01.02.2024
As we enter the year of the Dragin, the dragons (electrodes) are already roaring in our photoelectrochemical cells, and already bring great fortune to strengthen the group:
Two new postdocs join the group!
Cassie (top) joins us after completing her industry-based PhD on the GSK/Strathclyde PhD programme, under the supervision of Prof. John Murphy (following in Dr. Barham's footsteps, so to say!). She brings valuable expertise in radical chemistry and flow chemistry, and will be working on methodology for post-modification of pharma-relevant molecules using 'forgotten' reactivity, driven by photochemistry.
Boya (bottom) joins us with a Chinese Scholarship Council (CSC) Scholarship, having completed an initial postdoc stint at RWTH Aachen. Having graduated with his PhD from Sichuan University, he brings key expertise in transition metal-catalyzed processes for strong bond cleavages - particularly relevant given our group's recent Chem. Soc. Rev. review! Boya will be working on photoelectrochemical methodology for strong bond activations.
18.01.2022
New paper!
In a collaborative teaching exchange with the University of Strasbourg, we teamed up with Prof. Gilles Marcou to design an affordable, programmable and interactive photochemical flow reactor for undergraduate teaching labs.
Flow chemistry is highly interactive for didactics, but the cost of commercial flow reactors (10s of k EUR) is prohibitive for most teaching laboratories, especially in public Universities. Moreover, it is of increasing importance to train chemistry students in reactor interaction (coding, automation) to prepare them with skills needed by industry in the future. As such, we designed a teaching exercise in which students build a photo-flow reactor using tubing/LED/dewar, and a peristaltic pump that is programmed by an Arduino chipset. It gives students practical experience in assembling the chipset, writing the program, assembling the reactor, and preparing/processing the wet chemical reaction all in a 2-3 h time slot of a typical teaching lab. Reactions flow bulb-to-bulb in a closed(safe) system, where students can flip the pump gear to reverse and continue the reaction if not completed, without risking further exposure. We tested the lab exercise on a class of ~30 students at Strasbourg, and with local students at Regensburg.
All parts for the reactor, supplier info and code to program Arduino are available in the SI file. We feel this contribution might prove a useful, low-entry barrier for University Chemistry departments to introduce their students to flow chemistry.
Congratulations to Michal! It was a pleasure for JPB to collaborate with Gilles.
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07.12.2023
New paper!
We teamed up with Prof. Shunsuke Chiba's group in a quest to review historical and contemporary strategies for strong C-X (heteroatom) cleavages, using photochemistry, electrochemistry, or both!
The review is generally focussed on electron transfer activations. It is structured around the 'intimacy' of activation mode, from direct approaches like UV light direct excitation and electrolysis, to indirect approaches like photoredox catalysis and photoelectrochemistry. Rather than detailed analysis of the photocatalytic cycle or downstream chemistry, it focusses on the key activation and bond cleavage steps and the role of other reagents/additives that facilitate these steps.
We hope this account will be useful and timely as the focus of organic synthesis shifts to more and more inert substrate activations - in order to engage biomass and chemical waste - as feedstock chemicals for organic synthesis of the future!
Congratulations to Xianhai, Yuliang (Chiba group), Shahboz and Jonathan for their contributions! It was a pleasure to for JPB to collaborate with Shunsuke.
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11.11.2023
Shahboz presents his research at the RTG meeting in the Alps
09.11.2023
Joshua presented the group's research at HHU Düsseldorf! Engaging discussiong with the faculty and students - especially enjoyed the discussions and lab tours with Drs. Markus Suta, Bernd Schmid & visiting Prof. Maryna Kornet, and to hear stories from Profs. Constantin Czekelius and Thomas Mueller about their academic journeys.
Visiting Düsseldorf, home to Europe's third largest Japanese community, was a particular privilege for Joshua with his postdoc background in Japan...
Thanks to Prof. Czekelius for the kind invitation!
08.11.2023
Daria, Gabriel, Joshua and Paolo attended the SPP2370 "Nitroconversion" meeting in the boutique Bellavue Rheinhotel nestled within the charming town of Boppard.
It was great to see where everyone was at after the first year; Daria and Gabriel co-presented a talk on their work with carbon nitride photoelectrodes, and brought a poster!
05.10.2023
Our Jaspreet presented her work at the GSK Postgraduate Symposium, an exclusive event for top quality PhD students working in organic synthesis methodology / medicinal chemistry to present her final year PhD research.
Alumni Mark also took a break from his 1st year of the PhD in Aggarwal lab (Uni. Brisol) to present his first-author organophotocatalytic flow N-CH3 oxygenation chemistry, developed as a SynCat Master student in our group with collaborators in GSK and published in 2022 in Chem. Sci.!
Great that they were both warmly welcomed by director Dr. Harry Kelly, one of Joshua's former mentors when on the GSK/Strathclyde industrial PhD programme!
I was told both presentations were well-received with many questions from the industry-strong audience - well done to both Jaspreet and Mark!
01.09.2023
The group bid farewell to Dr. Xianhai Tian, one of the founding members of our group since 2020, who has spearheaded our group's research efforts on photoelectrochemistry and organophotocatalysis. We have overcome many hardships and made many discoveries together!
All the best to Xianhai for his new position as he persues new challenges in biocatalysis within the Huang group at John Hopkins University!
01.09.2023
Well done to Jaspreet for her first big scientific conference 'in person' oral presentation of the PhD, representing the Bear Clan at EuropaCat in Prague!