GRK2376 "Confinement-Controlled Chemistry"

Exciting news! Our PhD student Malte Feßner, with collaborators from the Merten group, has another great contribution, now out as a Hot Article in ChemComm! 🔥

They used matrix-isolation IR to directly observe halogen bonds in phosphine–ITFE complexes.
Congrats to Malte and all co-authors! 👏

We had a great time at our alumni meeting! 🎓
It was a wonderful chance for our PhD students and postdocs to connect with former GRK members, share experiences, and talk about life and careers after the program.

Nice contribution from Dilber Tan and our PhD student Veronika Stoianova from Merten’s group. 🎉
They explore the different solvation environments of the peptide Ace-Trp-N(n-Pr) by combining vibrational circular dichroism spectroscopy with molecular dynamics simulations.

Bela, Jey, Jochen, Shounak @shounakhinge.bsky.social and Sohom @sohomkundu.bsky.social presented the group´s research at the Symposium for Confinement Controlled Chemistry @grk2376.bsky.social in Bochum @ruhr-uni-bochum.de. Good to see chemistry from a different perspective! Good work everyone!

We hosted the 3rd International Symposium on Confinement-Controlled Chemistry!🚀

It was a wonderful opportunity to explore the diverse aspects of chemistry and physics under confinement and exchange ideas with leading experts in the field.

🌞 Greetings from Indiana, USA!

Our PhD student David Ocklenburg from DVC’s group has joined Amar Flood at Indiana University Bloomington for a joint project to design charge-neutral supramolecular receptors for ions and ion pairs. Merging self-assembly, receptor design, and anion recognition.

To Bend or Not to Bend: Revealing the Stereoelectronic Origin of the Distorted sp Carbon in Isocyanates Isocyanates, conventionally depicted as R–N═C═O, exhibit a puzzling deviation from the expected linear geometry of sp-hybridized carbon centers─a structural bending that significantly influences their...

📢 New Paper alert!

Our PhD student Lucas Araujo from the Schäfer group reports on the properties of isocyanates using density functional theory (DFT), among other methods, to explain the so-called “bent sp carbon”. 🍌

Fantastic results, congrats to all involved! 🤩

🔗 pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

Bimetallic Ag–Au nanoparticles from nanoconfinement: adjusting properties by electrochemical synthesis Developing synthetic pathways that exhibit well-controlled yet versatile characteristics to prepare nanoparticles (NPs) with properties tailored to the desired application is a topic of continuous int...

Paper alert! 🚀👏

Our PhD student Thais Schroeder Rossi and Maximilian Jaugstetter from Tschulik’s group just published a new paper!

Using reverse micelles as nanoreactors, they electrochemically synthesized Ag–Au nanoparticles with tunable size, composition, and structure.

doi.org/10.1039/D5TA...

🌍🍽️ What a night! This week, our GRK hosted an International Dinner, bringing together PhD researchers from all around the world.

We had an amazing variety of traditional homemade food from all around the globe. After dinner, we called it a day with a fun round of Mario Kart 🎮!

Clemens successfully defended his PhD thesis and presented his exciting work on the characterization of chiral azacryptands by #VCDspectroscopy. Congratulations, great job!

His latest paper:
doi.org/10.1002/chem...

#phdlife #proudprof #proudpi @grk2376.bsky.social

📢 Registration Deadline Extended!

Good news! 🎉 The registration deadline for the 3rd International Symposium on Confinement-Controlled Chemistry (Co-Co Chem 2025) has been extended to July 31, 2025.

Join us this September!

🔗 www.confinement-controlled-chemistry.de/symposium-2025.html

Congrats to Fredde for passing her PhD today.

Great work on matrix-isolation VCD spectroscopy for the characterization of chiral high spin nitrenes and their rearrangement products.

#phdlife #proudpi @grk2376.bsky.social

Thais, Brazil 10 Questions with Thais Schroeder Rossi Thais from Brazil is a PhD student at Ruhr-Universität Bochum in Bochum, Germany. Thais is currently working on the electrochemical synthesis of Ag-Au nanopa…

🎓🌍 We’re excited to share that Thais, one of our 2nd generation PhD students, was recently interviewed during the 74th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting! She talks about her journey from Brazil to Germany and her path in research. 🌟

womeninresearchblog.wordpress.com/2025/06/28/t...

📢 Friendly Reminder: The deadline for registration to the 3rd International Symposium on Confinement-Controlled Chemistry (Co-Co Chem 2025) is June 30!
Don’t miss the chance to be part of this exciting event!
🔗 www.confinement-controlled-chemistry.de/symposium-2025.html

Lucas, Lars, and Björn standing in front of the ROHM Theatre Kyoto, next to the ISMSC 2025 conference poster. Lucas is on the left, Lars in the middle, and Björn on the right.

Our PhD students Björn, Lars, and Lucas had an amazing experience at ISMSC 2025 in Kyoto. It was a productive week of scientific presentations, insightful discussions, and valuable exchange with the supramolecular chemistry community. #ISMSC2025

Picture of Dipesh with Cheng's group.

🌍Dipesh Somvanshi had a fantastic time @ UC Berkeley working with Prof. Bingqing Cheng! He developed ML interatomic potentials using CACE and ran MD simulations to test if the long-range model aligns with the Debye–Hückel limiting law. Productive research and lasting connections!☀️

Tuning the free energy of host–guest encapsulation by cosolvent Supramolecular hosts create unique microenvironments which enable the tuning of reactions via steric confinement and electrostatics. It has been shown that “solvent shaping inside hydrophobic cavities...

🚨 The fruitful collaboration between our RTG and Berkeley brings new results! Our PhD student Melinda Nolten, with collaborators, shows that just a few percent DMSO can tune guest encapsulation in a nanocage by shifting entropy and altering host–solvent–guest interactions.
🔗 doi.org/10.1039/d5cp...

Terahertz time-domain spectroscopy revealed that water reorientation around ATP slows markedly above 10 mM. MD simulations confirm this effect, linking it to reduced phosphate exposure and denser hydration around the adenosine moiety. Check out the full paper!

Non-monotonous Concentration Dependent Solvation of ATP Could Help to Rationalize Its Anomalous Impact on Various Biophysical Processes Adenosine triphosphate (ATP), one of the biologically most important molecules, offers certain anomalous behavior during folding and liquid–liquid phase separation of proteins and RNAs. ATP can act as...

📢 Paper alert! In this collaboration, our PhD student Laurie Stevens, together with Emma Rossi from the Sulpizi group, used MD simulations to show that ATP clusters at high concentrations shift hydration toward adenosine, explaining its effects on protein folding and LLPS.
🔗 doi.org/10.1021/acs....

🎯 The 3-day symposium unites senior scientists and early-career researchers to explore how confining environments (cavities, channels, interfaces) influence chemical reactions and physical properties. Don’t miss the chance to share ideas and collaborate!

This poster announces the 3rd International Symposium on "Confinement-Controlled Chemistry", which will take place from September 15th to 17th, 2025, at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany. Key Details: Event Title: 3rd International Symposium on "Confinement-Controlled Chemistry" Location: Ruhr University Bochum Dates: September 15–17, 2025 Registration Deadline: June 30, 2025 Participation Fee: Low (exact amount not specified) Contact Email: ccc-symposium2025@lists.rub.de Website: www.confinement-controlled-chemistry.de/symposium-2025.html Invited Speakers Include: M. H. Schoenfisch – University of North Carolina T. Michely – University of Cologne F. Duarte – University of Oxford M. Fujita – University of Tokyo H. Valkenier – Université libre de Bruxelles J. Niemeyer – University of Duisburg-Essen L. Schardt – TU Wien (Vienna University of Technology) G. Ujaque – Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Y. Xu – University of Alberta Y. Litman – University of Cambridge L. Fumagalli – University of Manchester B. Schmidt – Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf M. Jaugstetter – Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory J. Gibbs – University of Alberta A. Szumna – Polish Academy of Sciences D. Hore – University of Victoria G. Franceschi – TU Wien R. Pittkowski – University of Copenhagen Additional Information: The flyer includes a QR code for easy registration. It visually emphasizes the diversity of international speakers and promotes early registration with a reminder about the low participation fee. If you're using a screen reader, you can navigate to the registration and event details on the website provided above or contact the organizers via the listed email.

🚨 We’re excited to invite you to Co-Co Chem 2025, the 3rd International Symposium on Confinement-Controlled Chemistry, taking place Sept 15–17 at Ruhr University Bochum! Featuring worldwide speakers, poster sessions & networking!
🔗 www.confinement-controlled-chemistry.de/symposium-2025.html

Matrix-isolation IR spectra of iodotrifluoroethylene (C2F3I) The infrared spectra of iodotrifluoroethylene (ITFE) recorded under matrix-isolation (MI) conditions in para-hydrogen, neon and argon were investigated. The experimental spectra were analyzed by compa...

📢 Paper alert: Malte Feßner from the 3rd cohort of PhD students has published his first PhD paper in PCCP! 🎉 The IR spectra of C₂F₃I in various matrix environments show that para-H₂ and Ne are better host gases than Ar, with a clear dependence on deposition temperature.

pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...

👋 Greetings from the DPG Spring Meeting in Regensburg! Our PhD students Çağrı Turan, Anna Šugai, Laurie Stevens, and Qixuan Li had a great time sharing their research and connecting with the community at #DPG2025.

📢🎉 Our promising PhD students Frederike Beyer, Sanjana Nalige, and Gers Tusha (@gorso.bsky.social) have been awarded RTG start-up funding to launch their independent academic careers. After defending their PhDs, they will start their postdocs within the RTG in the coming months. Congratulations!