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Searching for Monomeric Nickel Tetrafluoride: Unravelling Infrared Matrix Isolation Spectra of Higher Nickel Fluorides (2020)
Journal Article
Li, L., Sakr, A. K., Schlöder, T., Klein, S., Beckers, H., Kitsaras, M., …Riedel, S. (2021). Searching for Monomeric Nickel Tetrafluoride: Unravelling Infrared Matrix Isolation Spectra of Higher Nickel Fluorides. Angewandte Chemie, 60(12), 6391-6394. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202015501

Binary transition metal fluorides are textbook examples combining complex electronic features with most fundamental molecular structures. High‐valent nickel fluorides are among the strongest known fluorinating and oxidizing agents, but there is a lac... Read More about Searching for Monomeric Nickel Tetrafluoride: Unravelling Infrared Matrix Isolation Spectra of Higher Nickel Fluorides.

A Compact Full 2π Flexoelectro‐Optic Liquid Crystal Phase Modulator (2020)
Journal Article
Wang, X., Fells, J. A. J., Shi, Y., Ali, T., Welch, C., Mehl, G. H., …Elston, S. J. (2020). A Compact Full 2π Flexoelectro‐Optic Liquid Crystal Phase Modulator. Advanced Materials Technologies, 5(12), Article 2000589. https://doi.org/10.1002/admt.202000589

Wavefront shaping, which is often achieved using liquid crystal (LC) spatial light modulators, is particularly important for a wide range of applications including laser microfabrication and micromanipulation, microscopy, and quantum optics. In this... Read More about A Compact Full 2π Flexoelectro‐Optic Liquid Crystal Phase Modulator.

Chirality enhancement in macro-chiral liquid crystal nanoparticles (2020)
Journal Article
Yu, H., Welch, C., Qu, W., Schubert, C. J., Liu, F., Siligardi, G., & Mehl, G. H. (2020). Chirality enhancement in macro-chiral liquid crystal nanoparticles. Materials Horizons, 7(11), 3021-3027. https://doi.org/10.1039/d0mh01274b

The amplification of molecular chirality by metal nanoparticles (NPs) is an important and rapidly evolving field in nanomaterial research with wide applications in smart materials, catalysis, and solvent-solute interactions. Here we present the resul... Read More about Chirality enhancement in macro-chiral liquid crystal nanoparticles.

Sporopollenin exine capsules (SpECs) derived from Lycopodium clavatum provide practical antioxidant properties by retarding rancidification of an ω-3 oil (2020)
Journal Article
Thomasson, M. J., Diego-Taboada, A., Barrier, S., Martin-Guyout, J., Amedjou, E., Atkin, S. L., …Mackenzie, G. (2020). Sporopollenin exine capsules (SpECs) derived from Lycopodium clavatum provide practical antioxidant properties by retarding rancidification of an ω-3 oil. Industrial Crops and Products, 154, Article 112714. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2020.112714

In recent years the use of natural antioxidants in foodstuffs and personal care products has become increasingly important for consumers and therefore manufacturers. In this work, sporopollenin exine capsules (SpECs), extracted from spores of the com... Read More about Sporopollenin exine capsules (SpECs) derived from Lycopodium clavatum provide practical antioxidant properties by retarding rancidification of an ω-3 oil.

Self-Assembly and Temperature-Driven Chirality Inversion of Cholesteryl-Based Block Copolymers (2020)
Journal Article
Krishnasamy, V., Qu, W., Chen, C., Huo, H., Ramanagul, K., Gothandapani, V., …Liu, F. (2020). Self-Assembly and Temperature-Driven Chirality Inversion of Cholesteryl-Based Block Copolymers. Macromolecules, 53(11), 4193-4203. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.macromol.9b02264

Block copolymers (BCPs), comprising a poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) block and a poly(cholesteryloxyhexyl methacrylate) (PChMA) block, were synthesized via reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer polymerization. The self-assembly of the li... Read More about Self-Assembly and Temperature-Driven Chirality Inversion of Cholesteryl-Based Block Copolymers.

Macroscopic chirality of twist-bend nematic phase in bent dimers confirmed by circular dichroism (2019)
Journal Article
Stevenson, W. D., Zeng, X., Welch, C., Thakur, A. K., Ungar, G., & Mehl, G. H. (2020). Macroscopic chirality of twist-bend nematic phase in bent dimers confirmed by circular dichroism. Journal of Materials Chemistry C, 8(3), 1041-1047. https://doi.org/10.1039/c9tc05061b

Many achiral bent molecules and some polymers with such repeat units exhibit a liquid crystal phase transition between a conventional nematic (N), and a second nematic (Nx) with periodically modulated orientation. Theory predicts several possible str... Read More about Macroscopic chirality of twist-bend nematic phase in bent dimers confirmed by circular dichroism.

Increase of Direct C-C Coupling Reaction Yield by Identifying Structural and Electronic Properties of High-Spin Iron Tetra-azamacrocyclic Complexes (2018)
Journal Article
Brewer, S. M., Wilson, K. R., Jones, D. G., Reinheimer, E. W., Archibald, S. J., Prior, T. J., …Green, K. N. (2018). Increase of Direct C-C Coupling Reaction Yield by Identifying Structural and Electronic Properties of High-Spin Iron Tetra-azamacrocyclic Complexes. Inorganic chemistry, 57(15), 8890-8902. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.inorgchem.8b00777

Macrocyclic ligands have been explored extensively as scaffolds for transition metal catalysts for oxygen and hydrogen atom transfer reactions. C–C reactions facilitated using earth abundant metals bound to macrocyclic ligands have not been well-unde... Read More about Increase of Direct C-C Coupling Reaction Yield by Identifying Structural and Electronic Properties of High-Spin Iron Tetra-azamacrocyclic Complexes.

X-ray absorption study of platinum and palladium atoms in argon matrices: Evidence for platinum in a substitutional site and a short Pd–Ar interaction (2018)
Journal Article
Harris, N., Sakr, A. K., Snelling, H. V., & Young, N. A. (2018). X-ray absorption study of platinum and palladium atoms in argon matrices: Evidence for platinum in a substitutional site and a short Pd–Ar interaction. Journal of molecular structure, 1172, 80-88. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molstruc.2018.06.024

The Pt L3-edge X-ray absorption spectrum of Pt atoms generated in a hollow cathode sputtering device and trapped in an Ar matrix yielded a PtAr distance of 3.78(4) Å with a coordination number of ca. 12 which confirms the evidence from electronic abs... Read More about X-ray absorption study of platinum and palladium atoms in argon matrices: Evidence for platinum in a substitutional site and a short Pd–Ar interaction.

How inert, perturbing, or interacting are cryogenic matrices? A combined spectroscopic (infrared, electronic, and x-ray absorption) and DFT investigation of matrix-isolated Iron, Cobalt, Nickel, and Zinc Dibromides (2018)
Journal Article
Wilkin, O. M., Harris, N., Rooms, J. F., Dixon, E. L., Bridgeman, A. J., & Young, N. A. (2018). How inert, perturbing, or interacting are cryogenic matrices? A combined spectroscopic (infrared, electronic, and x-ray absorption) and DFT investigation of matrix-isolated Iron, Cobalt, Nickel, and Zinc Dibromides. The journal of physical chemistry. A, 122(8), 1994-2029. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpca.7b09734

The interactions of FeBr2, CoBr2, NiBr2 and ZnBr2 with Ne, Ar, Kr, Xe, CH4 and N2 matrices have been investigated using IR, electronic absorption and X-ray absorption spectroscopies, as well as DFT calculations. ZnBr2 is linear in all the matrices. N... Read More about How inert, perturbing, or interacting are cryogenic matrices? A combined spectroscopic (infrared, electronic, and x-ray absorption) and DFT investigation of matrix-isolated Iron, Cobalt, Nickel, and Zinc Dibromides.

Structure and electronic properties of the quasi-one-dimensional Ba₂Co₁₋ₓZnₓS₃ series (2016)
Journal Article
Harrison, M. R., Maignan, A., Hardy, V., Lebedev, O. L., Young, N. A., & Francesconi, M. G. (2017). Structure and electronic properties of the quasi-one-dimensional Ba₂Co₁₋ₓZnₓS₃ series. Inorganic chemistry, 56(1), 213-223. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.inorgchem.6b02014

This work focuses on the structure and physical properties of the solid solution Ba₂Co₁₋ₓZnₓS₃ (0 ≤ x ≤ 1), a family of quasi-one-dimensional sulfides with end members Ba₂CoS₃ and Ba₂ZnS₃. The structure of selected compounds with increasing Zn²⁺ cont... Read More about Structure and electronic properties of the quasi-one-dimensional Ba₂Co₁₋ₓZnₓS₃ series.

Sulfonated sporopollenin as an efficient and recyclable heterogeneous catalyst for dehydration of D-xylose and xylan into furfural (2016)
Journal Article
Wang, Y., Len, T., Huang, Y., Diego Taboada, A., Boa, A. N., Ceballos, C., …Len, C. (2017). Sulfonated sporopollenin as an efficient and recyclable heterogeneous catalyst for dehydration of D-xylose and xylan into furfural. ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering, 5(1), 392-398. https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.6b01780

The natural acidity of sporopollenin, the biopolymer coating the outer walls of pollen grains, was enhanced by the sulfonation of its surface. Modified sporopollenin displaying sulfonic acid groups has been prepared, characterized by elemental analys... Read More about Sulfonated sporopollenin as an efficient and recyclable heterogeneous catalyst for dehydration of D-xylose and xylan into furfural.

Simultaneous differential scanning calorimetry – synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction : a powerful technique for physical form characterisation in pharmaceutical materials (2016)
Journal Article
Clout, A., Buanz, A. B. M., Prior, T. J., Reinhard, C., Wu, Y., O'Hare, D., …Gaisford, S. (2016). Simultaneous differential scanning calorimetry – synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction : a powerful technique for physical form characterisation in pharmaceutical materials. Analytical chemistry, 88(20), 10111-10117. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.6b02549

© 2016 American Chemical Society. We report a powerful new technique: hyphenating synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) with differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). This is achieved with a simple modification to a standard laboratory DSC instru... Read More about Simultaneous differential scanning calorimetry – synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction : a powerful technique for physical form characterisation in pharmaceutical materials.

A matrix isolation and computational study of molecular palladium fluorides : does PdF₆ exist? (2016)
Journal Article
Wilson, A. V., Nguyen, T., Brosi, F., Wang, X., Andrews, L., Riedel, S., …Young, N. A. (2016). A matrix isolation and computational study of molecular palladium fluorides : does PdF₆ exist?. Inorganic chemistry, 55(3), 1108-1123. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.inorgchem.5b02273

Palladium atoms generated by thermal evaporation and laser ablation were reacted with and trapped in F₂ /Ar, F₂ /Ne, and neat F₂ matrices. The products were characterized by electronic absorption and infrared spectroscopy, together with relativistic... Read More about A matrix isolation and computational study of molecular palladium fluorides : does PdF₆ exist?.

Sporopollenin, the least known yet toughest natural biopolymer (2015)
Journal Article
Mackenzie, G., Boa, A. N., Diego-Taboada, A., Atkin, S. L., & Sathyapalan, T. (2015). Sporopollenin, the least known yet toughest natural biopolymer. Frontiers in Materials, 2, 1-5. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmats.2015.00066

© 2015 Mackenzie, Boa, Diego-Taboada, Atkin and Sathyapalan. Sporopollenin is highly cross-linked polymer composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen that is extraordinarily stable and has been found chemically intact in sedimentary rocks some 500 milli... Read More about Sporopollenin, the least known yet toughest natural biopolymer.

Sporopollenin as an efficient green support for covalent immobilization of a lipase (2015)
Journal Article
de Souza, S. P., Bassut, J., Marquez, H. V., Junior, I. I., Miranda, L. S. M., Huang, Y., …de Souza, R. O. M. A. (2015). Sporopollenin as an efficient green support for covalent immobilization of a lipase. Catalysis science & technology, 5(6), 3130-3136. https://doi.org/10.1039/c4cy01682c

Sporopollenin exine capsules (SECs), derived from the spores of Lycopodium clavatum, have been functionalised with 1,n-diamines and the resulting aminoalkyl microcapsules used to immobilize Candida antarctica lipase B (Cal B) via a glutaradehyde-base... Read More about Sporopollenin as an efficient green support for covalent immobilization of a lipase.

Spectroscopic and computational insight into the activation of O2 by the mononuclear Cu center in polysaccharide monooxygenases (2014)
Journal Article
Kjaergaard, C. H., Qayyum, M. F., Wong, S. D., Xu, F., Hemsworth, G. R., Walton, D. J., …Solomon, E. I. (2014). Spectroscopic and computational insight into the activation of O2 by the mononuclear Cu center in polysaccharide monooxygenases. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 111(24), 8797-8802. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1408115111

Strategies for O₂ activation by copper enzymes were recently expanded to include mononuclear Cu sites, with the discovery of the copper-dependent polysaccharide monooxygenases, also classified as auxiliary-activity enzymes 9–11 (AA9-11). These enzyme... Read More about Spectroscopic and computational insight into the activation of O2 by the mononuclear Cu center in polysaccharide monooxygenases.

The application of synchrotron radiation and in particular X-ray absorption spectroscopy to matrix isolated species (2014)
Journal Article
Young, N. A. (2014). The application of synchrotron radiation and in particular X-ray absorption spectroscopy to matrix isolated species. Coordination chemistry reviews, 277-278, 224-274. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccr.2014.05.010

This review provides comprehensive coverage of the application of X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS, XAFS, EXAFS, and XANES) to matrix isolated species. As X-ray absorption spectroscopy provides structural data without the need for long range order... Read More about The application of synchrotron radiation and in particular X-ray absorption spectroscopy to matrix isolated species.

How does iron interact with sporopollenin exine capsules? An X-ray absorption study including microfocus XANES and XRF imaging (2014)
Journal Article
Archibald, S. J., Atkin, S. L., Bras, W., Diego-Taboada, A., Mackenzie, G., Mosselmans, J. F. W., …Young, N. A. (2014). How does iron interact with sporopollenin exine capsules? An X-ray absorption study including microfocus XANES and XRF imaging. Journal of Materials Chemistry B, 2(8), 945-959. https://doi.org/10.1039/c3tb21523g

Sporopollenin exine capsules (SECs) derived from plant spores and pollen grains have been proposed as adsorption, remediation and drug delivery agents. Despite many studies there is scant structural data available. This X-ray absorption investigation... Read More about How does iron interact with sporopollenin exine capsules? An X-ray absorption study including microfocus XANES and XRF imaging.

Main group coordination chemistry at low temperatures: A review of matrix isolated Group 12 to Group 18 complexes (2012)
Journal Article
Young, N. (2013). Main group coordination chemistry at low temperatures: A review of matrix isolated Group 12 to Group 18 complexes. Coordination chemistry reviews, 257(42891), 956 - 1010. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccr.2012.10.013

The available data on main group (Groups 12-18) Lewis acid-base, donor-acceptor, charge-transfer andvan der Waals complexes stabilised by matrix isolation techniques are presented, tabulated and evaluatedin conjunction with data from complementary ga... Read More about Main group coordination chemistry at low temperatures: A review of matrix isolated Group 12 to Group 18 complexes.