We are thrilled to share that final version of our work is now published in JACS Au doi.org/10.1021/jacs...
Congratulations @ashishchemist.bsky.social
@random-chemist.bsky.social @sohamchakraborty.bsky.social @catalyzer.bsky.social
Faraj, Tom & River
#JACSAu #Catalysis #OlefinCoupling

Great work by all, led by @ashishchemist.bsky.social
A very rare example where a new catalytic reaction reveals a very fundamental organometallic question (Why is reductive elimination - and the reverse oxidative addtn - kinetically so much more favorable for Os than the isoelectronic Ir complex?)

Jane Goodall, Eminent Primatologist Who Chronicled the Lives of Chimps, Dies at 91

I saw Jane Goodall give a presentation when I was in high school – it was the first time I was ever truly inspired to become a scientist.
This may be the first time I have gotten emotional over the death of a public figure. (I know, I'm a terrible person.)

Jane Goodall, thank you, RIP

Outstanding work by @ashishchemist.bsky.social and the team yields some promising catalysis and raises some extraordinarily fundamental organometallic questions!

bsky.app/profile/bria...

It appears that he is!

Trump was merely the first US president to lose Canadian and Australian elections – but, much more impressively now, the first to lose an election for Pope!

Proud of this work with collaborator (and former group member) Santanu Malakar @random-chemist.bsky.social , lead author Souvik Mandal @souvikm.bsky.social and team including Samuel Zhou, Rachel Allen @rnadancer.bsky.social
Faraj Hasanayn, Alex Miller, Quinton Bruch - see paper for all authors...!

A graphical abstract image showing the chemistry for the reduction of dinitrogen to ammonia with pincer-Mo complexes. The image shows that [MoIII]X2 undergoes N2 cleavage to form an MoIV complex with a triple bond to one nitrogen atom. This does not react further, unless protonation occurs followed by reacting with a hydrogen radical species. The introduction of H-atom donors then allows for the formation of ammonia.

By investigating the reduction of dinitrogen to ammonia with a pincer-Mo complex, Santanu Malakar, Alan Goldman and colleagues provide new insights into nitride-to-ammonia conversion.

Read for free, here:
doi.org/10.1039/D5SC...

#ChemSky

Trump becomes the first American president to lose a Canadian election

the first "question" to Leavitt during the WH "new media" briefing: "I can attest to the deportations in Florida. My Uber drivers finally speak English again."

Check out our new paper in Chem. Sci. Bimetallic cleavage of N2 gives very stable nitrides, with little driving force to add an H atom or H+/e- to get to ammonia. But the catalysts find a way around that problem... Great work by
@souvikm.bsky.social and many others! doi.org/10.1039/D5SC...

Alkane Dehydrogenation and H/D Exchange by a Cationic Pincer-Ir(III) Hydride: Cooperative C–H Addition and β-H Elimination Modes Induce Anomalous Selectivity We report that the cationic iridium complex (iPrPCP)IrH+ catalyzes the transfer-dehydrogenation of alkanes to give alkenes and hydrogen isotope exchange (HIE) of alkanes and arenes. Contrary to established selectivity trends found for C–H activation by transition metal complexes, strained cycloalkanes, including cyclopentane, cycloheptane, and cyclooctane, undergo C–H addition much more readily than n-alkanes, which in turn are much more reactive than cyclohexane. Aromatic C–H bonds also undergo H/D exchange much less rapidly than those of the strained cycloalkanes, but much more favorably than cyclohexane. The order of reactivity toward dehydrogenation correlates qualitatively with the reaction thermodynamics, but the magnitude is much greater than can be explained by thermodynamics. Accordingly, the cycloalkenes corresponding to the strained cycloalkanes undergo hydrogenation much more readily than cyclohexene, despite the less favorable thermodynamics of such hydrogenations. Computational (DFT) studies allow rationalization of the origin of reactivity and the unusual selectivity. Specifically, the initial C–H addition is strongly assisted by β-agostic interactions, which are particularly favorable for the strained cycloalkanes. Subsequent to α-C–H addition, the H atom of the β-agostic C–H bond is transferred directly to the hydride ligand of (iPrPCP)IrH+ to give a dihydrogen ligand. The overall processes, C–H addition and β-H-transfer to hydride, are calculated to generally have minima on the IRC surface although not necessarily on the enthalpy or free energy surfaces; these minima are extremely shallow such that the 1,2-dehydrogenations are effectively concerted although asynchronous.

Great work by Ashish Parihar @ashishchemist.bsky.social and Prof. Faraj Hasanayn (AUB) demonstrating an unprecedented mechanism for double C-H activation of alkanes leading to dehydrogenation (and the reverse, olefin hydrogenation) and H/D exchange – all with bizarre selectivity!

Don't let the disgusting racism and misogyny distract us from the irony! A cry for "Competent white men" from the people that gave us Gaetz, Hegseth, RFK Jr...

Thank you, Canada, for standing up to Trump!
- Patriotic Americans

Are drones over New Jersey be alien tech? UFO expert weighs in The White House has ruled out foreign adversaries and hobbyists as the cause of the drone invasion in New Jersey , leaving many residents to speculate it could be aliens.

Aliens traveling from distant galaxies to Earth always make their first stop the Garden State. (Just sayin') #NJPride
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War...

The elements, in haiku An interactive review of the periodic table -- composed of 119 haiku

vis.sciencemag.org/chemhaiku/

Nitrogen Fixers Learn about current scientific problems and how researchers are working to solve them

Some great experiments, high school level (classes or home-schooling) at nitrogenfixers.org

Funded by NSF’s Critical Aspects of Sustainability program, we’re a group of PhD students and professors from University of North Carolina, Rutgers University, and Yale University. Check out our website (link in bio) for more info on how we can share our science with you at home or in the classroom!

Sure, why wouldn't we want to give away hard assets owned by our government in return for a made-up "currency"? This is being promoted by a US Senator (and bitcoin owner) to a sympathetic incoming Trump administration. Amazing

As STEM faculty, I support any 'vices' of young people that involve sharpening their probability/statistics skills. Glad to see The Economist agrees...

Remember when "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" tried to teach us about tariffs and no one was paying attention

Great work by @ashishchemist.bsky.social and Prof. Faraj Hasanayn (AUB) demonstrating an unprecedented mechanism for double C-H activation of alkanes leading to dehydrogenation (and the reverse, olefin hydrogenation) and H/D exchange all with bizarre selectivity.

Great work by @ashishchemist.bsky.social and Faraj Hasanayn (AUB) demonstrating an unprecedented mode of alkane C-H activation leading to alkane dehydrogenation, olefin hydrogenation, and H Isotope Exchange with bizarre selectivity.

Mine is a trimodal function with a third grouping at never–or until you remind me and then recursive, back to the trimodal distribution.

“Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty.”
― Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism

Opinion | Trump Kicks Down the Guardrails Anne Applebaum on how to think about autocracy and authoritarianism in a second Trump term.

"Think back two months. You’re reading someone ranting about Trump. “Imagine a second term...RFK Jr for HHS secretary. Tulsi Gabbard leading intelligence services. Matt Gaetz is going to be AG." Most people reading that would have thought that’s a parody of what a Trump-hating liberal imagines..."

Why should OWS it be considered so successful? The first (tied with Moderna) manufacturer, and by far the leader from the start (and almost 75% of total doses to date), was Pfizer/Biotech who made a point of not taking a cent from Operation Warp Speed.