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    Asymmetric Synthesis with Organoselenium Compounds – The Past Twelve Years
    (Wiley-VCH, 2024) Stadel, Jessica T.; Back, Thomas George
    The discovery and synthetic applications of novel organoselenium compounds and their reactions proceeded rapidly during the past fifty years and such processes are now carried out routinely in many laboratories. At the same time, the growing demand for new enantioselective processes provided new challenges. The convergence of selenium chemistry and asymmetric synthesis led to key developments in the 1970s, although the majority of early work was based on stoichiometric processes. More recently, greater emphasis has been placed on greener catalytic variations, along with the discovery of novel reactions and a deeper understanding of their mechanisms. The present review covers the literature in this field from 2010 to early 2023 and encompasses asymmetric reactions mediated by chiral selenium‐based reagents, auxiliaries and, especially, catalysts. Protocols based on achiral selenium compounds in conjunction with other species of chiral catalysts, as well as reactions that are controlled by chiral substrates, are also included.
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    Two exceptionally preserved juvenile specimens of Gorgosaurus libratus (Tyrannosauridae, Albertosaurinae) provide new insight into the timing of ontogenetic changes in tyrannosaurids
    (Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology (Taylor and Francis), 0022-04-13) Voris, Jared. T.; Zelenitsky, Darla K.; Therrien, Francois; Ridgely, Ryan C.; Currie, Philip J.; Witmer, Lawrence, M.
    Known from dozens of specimens discovered since the early 20th century, Gorgosaurus libratus has arguably contributed more than any other taxon to our understanding of the life history of tyrannosaurids. However, juvenile material for this taxon is rare. Here, we describe two small, articulated Gorgosaurus specimens (skull lengths of ca. 500 mm) that help advance our knowledge of the anatomy and ontogeny of this taxon and of tyrannosaurids in general. The new specimens exhibit hallmark juvenile tyrannosaurid features, including long, low, and narrow skulls, large circular orbits, absent or incipient cranial ornamentation, ziphodont dentition, and an overall gracile skull frame. Comparison with other Gorgosaurus specimens of various ontogenetic stages allows for an examination of the timing of morphological changes that occurred through ontogeny in this taxon relative to other tyrannosaurids. Of particular note, Gorgosaurus and the larger Tyrannosaurus rex are found to have experienced similar ontogenetic transformations at similar percent skull length relative to the large known individuals for each respective taxon but at different absolute body sizes and biological ages, occurring at a larger size and older age in Tyrannosaurus than in Gorgosaurus. These results suggest a dissociation between the timing of cranial development and body size in tyrannosaurids. Finally, the recognition of ontogenetically invariant characters in Gorgosaurus makes it possible to determine the taxonomic identity of previously misidentified specimens.
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    Description of juvenile specimens of Prosaurolophus maximus (Hadrosauridae: Saurolophinae) from the Upper Cretaceous Bearpaw Formation of southern Alberta, Canada, reveals ontogenetic changes in crest morphology
    (Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology (Taylor and Francis), 2019-03-19) Drysdale, Eamon T.; Therrien, Francois; Zelenitsky, Darla K.; Weishampel, David B.; Evans, David C.
    Three juvenile specimens of Prosaurolophus maximus, represented by articulated to disarticulated skeletons, are the smallest known individuals for the taxon. Cranial anatomy of the juvenile specimens indicates that diagnostic characters of P. maximus are ontogenetically variable. In the smallest individual, the crest and deeply excavated fossa at the caudal margin of the circumnarial depression are poorly developed or absent. The crest approaches adult-like morphology in large juveniles, whereas crest robusticity and the deep excavation of the circumnarial depression occur only in subadult and adult individuals. The shape of the caudal margin of the circumnarial depression is consistent between juvenile and adult individuals, potentially making this feature a reliable character for taxonomic identification at younger ontogenetic stages. The crest of P. maximus grows isometrically during ontogeny, unlike the positive allometric growth of lambeosaurine hadrosaur crests, suggesting that this taxon may have had soft tissue structures associated with the narial-crest region, rather than the bony crest itself, selected for sexual display. Recovered from sediments of the Bearpaw Formation deposited during the Baculites compressus ammonite zone and magnetochrons 33n.3n to 33n.2n, the juvenile specimens are stratigraphically younger than P. maximus specimens from the Dinosaur Park Formation (Alberta) and contemporaneous with most specimens from the Two Medicine Formation (Montana), extending the temporal range of the taxon to 75.7–74 Ma. The occurrence of P. maximus in well-drained terrestrial deposits of the Dinosaur Park and Two Medicine formations and marine sediments of the Bearpaw Formation indicates that this taxon inhabited various paleoenvironments in western North America.
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    A new tyrannosaurine (Theropoda:Tyrannosauridae) from the Campanian Foremost Formation of Alberta, Canada, provides insight into the evolution and biogeography of tyrannosaurids
    (Cretaceous Research (Elsevier), 2020-01-23) Voris, Jared Thomas; Therrien, Francois; Zelenitsky, Darla Karen; Brown, Caleb Marshall
    Upper Cretaceous tyrannosauroid material from North America was primarily known from upper Campanian through Maastrichtian formations until the recent discovery of derived tyrannosaurid taxa from lower-to-mid Campanian deposits in the southwestern United States. However, diagnostic material from contemporaneous deposits further north in Alberta (Canada) and Montana (USA) has yet to be documented. Here we report the discovery of a new tyrannosaurine tyrannosaurid from the mid- Campanian Foremost Formation of Alberta, Thanatotheristes degrootorum gen. et. sp. nov, which helps fill this gap. The new tyrannosaurine, diagnosed by five autapomorphies, is found to be the sister taxon to the late Campanian genus Daspletosaurus. Thanatotheristes is distinct from Daspletosaurus based on several features, and lacks at least two apomorphies of the latter taxon. Together, these taxa form the newly established Daspletosaurini, a clade of long-, deep-snouted tyrannosaurines endemic to northern Laramidia during the Campanian. Our study demonstrates that Tyrannosauridae is composed of several geographically-segregated clades rather than a series of monogeneric successive sister taxa as recovered by previous studies. The geographic segregation of tyrannosaurid clades within North America provides renewed evidence for provinciality among large theropods during the Late Cretaceous.