Archive for August, 2011

Getting down to the nitty gritty in layered LiAlO2

Radostina Stoyanova and co-workers have carried out detailed analysis of the zero-field splitting parameters (ZFS) of Mn4+ and Fe3+ ions in LiAlO2 with a layered structure are analyzed both experimentally and theoretically by using high-frequency electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy, Neuman superposition model (NSM), DFT and multiconfigurational calculations and reported their work in the recent Dalton Transactions Hot Article.

But why are they doing this analysis you might ask? Well, oxide-based materials, like doped layered LiAlO2, are important components of lithium ion batteries. In order to optimise materials like this for energy storage applications it is necssary to look at their atomic arrangement on a very small scale as Stoyanova and colleagues successfully carry out and report in this paper, which you can read for free until the 5th September.

Local structure of Mn4+ and Fe3+ spin probes in layered LiAlO2 oxide by modelling of zero-field splitting parameters
Radostina Stoyanova, Anne-Laure Barra, Meglena Yoncheva, Elitza Kuzmanova and Ekaterina Zhecheva
Dalton Trans., 2011, DOI: 10.1039/C1DT10929D

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Low-cost phosphors for flat panel TVs

Field emission displays (FEDs) have recently gained much attention as they are considered to be the next generation flat panel displays. FEDs have some fascinating features such as great brightness, wide horizontal and vertical view angles, good contrast ratio, high efficiency with a low power consumption and short response times.

Jun Lin and colleagues from Changchun, China are working on possible phosphors for use in FEDs and the group report a promising new Zn2GeO4:Mn2+ submicrorods which might make a useful phosphor in their recent Dalton Transactions Hot Article. The submicrorods were produced using a simple, low cost hydrothermal method without any surfactant assistance. Read the article to find out more – free for you to access until 31 August 2011.

(Zn, Mg)2GeO4:Mn2+ submicrorods as promising green phosphors for field emission displays: hydrothermal synthesis and luminescence properties
Mengmeng Shang, Guogang Li, Dongmei Yang, Xiaojiao Kang, Chong Peng, Ziyong Cheng and Jun Lin
Dalton Trans., 2011, DOI: 10.1039/C1DT10673

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Conference: AGICHEM 2011 from 21-23 September

AGICHEM 2011 (Anglo-German Inorganic Chemistry): 8th International Conference  on Inorganic Chemistry will take place on the 21-23 September 2011 in  Heidelberg, Germany.

This is the latest in a series of meetings jointly organized by the GDCh’s and RSC’s inorganic divisions and brings together a great cross section of inorganic themes, presented by leading researchers in their areas.

Now open for registration. For more information see the website.

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Caroline Knapp wins again at the CCDG 2011 meeting

I am delighted to report that Caroline Knapp was the winner of the Dalton Transactions Poster Prize for the second time at the recent Coordination Chemistry Discussion Group (CCDG) meeting! The annual meeting of the CCDG was held at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK from the 7-8 July 2011. Caroline is a member of Jose Goicoechea’s group at the University of Oxford. Congratulations Caroline!

Find out more about Caroline’s research on Zintl ions in her recent Dalton Transactions articles :

A versatile salt-metathesis route to heteroatomic clusters derived from phosphorus and arsenic Zintl anions
Caroline M. Knapp, Joseph S. Large, Nicholas H. Rees and Jose M. Goicoechea
Dalton Trans., 2011, 40, 735-745

Reactivity studies of group 15 Zintl ions towards homoleptic post-transition metal organometallics: a ‘bottom-up’ approach to bimetallic molecular clusters
Caroline Knapp, Binbin Zhou, Mark S. Denning, Nicholas H. Rees and Jose M. Goicoechea
Dalton Trans., 2010, 39, 426-436

The meeting itself was a great success featuring a wide spread in coordination chemistry from actinides to artificial photosynthesis and magnetism to MOFs. The meeting saw excellent talks by keynote speakers, such as Polly Arnold (Edinburgh) and Jean-Francois Carpentier (Rennes), in addition to some great postgraduate presentations. I particularly enjoyed the great conference dinner ‘by the pitch’ at Delia Smith’s restaurant in Norwich City Football Club! Thanks to all those at UEA who organised this year’s exciting CCDG meeting.

If you attended the meeting yourself, do let us know how you got on by posting a comment below….. What talk did you find most interesting? Did you enjoy eating in the stadium?

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Hot Article: Electrochemistry in metal-organic frameworks

In this Dalton Transactions Hot article Andrew Burrows and Frank Marken and colleagues from the University of Bath make MOFs of zincII and aluminiumIII dicarboxylate frameworks with covalently attached ferrocene functional redox groups.

Burrows uses post-synthetic modification to attach the ferrocenyl groups to the frameworks using an amine to amide functional group interconversion. The metal-organic frameworks they made were found to have novel redox active properties, which is an interesting development in the search for designer-electocatalysts.

Read the full article for FREE to find out more, until 30th August…

Metal–organic frameworks post-synthetically modified with ferrocenyl groups: framework effects on redox processes and surface conduction
Jonathan E. Halls, Alberto Hernán-Gómez, Andrew D. Burrows and Frank Marken
Dalton Trans., 2011, DOI: 10.1039/C1DT10734H

Read more about Andrew Burrows’ research by visiting his University of Bath homepage.

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Poster prize winner at EuCOMC 2011 in Toulouse

I am delighted to announce that Christian Färber from Germany was the winner of the Dalton Transactions Poster Prize at the recent EuCOMC meeting in beautiful Toulouse. Christian is based at the University of Kassel in Germany in the group of Ulrich Siemeling.

The title of Christian’s winning poster was: Zwitterionic Nitron as an Instant N-Heterocyclic Carbene

Why not find out more about Christian’s research by reading the papers below?

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N-heterocyclic carbenes which readily add ammonia, carbon monoxide and other small molecules
Ulrich Siemeling, Christian Färber, Clemens Bruhn, Michael Leibold, Detlef Selent, Wolfgang Baumann, Moritz von Hopffgarten, Catharina Goedecke and Gernot Frenking
Chem. Sci., 2010, 1, 697-704  DOI: 10.1039/C0SC00451K, Edge Article 

A stable crystalline N-heterocyclic carbene with a 1,1′-ferrocenediyl backbone
Ulrich Siemeling, Christian Färber and Clemens Bruhn
Chem. Commun., 2009, 98-100 DOI: 10.1039/B813809E, Communication

Where you also at the EuCOMC meeting in Toulouse this year? Tell us how you got on by leaving a comment below!

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Hot Article: Colin Raston and cobalt cage molecules

In this Dalton Transactions Hot article Colin Raston and collaborators from the University of Western Australia and the University of Malaya look at CoIII sarcophagine-type cage molecules.

They do both a solid state and solution study of how [Co(diCLsar)]3+ and [Co(HONOsar)]3+, form host–guest inclusion complexes with calixarenes.

As Professor Raston served on the advisory board, this work will be included in the 40th Anniversary volume of Dalton Transactions, celebrating the journals history.

Read the full article for FREE until 25th August…

Site specific Co(III) sarcophagine binding in multi-component phosphonium and p-sulfonatocalix[4]arene systems
Irene Ling, Yatimah Alias, Alexandre N. Sobolev, Brian W. Skelton and Colin L. Raston
Dalton Trans., 2011, DOI: 10.1039/C1DT10550G

To read more about the 40th anniversary celebrations, click on the category in the panel on the right hand side of the screen.

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