Many congratulations to Sanita for passing her PhD viva today, despite the added complexities of doing it remotely by Zoom!
Congratulations to Mattia Manzotti
Mattia successfully defended his PhD last Friday through the doubly unusual medium of the exam being virtual via Zoom AND having two rather than one external examiner. Despite that, he nailed it!

The group welcomes two new PhD students
Exploring the mechanism of a new catalytic ring-opening reaction of the unusual molecule, propellane
Methylenespiro[2.3]hexanes via Nickel-Catalyzed Cyclopropanations with [1.1.1]Propellane, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2019, 141, 51, 20325–20334

Debunking dubious science
Two recent papers from the group critically examine spurious claims of 1st row transition metal catalysed Suzuki cross-coupling.
Revisiting Claims of the Iron‐, Cobalt‐, Nickel‐, and Copper- Catalyzed Suzuki Biaryl Cross-Coupling of Aryl Halides with Aryl Boronic Acids, Organometallics 2019, 38, 1770−1777

Can Immobilization of an Inactive Iron Species Switch on Catalytic Activity in the Suzuki Reaction? Cat. Lett. 2020, 150, 963-968

Post-doctoral position available
Applications are invited for a Postdoctoral Research Associate to work with Professor Robin Bedford on the development and application of homogeneous first-row transition metal catalysts for cross-coupling and related reactions. The project is funded by the EPSRC Catalysis Hub, and you will interact with researchers at other Universities in the UK and at the Harwell Research Campus.
Experience in organometallic synthesis or homogeneous catalysts design and the routine use of air-sensitive techniques are essential. Applicants must have a PhD in synthetic of homogeneous catalytic chemistry. Experience in characterising paramagnetic complexes is desirable.
The post is available to start as soon as possible for 2 years and the closing date for applications is the 23rdApril 2019. Full details and the application procedure can be found here: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/jobs/find/details.html?nPostingId=37094&nPostingTargetId=126454&id=Q50FK026203F3VBQBV7V77V83&LG=UK&mask=uobext
Congratulations toAntonis, Stephen et al for their recent publication in Nature Catalysis
The highly surprising behaviour of diphosphine ligands in iron-catalysed Negishi cross-coupling
Antonis M.Messinis, Stephen L. J.Luckham, Peter P. Wells, Diego Gianolio, Emma K.Gibson, Harry M. O’Brien, Hazel A. Sparkes, Sean A. Davis, June Callison, David Elorriaga, Oscar Hernandez-Fajardo and Robin B. Bedford, Nature Catalysis, 2019, 2, 123-133. A read-only version of this paper can be found here: https://rdcu.be/be4e9
Congratulations to Harry and Mattia on the paper in Nature Catalysis
Congratulations to Soneela and Sanita on their accepted Angewandte
Cobalt-catalyzed Suzuki biaryl coupling of aryl halides
Soneela Asghar, Sanita B. Tailor, David Elorriaga and Robin B. Bedford, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. DOI: 10.1002/anie.201710053
EAMCat 1 Meeting
You are warmly invited to a free, one day meeting on homogeneous Earth-abundant metal catalysis (EAMCat1), hosted by the UK Catalysis Hub on the 8th December at the Harwell Research Complex. The confirmed speakers are:
Lutz Ackermann http://www.ackermann.chemie.uni-goettingen.de
Axel Jacobi von Wangelin http://www-oc.chemie.uni-regensburg.de/jacobi/
Ruth Webster http://www.bath.ac.uk/chemistry/contacts/academics/ruth_webster/
Stephen Thomas http://www.chem.ed.ac.uk/staff/academic-staff/dr-stephen-p-thomas
Damien Murphy http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/people/view/38540-murphy-damien
Jonathan Moseley http://www.catsci.com/dr-jonathan-moseley.html
In addition there will be a poster session for those working on all aspects of homogeneous Earth-abundant metal catalysis, either in the academic or end-user sectors. If you wish to submit a poster please email Robin Bedford (r.bedford@bristol.ac.uk) with a title + brief (1-2 sentence) abstract by 15th November.
There are a limited number of tickets available for the complementary conference dinner. For further details and to register for the meeting, please go to: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/earth-abundant-metal-catalysis-conference-eamcat-1-tickets-28217334808
Registration will be 10-11 and the programme will finish at 17:45. For details on travel to the Harwell complex, see: http://www.diamond.ac.uk/Home/Directions.html
Hope to see you there!