How I became a PhD in Chemistry

Subject: Josiah Newton
Topic: PhD Thesis Defence Examination
Stardate: December 8th, 2023
Outcome: Passed
Brief: This was my PhD Thesis presentation, which was the culmination of my work as a researcher. If there is interest among the viewers, I may make a more detailed video in the future. Dr. Joey out.
Complete thesis (online): summit.sfu.ca/item/37816

[@niklas_science]

Congrats on actually doing it Joey! Now you are officially Dr Chemist!

[@That_Chemist]

Ty Niklas :)

[@sam2809]

@@That_Chemist you did it before tom too

[@codycrank3465]

A completed thesis from a youtuber chemist, What kind of black magic is this ?

[@alecity4877]

not wasting time with cubane

[@mightytitan1719]

This is alchemy

[@kaboom4679]

More like yellow magic ...

[@vdate]

​@@kaboom4679I admit it, I laughed.

That's because the thesis is on chemistry instead of physics

[@dinocoder1281]

Now we just need Chemiolis to make "Should you trust ThatChemist?"

[@ImKibitz]

Congratulations on your PhD Dr Chemist!

[@That_Chemist]

thank you for your help Mr Angry Factory Man :P

[@ricardsjaunzems2364]

Thank you very mucy for making this video! I think having an example of what a professional thesis presentation online could help students with defending their thesis.

[@That_Chemist]

I hope it helps!

[@hailhydrazine4938]

Congratulations for the PhD , one of my mates is playing around with fluorination at the moment, I will let him know about this work

[@SimonBlokky]

Congrats on finishing your PhD. And thanks for sharing your work on the field of (radio)fluorinations! As a radiochemist, I'm happy to see new ways for selective radiofluorination. I hope I get to use them some day in the future!

[@That_Chemist]

I hope so too :)

[@sacredyveltal4688]

Once again congratulations on your successful thesis defense 🎉 I'm sure this material will be very useful for your fellow chemists to appreciate and learn from 😊

[@Eivesohn]

6:05 I felt this so much lmao, the more concise and straight to the point the better

[@Playfulpat]

lol same, when I practice with my self I do the same

[@mitchellp7305]

Congratulations once again on your PhD Mr Doctor That Chemist.

[@That_Chemist]

Thanks Chuck

[@rebeccabujnoch1079]

Awesome job! I didn’t understand most of it but proud of you for showing up and doing the work!

[@horatiumoldovan4836]

Congratulations! I had the misfortune of an older colleague (she was Assistant Prof.) trying to shut me up on some natural compound chemistry I had my graduation about saying "at least I published on this topic as opposed to you" ...printer noise... paper got wet with the sweat of my palms as I read my second year undergrad prep method published by the people I had to trust as supervisors and coworkers without even acknowledgement of my (back then) good self... while I was abroad. I understand paperwork between universities and alliances between Professors that last saw each other while college students were made for me to have this research topic that was their own... but then again, I nailed the prep approach by extrapolating some other method I found on a similar substrate. Just to make it clear I was living in whatever is inappropriate to call a lab at least compared to any home lab I pretty much had rather an institute (2800+ different chemicals I even heroically enforced the local DEA to return to me, but evil parents took care of quite a few). The point is that the incomparably superior plant material was brought to me by pure chance... this made a second grade biology/biochem student bringing a giant jar full of crystalline betulin, which was reported in literature but never extracted as other than amorphous. I felt like teaching the prestigious industrial chemistry Faculty how to properly use a soxhlet (top quality extractive hand picked by biologist who does a good distinction between the tissues and knowing what to choose) the crystals were obtained by the partial recovery of the solvent just by knowing when to stop (gut feeling, not that much science), the prep oxidation was found tested and implemented in my own lab with my own materials what I showed them was the most successful of my findings that just happened to beat their previous attempts regarding time, cost, labour and yield. My rest of the thesis had some amino triazoles attached to the newly formed oxo group that were not really easy to both prepare and analyse but everyone knew my dedication as at least something needed to be at a light reflux in order for me to sleep. The lady that printed the traumatic paper had no idea of her involvement since she did the HPLC and just that. I was losing the fight with my apparently limitless ego things never got good enough for me to get to defend or even write my thesis... there is no publication with my name on it up to date. Plenty of so far safe clandestine labs established by people I met and inspired, I sometimes have the magic of sending someone home with the gift of understanding most of what is needed to operate a chemical lab just by reading because I made them curious. I spoke the truth when told them I was aquainted with the basics of organic chemistry in two weeks. I have them references, and people know I'm not backing down on using them on whomever I deem worthy (mistakes included)

[@thecoolguy3498]

Dude I literally LOVE all of your videos. Plz keep em comin!

[@zeaxanthin]

Congratulations! Very interesting presentation and work. Good Job, hope to see more details about your research.

[@sophianilsson1038]

I have been watching your channel for a while and just wanted to say that it was got me though me first year chemistry course. Congrats Dr.ThatChemist !

[@That_Chemist]

Glad to hear it :)

[@derrickhageman1969]

Ahh good old fluorine shuch a viscous yet a very useful element in lots of ways,expected or not Hats off to you for this amazing thesis and congrats on getting that Ph.D

[@andrews.4780]

So happy for your PhD congratulations! This was a very interesting thesis regarding fluorination, I can’t wait to see more material from you Dr. Chem!

[@sashboo1370]

Amazing Job, i'm glad the defence went well. I'm particularly happy to see a new method for making difluoromethyl ethers as in the past I searched for those and only found a sketchy electrochemical way and one using difluorocarbene, amazing job!

[@That_Chemist]

Difluorocarbenes are like 95% of the literature

[@davidwagner6116]

Interesting work, great presentation, congratulations! You pitched that at the right level of detail for me, anyway.

[@RolandOuellette]

Congratulations! Also, thanks to Organic 1 and Organic 2 (both partly with Sharpless in 1987) and your clear explanation, I mostly understood this.

[@razielhauhnar7141]

Congratulations once again. Hope to learn a lot from you.

[@abu-karz]

Thank you for sharing this 😊! This is truly a gem! I love it. As a chem nerd I really wanted these sorts of learning material

[@That_Chemist]

Glad you liked it :)

[@christineg8151]

Congratulations! I'm working on my Master's thesis right now, and the idea of having to present my research is very intimidating. Excellent work!

[@mrmusicalmuffin9806]

Love to see it, can’t wait to see some more from the PhD

[@margodphd]

Excellent, useful thesis. Well done Man,we always believed in you and still you managed to exceed expectations. Well done, well deserved and can't wait to read the entire thesis. And hey, I suppose Your girlfriend/ wife had a hand in choosing the suit but you still deserve a commendation - finally,a well chosen colour, interesting, yet classy combination. If I see one more black funeral suit with a grandparent's violently red (or worse, yellow) tie, during day, on adult dude that can afford different, I'll cry.

[@simplecomplexity7352]

Congratulation! Well done! I actually listened to Prof. Britton's talk two months ago about total synthesis.Very interesting chemistry.

[@tegarachsendo9730]

Congratulations for your Ph.D. Josh🎉 I've always wanted to learn more about fluorine organic chemistry, and now you give me a new motivation to apply for doctorate

[@cornholeius9350]

Dr. Chemist has a nice ring, congrats! I am not a chemistry guy by any means but your content makes it interesting. Well deserved.

[@Laundry_Hamper]

Which of these fluorine compounds will turn my frogs the most gay?

[@hi-im-morgan]

Congratulations, Dr. Newton!!!

[@boukesietinga5161]

Congrats on your PhD! Really nice and well made powerpoint. Explanations were easy to follow for a difficult subject. Thank you for that!

[@That_Chemist]

Glad it was helpful!

[@EmiliRimar]

God I hope my research goes as well as yours (or at least yours seemed to have gone well!) Congratulations Dr. That Chemist!! Amazing stuff!!🎉

[@NoblePineapples]

That Dr. Chemist This is so awesome, so damn proud of you!

[@eclipsa1203]

holy shit congration DR CHEMIST!

[@abu-karz]

Wow congrats Dr Joey

[@triple_gem_shining]

Awesome thanks for posting this!

[@Stonie23]

Very nice presentation, I feel remembered to my days at university. Congratulations to you PhD

[@axehead45]

WOOHOO CONGRATS DR!!

[@nicolascuyato3580]

Congratulations on that PhD dude!!! :D you inspire me to keep on with my chemistry undergraduate :') I'm looking forward to someday become a doctor too

[@andreyv116]

So you got a doctorate in giving a molecule an F

[@That_Chemist]

Using S-tier chemistry

[@annaberlin4008]

@@That_Chemist😄♥️

[@javier6489]

Excellent content 👍🏻

[@annaberlin4008]

♥️♥️♥️♥️Very interesting! Thank you so much✨🍀

[@That_Chemist]

Glad you liked it :)

[@hasanhaitham276]

Congratulations Doctor🎉

[@CED99]

Bless you

[@someengineermain6803]

You have officially earned the title of dr chemist

[@alllove1754]

Congrats, doctor. About time I got that right!!

[@keaganlove1478]

Great PhD! Very interesting work

[@owentan6322]

Congratss!!!

[@AnthemUnanthemed]

CONGRATULATIONS DR. CHEMIST!!!

[@quadraticformulaic6636]

Congratulations! 🎉

[@peterkujawski1370]

Big congrats the concept of writing a thesis is crazy to me props 🎉🎉🎉

[@That_Chemist]

its just a story tbh - a 5 paper sandwich

[@superhacker35]

YES congrats!

[@gabesgames6099]

Congrats on the phd!

[@antonioferreira8272]

Good luck on your thesis defense!

[@lvn5609]

As far as i know he has defended already

[@fatcats7727]

Congrats !!!!

[@neongrey333]

congratulations, doctor!!!

[@artej11]

Congratulations Man! Please remember that current happiness might be temporary, but the fluorinated compounds are forever.

[@0alalune0]

Congratulations!!!!

[@kcsmiscvideos218]

Congratulations!

[@kaboom4679]

Congrats !

[@AlwayzPr0]

Yay!! Now you and explosions and fire are officially smart 🎉

[@feblehober123]

6:15 What's your lab's ETA on fluorinated MDMA hitting the streets? Jokes aside, great presentation, great job, and congratulations!

[@That_Chemist]

TRIUMF decided to not pursue a project looking at 18F phenethylamines due to their general trend of binding to lots of receptors

[@feblehober123]

@@That_Chemist Interesting. One common PET tracer, 11C-deprenyl-D2, has the drawback of being metabolized into 11C-methamphetamine, which has horrible off-target binding. MDMA-F2 could be interesting even if useless in PET.

[@tylerswanson6358]

Great talk, I quite enjoyed it (and congratulations by the way)! I just wanted to ask briefly how common the difluoromethyl species (and particularly the ether variety) are in the medicinal chemistry literature? I can't say I see them terribly frequently, especially when compared to its trifluoromethyl sibling. Do they tend to have similar properties and/or activities (aside from generally being less stable) to that of trifluoromethyl species? Thank you, and congrats again!

[@LouxNUH]

*sneeze* "I left that in" I don't know why, but I found great amusement in that bit.

[@drNecronus]

Wow such a promising field to study, I wonder what effects thoes fluors induces in the galienic molecules. Realy proud of you Dr That, you are my role model :^) Curently not finding any master that is interresting, teaching some highscoolers to save for next year, I wonder if i will be able to get back at it and be a scolar like you one day.

[@smiggyballs4100]

the bit that i understood the most was the sneeze

[@alberthofmann420]

3:04 Bless you :)

[@DrHenry1987]

Congrats on the PhD. I'll give you the same advice I give others and my Father gave me when I got the PhD. And I quote, "Just because you have a PhD doesn't mean you know a damn thing".

[@exaviestivalet3393]

Those sound like the words of a person who is upset at the accomplishments of those who came after them. I’d never take that advice .

[@DrHenry1987]

My Dad was a PhD in hard living, totally proud of me. Remember the advice, it will slap you in the face one day when you least expect it. I also tell new PhDs, there is a post-PhD let down you will experience. @@exaviestivalet3393

[@zachingram04]

@@exaviestivalet3393 It's a reminder to stay humble. Chances are, you have a lot of knowledge in a very narrow part of the scientific spectrum.

[@joanickbourret3957]

Congrats on making it! Will you be sharing your thesis in the near future? I'd be curious to read some of it.

[@UmairRamay]

Congratulations. Excellent work. I wonder if I can get ppt version of this?

[@sudhanshgola1597]

Now you have one up on "explosions and fire"

[@marlysalt]

Are you posting this for feedback and to check it for errors? Mad respect, Doctor.

[@LiamLovesMetal]

Awesome thesis! Fluorine is easily the most interesting halogen and chemical element to me. If I could go back 15 years ago with the knowledge and fascination I have with chemistry in my 30s I would have absolutely pursued it as my career rather than becoming a licensed electrician

[@andrewpritchard2863]

Dude this is great research, thanks for posting. Where did you do grad school?

[@taborsmrcna]

Congratulations to Dr. ThatChemist

[@MephistoMaxwell]

He is now officially That Doctor.

[@dariusszablowski5474]

Congratulations. 🥳 Very cool chemistry. ☺ What other difluoro-compounds do you think will be of great interest in pharmaceutical research, looking forward into the future?

[@taermina8907]

I'm not a chemist but I find your channel really interesting. Congratulations on your doctorate, and allow me to say the little thionobenzodioxole diagram guys are really cute 🥺

[@That_Chemist]

thanks :)

[@Flesh_Wizard]

Thank you Dr Chemist. I was wondering how to fluorine

[@narcoan]

Congrats

[@NIL0S]

I also just did my Viva. Getting diploma on 22. Woot!

[@davidtong5717]

Awesome work man and congrats on the PhD! Question: Have you tried the difluoromethyl procedure on aryl alcohols? Thanks!

[@That_Chemist]

the reagent is super messy with phenols - not clean EAS reactions either, like red tars and lots of spots by TLC (I tried lots of things)

[@dat4277]

Yay you are doctor ThatChemist now

[@griffing2523]

What's the name of the leishmaniasis drug on your slide titled "Noteworthy Difluorobenzodioxoles"? Excellent work my guy congratulations!!!!!!!!

[@LeCharles07]

I concur.

[@hegedusmarton8485]

I really enjoyed watching this insightful video about your thesis. I do have one question though, that I just have to ask. On slide 11, on the ketal at the bottom left. Where does that additional carbon coming from? Shouldn't it be only a five menbered ring?

[@That_Chemist]

Yeah that’s a typo

[@zhiz3074]

Behold, that Dr. Chemist

[@condor237]

I’m applying for PhD right now. What are your recommendations for things to do (internships, co-ops, etc.) or networking strategies to ensure a good high paying job after finishing PhD? I plan to have 3 first author publications, fellowship, poster presentations, etc. But want to make money and advance my career instead of getting stuck in postdoc low pay hell

[@ryangribs]

Just completed chem 2 in undergrad this semester and still have no idea anything that you're talking about. Will come back in 1.5 years after biochem and see if i get it then👍

[@romanbuksak1064]

Sincere congrats on your thesis! Is there a way to contact you directly? I have some problems regarding the -CF2H group and maybe you would know the answers

[@That_Chemist]

Send me a dm - I’d be happy to help

[@deshazo_henry]

Now I always thought that Sanford & Co meant Sanford and collaborators not Sanford and co-workers.

[@niknovikov1919]

did you have tier lists in your thesis presentation? )

[@lucienskinner-savallisch5399]

Congratulations dude the PET applications are humongous

[@monika7063]

When are we getting the fluoriated compounds tierlist

[@gabitooox1]

How did you make the structures? ChemDraw? It looks really clean, congratulations on your PhD!

[@That_Chemist]

Yeah chemdraw! We have the template available in the TC discord resources channel

[@KenKaneki-ew2rm]

Hi Sir, Can we convert benzaldehyde to trifluoromethyl benzene using AgF?

[@perrinsilveira6759]

Doctor!

[@kenbrady119]

So what did you remove from the commercial silver chloride?

[@dylancummings3011]

No wayyy! You’re a British Columbian? I had no idea. Where did you get your degree and masters? I’m curious to hear how you liked SFU? I’m currently at UFV for my under grad degree, hoping to go for a masters in biochem. Fantastic presentation by the way :)

[@christopherfrederick9699]

Did you try any other protecting groups for amines in the thionobenzodioxole case? Also is this published yet?

[@That_Chemist]

It’s published in JOC pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.joc.0c01729 I didn’t, but in general the thiocarbonyl fluorination tolerates most protecting groups - what sort of group were you thinking?