceremonies. During the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, Lautens published a piece describing how research funding to science and medicine are crucial for a successful response and supports paying students and post-docs a better wage. He mentions how we have learned a lot about the importance of science, but even more about how science needs to be deployed broadly and with full force if we hope to tackle the most challenging societal problems. He further described how the current situation is shedding light on the "messy and sometimes infuriating process of scientific discovery". He has encouraged compassion and empathy in the time of the pandemic.

Honours and awards Lautens was made a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2001. He is currently the AstraZeneca Professor of Organic Chemistry (1998–present) and was an NSERC/Merck Frosst Industrial Research Chair (2003–2013). In 2009, he was an Alexander von Humboldt awardee. In 2013, he was awarded the Chemical Institute of Canada's CIC Medal. In 2014, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada "for his contributions at the forefront of organic chemistry, which have led to the creation of new medicinal compounds with fewer side effects". He was awarded an honorary degree, Doctor of Science, honoris causa, from the University of Guelph in 2016. In 2017, he was awarded the Henry Marshall Tory Medal from the Royal Society of Canada. In addition to his awards for his research, he received the J.J. Berry Smith Doctoral Supervision Award in 2017, which recognizes outstanding performance in the multiple roles associated with doctoral supervision. In 2020, he won the E.W.R. Steacie Award for making a distinguished contribution to chemistry while working in Canada, being the second chemistry professor at the University of Toronto to do so. Recently, the American Chemical Society announced that Lautens won the 2021 Herbert C. Brown Award for Creative Research in Synthetic Methods for his outstanding creative research that involved the discovery and development of novel and useful methods for chemical synthesis. Most recently, he is the recipient of the University of Toronto's 2021 Chair's Teaching Award. Lautens received the E.C. Taylor Senior Award in 2024 from the International Society of Heterocyclic Chemistry as recognition for outstanding contributions to the field. He is the second Canadian chemist to receive this award.

Other awards Royal Society of Chemistry Pedler Award (2011) Killam Research Fellowship (2013–2015) Officer of the Order of Canada (2014) CIC Catalysis Award (2016) J.J. Berry Smith Doctoral Supervision Award (2017) Senior Fellow of Massey College E.W.R. Steacie Award (2020) Herbert C. Brown Award for Creative Research in Synthetic Methods (2021) Chair's Teaching Award (2021) E.C Taylor Award (2024)

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mark Lautens

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mark Lautens claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Mark Lautens before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Mark Lautens ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Mark Lautens

In research: Mark Lautens appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Mark Lautens in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Mark Lautens is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1959 births, Academic staff of the University of Toronto Faculty of Arts and Science, Canadian chemists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mark Lautens outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Mark Lautens in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Mark Lautens means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Mark Lautens out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mark Lautens in simple terms?

Why does Mark Lautens matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Mark Lautens?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Mark Lautens.