This month again, we are very happy to showcase a selection of our authors from the June issue of NJC. Scroll down to meet excellent and experienced scientists who have donated their time to answer a few questions for us.
Our first author is Matthias Tamm, who is Full Professor and Head of the Institute of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry at the Technische Universität Braunschweig, Germany. His current research interests are focused on Organometallic Chemistry, in particular homogeneous catalysis, alkyne metathesis, frustrated Lewis pairs and cycloheptatrienyl complexes. In a joint contribution to NJC, his group and the group of Prof. Yaofeng Chen (Shanghai) have brought together two comparatively uncommon aromatic p-systems, the formally (!) cationic tropylium ion and the boratabenzene anion, in 16-electron zirconium sandwich complexes. Addition of nucleophiles such as phosphines could have expected to occur either at the boron or at the zirconium atom, with the latter being exclusively observed. “NJC is a high quality multidisciplinary journal, which continuously publishes excellent organometallic works from everywhere in the world.”, commented Prof. Tamm on choosing the NJC journal to publish this work.
Besides his research activity, Matthias enjoys playing with the kids (photo shows Friedrich, Ferdinand and Mathilde with little Edgar missing), and hiking. When asked: “If you could not be a scientist but could be anything else what would you be?”, Matthias facetiously answered: “Rich?”.
“Boratatrozircenes: cycloheptatrienyl zirconium boratabenzene sandwich complexes – evaluation of potential η6–η5 hapticity interconversions” Andreas Glöckner, Peng Cui, Yaofeng Chen, Constantin G. Daniliuc, Peter G. Jones and Matthias Tamm, New J. Chem., 2012, 36, 1392-1398. DOI: 10.1039/C2NJ40059F.
Our next author is Giancarlo Cravotto from the University of Torino (Italy), who is Full Professor of Organic Chemistry and Director of the Department of Drug Science and Technology. Prof. Cravatto’s research activity is documented by more than 200 scientific peer-reviewed papers, several book chapters and patents. His main research interests are the synthesis of fine chemicals, cyclodextrin derivatives and bioactive compounds. These studies have paved the road to innovative synthetic procedures and the preparation of new catalysts and ionic liquids, exploiting non conventional techniques such as high-intensity ultrasound, microwaves, flow chemistry and ball milling. Prof. Cravotto is Editor of two international journals: Ultrasonics Sonochemistry (Elsevier) and Green Processing and Synthesis (De Gruyter).
When asked why did he decide to submit this work to NJC, Giancarlo answered: “NJC covers new fields of research and innovative technologies in a wide scenario of chemical activities. Our paper is an eloquent example of innovative synthetic procedure under non-conventional technique (mechanochemistry).”
“Suzuki cross-couplings of (hetero)aryl chlorides in the solid-state” Giancarlo Cravotto, Davide Garella, Silvia Tagliapietra, Achim Stolle, Stefan Schüßler, Silke E. S. Leonhardt and Bernd Ondruschka, New J. Chem., 2012, 36, 1304-1307. DOI: 10.1039/C2NJ40064B.
Chaojing Lu is Professor of Physics and Materials Science at the faculty of the College of Physics Science of Qingdao University in Qingdao, Shandong province (P. R. China). His current research interests are focused on ferroelectric materials of perovskite structure, including the orientation growth of ferroelectric thin films on metal electrodes, in-situ TEM study of ferroelectric domains, and ferroelectric/multiferroic nanomaterials for applications in both photocatalysis and photoelectric conversion. In this NJC Letter, Chaojing and co-workers report the synthesis of Bi2Fe4O9 nanocrystals via a simple chemical co-precipitation method. The nanocrystals display a high photo-to-current conversion efficiency under visible irradiation, which is promising for applications in photoelectrode and solar energy conversion.
The interdisciplinary nature of the work, involving chemistry, physics, nanotechnology, and energy sciences made NJC a logical choice in the authors’ eyes. In addition, they appreciate that “the NJC review and publication processes are pretty fast.”
Outside of the lab, Chaojing’s favorite activity is friendship dancing and mountain climbing. He often climbs both Fushan and Laoshan mountains in Qingdao and enjoys the beautiful scenes of the two mountains very much. He is also easily inebriated in gentler dancing steps and classical dancing music. If he could not be a scientist, Chaojing would be a chef or a surgeon.
“Photo-to-current response of Bi2Fe4O9 nanocrystals synthesized through a chemical co-precipitation process” Yongping Li, Yongcheng Zhang, Wanneng Ye, Jianqiang Yu, Chaojing Lu and Linhua Xia, New J. Chem., 2012, 36, 1297-1300. DOI: 10.1039/C2NJ40039A.
Our last chemist for this month is Markus Albrecht, who is Professor of Organic Chemistry at the RWTH Aachen University, Germany. Prof. Albrecht’s research activity lies in the broad field of Supramolecular Chemistry. In collaboration with the group of Prof. Rissanen (University of Jyväskylä, Finland), this NJC article describes a systematic approach to position anions by directing effects above an electron deficient pi-system.
About NJC, Prof. Albrecht commented that: “NJC gives the opportunity to publish papers which are of interest to chemists in different research areas. In our case we published a physical organic study which is highly relevant to people working in the field of supramolecular chemistry or crystal engineering.”
Playing with his two boys or listening to music are Markus’ favorite activities outside the lab. When asked for an alternative career path, Markus unequivocally answered: “A scientist working somewhere else.”
“Controlling the position of anions relative to a pentafluorophenyl group” Michael Giese, Markus Albrecht, Katharina Wiemer, Arto Valkonen and Kari Rissanen, New J. Chem., 2012, 36, 1368-1372. DOI: 10.1039/C2NJ40089H.
Check back next month for more profiles of NJC authors!
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