Ian Tonks
@ianatonks.bsky.social
chemistry professor. catalysis, mechanism, synthesis, and polymers. likes to run. https://sites.google.com/umn.edu/tonksgroup/home
fwiw, this admin isn’t even focused on making pizzas. More like a Ford Pinto, which they have confused for a food product. Or magic beans.
cutting pure science to prioritize applications is fundamentally like asking farmers not to waste time producing grain, cheese, and tomatoes and focus on making pizzas
happy to share our latest in JACS, enabling polymerization of of CO2-derived lactones through contrathermodynamic photoisomerization. Led by our amazing postdoc Arron Deacy, it's the crossover story my lab has been waiting for (Ti catalysis *and* CO2 polymers)! pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
Contra-Thermodynamic α,β- to β,γ-Photodeconjugation of an Inert CO2-Derived δ-Lactone Enables Facile Ring-Opening Polymerization
The ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of δ-lactones derived from the telomerization of CO2 and butadiene offers a platform to valorize cheap and abundant waste products into commercially competitive p...
pubs.acs.org
Can someone explain to me why @acs.org needs this information when I register for the ACS National Meeting? I feel like half of these (MANDATORY, mind you) checkboxes are just to sell my information to marketers I want nothing of?
Apropos of the grade inflation discussion, let it be known that I EARNED my C- in quantum from my Ivy League alma mater, thank you very much.
Back-to-back papers out from postdoc extraordinaire Arron Deacy, demonstrating photochem to drive contrathermodynamic isomerizations of CO2-derived lactones, significantly improving the thermodynamics of ring-opening polymerization! chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.... chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10....
Anyone know when SBIR/STTR re-authorization is expected to come through Congress (or if that's even in the cards)? My Feb 2025 grant applications are getting pretty dusty... @jeremymberg.bsky.social
Absolutely thrilled to share that Tonks Group postdoc Dr. Allison Smith has been named an AOB Postdoctoral Fellow--massive congratulations on this well-earned honor, Allison!
Congratulations to our 2026 Arnold O. Beckman Postdoctoral Fellows! We’re excited to announce our expanded class of 18 research fellows who will receive a total of $6.7M+ in science funding over the next three years. News release w/ awardee names: www.beckman-foundation.org/latest-news/...
Thanks for publishing with us, Andreu!
We have our first publication from Fribourg! So happy that is also in Organometallics, one of my favourite journals 😊 pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.... Congrats to @mikaelleroch.bsky.social and thanks to @unifr.bsky.social chemistry department and everyone made it possible!
Oh great. With this latest drawdown, there's only going to be 2000 masked agents terrorizing our city!
The federal government is murdering our neighbors in broad daylight and carrying out a mission of terror against the Twin Cities. Schools and businesses are closed and people are staying home because they’re afraid of ICE. This is America in 2026: at war against its own people.
Work with everyone’s favorite element!
🚨 PhD alert 🚨 Exciting opportunity to develop titanium-based catalysts for bio-derived carbonate materials. Fully funded EPSRC DLA PhD studentship (4 years), based in my group at @leicesterchem.bsky.social. 🧪 More info: le.ac.uk/-/media/uol/... 🗓️ Deadline: 7 February 2026 #ChemSky #PhDChat
N-N coupling through Fe-catalyzed N-H dehydrocoupling! Check out our latest V2 on chemrxiv where we show you can catalyze PCET reactions using mild reagents below the thermodynamic limit of initial H• abstraction, make hard-to-access 2H-indazoles, and even skeletal edit! chemrxiv.org/engage/chemr...
Who needs the NIH, NSF, CDC, air traffic controllers, weather monitoring, or health insurance WHEN WE CAN HAVE THIS!!!!!
With the holidays approaching, just a friendly reminder to get your nominations in for the Organometallics Distinguished Author Award by Dec 31! OM authors who published with us in 2024 & 2025 are eligible. Nominate your favorites today! americanchemical.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...
2026 Organometallics Distinguished Author Award
Make a nomination for the 2026 Organometallics Distinguished Author Award!
americanchemical.co1.qualtrics.com
www.bath.ac.uk/jobs/Vacancy... My colleague David Liptrot has an opening for a postdoctoral researcher in his group! If you like synthetic, air sensitive chemistry 🧪 dynamic and friendly atmosphere this might be for you! check out the advert 👇
AP13080 Research Associate in Organometallic Chemistry - Jobs at Bath
bath.ac.uk
Join our team! We're searching for a #postdoc for a project on bimetallic #uranium complexes 🧪☢️⚗️. Funded 12 month fellowship by the Karl-Ziegler-Foundation. Further information and link to the application portal: www.uni-hamburg.de/en/stellenan... Deadline: 10 November. #chempostdoc #chemsky
Job advertisement
uni-hamburg.de
Following on from the PDRA post a little while back, we also have opportunities for PhD students.
Passionate about sustainable catalysis for synthesis? Three fully-funded (UK/home) PhD studentships in homogenous catalysis with Earth-abundant metals available at Bristol! Come and join the drEAMcat Prosperity Partnership collaboration between the University of Bristol, AstraZeneca and Labman.
Passionate about sustainable catalysis for synthesis? Three fully-funded (UK/home) PhD studentships in homogenous catalysis with Earth-abundant metals available at Bristol! Come and join the drEAMcat Prosperity Partnership collaboration between the University of Bristol, AstraZeneca and Labman.
bristol.ac.uk
Please check this announcement for an early-career group leader, hosted jointly by our cluster of excellence RESOLV and the MPI Kofo. The thematic focus should be on catalysis: jobs.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/jobposting/4...
Early Career Research (ECR) Group Leader position (m/f/d) with the thematic focus on “Catalysis” within the Cluster of Excellence RESOLV
jobs.ruhr-uni-bochum.de
We are looking for a highly motivated PhD student to join our ERC project AGILE at the interface of inorganic, organic and organometallic chemistry. A vibrant Team, cool chemistry and everything takes place in the cultural capitol of Europe CHEMnitz. Apply now: www.tu-chemnitz.de/verwaltung/p...
Personal | Dezernate | Verwaltung | TU Chemnitz
Dezernat Personal: Personal
tu-chemnitz.de
Thrilled to see this write-up of my friend, Stefan Kilyanek, in C&EN. Trailblazer in many senses of the word, and a great person! Please take a read. cen.acs.org/synthesis/ch...
Stefan Kilyanek manipulates molecules to break their bonds
This electrochemist discovers new catalysts and finds unconventional ways to navigate the lab
cen.acs.org
Great visit out to Oxford for the Faraday Discussion on Polymerisation/Depolymerisation! Thanks to Antoine and Charlotte for the invitation to contribute a paper and talk (and get grilled for an hour on said paper/talk)!
📢pls share We are hiring! New opening for a W2 Professor in "experimental inorganic chemistry" @unibonn.bsky.social Deadline Oct. 10 t.co/EqMLA0fCuC
chemdraw updated on me (23.1.2) and what the actual F is this new logo. Like am I at a suburban chopped salad fast casual joint or did my benzene just roll around too much so that the corners eroded off or...
2 new Tonks Group articles out this week in my favorite journal Organometallics: a dive into Ti-catalyzed hydrohydrazination catalyst structures, and expanding an approach for carbonylative polymerizations! Congrats to Partha, Ryan, and Janaya! doi.org/10.1021/acs.... pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....
A long-overdue follow-up (original in 2016) on Ti-catalyzed carboamination: now selective, thanks to Michael and a Ti-iodide catalyst! Out in ACS Catal today. This is a neat one in that selectivity may emerge from a post-catalytic rearrangement of the kinetic product. doi.org/10.1021/acsc...
Congrats to Dr. Ryan Anderson, who defended his PhD yesterday! Ryan's work into sustainable polymers was funded through the generous support from the MN Corn Research and Promotion Council. He's now off to Dow Chemical to continue these efforts!