After some time in press I am finally sharing with you our group's @qmul.bsky.social latest piece of work. www.nature.com/articles/s41... In the last few years we have been interested in polymers as alternative building blocks to those we consider essential for life (e.g. lipids or nucleic acids).

I especially love this diagram.

A new report from the Royal Society of Chemistry reveals that socioeconomic background is still a major force that can constrain chemistry students and influence their educational experiences, career aspirations & progression. @frankbriggs.bsky.social @rsc.org www.chemistryworld.com/news/socioec...

Socioeconomic background still holding back students in chemistry, RSC report finds

Access is only the first step to making the chemical sciences inclusive

chemistryworld.com

Are you a chemist with 3-8* years of post-PhD research experience and want to join the amazing Chemistry Dept @qmul.bsky.social ? If yes, please have a look at our call for expressions of interest in the Royal Society URF scheme. #ChemSky www.seresearch.qmul.ac.uk/ccr/news/557...

Expression of Interest for Royal Society University Research Fellowships

The Department of Chemistry at Queen Mary University of London invites expressions of interest from candidates wishing to apply for the Royal Society University Research Fellowship (URF). The URF is ...

seresearch.qmul.ac.uk

Ok this is some nice work. Pyridylphosphines for the Mitsunobu and Appel reactions that can be either washed out with CuSO4 solution or precipitated with THF doi.org/10.1021/acs.... #chemsky

Poly(2-pyridyl)phosphines: Separation-Friendly Reagents for the Mitsunobu and Appel Reactions

The use of bis(2-pyridyl)phenylphosphine and tris(2-pyridyl)phosphine as practical, drop-in alternatives to triphenylphosphine in the Mitsunobu and Appel reactions is reported. Their P-oxides are easi...

doi.org

I would classify myself generally as skeptical of review articles, but (with obvious bias) I am hopeful that this one is unusual, in a good way! We tried to put in one place a bunch of important ideas that have been driving the lab's thinking recently. pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

Shape-Conserving Atom Replacements

Recent advances have made possible the replacement of individual atoms within a molecular skeleton while preserving the integrity of the surrounding framework. These skeletal editing reactions are emerging as powerful tools for molecular optimization, as they directly mirror tactics central to structure–activity-relationship studies and therefore have the potential to accelerate progress in discovery chemistry settings. This review introduces a comprehensive framework for categorizing atom replacement reactions in aromatic systems, while also delineating strategies that enable these transformations. Important heuristics related to shape-conservation are discussed, including notions of skeletal rotation, introduction of vestigial substituents, and retrosynthetic simplicity. Examples of reactions which obey these principles are analyzed, focusing first on C-to-N replacement in aromatic systems (“benzene to pyridine” and related reactions) before moving to other classes of aromatic and aliphatic replacement reactions.

pubs.acs.org

I'm excited to present our research on heterohelicene synthesis through photochemical reactions in continuous flow, published now as #OpenAccess in @pubs.acs.org pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/... Congratulations to Katherine, Chenyu, Shain, Yang, and Jayden! #ChemSky #PiSky (1/3)

Continuous Photoflow Synthesis of Heterohelicenes

Heterohelicenes continue to attract interest for their potential applications as organic chiral materials. To keep up with the demand for novel heterohelicene structures, expedient and scaleable synth...

pubs.acs.org

I’m looking for an automated way to read others’s scientific data without giving credit or acknowledgement, and also claim full credit for insights from it. And I want it to have a fitting name OAI: say no more

OpenAI {bot}@openaibot.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Introducing GPT-Rosalind, our frontier reasoning model built to support research across biology, drug discovery, and translational medicine. Video: https://twitter.com/openai/status/2044861690911850863

Curious about 2D chirality and non-reciprocal chiroptical properties in organic thin films? Check out our #OpenAccess review in @cp-trendschem.bsky.social! ➡️ www.cell.com/trends/chemi... Congratulations to Giorgia De Maio on her first publication as PhD student in my research group at #UNIPR!

The environmental / climate necessity of renewables has been clear since at least 2000; the technology was on 'learning curves' to make it affordable since at least 2010; hopefully the current security threat / wake-up call is enough to make all countries finally follow through!

Joe Giddings@joegiddings.bsky.social · 5mo ago

"Achieving the UK’s net zero target by 2050 will cost less than a single oil shock and bring health and economic benefits while insulating the country against future costs, the government’s climate advisers have forecast." www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Check out our latest in @acs.org ACS Energy Letters: Damon explores how #chirality may impact singlet fission and triplet fusion in molecular semiconductors as a new twist for efficient photon management, boosting performance of solarcells, displays and more. #OpenAccess pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

The Impact of Chirality on Singlet Fission and Triplet Fusion: A Molecular Twist for Photon Management

Chirality has recently emerged as a new means to profoundly impact the properties of organic semiconductors for spin-optoelectronic applications. Yet, a clear mechanistic understanding of chiral structure–property relationships remains absent to date, particularly for photon interconversion processes such as singlet exciton fission and triplet fusion. In this perspective, we highlight recent work that investigates chiral structures for these processes. We discuss the various ways in which chirality can impact such conversion processes and suggest ways to leverage it to improve photon management for both energy applications and quantum information science.

pubs.acs.org

If I had known that this picture would be published, I might not have worn an old hoodie 😜 On a more serious note, I'm incredibly thankful to the Gates Scholarship for the opportunity it gave me - and the friends I made along the way. @lizdzeng.bsky.social

Gates Cambridge@gatescambridge.bsky.social · 8mo ago

10 Gates Cambridge Scholars from 2007 talk about how Gates Cambridge forged enduring friendships that have provided a support network for life - www.gatescambridge.org/about/news/a... #gatescambridge25 #community #network @uniofcam.bsky.social @gatesfoundation.bsky.social

Thanks to Katherine, Jayden, Oliver, and Samad for a fun game of "Unfathomable" for our Holiday outing! Despite Father Dagon's and Mother Hydra's best efforts, we made it to Boston on our last bit of fuel. 🥳

Out now in JACS! We show that under typical Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling conditions, bulky ligands can promote palladium-catalyzed protodeboronation. 📜 pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.... 🖥️ github.com/chertianser/... [1/5]

Bulky Phosphine Ligands Promote Palladium-Catalyzed Protodeboronation

The Suzuki–Miyaura cross-coupling reaction is plagued by protodeboronation, an undesirable side reaction with water that consumes the boronic acid derivatives required for the cross-coupling reaction....

pubs.acs.org

#chemchat i need your best inorganic memes. Go

Under the proposed UK immigration rules, Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany would have had bwen reviewed every 2.5 years until the 1960s and once the war was over and Germany 'safe', they all would have been sent back to live in the country, that had recently murdered millions of their fellow Jews.

Whether you're starting out in a theory project on molecular magnetism, or a synthetic chemist curious about how the magic happens, check out my new tutorial review: pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a... @rsc.org @scienceanu.bsky.social @uomresearchit.bsky.social

Ab initio electronic structure calculations of lanthanide single-molecule magnets; a practical guide

Research into single-molecule magnetism lies at the nexus of challenging synthetic chemistry, spin physics and ab initio quantum chemistry. There are no “one-size-fits-all” textbooks and as such it ca...

pubs.rsc.org

Nov 7th is the birthday of both Lise Meitner & Marie Curie. Of the 13 chemical elements named directly after real people (not mythological figures) only two are named after women: meitnerium and curium (the latter of which is named in honour of both Marie & her husband) #chemsky 🧪

Our Faraday paper is now published in all its glory! www.nature.com/articles/s41... #Chemsky #Physics @oxfordchemistry.bsky.social @spcoxford.bsky.social

Chiral supramolecular assembly to enhance the magneto-optical rotation of organic materials - Nature Communications

The relation between magnetooptical activity and chirality has previously been confused. Chiral polymer films are presented with state-of-the-art Verdet constants, revealing the role of chirality, and...

nature.com

Matt Fuchter@fuchtermatt.bsky.social · 2y ago

Our preprint on the Faraday rotation of chiral organic polymer films is out! Wonderful collaboration with Tim Swager and his group @mitchemistry.bsky.social and Jess Wade. @oxfordchemistry.bsky.social. #Chemsky 🧪 #Physics doi.org/10.26434/che... We learnt a lot in this one, so here's a short 🧵 1/11

Government has published one of those quiet but important documents that might get overlooked as it is not 'newsy'. The headline finding is that £1 of public R&D investment generates £8 in net economic benefits for the UK over the long term www.gov.uk/government/p...

The value of public R&D

gov.uk

It so was hard to imagine having successful career in science as a disabled PhD student that eventually I just left. Who could have guessed that years later I would help create a magazine issue dedicated to highlighting Trailblazing disabled chemists! cen.acs.org/people/profi... #DisabledInSTEM

Trailblazers: Chemists with disabilities rethink how we do science

C&EN’s 2025 Trailblazers issue, curated by guest editor Mona Minkara, looks at how chemists can solve problems in new ways

cen.acs.org

Today in @science.org, @mikusp.bsky.social reports a method to replace the C2 of pyridines with N, affording pyridazines. The change from electronically consonant (pyridine) to dissonant (pyridazine) opens retrosyntheses not typically available to the latter. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

A reminder that we have a fully-funded 4-year PhD project available! #PhD #ChemSky

Jochen Brandt@jochenbrandt.bsky.social · last yr.

PhD position available! #ChemSky #PiSky This project is highly interdisciplinary, using organic synthesis to work towards room-temperature quantum technologies. www.findaphd.com/phds/project... The funding is for Home Fee students, and covers 4 years at the UKRI rate (£22,780 tax free for 2025/26).

PhD position available! #ChemSky #PiSky This project is highly interdisciplinary, using organic synthesis to work towards room-temperature quantum technologies. www.findaphd.com/phds/project... The funding is for Home Fee students, and covers 4 years at the UKRI rate (£22,780 tax free for 2025/26).

a dog wearing glasses and a lab coat looks at a beaker under a microscope

ALT: a dog wearing glasses and a lab coat looks at a beaker under a microscope

media.tenor.com

PhD position available! #ChemSky #PiSky This project is highly interdisciplinary, using organic synthesis to work towards room-temperature quantum technologies. www.findaphd.com/phds/project... The funding is for Home Fee students, and covers 4 years at the UKRI rate (£22,780 tax free for 2025/26).

a dog wearing glasses and a lab coat looks at a beaker under a microscope

ALT: a dog wearing glasses and a lab coat looks at a beaker under a microscope

media.tenor.com

Excited to share in @nature.com today: Broadband transient full-Stokes luminescence spectroscopy - detecting the most subtle changes in light polarization over time with unprecedented sensitivity. Grateful for the team that made this possible!😊 www.nature.com/articles/s41... #chirality #light

Broadband transient full-Stokes luminescence spectroscopy - Nature

A high-sensitivity, broadband, transient, full-Stokes spectroscopy setup is demonstrated, which can detect quickly varying small signals from chiral emitters.

nature.com

The government response to this petition is infuriating. “Maternity and other types of Parental Pay are intended to provide a measure of financial security to support parents whilst they are away from the workplace; they are not a replacement of earnings” except they literally are??? Please sign:

Petition: Raise statutory maternity/paternity pay to match the National Living Wage

Statutory maternity and paternity pay is £4.99 per hour for a full-time worker on 37.5 hours per week - approximately 59% less than the 2024 National Living Wage of £12.21 per hour for workers aged 21...

petition.parliament.uk

🚨Just out in Nature! We have offered a general method for 1,2-difunctionlization of arenes via a differential 1,2-diborylation! rdcu.be/esXq8 www.nature.com/articles/s41... Congratulations to Jingfeng!

Want another thing to worry about in organic chemistry reproducibility? How about stirring bar behavior?

Stir Bars Can't Be Ignored

science.org

Huge congratulations to Shain for passing his PhD viva! You did really well and should be proud of your achievements 🥳Thanks so much for all your hard work and for starting the group with me. (P.S. If anyone is confused about the timeline - the viva was on Friday but I only got the picture now)