Main Group Chemistry Lab IISER Thiruvananthapuram

I’m thrilled to share that I’ve successfully defended my thesis! 🎓✨
My heartfelt thanks to my supervisor, Prof. Ajay Venugopal @maintvm.bsky.social , for his unwavering guidance, support, and inspiration throughout this journey.
Onward to new beginnings! 🚀

New group photo of the #maingroup team at IISER Thiruvananthapuram! Looking forward to soon sharing some amazing works from these young, energetic, yet patient guys!

Happy to see the renaissance of phosphazene chemistry. Will certainly use these example in my ongoing course on main group chemistry.

We thank the editorial team of @daltontrans.rsc.org for inviting us to feature our #OpenAccess perspective article on the inside front cover
pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...

Heavyweight Champion: Caesium Diorganophosphides Outperform Lighter Congeners in the Catalytic Hydrophosphination of Alkenes and Alkynes The heavier, the better! We report that the caesium congener is the most active and versatile catalyst amongst a full group set of well-defined crown ether supported alkali metal diphenyl phosphides ...

The promised watch this space is now online with VIP status
Heavyweight Champion: Caesium Diorganophosphides Outperform Lighter Congeners in Catalytic Hydrophosphination Angewandte Chemie International Edition - Wiley Online Library onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Serendipitous Isolation of an Aldehyde Stabilised Alkoxyaluminium Dication - now published in ChemComm!
We thank ANRF India for generously supporting unconventional research in traditional areas of synthetic chemistry!
pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a... @rsc.org @chemcomm.rsc.org #maingroup

Bismuth Radical Catalysis: Thermally Induced Intramolecular C(sp3)–C(sp) Cyclization of Unactivated Alkyl Iodides and Alkynes Bismuth radical chemistry has attracted increased interest in recent years. Here, we report a series of bismuth–manganese complexes that catalyze the intramolecular redox-neutral coupling of alkyl iod...

How to catalytically cyclize alkyl species onto alkynes? Just add a pinch of bismuth! Read about our findings in controlled radical reactions catalyzed by well-defined manganese- bismuth heterobimetallic complexes, just published in ACS Catalysis @pubs.acs.org: pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

Isolation of kinetically-stabilised diarylchalcogenide radical cations Communications Chemistry - Chalcogenide radical cations are usually short-lived intermediates, making their isolation challenging. Here, the authors report the stabilization of these species by...

Pascal Komorr's diarylchalcogenide radical cations are out in Comms Chem. Well done Pascal & whole team. rdcu.be/ez4wm

Bicyclo[1.1.0]tetragermane‐2,4‐diide Diradicaloid The bicyclo[1.1.0]tetragermane-2,4-diide diradicaloid compound [(ADC)2Ge4] featuring a stretched bridgehead Ge─Ge bond is reported as a Venetian red crystalline solid. [(ADC)2Ge4] has been characteri...

Pleased to share Falk’s latest work @ghadwalgroup.bsky.social on a non-classical germanium diradicaloid, just published in @angewandtechemie.bsky.social highlighting a new approach (using anionic dicarbenes) to main-group diradicaloids: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... thanks to @dfg.de

Latest paper from the group chemistry-europe.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/KMS9U6...

Amazing series of alkali metal phosphides. Thanks to @felixkraemer.bsky.social and Michelle especially.
Watch out for the follow up applications in challenging hydrophosphination catalysis!

Thank you Prof. Mulvey

link.springer.com/book/9783031...

Isostructural Mg and Zn Compounds: Analogies and Differences in Reactivity - now published in Dalton Transactions pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...
#maingroup

Next great paper by Martin (the machine) Hejda: Redox cycling at tellurium: Selective and multiple activation of Si-H bonds in common organosilanes and SiH4 - Hejda - Chemistry - A European Journal - Wiley Online Library doi.org/10.1002/chem...

Cationic Bismuth Compounds in Catalysis This chapter delves into the emerging role of bismuth cations as catalysts in various chemical reactions, highlighting their unique properties and versatility. Bismuth, a heavy metal with low toxicity...

Cationic Bismuth Compounds in Catalysis
link.springer.com/chapter/10.1...

Our latest contribution to Advances in Bismuth Chemistry link.springer.com/book/9783031...

Many thanks to @lablichtenberg.bsky.social
for the kind invitation!

#maingroup

LOW-VALENT Si, Ge, Sn, Pb: HOW LOW CAN WE GO???
Hydrocarbon-soluble Mg(0) reduces Si all the way to Si(4-). Unfortunately not stable and decomposing to the HSi(3-) anion. However, Sn(4-) is stable and functions as 4-fold Nu or 8e reducing agent. Preprint: shorturl.at/4mH0O

New paper out today in @natsynth.nature.com
from Wenbang Yang. We describe addition of Zn–Zn bonds to main group carbenes. The system nicely illustrates the continuum between oxidative addition and reductive addition processes. rdcu.be/ejPSS

The antimony dication has formal existence with a citation!
Nat. Synth 4, 462–470 (2025)
doi.org/10.1038/s441...
Looking forward to taking this dication further!