Dalton Transactions Blog

Prof. Pierre Braunstein and Dalton Transactions

This year, we are celebrating the 50^th volume of Dalton Transactions by taking a look at some of our authors who have published over 50 articles in the journal. This week, we learn what Dalton Transactions means to Professor Pierre Braunstein.

Our author at a glance:

Prof. Pierre Braunstein is based at the Institute of Chemistry at the University of Strasbourg. His research is focused on organometallic chemistry and homogeneous catalysis. Pierre has previously served on both the Editorial and Advisory Boards for Dalton Transactions and has had an excellent experience publishing in Dalton ever since his first paper in 1973.

Please can you summarise your most recent research published in Dalton Transactions?

Including N-heterocyclic donors in the framework of pincer ligands is attracting considerable interest and those with a central NHC donor have been particularly successful. The diversity of side arms that can be installed at the N atom(s) of a NHC backbone includes not only the nature of the donor groups but also the length of the spacer connecting them to the heterocycle. These parameters critically influence the stereoelectronic properties of the pincer complexes and in our most recent Dalton article, we reported tritopic ligands of the type N^imineC^NHCN^amine and the relevant copper, silver, nickel, chromium and iridium complexes.

How do you intend to expand upon your research in the future?

Our research interests have always been very diversified so that many areas would deserve further developments, including completing very promising but unfinished investigations.

What would you say are the biggest barriers which need to be overcome to expand your research?

As an Emeritus professor, it is the lack of co-workers and funding that represents the biggest barriers. Fortunately, some active collaborations are in place and most rewarding.

You’ve published over 50 articles in Dalton Transactions, which of these works do you find to be most interesting/significant for our broad inorganic audience?

Don’t ask the father of many children to tell you his favourite kid!

Outside of your own research, please suggest a Dalton Transactions article which you think has made a significant contribution to its field?

They are too many to offer a fair selection.

What advice do you have for young researchers new to your field?

Learn from the literature, work hard to create your own niche, follow your intuitions and, most importantly, enjoy what you are doing.

What does Dalton Transactions mean to you?

An international, well-established and respected journal covering inorganic, bioinorganic, and organometallic chemistries with a broad readership.

Why do you choose to publish in Dalton Transactions?

I’ve always enjoyed the professionalism of the editors and publisher, the speed of publication, and the most constructive, helpful, courteous and polite comments from the well-selected referees. I was impressed when I had the opportunity to follow this more closely as member of the Advisory Board (1994-1995) and Associate Editor (1996-2001) for Dalton and member of the Council of the Royal Society of Chemistry (2005-2009).

What is your experience of publishing with Dalton Transactions?

Excellent, and I have never been disappointed since my first paper in Dalton in 1973!

You can check out Pierre’s most recent Dalton Transactions article on the coordination chemistry of tritopic ligands incorporating NHCs below.

Cu(I), Ag(I), Ni(II), Cr(III) and Ir(I) complexes with tritopic N^imineC^NHCN^amine pincer ligands and catalytic ethylene oligomerization

Xiaoyu Ren, Marcel Wesolek* and Pierre Braunstein*

Dalton Trans., 2019, 48, 12895-12909

Check out the full collection of recent research published in Dalton Transactions by all of our featured Golden Authors in our Celebrating our Golden Authors collection.

Prof. Vivian W. W. Yam and Dalton Transactions

This year, we are celebrating the 50^th volume of Dalton Transactions by taking a look at some of our authors who have published over 50 articles in the journal. This week we learn what Dalton Transactions means to Professor Vivian W. W. Yam.

Our author at a glance:

Prof. Vivian Yam is based at the University of Hong Kong, and her research focuses on coordination and organometallic chemistry, supramolecular chemistry, materials chemistry and photochemistry. Vivian chooses to publish in Dalton Transactions because “it is an international reputable society journal dedicated to inorganic and coordination chemistry research.”

Please can you summarise your most recent research published in Dalton Transactions?

Our most recent research works published in Dalton Transactions involve the design and spectroscopic studies of functional metal complexes for luminescence, donor-acceptor charge transfer, supramolecular assembly and chemosensing.

How do you intend to expand upon your research in the future?

We would like to expand our studies through an understanding of weak intermolecular forces and the interplay of various factors that influence the controlled manipulation and assembly of molecular metal complexes and their excited states for functional materials research.

What would you say are the biggest barriers which need to be overcome to expand your research?

The biggest barriers are to be able to control and manipulate the molecular configurations and supramolecular assemblies of our systems in order to perturb the electronic communication and coupling to control the excited states and their charge transfer behaviour. The understanding of how microscopic properties can influence the macroscopic properties is also crucial to the design of molecular materials with desired functional properties. The computational power and its ability to provide accurate theoretical description and insights into the electronic structures of large molecules, clusters and assemblies are also important.

You’ve published over 50 articles in Dalton Transactions, which of these works do you find to be most interesting/significant for our broad inorganic audience?

One important piece of work is the design and discovery of luminescent organogold(III) diimine complexes. Gold(III) complexes have long been known to be non-emissive. This work demonstrates for the first time the use of strong σ-donor ligands like alkyls and aryls in generating luminescent gold(III) complexes with room-temperature phosphorescence. This has laid the foundation for our subsequent works on luminescent gold(III) complexes for OLED applications. Another work involves the systematic study of luminescent trinuclear two- and three-coordinate gold(I) complexes with Au(I)^…Au(I) interactions. Other works on luminescent metal alkynyls, chalcogenides and chalcogenolates of gold, silver, copper, platinum and palladium and others are also key to the development of luminescent metal complexes and their excited states.

Outside of your own research, please suggest a Dalton Transactions article which you think has made a significant contribution to its field?

There are so many seminal works in Dalton Transactions and many of them have made a significant impact to the field. It is difficult to select just one.

What advice do you have for young researchers new to your field?

Chemistry is a central science. Transition metal chemistry is fascinating given the diverse array of metals and metal chemistry that one can explore. It is important to build a strong foundation not only in chemistry and its sub-disciplines, but also in other disciplines of science. Read widely to develop the common language to interact with scientists from other disciplines. Be creative, adventurous and forward-looking. There is so much to be learned and to be inspired by. It is a life-long self-learning process.

What does Dalton Transactions mean to you?

Quality, rigour, professional, international and friendly.

Why do you choose to publish in Dalton Transactions?

It is an international reputable society journal dedicated to inorganic and coordination chemistry research. The manuscripts receive prompt, fair and quality handling.

What is your experience of publishing with Dalton Transactions?

I have good experience of publishing with Dalton Transactions. The editors and editorial team are professional, helpful and caring.

You can check out Vivian’s most recent Dalton Transactions article on functional metal complexes for luminescence below.

Synthesis and cation-binding studies of gold(I) complexes bearing oligoether isocyanide ligands with ester and amide as linkers

Franky Ka-Wah Hau and Vivian Wing-Wah Yam*

Dalton Trans., 2016, 45, 300-306

Check out the full collection of recent research published in Dalton Transactions by all of our featured Golden Authors in our Celebrating our Golden Authors collection.

Prof. Christoph Janiak and Dalton Transactions

This year, we are celebrating the 50^th volume of Dalton Transactions by taking a look at some of our authors who have published over 50 articles in the journal. This week we learn what Dalton Transactions means to Professor Christoph Janiak.

Our author at a glance:

Prof. Christoph Janiak is based at the Institute for Inorganic and Structural Chemistry at Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf in Germany. His research is mainly focused on porous materials and metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). For Christoph, Dalton is one of his first choices where he publishes his research and “Dalton is a very good journal for high level research where the work will be read.” Christoph also has many highly cited papers in Dalton Transactions, including two review articles that have each been cited over 3400 times.

Please can you summarise your most recent research published in Dalton Transactions?

My most recent publications in Dalton are about coordination networks and MOFs. In particular, I have published a practical guide to calculate the isosteric heat/enthalpy of adsorption via adsorption isotherms in MOFs as a Perspective, which I hope will be interesting for a broader audience.

How do you intend to expand upon your research in the future?

In the future, my research will also move to the field of electrocatalysis using MOFs and other porous materials, metal nanoparticles and ionic liquids.

What would you say are the biggest barriers which need to be overcome to expand your research?

My lack of time in view of many other duties such as refereeing (journal manuscripts, grant proposals), administrative work and a comparatively high teaching load.

You’ve published over 50 articles in Dalton Transactions, which of these works do you find to be most interesting/significant for our broad inorganic audience?

My 2003 review, Engineering coordination polymers towards applications, focused on what are now called MOFs and their properties. It was not the structures but instead the properties which are still interesting today in this exploding field, which were summarized and critically assessed in this review, including sorption and catalytic behavior, magnetism, luminescence etc.

Also, the paper published in the year 2000: A critical account on π–π stacking in metal complexes with aromatic nitrogen-containing ligands. Its reception by the scientific community came as a surprise to me.

Both papers have been cited over 3400 and 4000 times respectively, and I feel extremely honoured and greatly thank all my colleagues who made use of these two Dalton articles over the years.

Outside of your own research, please suggest a Dalton Transactions article which you think has made a significant contribution to its field?

The article which I like is the one on the “Addison tau parameter” where a geometric descriptor for the distortion of five-coordinate molecules was given (albeit not emphasized in the title): Synthesis, structure, and spectroscopic properties of copper(II) compounds containing nitrogen–sulphur donor ligands; the crystal and molecular structure of aqua[1,7-bis(N-methylbenzimidazol-2′-yl)-2,6-dithiaheptane]copper(II) perchlorate

What advice do you have for young researchers new to your field?

Read the literature, give due credit to previous publications, stay honest and self-critical with your own results and do not underestimate others who do not publish in (so-called) high-impact journals.

What does Dalton Transactions mean to you?

I am extremely thankful to Dalton Transactions to have given me the opportunity to publish my work here over the years. I am always sure that the work which I publish in Dalton will be noticed by my peers.

Why do you choose to publish in Dalton Transactions?

I am highly satisfied with their handling of the manuscripts, including quite fair referee reports.

What is your experience of publishing with Dalton Transactions?

The citations which I have received to my 52 articles in Dalton (with 19 cited over 50 times and 11 cited over 100 times) prove to me that Dalton is a very good journal for high level research where the work will be read. For me, Dalton is one of my first choices where I publish my research.

You can check out Christoph’s recent Dalton Transactions Perspective on a practical guide to calculate the isosteric heat/enthalpy of adsorption via adsorption isotherms in MOFs below.

A practical guide to calculate the isosteric heat/enthalpy of adsorption via adsorption isotherms in metal–organic frameworks, MOFs

Alexander Nuhnen and Christoph Janiak*

Dalton Trans., 2020, 49, 10295-10307

Check out the full collection of recent research published in Dalton Transactions by all of our featured Golden Authors in our Celebrating our Golden Authors collection.

Prof. Alexandra Slawin and Dalton Transactions

This year, we are celebrating the 50^th volume of Dalton Transactions by taking a look at some of our authors who have published over 50 articles in the journal. This week we learn what Dalton Transactions means to Professor Alexandra Slawin.

Our author at a glance:

Prof. Alex Slawin is a specialist crystallographer in the School of Chemistry at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. Her research in chemical crystallography focuses on structure determination by solving molecular puzzles. She chooses to publish in Dalton Transactions for its “broad readership and to support the RSC,” and Dalton reminds her of “how John Dalton strove hard to pursue his own ideals despite many detractors and delivered a useful tool for generations to come.”

As the specialist crystallographer on over 50 articles in Dalton Transactions, which of these works do you find to be most interesting/significant for our broad inorganic audience?

I’m interested in crystallography of all types, so they were all significant and interesting to me.  I like Use of Se₄N₄ and Se(NSO)₂ in the preparation of palladium adducts of diselenium dinitride, Se₂N₂; crystal structure of [PPh₄]₂[Pd₂Br₆(Se₂ N₂)], from the early years of my career, working with Paul Kelly who is an engaging collaborator. This was a challenging material to handle, and I had no access to low temperature – just a very neat final structure which has formed the basis of further work.

How do you intend to expand upon your research in the future?

I have recently undergone a course in mediation so this may well expand the thrust of my research interests.

What would you say are the biggest barriers which need to be overcome to expand your research?

Money

Outside of your own research, please suggest a Dalton Transactions article which you think has made a significant contribution to its field?

I like this one from Paul Pringle in Bristol (neat ligands and a good study): Ring size effects in cyclic fluorophosphites: ligands that span the bonding space between phosphites and PF₃

What advice do you have for young researchers new to your field?

Broaden your interests from the start.

What does Dalton Transactions mean to you?

It always reminds me how John Dalton strove hard to pursue his own ideals despite many detractors and delivered a useful tool for generations to come.

Why do you choose to publish in Dalton Transactions?

For its broad readership and to support the RSC.

What is your experience of publishing with Dalton Transactions?

I started publishing over 35 years ago and will carry on.

You can check out Alex’s most recent Dalton Transactions article on the structural variations of a new hybrid lead(II) pervoskite below.

Structural variations in (001)-oriented layered lead halide perovskites, templated by 1,2,4-triazolium

Yuan-Yuan Guo, Lin-Jie Yang, Jason A. McNulty, Alexandra M. Z. Slawin and Philip Lightfoot*

Dalton Trans., 2020, 49, 17274­-17280

Check out the full collection of recent research published in Dalton Transactions by all of our featured Golden Authors in our Celebrating our Golden Authors collection.