Imo Squire

PhD Studentship in C–H Functionalisation Using Polymetallic Complexes at Imperial College London on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - PhD Studentship in C–H Functionalisation Using Polymetallic Complexes at Imperial College London, listed on FindAPhD.com

We are advertising for two PhD studentships in organometallic chemistry! Come and work with us @imperialchemistry.bsky.social from October 2026:
Advert 2) www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Amazing to see Olympia's titanocenes featured as a HOT article 🔥 pubs.rsc.org/en/journals/... and Ginevra's awesome artwork on the inside front cover 🎨
pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a... of latest issue! @daltontrans.rsc.org

A PDRA position is available @bathchem.bsky.social in the Liptrot group. Great opportunity with a fantastic group!

www.bath.ac.uk/jobs/Vacancy...

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/...

Why is Pd often "better" at C-H activation than Ni? Just published in JACS, we show that Pd acidifies C(sp3)-H bonds 100,000 times more than Ni. Our DFT collab with @tkschramm.bsky.social and Andreas Hansen @unibonn.bsky.social was crucial to explain acid-base rxns!

pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

Ending the week on a high! Check out our comparison of manganate and magnesiate now published in ChemComm! Great team effort @bathchem.bsky.social with @tobiaskramer.bsky.social in understanding these elusive bimetallics!

THIS CHALLENGING SYNTHESIS completes the (BDI)Ae-(benzene)-Ae(BDI) series (Ae = Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba) with Ba. We show trends in stability, structure, bonding and reactivity. Reacting like (BDI)Ba-Ba(BDI) this is the first Ba(I) synthon. shorturl.at/ZdToA @chemicalscience.rsc.org

P4 REDUCTION generally results in multi-nuclear Zintl anions: P8(2-), P4(2-) or P7(3-). Reaction with a soluble Mg(0) complex gave full reduction to P(3-). Latter anion serves as a triple base, a three-fold nucleophile or 3e-reducing agent. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.10

Happy inorganic chemists in front of University of Strathclyde

Imogen explaining her poster during the poster session

Had an amazing week @usic-2025.bsky.social! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿👩‍🔬 Very proud of the whole King's contingent but particularly @michi-tritto.bsky.social for a great talk on some of our new work from the @bakewellgroup.bsky.social. Thanks to all the organisers, it was a truly fab conference (+ceilidh!)

Big thank you to Professor Robert E. Mulvey for opening the USIC 2025 conference, and the amazing opening presentation from one of our plenary speakers, Professor Eva Hevia from the University of Bern. We also want to say a big thank you to all our other wonderful speakers this morning.

@usic-2025.bsky.social great talk from Michelangelo of the @bakewellgroup.bsky.social on amazing triangular Al3 structures.
@rsc.org

Functional Al/Cd Heterometallics─From Controlled Al(I) Transfer to Nucleophilic Transfer of Cadmium Ions Low-valent cadmium compounds have remained largely unexplored as electron reservoirs, with no precedent for their use in reduction or bond activation chemistry. Here, we address this gap by integratin...

Thrilled to share a first publication of the group! We report on cadmium aluminyls that find application as Cd-nucleophiles and(!) Al(I)-Transfer reagents. Now out in @jacs.acspublications.org ! 🥳👍
Thanks a lot to @chemieverband.bsky.social for the generous funding. pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

Reductive Deamination of a Diaminogermylene Promoted by an Aluminyl Anion: Isolation of Ge(I), Ge(0) and Ge(‐I) Products The potassium aluminyl K[Al(NON)] reacts with Ge[N(SiMe3)2]2 by a sequential reductive deamination pathway. The initially formed aluminacyclodigermene contains Ge(I) centres and may be considered as ...

Nice one George! Ge(I), Ge(0) and Ge(-1), all in one paper! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Arene Activation by Calcium Hydride/Zinc Amide Equilibration The β-diketiminato calcium hydride, [(BDI)CaH]2 (BDI = HC{(Me)CNDipp}2, where Dipp = 2,6-i-Pr2C6H3), reacts with [Zn{N(SiMe3)2}2] and [Zn(TMP)2] (TMP = 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidide) to provide labile...

Excited to see this work published today in @jacs.acspublications.org , fun chemistry and a real group effort here by @clairemcmullin.bsky.social , @moraleschem.bsky.social , Mary and big Mike! (@bathchem.bsky.social)

pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

Intriguing Reactivity of a 1,2‐Dihydrodialumane Towards Organic Azides – From a Terminal Diazido–Dialumane to Pendulum‐Clock‐Like Azide Bridging The reaction of a dihydro-dialane supported by a hybrid ligand (DNI) with organic azides yields structurally diverse aluminium species, including the first example of low oxidation state aluminium az...

Thrilled of having contributed to this investigation of low-valent aluminium species and their unique reactivity with azides. Great collaboration with the Stalke and Krawczuk groups! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Plot of simulated epr spectrum with a large number of hyperfine lines, in a very symmetric pattern. The simulation is very close to the experimental spectrum. It corresponds to an organic Thiele-like radical

I did not have the pleasure of acquiring this beautiful EPR spectrum, but I did have fun fitting it! @esr-group.bsky.social #epr #chemsky

Amazing, huge congratulations to Clare! 👏🥳👩‍🔬

Science used to be my safe space. But when I spiraled into depression, I quit my Ph.D. The author had been using research “as a way of trying to control the uncontrollable”

"I had spent half my life working toward my dream of being a scientist. It had given me a sense of purpose. But now it dawned on me that, for the sake of my health, I was going to have to let that dream go." #MentalHealthAwarenessMonth

Our latest now out @chemrxiv.bsky.social - some beautiful Ni/Al chemistry from Joey in collaboration with Benedek and @crimmingroup.bsky.social! 🔥🔥

chemrxiv.org/engage/chemr...

Today in Chemistry History infographic on Dorothy Hodgkin. Hodgkin used X-ray crystallography to determine the structure of vitamin B12, for which she won a Nobel Prize. She went on to determine the structure of insulin.

Dorothy Hodgkin was born #OTD in 1910. She won a Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her work using X-ray crystallography to determine complex chemical structures 🏅

wp.me/s4aPLT-hodgkin

#ChemSky 🧪

Happy Friday! Chuffed to see this work out in @rscmechanochem.rsc.org. Very thankful for all of the hard work put in for this paper, especially by Laura who helped to kickstart this mechanochemical venture.
pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...

Molecular Design of Al(II) Intermediates for Small Molecule Activation Promoting societally important small molecule activation processes with earth-abundant metals is foundational for a sustainable chemistry future. In this context, mapping new reaction pathways that would enable abundant main-group elements to mimic the behaviors of d- and f-block elements is facilitated by exploring unusual oxidation states. The most abundant metal on earth, aluminum, has been well studied in the Lewis acidic +III and Lewis basic +I oxidation states but rarely in the potentially biphilic +II oxidation state until recently, when a renaissance of Al(II) chemistry emerged from a range of research groups. In this Perspective, we review the chemistry of mononuclear Al radicals, including both Al-centered radicals (i.e., Al(II) compounds) and redox non-innocent systems (i.e., formally Al(II) species that are physically Al(III) with ligand-centered radicals), with an emphasis on small molecule reactivity. We also provide a meta-analysis of the Al(II) literature to summarize how different design strategies (e.g., redox non-innocence, strained coordination geometries) have been shown to impart biphilic character to Al radicals and tune their behavior, thus allowing Al radicals to mimic the chemistry of certain d- and f-block metal ions such as Ti(III) and Sm(II). We expect these molecular design concepts to inform future Al(II) studies as the chemistry of this unusual oxidation state of Al continues to grow.

Hey #chemsky check out our Perspective on Al(II) chemistry in JACS_Au led by @roushansingh.bsky.social. Thanks to the editors for inviting us to participate in their special issue on sustainable small molecule activation!
doi.org/10.1021/jacs...

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

Interested in learning more about sustainable approaches in fluorine chemistry? @shannonesf.bsky.social has a new @chemrxiv.bsky.social out summarising synthetic and catalytic approaches that could underpin a future circular economy for fluorocarbons. chemrxiv.org/engage/chemr...

LGBT+ toolkit This kit provides the tools for everyone to take part in positive change: employers, colleagues, and LGBT+ individuals.

We want everyone in the chemical sciences community to feel welcome, supported and valued, so we're sad to see some people seize on yesterday's supreme court ruling with anti-trans messages. Today, we're highlighting our resources on allyship for trans colleagues and friends
➡ rsc.li/4j6lojs

Cool to finally see this out! Great work from my old colleague Ryan and @bakewellgroup.bsky.social alumna Malavika from their time in the Cowley group! #chemsky
pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...

The Keeling Curve The Keeling Curve is a daily record of global atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration maintained by Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego.

430.08 parts per million (ppm) CO2 in air 11-Apr-2025 keelingcurve.ucsd.edu

Cooperative Heterobimetallic CO2 Activation Involving a Mononuclear Aluminum(II) Intermediate Molecular chemistry of aluminum most commonly involves AlIII ions due to their noble gas electronic configurations. In contrast, the chemistry of AlII ions is underexplored and may contain undiscovere...

Hey #chemsky our latest Al-Fe research is published in @jacs.acspublications.org. Led by Roushan Singh @uic-chemistry.bsky.social and our collaboration with Dan Ess of BYU, we are starting to map the chemistry of Al(II) through this mild approach!
doi.org/10.1021/jacs...

Thanks Rick!! ☺️

A man with an acknowledgements slide behind him, presenting at Dalton 2025

Super super enjoyed presenting at #Dalton2025 today representing the @bakewellgroup.bsky.social! ☀️👶◻️