Milner group at Cornell University

Interrogating the Carboxylation of Potassium β-Diketonates and β-Diketiminates by Carbon Dioxide Enolate carboxylation by CO2 is essential to applications ranging from polymer synthesis to CO2 capture, yet the CO2 reactivity of stabilized enolates, such as β-dicarbonyl enolates, remains understud...

Check out Zoe's work on the reactivity of stabilized carbanions with [redacted gas], now out in JOC! A fun continuation of our collaboration with the Lambert group to study new chemical pathways for [redacted gas] capture!

pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....

Meet the ACS National Award winners for 2026 Recipients are recognized for significant contributions to chemistry and the chemistry community

Meet the ACS National Award winners for 2026

Recipients are recognized for significant contributions to chemistry and the chemistry community. cen.acs.org/people/award... #chemsky 🧪

Caging the Chlorine Radical: Chemoselective Photocatalytic C(sp3)–H Functionalization Enabled by Terminal Cu–Cl Sites in a Metal–Organic Framework Hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) mediated by halogen radicals represents a powerful approach for the functionalization of inert C(sp3)–H bonds. Chlorine radical (Cl•), for example, is capable of generatin...

Check out 🪨⭐️PhD student Mary's paper on photocatalytic C-H functionalization with MOFs, out now in @jacs.acspublications.org!

pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....

Photochemical Fluoroalkylations with Fluorinated Gases Facilitated by a Robust Metal–Organic Framework http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jacs.5c17931

Photochemical Fluoroalkylations with Fluorinated Gases Facilitated by a Robust Metal–Organic Framework Photochemistry has greatly advanced the sustainable synthesis of complex molecules, but its application for late-stage fluoroalkylation─crucial due to the presence of fluorine in >20% of pharmaceuticals and >65% of agrochemicals─is hindered by the poor atom economy of traditional fluoroalkylating agents. Herein, we demonstrate that simple fluorinated gases, which represent ideal building blocks for fluorochemical synthesis, can be stored within the robust, inexpensive, and redox-innocent metal–organic framework Al–fum to streamline the development of 11 photoinduced fluoroalkylation reactions, including bimolecular homolytic substitution (SH2), metallophotoredox cross-coupling, and [2+2] cycloaddition reactions. The gas–Al–fum reagents are prepared via simple gas-dosing procedures, stable for several months in a desiccator at room temperature, and are compatible with reaction optimization campaigns and mechanistic studies using precise quantities of gases. Overall, our findings provide a general platform for the utilization of inexpensive gaseous building blocks in photochemistry, paving the way for the sustainable synthesis of next-generation fluorochemicals.

Check out our fantastic post-doc Jiachen's work on using frameworks to facilitate the photochemical fixation of fluorinated gases (try saying that five times fast!), now out in @jacs.acspublications.org! (Now with the right link - thanks @jules-oppenheim.bsky.social!)

Thanks for catching that Jules!! #BlameThePI

Interrogating the Carboxylation of β-Diketonates and β-Diketiminates by Carbon Dioxide Enolate carboxylation by CO2 is essential to applications ranging from polymer synthesis to CO2 capture, yet the CO2-reactivity of stabilized enolates, such as β-dicarbonyl enolates, remains understud...

Check out Zoe's recent preprint on studying the reactivity of [redacted gas] with stabilized carbanions! (Who needs MOFs?)

chemrxiv.org/engage/chemr...

The 2025 chemistry Nobel goes to MOFs Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar M. Yaghi win the prize for developing metal–organic frameworks

The 2025 #NobelPrize in Chemistry has been awarded to Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar M. Yaghi “for the development of metal–organic frameworks.” Stay tuned for the full story to come! cen.acs.org/people/nobel...

#ChemNobel #Chem #Chemistry #chemsky 🧪

Dynamic Evolution from Single-Atom Catalysts to Active Nanograins for CO2 Reduction Understanding dynamic catalyst evolution, particularly Cu-based single-atom catalysts, faces tremendous challenges of tracking rapid and nanoscale evolution and uncontrolled catalyst reoxidation durin...

Our new @jacs.acspublications.org paper is out! We demonstrate the formation of active Cu nanograins from single-atom catalysts under CO2 reduction conditions by different experimental techniques, including operando XAS and EC-TEM. @runofthephill.bsky.social
Click📰:
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

Check out undergrad Zayim's paper on aqueous MOF synthesis, now out in JMCA! He was even able to find a new open metal site MOF that does not form under traditional solvothermal conditions. Congrats to PhD coauthors Ron, Tristan, and Clarisse!

pubs.rsc.org/en/Content/A...

High-Concentration Aqueous Synthesis of Salicylate-Based Metal-Organic Frameworks http://pubs.rsc.org/en/Content/ArticleLanding/2025/TA/D5TA04800A

Make sure you don’t miss Alexandra’s talk at #EuroMOF2025!!

Polymer connectivity governs electrophotocatalytic activity in the solid state - Nature Chemistry The combination of electricity and light can provide a sustainable route to drive challenging synthetic transformations, but current catalysts are plagued by poor stability and mechanistic ambiguity. ...

It's not just our singular abilities that make big changes, but the connections between us. At least, that's how it can be in chemistry. Congrats to Musser, Milner and team for their work @natchem.nature.com on electrophotocatalysis! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

@runofthephill.bsky.social

Defluorinative Coupling of (NH)-Heteroarenes and Unactivated Vinyl Fluorides Enabled by Metal–Organic Frameworks N-vinyl azoles are prevalent moieties in pharmaceuticals, and fluorovinyl groups are widely recognized as carbonyl bioisosteres in drug design. Thus, N-fluorovinylated heteroarenes represent highly de...

Team MOFganic strikes again! Check out our most recent work, now out in @jacs.acspublications.org!

Kaitlyn, Julia, and Jaehwan showed that vinyl fluoride gases are surprising electrophilic and react selectively with N-heterocycles!

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Come be our colleague!

Congrats to all of the award recipients including Cornell's very own Jonas and @songlin1.bsky.social and Geoff Coates!

ACS announces 2026 national award winners The winners are being acknowledged for their outstanding achievements in chemistry across various fields in the discipline

We are very excited to announce that PJM has been named a recipient of the ACS Award in Pure Chemistry! 🥳🍾🍻🎉
cen.acs.org/people/award...

Polymer connectivity governs electrophotocatalytic activity in the solid state Nature Chemistry - The combination of electricity and light can provide a sustainable route to drive challenging synthetic transformations, but current catalysts are plagued by poor stability and...

Check out Allen's paper (in collaboration with Amy, Kiser, and Juno from the X-less Musser group) on the first heterogeneous catalyst for organic electrophotocatalysis, out now in @natchem.nature.com!

rdcu.be/eAyq1

Exciting news from MOF2026! Abstract submissions are open - check it out below and share with your networks! 🎉

‘Breakthrough Science’ grant supports disease-targeting lipid research | Cornell Chronicle A grant from the Ono Pharma Breakthrough Science Initiative, which supports bold new ideas in science, will help Cornell researchers study how chemical modifications to proteins play a powerful role i...

Thanks to the Cornell Chronicle for highlighting our work supported by @onoinitiative.bsky.social!
news.cornell.edu/stories/2025...

Who knows how PJM made the cut for a keynote speaker slot at @mof2026.bsky.social but we’ll be there with bells on!

Our paper in Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. @pccp.rsc.org with @runofthephill.bsky.social on MOF self-assembly simulations is online now, a.k.a. Lego® for MOFs.

We demonstrate the spontaneous assembly of rationally designed, coarse-grained, rigid-body models of 34 distinct MOF nets, ...

Congrats to our recent alumni Jaehwan, Tristan, and Ron who contributed to the project, and our collaborators Johari and Jung-Hoon for some clutch DFT calculations and Ben and Alex for cool SSNMR studies!

Check out 3rd year Alexandra's paper with our first PhD student Mary on direct air capture of [censored gas], now out in @jacs.acspublications.org!

pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....

I’m immensely grateful to @onoinitiative.bsky.social for this honor and for supporting our work — and congratulations to Stacy and @angadmehta.bsky.social!

Happy 11th birthday to @andolab.bsky.social ! 🎂 🥳 Also happy to share that I'm a full prof as of July 1 -- thanks to my awesome group, past and present.

We're now looking to grow the team! Looking for someone with amazing protein skills and postdocs excited about evolutionary questions!

Graduate Field Coordinator-Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology Graduate Field Coordinator-Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology The Opportunity The Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology is seeking a dedicated and detail-oriented Graduate Field Coord...

Hello BlueSky 🦋 I'm the Director of Graduate Studies in Cornell Chemistry. We're hiring a new Graduate Field Coordinator to help support our graduate program. Please apply or repost if you know someone great! tinyurl.com/3znxx4bh

Second year Danny passed his qualifying exam today!

Is everyone on #chemsky ready for the new NIH public access policy to take effect on July 1? sharing.nih.gov/public-acces...

⭐️ fifth year PhD student Kaitlyn (who worked in the Chirik lab as a UG) traveled to the pits of New Jersey today to present her research on fluorination using MOFs at Princeton! Thanks @stache-lab.bsky.social for helping to organize 😀