A mechanochemical route to organosodium - Nature Synthesis A simple mechanochemical setup enables the rapid, solvent-free preparation of organosodium compounds directly from sodium lumps without the need for strictly inert conditions, rendering these previous...

Now online:

News & Views on the Article by Roly J. Armstrong, Erli Lu, Koji Kubota, Hajime Ito & co-workers

www.nature.com/articles/s44...

A mechanochemical route to organosodium by Sobi Asako

www.nature.com/articles/s44... ($)
#Chemsky

Tandem Reactivity of Metal−Carbon and Carbon−Silicon Bonds in Mononuclear α‐Silyl Organolithium or Organosodium Complexes Towards CO, CO2 and Heteroallenes Anionic α-silyl alkyl is one of the most used organometallic building blocks and funtional groups. Traditionally, the C─Si bond in these complexes is considered as inert. In this work, we report a se....

Pleased to see this study by Erli Lu at @unibirmingham.bsky.social on the reactivity of C-Si bonds in print. Some really cool structures in this one, including two from the Service: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
#chemsky #organometallics

Do puppet show

#amazeamazeamaze #crystallography #scisky

Remember we'd love to incorporate your ideas into RODIN so if you have any teaching activities, interesting datasets or testimonials of your use of RODIN please follow the link to learn how you can contribute: www.ccdc.cam.ac.uk/community/ed...

#crystallography #chemsky #chemeducation

Our first major update also includes three new datasets:

Phenol: completing a set comprising a cocrystal and the two coformers.

Elemental sulfur: the first structure in RODIN with no carbon atoms.

Biotin: another non-merohedral twin for you to try your hand at!

Give them a go!

🚨 RODIN Update!!! 🚨

RODIN (The Resource Of Diffraction Images, Newcastle) is now a community on Zenodo: zenodo.org/communities/...

With all our teaching and training datasets in one place we've also made them easier to navigate by making the contents of each entry visible in list view!

#bca2026 #crystallography

Congratulations to all the Early-stage crystallographers who presented talks at our satellite meeting yesterday! You kicked the BCA off to a great start as always 👏 👏 From contributed talks, to flash presentations and a plenary from Ines Collings there was something for everyone in the community 🎉

😂😂😂

Me teaching first years oxidation states (based on real events) #chemsky #chemistry #chemeducation

Our paper in Crystals was selected as an Editor's Choice Article. Schucks, you guys ☺️: www.mdpi.com/2073-4352/15...

🔓Read the #OpenAccess article by Paul G. Waddell & co. reporting the synthesis & structural characterisation of a symmetric azo dye, ethyl azocinnamate, via single crystal X-ray diffraction which led to the discovery of four polymorphic forms👇

🔗 doi.org/10.1039/D5CE... 🧪
📍 @newcastleuni.bsky.social

In six major cities in Poland, enormous fluorescent scientific murals adorn building walls
www.chemistryviews.org/mural-campai...

This isn't the end! They'll be reassembled and back in use elsewhere.

Is it in the reflection? 🤔

After 18 years and many thousands of crystal structures we are saying goodbye to our Oxford Diffraction Gemini diffractometer 😢 We would like to thank them for their service and wish them all the best in their new role #crystallography

No, you’re easily distracted!
#crystallography #curling #winterolympics

Four polymorphic structures of a symmetric azo dye The synthesis and structural characterisation of a symmetric azo dye, ethyl azocinnamate, via single crystal X-ray diffraction led to the discovery of four polymorphic forms. The crystals and their st...

We found four polymorphs of this azo dye compound in under six months! How many more are out there waiting to be discovered? Collab with @nclpharmacy.bsky.social in @crystengcomm.rsc.org: pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...
#polymorphism #crystallography

Low-Temperature and High-Pressure Phase Transitions in Two 2-Amino-4′-halobenzophenones: Incommensurate Modulation and a Case of Temperature-Induced Twinning The structures of 2-amino-4′-chlorobenzophenone and 2-amino-4′-bromobenzophenone, previously determined at room temperature in the space group Pna21, have been redetermined at low-temperature revealing two different reversible phase transitions. Additionally, high-pressure X-ray diffraction studies were conducted to allow for a comparison of the behavior of these structures in response to different external stimuli. Variable temperature analyses reveal that 2-amino-4′-bromobenzophenone transitions to the monoclinic space group Pa accompanied by a nonmerohedral twinning. The monoclinic phase exhibits approximate symmetry mimicking that of the supergroup Pna21 but with a metric symmetry that precludes true Pna21 symmetry. The structure of 2-amino-4′-chlorobenzophenone transitions to an incommensurately modulated phase upon cooling. The changes in the structure are attributed to slight conformational variations and a rearrangement of the hydrogen bonding networks in the structure in response to stimuli. The phase transition for 2-amino-4′-bromobenzophenone is classified as second order and a mechanism involving multiple coincident nucleation events is inferred from the conformational change and the incidence of twinning. The transformation of 2-amino-4′-chlorobenzophenone to an incommensurate phase is proposed to arise due to thermal contraction of the structure, which allows distinct competing hydrogen bonding networks between neighboring molecules to evolve.

New publication in of a Service side-quest that turned into a nice study of temperature and pressure induced phase transitions: pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/... @acs.org #crystallography

Respect and kudos if you know where this is from

Not quite as neat but…

👌👌👌

Selective detection of Cu2+ in aqueous medium using an acid hydrazide-based chemosensor: experimental and DFT/TDDFT studies An acid hydrazide-based Schiff base, N'-(4-hydroxybenzylidene)picolinohydrazide (HP), was designed and synthesized in a single-step process for the selective detection of Cu2+ ions. The structure of H...

Very happy to share this excellent work in @rscadvances.rsc.org on a Schiff base chemosensor in collaboration with Jashore University of Science and Technology: pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...

A printed meme on a window showing the caption “This is what I understood from my particle physics course. Nobody: Particle physicists:” followed by a photo of a hand slamming a large blue button labeled “New particle.”

If you ever wondered how the Standard Model got so crowded… there is a meme living rent-free in our lab that can explain. A weird bump in the data and we are three coffees deep proposing the Ultra-Super-Mega-Boson. Sometimes, physics is 99% maths, 1% “hear me out”!
#ParticlePhysics #PhysicsHumour

A really nice report on our recent @natsynth.nature.com article.
#chemsky #organosodium

Better late than never @rigakuoxfordxrd.bsky.social

Now online and open access:

Article by Roly J. Armstrong, Erli Lu, Koji Kubota, Hajime Ito & co-workers

Mechanochemical synthesis of organosodium compounds through direct sodiation of organic halides

www.nature.com/articles/s44...
#Chemsky

Reactivity of a Sodium Anion with Alkenes: 1-Electron vs 2-Electron Reductions The sodium anion (sodide) is an uncommon alkali metal species, whose reactivity has been scarcely studied, with previous reports limited to decomposition and quenching reactions of ill-characterized s...

Another great paper from Erli Lu’s group @unibirmingham.bsky.social including structures provided by the Service of products formed in reactions with sodide (Na-): pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....

Red-Shifted Circularly Polarised Luminescence from Helically Chiral N,N,O,O-Boron Chelated Dipyrromethenes through Synthetically Facile meso-CF3 Modification In the search for red-shifted small molecule emitters of circularly polarised light, a helically chiral N,N,O,O-boron chelated dipyrromethene (BODIPY)…

And another one! Who doesn't love a BODIPY structure? Well done Aminah of the @drmichaeljhallchem.bsky.social group: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

#chemsky #crystallography

Mechanochemical synthesis of organosodium compounds through direct sodiation of organic halides - Nature Synthesis A mechanochemical protocol for the direct synthesis of organosodium compounds is developed using cheap and shelf-stable sodium lumps and readily available organic halides under bulk, solvent-free cond...

Very pleased to share this new article in @natsynth.nature.com with the structure of a short-lived organosodium complex provided by the Service. Well done to all involved at @chemistryncl.bsky.social and Hokkaido University: www.nature.com/articles/s44...
#chemsky #crystallography