News
January 2024, mentioning in “Chemistry Views”
Jakob’s uranium paper “A Genuine Trivalent Bis-Acylphosphide (BAP) Complex of Uranium” was highlighted in “Chemistry Views” – check it out!
December 2023, Merry Christmas!
The Meyer lab goes on Christmas vacation and says goodbye with a small Christmas party with delicious food, some typical sweets, and, of course, some Glühwein. We wish you a peaceful holiday season and a happy New Year! May everyone have a good rest and get back on track next year!
December 2023, New Paper Published
Congratulations to one of our newest Group Members, Jakob, who published his first paper, “A Genuine Trivalent Bis-Acylphosphide (BAP) Complex of Uranium” in the European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry. The bis(acyl)phospide mesBAP ligand allowed to establish a fully reversible redox couple with uranium in the oxidation states +III and +IV. In both complexes [U(mesBAP)4]0/–, the uranium ions are coordinated to four mesBAP ligands in a square-antiprismatic geometry, thus forming a beautiful cavity for future small molecule activation chemistry. Well done, Jakob! Are you interested in more? View the full paper here!
November 2023, New Review Published
Congratulations to Zihan for the publication of his first Review, titled “Terminal Cobalt Imido Complexes Bearing N-Anchored Tripodal N-Heterocyclic Carbene Ligands: From Imides to Imidyls and Nitrenes” in the Bulletin of the Japan Society of Coordination Chemistry! This concise review focuses on the molecular and electronic structure of cobalt tris-carbene complexes with a variety of different imido-type ligands. Great work, Zihan! With this review, Karsten thanks JSCC for awarding the societyʼs 2022 prestigious International Award. To read the full paper, click here!
November 2023, Dr. Xinjiao Wang returned to the Meyer Lab
Dr. Xinjiao Wang returned to the Meyer lab as a visiting scholar from Northeastern University of China, and she will stay with us until October 2024. Xinjiao received her PhD degree from Karsten at FAU in 2012. She then moved to the Ruhr Universität Bochum as a postdoctoral student. In 2016, she started to work at Northeastern University of China. In our lab, Xinjiao will work on the CRC research project “Task-Specific Ionic Liquids and their Group 10 Metal Coordination Complexes for Interface-Enhanced Catalysis.” Welcome back to our lab, Xinjiao!
We look forward to working with you again. Enjoy your time in Erlangen.
November 2023, a new paper was published in Chem. Eur. J.
Congratulations to Alex (Meyer lab) and Cindy-Ly (Wisser & Hartmann lab) for their collaborative study towards “Self-Assembled Supported Ionic Liquids” to which Alex contributed with four new task-specific ionic liquids designed to self-assemble on a silica surface without any covalent bonding and offering a metal binding site in a controlled distance to the support. Well done, Alex and Cindy-Ly!
August 2023, a new paper was published in Chem. Eur. J.
Our latest publication comes from Soosan, in collaboration with Dominik Munz (Saarbrücken), titled “Closed Synthetic Cycle for Nickel-Based Dihydrogen Formation,” describes dihydrogen formation in a closed synthetic cycle starting with a Ni0 complex, which forms a NiII monohydride complex upon first protonation. Subsequent protonation yields H2 via a transient Ni–H2 intermediate (INT) and an isolable NiII acetonitrile complex. The latter can be reduced to regenerate its Ni0 precursor, thus closing the cycle. Are you interested in details? Check out the paper here!
This work is dedicated to Professor Herbert Roesky on the occasion of his 88th birthday! Happy birthday and all the very best wishes from the Meyer lab!
October 2023, Group Trip to Legoland in Günzburg
This year´s destination for our annual group trip was Legoland. Some of us were adventurous and rode every ride and roller coaster there was, no matter how racy and fast-paced (or slow) it was. Our adrenaline junkies were not deterred by looping rides either. Those who don’t have as much fun riding daredevil roller coasters left the park a little earlier and visited the (rather small) city center of Günzburg. We all met again for a cozy and delicious dinner at “Brasserie Maximilian’s” before we started our way home. For some pictures, you can check our Gallery!
October 2023, Congratulations to Prof. Rudi van Eldik on publishing his 1000th paper!
Prof. Rudi van Eldik, former Chair of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry (AC1) at FAU, is the Serial Editor for the book series “Advances in Inorganic Chemistry” and, co-edited with Karsten, just published Volume 82, titled “Inorganic Chemistry in Germany.” This is Rudi’s whopping 1000th publication! Keep going, Rudi!
July 2023, Prof. Thorsten Stumpf (HZDR) Visits the Department for a GDCh Lecture @ FAU
As the concluding speaker for our GDCh-Colloquium series in the summer semester, we were privileged to host Prof. Dr. Thorsten Stumpf, Director of the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf. His captivating presentation, titled “Nukleares Endlager: Grundlagenforschung zum Standortauswahlprozess?” provided a fascinating chemist’s perspective on the process of selecting a nuclear waste disposal site. We extend our heartfelt gratitude for his visit and enlightening lecture.
June 2023, Prof. Justin Walensky (University of Missouri) Wins an AvH Research Award, Visits the Meyer Lab, and Gives an IC Lecture @ FAU
Prof. Justin R. Walensky, coming from the University of Missouri, enriched the Meyer Group as a distinguished Alexander-von-Humboldt Research Awardee for a two-month stay at FAU. His presence not only infused fresh perspectives into our research but also allowed him to immerse himself in our cherished traditions, including lively BBQ gatherings with our team and the communal stroll to the opening of the “Berg.” As a grand finale to his stay, Justin delivered an engaging lecture on one of his core research areas: “Small Molecule Activation with f Element Complexes.” We are grateful for the wealth of knowledge you shared, the stimulating discussions you fostered, and the invaluable contributions you made to our chemistry endeavors. Your time in Erlangen has been a true delight, and even though it was a brief interlude, you became an integral part of our working group. We eagerly anticipate our “Uranis” reuniting with you at the upcoming conference in Strasbourg!
June 2023, Prof. Theodor Agapie (Caltech) Gives us an IC Lecture @ FAU
Prof. Theodor Agapie, renowned faculty member at the California Institute of Technology, honored us with a visit to FAU, where he shared his captivating research pursuits in our Inorganic Chemistry seminar. We extend our heartfelt appreciation for his enlightening presentation titled “Synthetic Cluster Models of Inorganic and Organometallic Active Sites in Proteins.” Your insights were truly valuable, and having you here was an absolute pleasure.
June 2023, Prof. Reiner Anwander (Universität Tübingen) Gives us an IC Lecture @ FAU
Prof. Reiner Anwander, representing the Institut für Anorganische Chemie at Universität Tübingen, delivered an insightful presentation on “Rare-Earth-Metal Isobutylaluminates: Pertinent Challenges in Commercial 1,3-Diene Polymerization.” We express our gratitude for the engaging lecture you provided.
June 2023, Lisa Gravogl Wins Flash-Talk Award
FAU’s Department of Chemistry was the host venue for the 2nd Women in Science Symposium held in June 2023. A highlight of the event was Lisa G.’s concise, yet impactful presentation titled “Dioxygen Activation at a bis-Phenolate Carbene-Supported Iron Complex,” which secured her the prize for the best flash talk. Our heartiest congratulations to Lisa on this well-deserved achievement!
May 2023, Prof. Smaranda Marinescu (University of Southern California) Gives us an IC Lecture @ FAU
In May 2023, we had the privilege of hosting Prof. Smaranda C. Marinescu from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, at FAU. Her engaging presentation, “Biologically Inspired Metal Complexes and Materials for Solar-to-Fuel Technologies,” provided a fascinating glimpse into her research. We extend our sincere appreciation for her visit and the insightful overview of her research endeavors.
May 2023, new Review Published in Chem. Revs. on Uranium Electrochemistry
Heartfelt congratulations are in order for Judith Riedhammer and Dr. Dominik Halter on their latest review, titled “Nonaqueous Electrochemistry of Uranium Complexes: A Comprehensive Guide to Structure–Reactivity Tuning” published in Chemial Reviews! This impressive publication compiles data from more than 200 uranium complexes, offering a comprehensive overview of (and allowing us to predict!) their electrochemical behavior in non-aqueous electrolytes. This compilation promises to serve as a valuable reference for newly synthesized compounds and facilitates the assessment of how distinct ligand environments influence experimentally observed electrochemical redox potentials.
May 2023, Prof. Trevor Hayton (UCSB, CA, USA) Gives us an IC Lecture @ FAU
To conclude his Alexander-von-Humboldt visit with us, Prof. Trevor Hayton (UC Santa Barbara), an AvH Bessel Awardee, provided us with valuable perspectives on the potential applications of 13C NMR spectroscopy. Trevor’s presentation, entitled “Exploring An-C Bond Covalency through 13C NMR Spectroscopy,” shed valuable and much-appreciated insight on this subject. We extend our sincere gratitude for his visit, the wealth of stimulating discussions, and his profound knowledge of NO chemistry. Having you as an esteemed guest in our group has been an absolute delight!
April 2023, new JACS paper on Uranium-Mediated O–O Bond Activation
In our newly published JACS paper “Uranium-Mediated Peroxide Activation and a Precursor toward an Elusive Uranium cis-Dioxo Fleeting Intermediate,” we demonstrate a rare example of a uranium complex activating the O−O bond of an organic peroxide. Herein, we describe the peroxide O–O bond cleavage of 9,10-diphenylanthracene-9,10-endoperoxide in nonaqueous media, mediated by a uranium(III) precursor [((Me,AdArO)3N)UIII(dme)] to generate a stable uranium(V) bis-alkoxide complex. This reaction proceeds via an isolable, alkoxide-bridged diuranium(IV/IV) species, implying that the oxidative addition occurs in two sequential, single-electron oxidations of the metal center, including the rebound of a terminal oxygen radical. This uranium(V) bis-alkoxide can then be reduced with KC8 to form a uranium(IV) complex, which, upon exposure to UV light, in solution, releases 9,10-diphenylanthracene to generate a cyclic uranyl trimer through formal two-electron photooxidation. Guess what happens in a single-crystal!? Congratulations to Doug, Sascha, and Dominik for their joint work on this project!
April 2023, Prof. Macarena Poyatos (Universitat Jaume I, Castellón) Gives us an IC Lecture @ FAU
Within the framework of our Inorganic Colloquium series, we had the distinct pleasure of hosting Prof. Macarena Poyatos de Lorenzo from the Institute of Advanced Materials, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón (Spain). Maca delivered a fascinating presentation titled “Redox-Switchable Catalysis with Napthanelenediimide-derived NHC Complexes,” elucidating various strategies to modulate a catalyst’s reactivity, whether by introducing an oxidation reagent or through pi-pi stacking interactions. We extend our heartfelt appreciation for her visit and enlightening discourse.
April 2023, Trevor Hayton Visits the Meyer Group as an AvH Bessel Awardee
In connection with his sabbatical initiative and in recognition of his receipt of the Alexander von Humboldt Bessel Award, we are delighted to welcome our esteemed colleague, Professor Trevor Hayton, from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Trevor’s expertise in transition metal, lanthanide, and uranium coordination chemistry is set to significantly bolster our working group at FAU; his expertise in iron nitrosyl chemistry is particularly welcome. Over the upcoming two months, he will be our guest at FAU, contributing invaluable insights, guidance, and engaging discussions related to our research pursuits. We eagerly anticipate his arrival and the contributions he will make to our endeavors.
January / March 2023, Master´s Thesis Submission and Start of Ph.D. of Eva Körber
Eva Körber submitted her Master’s Thesis on “Molybdenum Complexes Supported by tris-Phenolate and tris-Thiophenolate Ligands – Synthesis and Characterization” in January 2023. Now, Eva has started her Ph.D. studies on the synthesis and reactivity of iron complexes with new derivates of our tripodal N-heterocyclic carbene ligand, TIMMN. Welcome to the team, good luck and success!
February 2023, Sadig is Back!
We’re delighted to extend a warm welcome to our dear friend and former postdoctoral colleague, Dr. Sadig Aghazada! It’s a joy to have you rejoin our group, and we eagerly anticipate engaging in fascinating discussions about chemistry over a cozy coffee break. Wishing you the best of luck and every measure of success!
Prof. Martin Albrecht meets the Meyer Group (February 2023)
Our friend and collaborater Prof. Martin Albrecht from the University Bern, Switzerland, was invited to FAU as part of the GDCh lecture series. It was our pleasure meeting him, discussing about science and gaining insight into his intriguing research about “Tailoring Ligands for Challenging Oxidation Catalysis”. Great talk – thanks a lot, Martin!
Prof. Kallol Ray meets the Meyer Lab (January 2023)
To restart the Inorganic Lecture Series after the Christmas break, we invited Prof. Kallol Ray from the Humboldt Universität zu Berlin. Not only during his lecture “Small Molecule Activation at Transition Metal Centers: Structure-Function Correlations” but also in small discussions with our group members, he inspired us with his enormous expertise in metal-mediated dioxygen activation. Thank you for your visit and your interesting talk!
New Publications (December 2022/ January 2023)
The old year ended just as good as the new one began: with new publications from our working group! Congratulations to Martin for his work on “From Divalent to Pentavalent Iron Imido Complexes and an Fe(V) Nitride via N–C Bond Cleavage” and to Pablo and Judith for their joint work on “Homoleptic Acetylacetonate (acac) and β-Ketoiminate (acnac) Complexes of Uranium”.
New Year – new students for Specialization Module (December 2022/January 2023)
We hearty welcome our five new chemistry heroes who decided to join our group! They started their specialization module in December 2022/January 2023 and will continue with their M.Sc. thesis studies with us.
Tom Hartmann is following up on Martin´s high-valent iron nitride chemistry.
Anna Müller joins our CLINT-Team. Her research is based on nickel complexes for eSILP-based CO2 reduction catalysis.
Constantin Schnell studies the synthesis and characterization of uranium taddol complexes.
Jakob Hochholzer is finishing up his beautiful series of cerium complexes in three different oxidation states before he starts his own uranium-related project.
Oliver Pyschny is working with Lisa G. on her iron OCO pincer complexes for iron-mediated dioxygen-activation before he tackles very low Fe oxidation states and their potential for small molecule activation.
Dalton Division Horizon Prize (December 2022)
The Royal Society of Chemistry, the UK’s professional body in the field of chemistry, has awarded its Horizon Prizes this year. These awards recognize the most exciting recent results in cutting-edge chemical research and innovation. The Horizon Prizes go to teams or collaborations whose groundbreaking scientific developments open up new avenues and opportunities in their field. One of this year’s awardees is Prof. Dr. Karsten Meyer, Chair of Inorganic and General Chemistry. Prof. Meyer and collaborators worked on the “Cu-Lighting” project, which combines chemistry, engineering and mathematics in a multidisciplinary approach to develop blue-white light-emitting electrochemical cells based on copper(I) complexes.
Prof. Christian Limberg meets the Meyer Lab (December 2022)
Prof. Dr. Christian Limberg from the Humboldt Universität zu Berlin visited the FAU in December 2022. During a small coffee break, he could give our PhD´s helpful advice and interesting new ideas for their different topics. In the afternoon, Christian presented “Routes to Metal-O2 and Metal-Carbonite Entities and their Interaction with Alkali Metal Ions.” Wonderful chemistry, beautiful talk! Many thanks for your visit!
New Mössbauer Operators Marat Khusniyarov and Zihan Zhang (November 2022)
Marat successfully completed the radiation protection course to assist the Meyer Group with 57Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy. Under his guidance, Han will be organizing and handling our Mössbauer samples to get us the much-appreciated spectra for as long as our two 57Co sources radiate (…though they are slowly but surely fading away ☹ )
Professor Hansjörg Grützmacher’s Guest Professorship @ FAU (November 2022)
As part of FAU’s Visiting Professor Program, our good friend & colleague Professor Hansjörg Grützmacher from ETH Zürich visited Erlangen in November 2022. On this occasion, we invited him for a lecture about his beautiful Carbon Phosphide chemistry. The Meyer Group loves Hansjörg’s “chalk talks” and is looking forward to your next visit!
Prof. Makoto Yamashita meets the Meyer Group (October 2022)
Prof Yamashita from Nagoya University, Japan, visited Erlangen and gave a lecture titled “Characteristic Features of Group 13 Element Compounds in Low Oxidation State: Diborane(4) and AI-Anion”.
Ethan Zars meets the Meyer Group (October 2022)
Ethan Zars from the group of our long-time collaborator and friend Daniel Mindiola at the University of Pennsylvania meets the Meyer group at FAU. Ethan joined us for two weeks to do hands-on magnetochemical studies on his highly reactive series of chalcogenide-bridged di-iron complexes and the catalytically active terminal iron imido species. At the end of his visit, he presented his research in a relaxed atmosphere with a glass of our favorite wine. The following subject-specific discussion about his and our research goals has provided many new ideas to try! We hope you enjoyed your stay in Germany and the time with our group!
Prof. Peris meets the Inorganic Division and Meyer Group (October 2022)
Freshly awarded Alexander-von-Humboldt fellow, Prof. Dr. Eduardo Peris, from the Institute of Advanced Materials, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón (Spain), attends the award ceremony in Bamberg and visits the Meyer Group in Erlangen. Eduardo gave a lecture titled “N-Heterocyclic Carbenes as Toolkits for the Preparation of Supramolecular Assemblies and Switchable Catalysts.” Eduardo presented his fantastic chemistry on the beautiful and self-assembled NHC-based metallo-folders, tweezers, and cages for recognizing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and for the study of electrochemically-controlled, homogenous catalysis in confined spaces.
Group Trip (October 2022)
This year we chose Nuremberg as our annual Meyer group trip destination. In the morning, we took an impressive and pleasant guided tour around the former “Reichsparteitagsgelände”. We had a delicious selection of cheese, prosciutto, and wine during our lunch break at “Il Disperato”. A little walk to the castle and through the old town led us to the narrow medieval dungeons (from the 14th century) under the town hall of Nuremberg, where we had another guided tour. The day ended with a joint dinner at a typical Franconian restaurant. For more pictures, please have a look at our Gallery!
Actinides Revisited 2022 Conference (September 2022)
Pablo and Bene visited the “Actinides revisited” conference in Dresden and presented their recent research results with a poster and a talk. Thank you to the organizing committee for that great oppurtunity and the great time we had, whilst enjoying exciting science and networking with like-minded people from all over the world.
Master Thesis submission and Start of Ph.D. of Zihan Zhang (August/ September 2022)
In August 2022, Han successfully finished his Master’s Thesis on the “Synthesis & Characterization of Cobalt Imido Complexes”, and he is now continuing his research studies toward his Ph.D. Han’s project has refocused on iron, and he is now trying to stabilize super-oxidized iron complexes with our established and newly-developed tripodal N-heterocyclic carbene ligands. Han, go high-valent!
Welcome to our new Ph.D. student Junyu “Jerry” Chu (June 2022)
Jerry received his Master of Science in chemistry at the Shenyang University of Chemical Technology in China and started his Ph.D. research in our group in June 2022. He is part of our “Ionic Liquids Team” and tackles synthesizing task-specific ionic liquids and their group 10 metal coordination complexes for Interface-Enhanced Catalysis (e-SILP). Welcome to our group!
Welcome to our new Postdoc, Dr. Riccardo Conti (April 2022)
Native Italian Riccardo received his Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry under the guidance of Prof. Grützmacher from the ETH Zürich. In April 2022, Riccardo joined our group, focusing on synthesizing first-row transition metal complexes for the electrocatalytic oxidation of water, with a particular interest in ligand design, metal complex characterization, and electrode functionalization. Go Riccardo, and see how the O–O bond forms!
Eva Körber Specialization (January 2022)
Eva Körber started her specialization module in January 2022 and will continue with her Master’s Thesis in July 2022. Eva targets the synthesis of molybdenum and tungsten complexes in the ligand environment of a mesitylene-anchored tris-thiophenolate chelate. Have fun, and enjoy the chemistry!
Professor Grützmacher visit (November 2021)
Professor Grützmacher from ETH Zürich visited Erlangen and joined our group seminar to share some of his exciting carbon phosphide chemistry with us. In January, HJG will join the Meyer Lab for an „FAU Visting Professorship.“
Zihan “Han” Zhang Specialization (November 2021)
A hearty welcome to our new group member Zihan Zhang! Han started his chemistry studies at Shandong University in China and joined FAU for his graduate studies. Han works with our Postdoc Dr. Weiqing Mao on high-valent N-heterocyclic carbene cobalt imido complexes. After finishing his specialization module, he is eager to continue his M.Sc. thesis studies with us. You will be welcome – keep up your excellent work ethic and making new compounds!
Uranium going the soft way (October 2021)
Uranium Going the Soft Way – Daniel’s work is now published in Inorganic Chemistry! Check it out here
PhD Scholarship Alexander Bergen (September 2021)
Alexander Bergen has been awarded a Ph.D. scholarship of the “Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes”. Congratulations, Alex!
Master thesis submission Lisa Pick and Benedikt Kestel (January 2021)
With the submission of their M.Sc. theses in December 2020, Lisa and Bene are “full parts” of the Meyer Team now, and we welcome them to the group. Lisa keeps pursuing her huge iron nitrosyl project, chasing the elusive {Fe-NO}10, and other exotic species, while Bene is studying new thiolate ligands and their corresponding uranium complexes.
All the best, good luck & success to both of you two!
Alexander Bergen Zerweck-Masterpreis (October 2020)
Alexander Bergen was awarded with the Zerweck-Masterpreis 2020 at FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg for outstanding results in his Master’s thesis. Great work, Alex!
Ph.D. defence Julian Hümmer (October 2020)
Julian Hümmer received his PhD in October 2020. Congratulations, Julian! We will miss his company as a co-worker and friend and wish him all the best for his future.
Dominik Munz has moved to Saarland University
After three and a half successful years as a junior group leader at the Meyer chair in Erlangen, Dominik Munz has moved to Saarland University assuming a W2 professorship. While we tremendously enjoyed Dominik´s company, his creativity and lots of exciting and fruitful discussions, we share his excitement about the opportunities his independent career will offer. We wish him and his family all the best in the future and definitely will stay closely in touch! Also, all the best to his group members Annette, Julian and Pier, who are moving with him to Saarbrücken – you were and will continue to be excellent colleagues and friends. Keep pushing electrons!
Welcome to Paul Rathke! (September 2020)
We are happy to welcome Paul Rathke to our group! He graduated from University of Oxford after finishing his master’s thesis at the University of California, Berkeley, this summer. Paul will be our guest at the Meyer Lab for a one-year research stay before moving on to Cal (or not ? :-) ) Let’s hope for a lot of fancy molecules resulting from his project in the field of iron coordination chemistry. Have a good time in Erlangen, Paul!
Benedikt Kestel specialisation (February 2020)
Benedikt Kestel started his specialisation module in February 2020 and will continue with his M.Sc. thesis work in April 2020. Bene is aiming towards the synthesis of diarsa- and diphospaallendiide ligands, starting from our recently published uranium cyaphide and cyaarside complexes. Welcome to the team, good luck and success!
MSc thesis submission Alexander Bergen (February 2020)
Alexander Bergen submitted his M.Sc. thesis in February 2020. Congratulations Alex! He starts his Ph.D. studies on mono- and multinuclear transition metal complexes of imidazolium-based task-specific ionic liquids in March 2020. Welcome to the team! We wish you good luck & success!
Ph.D. defence Christopher Hörger (January 2020)
Christopher Hörger received his Ph.D. in January 2020. Congratulations Dr. Hörxi! Hörx studied the transformation of small molecules at reactive uranium complexes in super bulky ligand environments. His studies were vastly successful and left a fruitful field behind that is currently plugged away by our “newbies”. We wish him all the very best for his future. Stay in touch, … and make sure our supply of “Group Rotling” remains secure!
Uranium team Pablo Waldschmidt (January 2020)
Pablo Waldschmidt joined the uranium team in January 2020 for his Ph.D. Pablo started his PhD tenure with a beautiful publication reporting U-mediated CO2 transformation chemistry. He is now studying the reactivity of uranium cyaphide and cyaarside compounds (and will eventually build a U-based redox-flow battery).
Lisa Pick specialisation (December 2019)
Lisa Pick started her specialisation module in December 2019 and will continue with her M.Sc. Thesis studies in February 2020. Lisa is investigating the chemistry of iron dinitrosyl complexes; thus, following up on Martin’s “Monster” iron nitrosyl paper published in JACS late last year. With Lisa P. joining the team, Lisa G. is promoted to #1.
Dr. Weiqing Mao PostDoc fellowship (October 2019)
With a prestigious Alexander-von-Humboldt post-doctoral fellowship, Dr. Weiqing Mao joined the team in October 2019. His research topic is focused on the study of highly reactive iron and cobalt complexes for atom transfer catalysis and O–O bond formation chemistry. Mao received his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry (SIOC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). We thank the AvH Foundation and wish Mao all the success (… and lots of crystal structures :-) )
Fellowship Dominik Halter (August 2019)
We are very proud to announce the presentation of two very prestigious science awards to the Meyer Group Alumni Dr. Dominik Halter!
In summer 2018 Dominik received a Feodor-Lynen Postdoctorial Fellowhip by the Alexander-von-Humboldt Foundation to join the Long Group at UC Berkeley. Dominik is currently working on the development of new metalic-organic frameworks with coordinatively unsaturated metal sites for hydrogen storage and catalysis. His latest success was announced by the “Reaxys PhD Prize 2019” committee that has selected him one of the 45 finalists of a very competitive group of 360 valid candidates. The publisher Elsevier is honoring these outstanding chemists by inviting the finalists to the PhD Prize Symposium in October in Amsterdam. The finalists will showcase their research in a poster session after which the three winners will be chosen.
Let´s keep our fingers crossed for “our Domi”! Independent of the outcome, he is the winner of hearts for the Meyer group members!
Quantum Design Magnetometer MPMS3-DC (July 2018)
Top-notch magnetochemistry instrumentation: Installation completed!
The Meyer lab is proud to announce that our brand new, top-of-the-notch Quantum Design Magnetometer MPMS3-DC is successfully installed and ready to be loaded with exciting samples. Together with our “old” MPMS-XL workhorse, this new SQUID (superconducting quantum interference device) will measure the magnetic properties of our metal coordination compounds as low as 1.8 K, and in applied magnetic fields of up to 7 T. MPMS3 is equipped with an AC susceptibility option, a VSM extraction unit, and an EverCool dewar for Helium recycling.
May the fun begin!
Dr. Dominik Halter was awarded the Zerweck-Promotionspreis (June 2018)
Friends and coworkers always knew it but now it is official: Domi is in a class of his own!
We are very proud to announce that Dr. Dominik Halter was awarded the Zerweck-Promotionspreis 2018. This Award is endowed with 2000 EUR and is awarded yearly, honoring the best of all PhD Thesis’ of the Department of Chemistry and Pharmacy at FAU Erlangen. Dominik was a Ph.D. student in the Meyer lab and is currently continuing his road to success at University of California at Berkeley. He received the prestigious Alexander-von-Humboldt Postdoctoral fellowship for his research proposal on Metal-Organic Frameworks under the tutelage of Prof. Jeffrey Long at CAL. All the best Domi!
Stay in touch – we’ll miss you!
Julian Messelberger PhD fellowship (June 2018)
Welcome to our new graduate student Julian Messelberger. Julian has begun his PhD research in the group of Dominik Munz. Welcome to “the gang” Julian!
Postdoctoral fellows: Dr. Akira Katayama, Dr. Douglas R. Hartline and Dr. Sadig Aghazada (Summer 2018)
Welcome to our new Postdoctoral Fellows, Dr. Akira Katayama, Dr. Douglas R. Hartline and Dr. Sadig Aghazada!!!
Akira is a chemist from Nagoya Institute of Technology in Japan where he performed research in Prof. Hideki Masuda’s laboratory at the Department of Frontier Materials, and received his Ph.D. in the year 2018. His thesis work studied the effects of ionic liquids on transition metal catalyzed electrochemical ammonia synthesis. In the Meyer group he will apply his expertise on ionic liquids to our projects.
Doug was born and grew-up in Brookhaven Pennsylvania. In 2013 he graduated from Pennsylvania State University with his Bachelors of Science in chemistry and in 2018 he graduated from Purdue University in Indiana with his Doctorate of Philosophy in chemistry with a focus on chemical catalysis. Since summer of 2018, Doug is working with us to help advancing our ambitious project of electrocatalytic water splitting.
In 2013, Sadig received a Specialist degree in chemistry (equivalent to Master) with summa cum laude from Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia. After his education in Russia, he moved on to Switzerland, where he received his Ph.D. (2018) from École Politechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. At EPFL, he worked at the Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering ISIC and performed his graduate research under the supervision of Prof. Nazeeruddin with co-supervision of Prof. Michael Grätzel at Lausanne & Sion, Switzerland. In the Meyer group he will be working on the development of multinuclear transition metal complexes.
Jana Korzekwa doctoral defence (April 2018)
Congratulations to Dr. Jana Korzekwa! Jana successfully defended her doctoral thesis on „Synthese und Charakterisierung von 3d-Übergangsmetall- und Uran(IV)-Komplexen unter Verwendung von N,O- und N,N-Donorliganden“. During her time in our group, Jana was known for her „hands-on mentality“ whenever help was needed. Thank you Jana and best wishes for the future!
Welcome to Annette Grünwald Dominik Fehn and Lisa Gravogl (Spring 2018)
Welcome to M.Sc. Annette Grünwald! Annette started her Ph.D. work in the Munz group and we are very happy she chose to work with us. Not only is she a great pastry baker that often treats us with delicious cakes, she is also a very pleasant lab mate and excellent team player! Have fun Annette!
Welcome to M.Sc. Dominik Fehn and M.Sc. Lisa Gravogl who are our latest additions to the “transition metal team” of the Meyer group. Welcome Domi Fehn and Lisa!
Dr. Dominik Munz Liebig-fellowship award (December 2017)
Congratulations to Dr. Dominik Munz who was awarded a Liebig-fellowship by the “Fonds der Chemischen Industrie”!
Dominik (aka Johnny) is currently establishing his own research group in Erlangen to begin his independent career. He received his Dr. rer. nat. degree from TU Dresden (with Prof. Thomas Strassner) and spent his postdoctoral research time in the US, with professors T. Brent Gunnoe (University of Virginia) and Guy Bertrand (University of California, San Diego). The research interests of the Munz group are catalytic procedures for the oxidative refinement of hydrocarbons and the activation of small molecules. Great to have you on board Dominik!
Congratulations to Dr. Michelle Sternberg and Dr. Eva Zolnhofer (September 2017)
Congratulations to Dr. Michelle Sternberg for successfully defending her thesis! We wish Michelle all the best for her future endeavors.
Congrats to Dr. Eva Zolnhofer! Eva – our former “Queen of EPR” – successfully defended her doctoral thesis. We are proud to announce that she was selected to join the “Innotruck” team. The Innotruck is an initiative sponsored by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) to bring science to the broader public and high school students in the course of a nationwide interactive exhibition tour of the truck. BMBF can be happy to have you as a project scientist – well done Eva!
Karsten Meyer Chugaev Medal award by the Russian Academy of Sciences (May 2017)
We are proud to announce that Karsten Meyer was awarded the Chugaev Medal by the Russian Academy of Sciences. The Kurnakov-Institut of General and Inorganic Chemistry of the RAS awarded Karsten for advancing the field of synthetic transition- and actinide- coordination chemistry as well as chelating ligand development. Lev Aleksandrovich Chugaev (1873 –1922), was a renowned Russian chemist and the successor of Dimitri Mendeleev at University of Petersburg.
Karsten Meyer received the Ludwig Mond Award (April 2017)
In April Karsten Meyer received the Ludwig Mond Award by the Royal Society of Chemistry, UK and the Elhuyar-Goldschmidt Lecturship by the Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry.
The Ludwig Mond Award is awarded for outstanding research in inorganic chemistry. Karsten was awarded for his “outstanding contributions to electronic and molecular structure, unusual oxidation states, small molecule activation, and metal-ligand multiple bonding, with a particular emphasis on the chemistry of uranium and iron”.
The Elhuyar – Goldschmidt Lectureship is named after the Spanish brothers Elhuyar and after Hans Goldschmidt. In 1783, Fausto and Juan José Elhuyar discovered the element Tungsten; the German businessman Hans Goldschmidt is the inventor of the thermite reaction. The Lecturship was established in 1999 and is awarded yearly to one German and one Spanish chemist that is selected the respective chemical society of the partner country. Karsten gave his award lecture at University of Valencia.
Welcome to Judith Riedhammer und Daniel Pividori (November 2016)
Welcome to our PhD students M.Sc. Judith Riedhammer und M.Sc. Daniel Pividori! Both have chosen to join the “uranium team” and are a perfect fit for the Meyer group as they are excellent team players, very creative and great fun to be with!
Daniel is also an excellent cook and Judith is our group party planner. So happy to have you two!!!
Mario Adelhardt defend his PhD (September 2016)
Well done Mario! Dr. Mario Adelhardt defended his thesis involving research on his infamous SalAmi ligand. Also, Mario was among those scientist who first reported the oxidation state +4 for the well-established Ferrocene molecule – this spectacular achievement was reported in Science.
Science paper out! (August 2016)
The Meyer team members Mario Adelhardt and Dr. Jörg Sutter co-authored a paper on the isolation and characterization of a decamethylferrocene dication with iron in the +4 oxidation state. The ground breaking synthesis of this never before isolated Fe(IV) metallocene was achieved by our collaborator M. Malischewski of the Seppelt lab at Free University Berlin and characterized by the Meyer group at FAU. Congratulations to the successful scientists!
Sascha Löffler joined the Meyer Lab team (January 2016)
A new year, a new PhD student! M.Sc. Sascha Löffler joined the Meyer Lab team in January to start his graduate research. Welcome Sascha!
Soosan Hosseinmardi, new PhD student from Iran (September 2015)
Welcome to Soosan Hosseinmardi, our new PhD student from Iran! She received her master’s degree from Sharif University of Technology in Tehran where she was working with Prof. Sirous Jamali studying C-H activation by N-heterocyclic carbene Pt(II) complexes. In Erlangen, she will be working on developing cubane Manganese clusters for catalytic water oxidation. Enjoy your time in Germany Soosan!
Eva Zolnhofer poster award
Congratulations to our PhD student Eva Zolnhofer! Her poster “An Intermediate Cobalt(IV) Nitrido Complex” was awarded with the 1st Poster-Prize (100 EUR) at the “ECOSTBIO Summer School “Spectroscopy of Spin in Catalysis, Bioinorganic and Materials Chemistry: Spinning a Web of Theory and Practice” in Groningen (Netherlands). Well done Eva!
A new postdoc arrived!
Toni (Lianpeng) Tong received a M.Sc. degree from Dalian University of Technology, China and conducted his Ph.D. research under the supervision of Prof. Licheng Sun at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm in Sweden. He then proceeded to take a postdoctoral position at the University of Houston (Prof. Randolph P. Thummel) where he worked on the development of Co-based proton reduction catalysts. At Erlangen he will be an integral part of our newly established research team for the advancement of chemical energy conversion sponsored by BMBF, “MANGAN”.
Collaborative research with NITech (June 2015)
On June 1st, Karsten Meyer was appointed “Professor for the Brain Circulation Project” at Nagoya Institute of Technology (NITech). He is appointed from June 2015 to March 2017 to conduct collaborative research with NITech.
Let’s “circulate the brain” Karsten! http://www.nitech.ac.jp/eng/research/partners.html
Welcome to Vera Seidel and Martin Keilwerth (May 2015)
Two new master sudents have joined the team: Welcome to Vera Seidel and Martin Keilwerth! Have fun in the lab and enjoy the world of synthetic chemistry!
Welcome to Madeline! (Chih-Juo)
We are pleased to welcome a new graduate student in our lab! Madeline (Chih-Juo) Yin was born in Taiwan and is Australian citizen. She did her bachelor at University of Rochester and recieved her masters’ degree from Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL, master thesis with Prof. Graetzel). Welcome Madeline and enjoy your time in Germany!
Welcome to Thibault Chisson! (April 2015)
Thibault is a graduate student from Ecole Polytechnique (CNRS, near Paris) and is on a “Short Term Scientific Mission” (COST) to work on uranium chemistry in our lab. At CNRS he is member of the Laboratoire de Chimie Moleculaire under the supervision of Audrey Auffrant – he is co-supervised by Gregory Nocton.
Enjoy your time in Erlangen Thibault!
Welcome to Alisdair Formanuik! (March 2015)
Ally is student of Dr. David Mills and is visiting from the University of Manchester, UK. He will be staying for one month to gain insight into our ligand synthesis for uranium coordination chemistry.
Have fun Ally! We hope you will enjoy chemistry in Germany!
Welcome to Prof. John F.!
Berry visiting from University of Wisconsin at Madison! John is an Associate Professor at Madison where he has established a vibrant research program tackling fundamental problems in coordination chemistry and bonding. He recently was awarded an Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship for a sabbatical stay to perform research in the Meyer Group.
Great to have you around John!
Stephanie Laga, Fulbright Fellow from Caltech (October 2014)
Welcome to Stephanie Laga, a visiting Fulbright Fellow from Caltech, Pasadena, USA!
After completion of her undergraduate education at Caltech, she decided to join our research team for a 10 months visit. During her time in the Meyer lab she will be working on Ni-NHC carbene complexes. After her visit in Germany, she will be moving on to Yale University (New Haven, USA) to start her graduate education and PhD research. Congratulations to Stephanie for securing funding from the Fulbright Foundation. We are looking forward to fun times with her and are truly pleased to have her “on board”!
Welcome to Matthias (Matze) Miehlich and Julian Hümmer! (September 2014)
Welcome to Matthias (Matze) Miehlich and Julian Hümmer, the latest additions to our research team. Julian and Matze are about to complete the master thesis and will start their PhD research in March 2015. We are happy to have you and are looking forward to fun times in lab and elsewhere!
Welcome to our new graduate students Dominik Halter and Christopher Hörger! (January 2014)
Both have chosen to do their “Dissertation” on uranium coordination chemistry and we are more than happy to have them in our team! Welcome guys – enjoy your “Doktoranden-time”!
Welcome to all international guests staying with us for extended research stays!
Visiting from the United States are Matthew Chalkley (Yale University) and Donald Ripatti (University of California, San Diego). Both are undergraduate students and have been awarded research fellowships (Fulbright fellowship to MC, DAAD fellowship to DR) for a 9 months stay in our group before they will move on to begin their graduate education. Congratulations to both of them! Great to have you in the team!
Simon Randall and Alexander Kilpatrick from Great Britain visiting us
Visiting from Great Britain are Simon Randall and Alexander (Sandy) Kilpatrick. Both are exchange PhD students sent by our collaborators Prof. Louise Natrajan (University of Manchester) and Prof. F. Geoffrey N. Cloke (University of Sussex). They are working on joint research projects with the Meyer lab. Welcome to Simon and Sandy! Enjoy Erlangen and the uranium chemistry in the Meyer lab!
Dr. Angel Romero PostDoc fellowship
Dr. Angel Romero from Universidad Simón Bolívar (SBU) in Caracas, Venezuela stay with us for a postdoctoral. He received his doctoral degree for work he performed under the supervision of Dr. Simon Lopez in the Organic Chemistry Division of the Chemistry Department at SBU. He will support our “ionic liquids team” with his synthetic skills. Welcome to Germany, Angel!
Carsten Streb Full Professorship at the University of Ulm (September 2013)
Congratulations to Carsten Streb who recently assumed a Full Professorship at the University of Ulm! Well done Carsten!
Ever since he joined the Meyer Group in Erlangen as a Liebig Fellow (FCI) in 2009, he was recognized as a competent and always friendly partner in research and teaching. We will miss him and wish him all the best and much fun for his future endeavors!
Welcome to our guest Matthew Chalkley! (September 2013)
Welcome to our guest Matthew Chalkley who did his undergraduate studies at Yale University, New Haven, USA. He has joined the Meyer group for 10 months and will perform research on Co and Mn Oxo- and Nitrido-complexes prior to his graduate work with Prof. Jonas Peters at Caltech, Pasadena CA. Welcome to the team Matthew – great to have you with us!
BDS-AzubiAkademie found at Erlangen (BDS-apprentice-academy)
The Chair of Inorganic and General Chemistry is member of the newly founded BDS-AzubiAkademie at Erlangen (BDS-apprentice-academy).
Minister of State Dr. Wolfgang Heubisch (Bavarian Ministry of Sciences, Research and the Arts) presented the leaving certificates to apprentices Marlena Erras and Stephanie Kraftschik during a ceremony in the Orangerie of Erlangen Castle.
Picture (from left to right): Dr. Jörg Sutter (Instructor), Marlena Erras and Stephanie Kraftschik, Dr. Wolfgang Heubisch, Dr. Matthias Moll (Instructor).
Welcome to Wenliang Huang!
Welcome to Wenliang Huang from the Diconescu group at UCLA who is visting FAU for a 2 week research stay! Wenliang is a 5th year graduate student at UCLA who joined the Diaconescu group in October 2008 after conducting research as an undergraduate at Peking University on computational studies applied to organometallic chemistry.
The Meyer group holds long standing collaborations with the Diaconescu group at UCLA and currently recieves funding for student exchange from BaCaTeC. The Bavarian California Technology center (BaCaTeC) supports collaborative research projects between scientitsts in Bavaria and California.
Martina Käß has been awarded a PhD fellowship
Martina Käß has been awarded a PhD fellowship of the “Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes”. Please join us in congratulating Martina on this well-earned honor.
Amanda E. King Postdoctoral fellowship
Amanda E. King (University of Wisconsin, Madison) has been awarded an Alexander von Humboldt postdoctoral fellowship. Please join us in congratulating Amanda on this well deserved honor! Amanda is currently working on her PhD thesis under the supervision of Profs. Shannon Stahl and Thomas Brunold. She is expected to join the Meyer lab for her postdoctoral studies in fall 2009. Amanda will be studying aspects of catalytic H2O oxidation, such as the mechanism of oxygen – oxygen bond formation in high-valent transition metal oxo and hydroxo complexes. These studies are relevant to photo-catalytic water splitting chemistry as observed in the biological oxygen-evolving complex (OEC) of Photosystem II. The Meyer group is eagerly anticipating her arrival and extends our heartiest congratulations to Amanda!
Professor Charles “Chuck” Casey presentation (July 2009)
Professor Charles “Chuck” Casey (University of Wisconsin, Madison-Wisconsin) will be presenting a seminar on Monday, July 20th 2009, titled “An Efficient and Chemoselective Iron Catalyst for the Hydrogenation of Ketones”.
Professor Casey’s research group is interested in studying the mechanisms of organometallic reactions and in developing an understanding of homogeneous catalysis. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Among the many awards, he received the ACS award in Organometallic Chemistry and the A. C. Cope Scholar Award. Chuck (photo left) is visiting our group from Saturday through Tuesday. Please welcome Chuck!
Bergkirchweih festival (June 2009)
Tuesday, June 2th 2009 was Erlangen day at the local Bergkirchweih festival, and our group joined the rest of the city in hoisting a mug. Below is a picture of the group at the Steinbach Bräu keller. You can see more pictures in the photo gallery.
Congratulations to Professor Daniel Mindiola (May 2009)
Our heartiest congratulations to Professor Daniel Mindiola (Indiana University, Bloomington Indiana)! Dan has been granted the prestigious “Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award”. With this fellowship, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation awards internationally renowned scientists and scholars, who are producing cutting-edge achievements which have seminal influence on their discipline beyond their immediate field of work.
Dan is internationally recognized for his contributions to the field of catalysis. He has devised methods, allowing for the rational preparation of molecules that are suspected to be essential intermediates of catalytic cycles. By making these species verifiable and accessible to future optimization, he advances catalyst design, thus minimizing energy cost and maximizing resources. Dan is hosted by Prof. Roesky at the University of Göttingen and by our group at the University of Erlangen – Nürnberg.
Dan & his family (Katti, Niobe & Juan Daniel) will be staying with us from May 29 through January 2010. Dan will be staying in his guest office on the 3rd floor of the Inorganic Chemistry building (Egerlandstr. 1, Office: 3.19). Please feel free to meet with him; he is a super nice guy and a great synthetic chemist!
Congratulations to Dr. Marat Khusniyarov and Dr. Carsten Streb (May 2009)
Our heartiest congratulations to Dr. Marat Khusniyarov and Dr. Carsten Streb. Marat and Carsten were awarded a prestigious Liebig-fellowship from the “Fonds der Chemischen Industrie”. Marat has started his independent work in Mai 2009 and Carsten will join us in October 2009 for their independent research work towards their habilitation.
Marat obtained his PhD at Philipps-Universität Marburg with Prof. Jörg Sundermeyer (2006), afterwards he joined the group of Prof. Karl Wieghardt (MPI for Bioinorganic Chemistry) as a postdoctoral-fellow. Now he has started his independent research career focused on the development of photoswitchable magnetic materials funded by the FCI.
Carsten Streb will join our team in October 2009 as a Liebig-Fellow of the FCI. Carsten gained his Diplom-Chemiker degree at TU Kaiserslautern in 2005, working with Prof. Martin Hartmann. He then moved to the University of Glasgow where he obtained his PhD in 2008 (supervisor: Prof Lee Cronin) working on metal-oxide based molecular materials. Currently, he works at the University of Glasgow and James Watt Nanofabrication Centre, investigating complex functional nanostructures based on molecular metal oxide precursors. His future research will be focussed around alkoxide-based architectures as functional materials.
Karsten Meyer honorary membership of the Israel Chemical Society (ICS) award (May 2009)
May, 2009: Karsten has been awarded an honorary membership of the Israel Chemical Society (ICS). He is the 29th scientist to be elected lifetime honorary member.
Congratulations to Prof. Kisch
The 365 winners of the 2009 ‘365 Landmarks in the Land of Ideas’ contest are in – and our colleague Prof. H. Kisch is one of them! From more than 2,000 applications received from companies, research institutes, art and cultural institutions, community and charity initiatives, a panel of 18 judges picked his research project “Frischluftfarbe” as one of the winners. As a result the “Institut für Anorganische Chemie” was selected as one of ‘365 Landmarks in the Land of Ideas’. Every landmark demonstrates the multifaceted potential of Germany as a place of innovation. Congratulations to Prof. Kisch for his achievement and a big “Thank you” to him for bringing Inorganic Chemistry at Erlangen into the national limelight!
Welcome to our guest Dr. Alistair Frey from the University of Sussex, Brighton, UK! (April 2009)
Dr. Alistair Frey is visiting us for 4 weeks to breathe life into our infamous arsenic generator. It was build by our machine shop a while ago and has since been waiting to produce yellow arsenic for uranium chemistry. We are happy to have Alistair in town and are looking forward to lots of chemistry and camaraderie!
Congratulations to Radim
Congratulations to Radim who has been awarded the 2008 Research Award For Young European Scientists of The European Society for Quantum Solar Energy Conversion for the best PhD thesis in the field of quantum solar energy conversion.
http://www.esqsec.unibe.ch/award08.htm
The 5th annual meeting for coordination chemists (February 2009)
On Feb. 22-24, the 5th annual meeting for coordination chemists “Koordinationschemie-Treffen 2009” was hosted by our group here in Erlangen. We were happy to welcome more than one hundred participants from 35 research groups from all around Germany. It has become a well-established tradition that all presentations are given and chaired by graduate students. The 33 exciting talks and 23 posters showcased results from the forefront of coordination chemistry, with topics ranging from small molecule activation, through precursors for modified ceramics, to photoactive complexes for sunlight-driven hydrogen production. On Monday evening, we celebrated with a “Rosenmontag Buffet” where delicious traditional meals were served accompanied by plenty of local Franconian beer. The next “Koordinationschemie-Treffen 2010” will be organized by Prof. Eva Rentschler and Prof. Katja Heinze in Mainz.
Welcome to PhD students Boris Kosog and Martina Käß! (January/ May 2009)
Please welcome our new Ph.D. students Boris Kosog and Martina Käß!
Boris received his Diploma from University of Regensburg (with Prof. Göpferich/PD Teßmar) and joined our group in January 2009. He will work on a project continuing our efforts in uranium coordination chemistry.
Martina, a Dipl.-Chem. from TU München (with Prof. Herrmann/Dr. Schneider) will work on the catalytic activation of CO2 at reactive Ti and Fe complexes. She will start her studies with us in May 2009.
Welcome to our new international guest-scientist, Jesús Rodríguez Ruiz (January 2009)
We would like to welcome our new international guest-scientist, Jesús Rodríguez Ruiz. Jesús recieved his Diploma from Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha (Spain) and now he is pursuing his PhD degree at Università degli Studi di Cagliari (Sardinia, Italy). He will stay with us for three months (January-March 2009) working with Radim on photoelectrochemistry of semiconductor electrodes.
Congratulations to Paschalis Thasitis (January 2009)
Congratulations to Paschalis Thasitis for finishing his Diploma thesis! Much to our regret, Paschalis is leaving us again, since he has accepted a very attractive job offer at a company back in is home country Greece in January 2009. For his efforts and hard work during his time in the Meyer lab, he was awarded a “Diploma hat”! Good luck for the future and we hope to see you again soon!
Congratulations to Prof. Daniel Mindiola (2009)
Congratulations to Prof. Daniel Mindiola who was awarded the prestigious “Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award” awarded by Germany’s Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (2009). It will allow him to visit Germany for an extended research stay. During this visit he will split his time and perform experiments in the laboratories of Prof. Herbert Roesky at the University of Göttingen as well as our laboratory at Erlangen. We are looking forward to host this truly amazing synthetic chemist, learn from him and have lots of fun with him and his family.
Prof. Roger Y. Tsien Nobel Prize in Chemistry (2008) award
Christina’s former supervisor at the University of California, San Diego, Prof. Roger Y. Tsien, was awarded this year’s (2008) Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He is sharing the award with Prof. Martin Chalfie (Columbia) and Dr. Osamu Shimomura (Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole). Congratulations to Roger from the Meyer Group!
Retirement, Prof. H. Kisch (October 2008)
On the occasion of his retirement, Prof. H. Kisch – one of our much respected Senior Colleagues – was honored during the “Festkolloquium – Katalyse mit und ohne Licht” in October 2008. About ~100 international guests joined the festivities in celebration of his very successful research career (see photo left with Prof. Schrauzer, UCSD (left), Profs. Braslavsky (left) Wilke & Wieghardt (right), MPI Mühlheim, photo right with Profs. Herberhold (left), Wilke (middle), and Vahrenkamp). Thank you Prof. Kisch for 25 years of committed service at the University of Erlangen!
Welcome to Prof. Dr. Sven Rau! (October 2008)
Welcome to Prof. Dr. Sven Rau! We are pleased to announce that Dr. Sven Rau accepted the recently offered position as a W2 Professor (Nachfolge Prof. Kisch) at the “Institut für Anorganische und Allgemeine Chemie”. In October 2008, he and his group from the University of Jena decided to join our team in Erlangen and we are looking forward to many years of science, collaborations and friendship!
Iron Chemist (September 2008)
His was a first! The Meyer group participated in the “Iron Chemist” (Sept. 2008) competition here at the University of Erlangen. Although we nominated two teams (team 238U and 57Fe) for the triathlon competition, we unfortunately were not quite as physically “fit” as some of the other teams and had to resort to our famous team spirit and sportsmanship to nevertheless enjoy the competition. This sportsmanship is clearly demonstrated in the picture below in which Dr. Jörg Sutter and Prof. Sven Rau are shaking hands as they pass the finish line at the same time! Well done guys!
Welcome Prof. Daniel Mindiola (July 2008)
We are very much looking forward to welcome Prof. Daniel Mindiola (Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA) for a short visit to Erlangen. Dan will be studying some of his complexes by EPR spectroscopy and SQUID magnitization. Everybody is welcome to meet Dan in his temporary office on the 3rd floor (Room A3.19; Tel.: 27362). He will be here from July 13-16, 2008.
Suzanne assistant professor position at Purdue University in West Lafayette (July 2008)
Where are they now? It is with great pleasure to note that post doc Suzanne Doucette continues her academic endeavours. Suzanne has taken an assistant professor position at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana (July 2008). We wish her the very best and success!
Bergkirchweih festival (May 2008)
Tuesday, May 13th 2008 was Erlangen day at the local Bergkirchweih festival, and our group joined the rest of the city in hoisting a mug. Below is a picture of the group at the Steinbach Bräu keller. You can see more pictures in the photo gallery.
Seminar of Dr. Sandro Gambarotta from the University of Ottawa, Canada (May 2008)
Dr. Sandro Gambarotta from the University of Ottawa, Canada will be giving a seminar on Monday, May 26th 2008 entitled “Highly Reactive Low-valent Synthons of f-block Elements: The ‘Vandals’ of the Periodic Table”.
Also joining us in May is Dr. Peter Wolczanski from Cornell Univeristy in Ithaca, New York. He will be giving a seminars on Tuesday at 5:15 about “Investigations of Group 6 Silox Compounds: Some Consequences of Orbital Symmetry”, and another on Friday, May 30th on “Consequences of Orbital Symmetry in Group 5 and Some Past Chemistry”.
Visit of Dr. Cliff Kubiak from the University of California, San Diego (May 2008)
Dr. Cliff Kubiak from the University of California, San Diego campus will be visiting us from Friday, May 4th until Friday, May 24th 2008. He will be giving a seminar entitled “Inorganic Mixed Valency at the Delocalized/Localized Borderline: Ultrafast, Non-Arrhenius, and Solvent-Coupled Electron Transfers“ on Thursday, May 15th, and a second lecture on Monday, May 19th entitled “The Catalytic Chemistry of Carbon Dioxide Conversion”.
Professor Dr. Michael Sailor will be joining us (March 2008)
University of California, San Diego Professor Dr. Michael Sailor will be joining us from Wednesday, March 18th to Friday, March 21st 2008.
Guest Michael Sailor (right) with Christopher Cummins and Dick Schrock (left)
Congratulations to PhD student Oanh Lam for her first primary-author publication (February 2008)
Congratulations to PhD student Oanh Lam on her first primary-author publication entitled “Charge-Separation in Uranium Diazomethane Complexes Leading to C-H Activation and Chemical Transformation“ (02/2008). The JACS paper summarizes her work on C─H activation of diphenyldiazomethane using a low-valent U(III) complex. Read the full paper. It is also being highlighted in the online technology journal Ars Technica.
Welcome to Xinjiao Wang PhD candidate
We would like to welcome our newest international group member, PhD candidate Xinjiao Wang. Xinjiao recieved her undergraduate degree in China, and M.S. in Singapore. She will be working on catalytic applications of nickel complexes.
Congratulations to PhD student Carola Vogel (March 2008)
Congratulations to PhD student Carola Vogel on her first publication entitled “An Iron Nitride Complex”. This Angewandte Chemie paper summarizes her work on the synthesis of discrete iron nitride complexes stabilized by N-anchored tris(carbene) ligands. Read the full paper. A discussion of the paper was published in Science Editor’s Choice.
Visit of Dr. Mitch Smith (November 2007)
Michigan State University professor Dr. Mitch Smith will be joining us on Friday, November 9th. He will be giving a seminar on Monday the 12th at 4 pm entitled “Iridium Boryl Complexes: Versatile Tools for Functionalizing CH Bonds”.
The solar energy workshop
The solar energy workshop was a resounding success! Students from across Germany and Professors from around the world were in attendance for the first Erlangen workshop on “Chemical Solar Energy Conversion via Redox-Active Metal Centers“.
Ingrid and Xile, continue their academic endeavors
Where are they now? Well, it is with great pleasure to note that the founding members of the Meyer group, Ingrid and Xile, continue their academic endeavors. After their postdoctoral research stays at the University of California, Berkley, and the California Institute of Technology, Ingrid and Xile started their independent careers at the California Maritime Academy and the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland. We wish them all the very best and success!
Prof. Ingrid Castro Rodríguez, PhD (Associate Professor of Chemistry California Maritime Academy, US) and Prof. Xile Hu, PhD (Assistant Professor of Chemistry Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering, Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland)
Prof. Jeffrey Long (University of California, Berkeley) is visiting us (October 2007)
Prof. Jeffrey Long (University of California, Berkeley) is visiting us October 4 – 7. Jeff will present a seminar, titled “Hydrogen Storage in Microporous Coordination Solids with Exposed Metal Sites“, on Friday, October 5, at 11:15 AM (Lecture Room H2). Everyone is welcome to join!
Chemical Solar Energy Conversion via Redox-Active Metal Centers Workshop (September 2007)
This year, we are glad to announce the newly established workshop “Chemical Solar Energy Conversion via Redox-Active Metal Centers“ at our university (Sept. 24-27, 2007) sponsored by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. The main objective of this first workshop is an introduction to the field of solar energy conversion via electron transfer reactions. The emphasis is placed on the activation and, ultimately, cleavage of water to oxygen and hydrogen, utilizing sunlight as clean, renewable, and abundant source of energy. We are proud to have two speakers that are leaders in the field of homogeneous and heterogeneous approaches to water splitting. Professors A. Kudo and D. G. Nocera will be presenting current challenges, advances, and perspectives in chemical solar energy conversion.
Prof. Timothy Warren visits the Meyer Group (August 2007)
Prof. Timothy Warren is coming to visit the Meyer Group for his sabbatical leave from Georgetown University (Washington DC, USA). Tim and his family will arrive on August 29. He will be joined by two students who will focus on spectroscopic and computational experiments. Tim will present his research in a number of seminars throughout his stay (tba). We are looking forward to having Tim!
Dr. David L. Clark visits the Meyer laboratories (August 2007)
Dr. David L. Clark (Director G.T. Seaborg Institute, Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico, USA) is coming to visit the Meyer laboratories on August 29. Dave will give a seminar on “Research at a US National Laboratory: Current Topics in Actinide Research” at 5 PM.
Laboratories have been fully renovated
Our first five laboratories have been fully renovated! New power, cooling water, central regeneration and inert gas lines have been installed as well as new lab furniture and state of the art inert gas glove boxes.
Single and double station glove boxes are equipped with -35 deg C freezers, liquid nitrogen dewars, and O2 sensors. All double-station boxes have feedthroughs for vacuum and special gas lines, allow for attachment of electrochemical equipment as well as cryostats. Quartz glass light guides and dip-probes permit acquisition of electronic absorption spectra inside the glove boxes under controlled atmospheres.
New solvent purification system
A brand new solvent purification system (Glasscontour by George & Allison Meyer, Irvine, CA) for 10 solvents has been installed! This system provides bone-dry and pristine solvents. Standard hydrocarbon solvents such as C5, C6, benzene and toluene as well as more problematic solvents like Et2O, THF, CH2Cl2, CHCl3, CH3CN and pyridine can be obtained dry and oxygen-free.
Congratulations to Suzanne!
Congratulations to Suzanne! Suzanne has been awarded the prestigeous Alexander-von-Humboldt fellowship for her postdoctoral studies concerning the coordination chemistry of reactive uranium complexes.
Dr. Suzanne Doucette PostDoc
Dr. Suzanne Doucette (here with her husband Jarrod) has joined our group for her postdoctoral research. Suzanne comes from Paul Chirik’s group @ Cornell University. She will study the coordination, activation, and functionalization of alkanes and CO2 at reactive, electron-rich uranium complexes in molecularly-engineered ligand environments.
Welcome to Thomas Wagner and Carola Vogel
Please welcome our first co-workers! Thomas Wagner (left) and Carola Vogel (right) have joined our group for her diploma studies (…and more).
Meyer lab moved to Germany
Our laboratory has moved to germany (see coordinates below)! The US DOE funded actinide group will partly remain @ ucsd and co-advised with prof. joe o’connor:
meyer lab
professor of chemistry
institute of inorganic & general chemistry (chair)
friedrich-alexander university erlangen – nuremberg
egerlandstrasse 1
erlangen, bavaria 91080
germany
email: kmeyer@chemie.uni-erlangen.de
office: +49 (0)9131 8527361 (asst)
office: +49 (0)9131 8527360
fax: +49 (0)9131 8527367
Our group @ ucsd in spring 2002
Ingrid Castro-Rodriguez defended her PhD thesis (August 2005)
On August First Twothousendandfive Ingrid Castro-Rodriguez defended her PhD thesis. The heartiest congratulations to Dr. Ingrid Castro-Rodriguez! Ingrid graduated in a little less than five years with more than 14 publications! For her very impressive research accomplishments, Ingrid has received multiple awards and recognitions such as UCSD’s Teddy Trailor Award, the Gordon Research Conference’s Carl Storm Fellowship, and a Bavarian Science Foundation Research Fellowship that brought her to the Technical University of Munich (Germany). Also, a Glenn T. Seaborg Summer Fellowship allowed Ingrid to conduct research at the Los Alamos National Laboratories. Ingrid will be continuing to do postdoctoral research with Prof. Kenneth Raymond at UC Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories. For her research proposal at Cal, Ingrid has been awarded the prestigious Glenn T. Seaborg Postdoctoral Fellowship. Awesome, Ingrid! All the very best & good luck for the future!
Patrick Feng has been awarded a prestigious NSF graduate research fellowship!
Congratulations to Patrick Feng! NSF’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in the relevant science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees. NSF Fellows are expected to become knowledge experts who can contribute significantly to research, teaching, and innovations in science and engineering.
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Ingrid, Oanh and Patrick went to the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (SSRL)
Ingrid, Oanh and Patrick went to the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (SSRL) to collect our first XANES and XAFS data on our uranium complexes. This study is carried out in collaboration with Dr. Steve Conradson and Dr. Dave Clark from the Los Alamos National Laboratories (LANL) and funded through the UCSD/LANL CARE Program (CARE).
Welcome to our new team members
Please welcome our new team members! Oanh did her undergraduate research with Prof. Jim Mayer at the University of Washington, Seattle. She will continue her synthetic chemistry in our uranium laboratory. Carmen has studied in the laboratories of Prof. Raphael Raptis at the University of Puerto Rico (Rio Piedras Campus) and is currently synthesizing new NHC chelators for our transition metal chemistry. Patrick, who did his undergraduate work with Prof. Peter Dorhout at Colorado State University, will also work on our uranium chemistry.
Guess who is writing her thesis and threatening the PI with a banana?
Good-Bye” to Xile
We finally had to say “Good-Bye” to Xile. Xile started working in the laboratories of Prof. Jonas Peters at Caltech. His new email address is xhu@caltech.edu
Ingrid is back from Munich!
Ingrid is back from Munich! She sends hugs & kisses to the Tamm group and everybody else, who treated her like a princess! Ingrid says: “I love Germany, German food, and the Germans.” Well…one can clearly see.
– veni, vidi, vici
Congratulations to Dr. Xile Hu (November 2004)
The first meyer-group student defended his PhD on November Eighteenth Twothousendandfour. The heartiest congratulations to Dr. Xile Hu. Xile…sorry, Dr. Hu graduated in four years with 10 publications. Xile will be continuing to do postdoctoral research with Prof. Jonas Peters at the California Institute of technology. All the best & good luck for the future!
Congratulations to Ingrid!
Congratulations to Ingrid! Ingrid has received a research fellowship from the Bavarian Science Foundation. Ingrid is currently working in the laboratories of Prof. Matthias Tamm at the Technical University Munich (TUM) in Germany. She will stay in Bavaria during the holidays. We wish her all the best … and may be some snow (which Ingrid has never seen before :-) ). Come back soon!
Congratulations to Ingrid!
Congratulations to Ingrid! Ingrid has received UCSD’s Teddy G. Traylor Award for the Chemical Sciences.