The politics of assassination, the death of the Duke of Berry, February 14, 1820, and its aftermath

grantor: University of TorontoThe Duke of Berry, youngest heir to the French throne, was assassinated on February 13, 1820. Seven months later, his child, the Duke of Bordeaux, was born. This thesis analyses the significance of these events in the political history of Restoration France, focusing on the first nine months following Berry' s death. It is divided into three chapters. Chapter One examines the assassination's impact in the realm of parliamentary politics. Following the assassination political power shifted first to moderate royalists and then to ultra royalists, a process known as the Royalist Reaction. Louis XVIII's ministers took advantage of fears raised by the assassination to pass laws that increased the central government's powers tremendously. In response to those laws, French politics radicalized for the remainder of the Restoration, and conspiratorial movements began to proliferate. Chapter Two investigates how the central government and the Gallican Church manipulated the assassination for their own political ends. The central government made Berry' s assassination and Bordeaux's birth the focal points of a nationwide publicity campaign intended to both imprint the Bourbon presence on the French consciousness and discredit opposition groups. The campaign consisted of memorial services for Berry and celebratory fetes for Bordeaux in every church in France, the publication of Addresses sent to Louis XVIII after the assassination, and finally, national subscriptions for Berry and Bordeaux. The Church supported the government's actions, hoping to increase its popularity by blaming Berry's death on revolutionary forces that prevented the Church's return to its pre-1789 prominence. Chapter Three assesses the vital role played by the print and visual media in the political controversies that followed the assassination. Newspaper coverage of the assassination and political brochures fostered an intense national debate between royalists and liberals that to a great extent created the Royalist Reaction. The visual industry generally supported the royalists. Assassination illustrations typically glorified Berry and the royal family. This stress on the familial aspects of Berry's death and Bordeaux's birth illustrate how the assassination came to symbolize the royalist spirit and to provide a unifying historical event for royalists in France and throughout Europe.Ph.D

Syntheses of Methyl Jasmonate and Analogues

This account corresponds to the presentation given by the main author on the occasion of the 2nd Swiss Industrial Symposium in Basel (October 19th , 2018). After a short historical introduction to methyl-jasmonate and methyl-epijasmonate, it essentially focuses on the reported more promising industrial approaches devoted to the synthesis of these naturally occurring odorants isolated from jasmine flowers. Some attempts to simplify these approaches, as well as independent unreported strategies are also presented. Several asymmetric methodologies are also discussed such as Xie hydrogenation, Corey-CBS reduction, enzymatic resolution, and 1,4-addition