Tagebuch

August

Aug 26th: This year Sophia, Karo, Alex, Benny, David and Riccardo were taking part in the traditional inorganic colloquium in Hirschegg in the Kleinwalsertal. A get-together of many inorganic working group full of science and great hikes.

Aug 22nd: Today we were pleased to hear, that the new NMR machine of the faculty, a 500 MHz device (Avance Neo 500 by Bruker) was installed and is ready to be used for measurement of great spectra. We thank the University of Regensburg and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft for their generous financial support!

Aug 6th: Another great contribution on the photocatalytic functionalization of white phosphorus has been published by Martin and Jannes in Chem. Comm. Congratulations to both!

Aug 1st: Today another successful PhD defense was done! Many congratulations to Dr. Jose Ricardo Cammarata. We wish you much success for your future!

July

Jul 25th: This year’s annual AK Wolf group trip had a great hike along the Schwarzer Laber and ended at the brewery inn of Eichhofen with good food, good beer and overall a good time.

Jul 14th: In mid of July, the Wolf Group was represented the first time at the 29th PhotoIUPAC held in Valencia by Martin, David and Alex. All three were presenting posters on their research. Congrats to Alex for winning a poster prize!

Jul 8th: Today the institution party of the inorganic department took place, with great inorganic colloquia by our guest Professors Andrew Weller (University of York) and Jose Goicoechea (Indiana University), a interesting poster session, where students of our own department could present their research and a fun and chill evening in our biergarten with barbeque, beer and lots of laughter.

Jul 2nd: Our football team “VFL Wolfsflur” finished with a magnificent 4th place in the annual ChemCup. Go Wolfs!

Jul 1st: Jose's study on the mechanism of white phosphorus hydrostannylation has been published in Angewandte Chemie. Great collaborative work with Daniel Duvinage, Jens Beckmamn (Uni Bremen), Franz F. Westermair, Ruth Gschwind (UR) and senior corresponding author Dr. Daniel Scott.

Jul 1st: Our study on the synthesis of diazaphospholes from diazoalkenes has been published in Angewandte Chemie. Congratulations to first author Sebastian and our collaboration partners from the Max Hansmann group at TU Dortmund!

Jul 1st: Maria's paper on the reduction of di-tert-butyldiphosphatetrahedrane has been selected as a HOT paper by Dalton Transactions. Congratulations Maria and co-authors! Check the collection out here: https://tinyurl.com/4za75uby

June

Jun 24th: We were pleased to host Carolin Limburg (@BASF_Catalysts) in our GDCh colloquium. Great talk on homogeneous catalysis and reaction development in industry!

Jun 17th: Another successful PhD defense done! We congratulate Dr. Sebastian Hauer and thank him for his intriguing work and never ending support. All the best for your future Sebi!

Jun 3rd: The group grows! We welcome Florian Sixt who joins us for his master thesis, working on Heterobimetallic Hydrofunctionalization Catalysis. We wish you great results and an even better time and fun working with us!

May

May 31st: Happy to share our contribution about the ‘Funtionalization of Tetraphosphido Ligands by Heterocumulenes’ in the Journal  Inorganic Chemistry. Congratulations to Sebastian Hauer and all co-authors!

Doi: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.inorgchem.4c00808

May 15th: We say goodbye to our postdoc Dr. Thomas Horsley Downie who will be joining Robert Mulvey at Strathclyde University in Glasgow. We are deeply grateful for his helpful suggestions, guidance and great contributions to P4 activation. Thanks a lot Tom and all the best!

May 8th: Another great contribution on the chemistry of di-tert-butyldiphosphatetrahedrane with access to 1,2,3-triphospholide ligands has been published by Maria Uttendorfer in Dalton Transactions. Congratulations!

Doi: https://doi.org/10.1039/D4DT01067A

May 1st: Very excited to see the ‘Cobalt-Mediated Photochemical C-H Arylation of Pyrroles’ published in Angewandte Chemie! Big congrats to Julia Märsch and all co-authors and thanks for the fruitful cooperation with the Nürnberger (University of Regensburg) and de Vivie-Riedle (TUM) groups! Very grateful for decorating the front cover with our contribution!

Doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202405780

March

Mar 8th: A great collaboration on the “Structure and photochemistry of di-tert-butyldiphosphatetrahedrane” has been published in Chemical Science. Congrats to former group member Gabriele Hierlmeier and all co-authors! DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/D4SC00936C

Mar 4th: In March almost half of the group - Karo, Maria, Sophia, Riccardo, Benny, Jose and Michael - took part in this years European Workshop on Phosphorus Chemistry (EWPC-20), which was held in Würzburg. It was great to have met many old group members – Gabi, Daniel and Peter – and to chat all things chemistry. Congrats to Karo for winning the prize for her talk on the ‘Formation of Polyphosphido Cobalt Complexes through P–P condensation’! Cheers to Maria, Sophia, Riccardo, Benny, Jose and Michael for presenting the great variety in research AK Wolf has to offer with their beautiful posters! Until next year.

February

Feb 26th: In the end of February the Wolf Group was represented at the KCT in Innsbruck by Marco, who gave a great talk on ‘Heterobimetallic Activation of White Phosphorus by Co-Zn Complexes: Access to P4-Sandwich Compounds’ and by Franzi and Alex, who were presenting excellent Posters on their research! Cheers to all of them!

Feb 15th: Our review on low-valent transition metalate chemistry has just been published as an asap article in Chemical Reviews! Congratulations to first and co-corresponsing author Vanessa and Tom for their huge effort!

Feb 1st: Jannes Rückel is also back for the start of his PhD studies. Welcome Jannes, much success!

Jan 15th: Martin is back from a three-month research stay in the group of Prof. Yasuhiro Ohki at Kyoto University in Japan, supported by the graduate programme ''Ion Pair Effects in Molecular Reactivity". Welcome back!

Jan 2nd: A warm welcome to Sophia Vogler, who is back with us for the start of her PhD studies.

Dec 8th: Congratulations to Felix Seeberger who passed his PhD exam today! Well done Dr. Felix!

Dec 6th: Another excellent XMas OC kolloquium in Regensburg. Congratulations to Tom for his entertaining talk entitled Batman and Robin in 'The Riddle of the Oligophosphines'.

Dec 6th: Two in a row: Two of our manuscripts were accepted by Angewandte Chemie today: The manuscripts are entitled “Cobalt-Mediated [3+1] Fragmentation of White Phosphorus: Access to Acylcyanophosphanides" and "Counterion Effect in Cobaltate-Catalyzed Alkene Hydrogenation". Congratulations to authors by Martin, Sebi, Franzi, Tom, Gábor, and all authors involved - great teamwork! We are especially grateful for the insightful collaboration with Daniel Schmidhuber and Julia Rehbein on the cobalt-catalyzed alkene hydrogenations.

Oct 22nd: Our collaboration with the Weigand group continues to be successful. The paper "Visible-Light-Triggered Photoswitching of Diphosphene Complexes" with DFT contributions by Christoph Ziegler has been published in Angewandte Chemie. Congratulations Christoph and all co-authors. Thanks also to Ralf Tonner and Felix Kreuter from Leipzig University for the pleasant collaboration.

Oct 6th: Robert, Joan, David and Alex attended the 1st Conference on Light Induced Transformation hosted by crc325 here in Regensburg. Great talks from all over photocatalysis in organic and inorganic chemistry. David and Alex presented their research in the poster session.

Sep 20th: Joint publication: The results of a collaboration with Benedikt N. Baumann, Helge Lang and Marko Hapke (Johannes Kepler University, Linz) on the use of metalate catalyst for cyclization reactions were published in the Journal of Molecular Catalysis. Congratulations to Felix Seeberger, Philipp Büschelberger and all co-authors!

Sep 15th: Robert gives an invited talk at the 31st Colloquium on Organometallic Chemistry and Catalysis in Bayreuth. Splendid line-up of speaker. Thanks to Rhett Kempe and co-workers for the invitation and the excellent organisation!

Sep 7th: Thomas and Marco attended the 25th European Conference on Organometallic Chemistry (EuCOMC XXV) in Alcalá de Henares (Madrid, Spain). They presented their research on white phosphorus functionalization in form of a talk (Tom) and a poster (Marco) and listened to many interesting talks on a broad spectrum of organometallic chemistry.

Sep 6th: The GDCh-Wissenschaftsforum Chemie 2023, “WiFo” took place this year in the beautiful city of Leipzig. Robert gave a talk at the Karl-Ziegler-Symposium, presenting our latest work on 3d transition-metal catalyzed photoredox reactions and the photocatalytic functionalization of white phosphorus. Jose, David and Alex presented posters. Congratulations to Jose for winning one of the poster prizes.

Sep 1st: Check out the group’s latest manuscript on Regioselective Rhodium-Catalyzed 1,2-Hydroboration of Pyridines and Quinolines Enabled by the Tris(8-quinolinyl)phosphite Ligand. Congratulations to Miguel, Vanessa and Rafa.

Aug 25th: Special collection: Robert edited a special collection on p-block chemistry (co-editors Jan J. Weigand and Rory Waterman). The collection was inspired by the retirement or pending retirement of Hansjörg Grützmacher, Dietrich Gudat, Evamarie Hey-Hawkins, Manfred Scheer, Rainer Streubel, and Werner Uhl. Please also see the editorial by Rory Waterman, Jan J. Weigand and Robert.

Aug 18th: Rafa and Vanessa are leaving the group to continue their academic careers as researchers at the Istituto di Chimica dei Composti Organometallici (ICCOM) in Florence, Italy. We wish them the best of luck and success in their new adventures. We will miss you all, including our boys Leonardo and Miguel.

Jul 28th: David and Alex attended the 5th seminar day of the crc325, giving talks about their current research progress and having productive discussions about preassembly driven photocatalysis. A special talk was given by Dr. Elisabeth Speckemeier from Sanofi about "Automated & High-Throughput Parallel Synthesis in Industry".

Jul 25th: Our collaboration with the Weigand group in Dresden is bearing further fruit: The synthesis and further transformations of an unusual hexaphosphido cobalt complex is reported in Chemistry - A European Journal. Congrats to Karo, Christian and all co-authors.

Jul 19th: Luis, Maria and Benny attended the first ever graduates only meeting of the IDK Photo Electro Catalysis at the Obere Firstalm in the beautiful Bavarian Alps. We enjoyed interesting presentations on each participant's research and fruitful discussions.

Jul 11th: The Wolf Gang finished a great 7th place at this year's ChemCup.

Jul 10th: For the annual AK Wolf group trip this year we visited the Höllbachtal near Brennberg. Great walking, lots of laughs and good food at the end.

Jun 22nd: Congratulations to our former lab colleague Ajdin Velic (now in the Meyer group in Göttingen) on this year's Alfons Paulus Prize for an excellent MSc degree in chemistry.

Apr 20th: A heart-warming farewell to Marion, who completed her PhD earlier this year. We wish her all the best in her future endeavours!

Mar 30th: Martin, Jose, Sebastian and Karo travelled to the warm and sunny city of San Sebastian for the EWPC! There they met many friendly faces from other working groups. Sebastian gave a brilliant talk on the cobalt-mediated fragmentation of white phosphorus and the others presented posters.

Mar 24th: Jose and Gabor attended the International Conference on Phosphorus, Boron and Silicon in Berlin (PBSi 2023). Jose presented his latest results on the hydroelementation of elemental phosphorus.

Mar 13th: Martin, Tom, Karo, Marco, Jannes and Lukas attended the Spring Meeting of the GDCh Working Group Phosphorus Chemistry in Dresden from 12th to 13th March. Martin gave an excellent presentation on his latest work on the photocatalytic activation of white phosphorus.

Mar 7th: The International Doctorate School of Excellence in Photo-Electro Catalysis (IDK-PEC) has been officially inaugurated at the Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy, University of Regensburg. Very interesting talks by 15 of the academic and industrial partners, including our former group member Dr. Daniel Scott. Maria and Luis are part of this programme and presented posters about their projects.

Jan 26th: Congratulations to Marion Till who passed her PhD exam today! Well done Dr. Till!

Jan 16th: Benjamin and Riccardo hand in their M.Sc. theses. Well done and congratulations!

Jan 9th: New year, new faces in the Wolf Group. We welcome Sophia Volger, Jannes Rückel and Lukas Schober for their final year M.Sc. projects. In addition, Dr Yang Liu from the University of Göttingen joins the group. We wish them all good luck and success!

Dec 22th: We say goodbye to Julia Märsch. Thanks for all your hard work Julia, all the best for the future!

Dec 15th: All the Wolf members gathered at Walba to celebrate this year's successes at our Christmas party.

Dec 14th: Congratulations to Michael Mende for submitting his M.Sc. thesis!

Dec 14th: Excellent XMas OC kolloquium in Regensburg. Sebastian gave a great talk entitled “The Lord of the Azaphospholes: The Rings of Hauer”.

Dec 5th: We are moving to the 3rd floor! Today we start moving our equipment and chemicals. The Gloveboxes are also coming with us :D.

Dec 1st: A warm welcome to Marco Fritz and David Preitschaft, who are back with us for the start of their PhD studies. Luis Antonio Coelho also joins our group today. He will be part of the International Doctoral Kollege (IDK) "Photo-electro-catalysis". We wish them a lot of fun and success with their projects.

Nov 7th: Robert gave a talk at the RSC Dalton Division Southern Regional Meeting, a day full of nice chemistry at Burlington House in London.

Nov 1st: Alexander Erhard starts his Ph.D. studies. Welcome back Alex, much success!

Oct 31th: Check out our latest contribution on Transition-Metal-Stabilized Heavy Tetraphospholide Anions recently published in JACS! Congratulations to John Kelly and all co-authors for their contributions!

Oct 13th: The group enjoyed a trip to the Kuchlbauer brewery in Abensberg. Great experience and excellent beer.

Oct 14th: Maria’s article was a selected by ZAAC as cover feature.

Sep 28th: Wolf group alumna Dr. Gabriele Hierlmeier is awarded the Wöhler PhD prize of the Wöhler Societry for Molecular Inorganic Chemistry. The award ceremony is held at the Wöhlertagung in Marburg with Robert delivering the laudation. Congratulations Gabi, we are so proud of you!

Karo and Sebi join the celebrations and present posters. Karo is awarded one of the poster prizes for her poster on a completely inorganic sandwich complex. Congratulations to Karo!

Sep 19th: Robert was appointed as a W3 professor at Regensburg University today. He will assume his new position on October 1st. Congratulations!

Sep 19th: Karo and Jose have returned from a three-month research stay at Oxford University. Welcome back!

Sep 17th: MProf. Jose Goicoechea ends his extended stay in Regensburg. Jose: It was great having you here and we look forward to your return next year.

Sep 16th: The 18th European Workshop in Phosphorus Chemistry (EWPC-18) finally took place in Rostock, Germany. Maria presented a poster and Jose talked about the hydrostannylation of elemental phosphorus.

Sep 9th: Martin gave a talk and Franzi presented a poster at the Koordinationschemie-Treffen (KCT) in Jena.

Sep 2th: Finally, after a long delay, the ICCC could take place in Rimini. Julia presented a poster and Robert gave a talk about metal-mediated methods for the functionalization of white phosphorus.

Aug 31th: José's article on the direct functionalization of bench-stable red P is now available on ChemEurJ. Another result from our ongoing work with the Scott group.

Aug 26th: Martin, Tom, Felix, Marco and Franzi attended the traditional colloquium of inorganic chemistry research groups in Hirschegg in the Kleinwalsertal. A gathering full of discussions and some hiking.

Jul 27th: Finally, conferences in person again! Marion, Maria, and Sebastian are in Graz to attend the 16th International Symposium on Inorganic Ring Systems (IRIS16) and present their posters. A very successful event for the Wolf group: Sebastian wins the poster prize and Maria is honoured with a special mention for her poster, congratulations!

Jul 26th: Our ChemCup team the “Wolfrudlingers” got a more than respectable 10th place this year.

Jul 22th: Martin, Felix and Franzi attended the 29th International Conference on Organometallic Chemistry (ICOMC) in Prague. They all presented a poster.

Jul 15th: Franziska Gilch has won a prestigious Kekulé fellowship by the Fonds der Chemischen Industrie. Congratulations Franzi!

Jul 14th: Fresh from the oven! Marion's paper on photocatalytic stannylation of white phosphorus was published by Chemical Communications. This was a collaborative paper with Dr. Daniel Scott.

Jul 4th: Joan Sander joins the group for her M.Sc. thesis - welcome Joan.

Jul 1st: Maria and former group member Ajdin Velić were among the selected young scientists to attend the 71st Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting dedicated to Chemistry.

Jun 1st: Eduardo García from the Echavarren group is joining us as a visiting PhD student for 3 months. Welcome Eduardo and much success!

May 25th: Maria's paper on a nickel(0) complex featuring three intact diphosphatetrahedrane molecules was accepted by Zeitschrift für Anorganische und Allgemeine Chemie. The paper will be part of a special issue dedicated to Prof. Cameron Jones on the occasion of his 60th birthday. Congratulations to authors Maria and Gabi and happy birthday, Prof. Jones!

Mar 1st: Benjamin Falge and Michael Mende are starting their master's thesis. A warm welcome!

Feb 1st: Franziska Gilch starts her Ph.D. studies. Welcome back Franzi, we wish you much success and fun!

Jan 28th: Marion's article is on the front cover of ChemComm.

Jan 25th: Check out our latest contribution on photochemical arylation of white phosphorus recently published in Chemical Communications! Congratulations to Marion Till and all co-authors for their contributions!

Jan 17th: We welcome the two new members of the Wolf gorup Thomas Horsley and Marco Fritz. Thomas is our new postdoc coming from the University of Bath. Marco joins the group for his M.Sc. thesis - We wish them much success and fun!

Jan 14th: Congratulations to Ajdin Velić for submitting his M.Sc. thesis!

Jan 10th: Maria return to start her PhD research with us. Welcome back, we wish you a lot of fun and success with your projects!

Dec 15th: Great organic chemistry XMas symposium at Regensburg. Martin presented a fantastic episode of  "Lucky Robert and the Coltons".

Nov 22nd: Alexander Erhard and David Preitschaft are starting with their master‘s thesis in our lab today. Welcome!

Oct 29th: Christoph Ziegler defends his PhD thesis summa cum laude! Congratulations, Christoph!

Oct 15th: We also have to say goodbye to Gabriele Hierlmeier, another long-standing Wolf group member. Among many personal and scientific qualities, Gabi will be remembered for her determination and perseverance, which led to the discovery of di-tert-butyldiphosphatetrahedrane. Gabi is now heading off to Princeton to do become a postdoc with Paul Chirik. So long, Gabi! Have lots of fun and success in the US!

Oct 1st: Dr. Daniel Scott is leaving the group to start his independent career supported by EPSRC fellowship. We are all deeply indebted to Daniel for his creative ideas, great suggestions and guidance. Thanks a lot Dan and all the very best for the future!

Sep 25th: Congratulations to Maria Uttendorfer for submitting her M.Sc. thesis!

Sept 2nd: A collaborative paper with the Gschwind and Zeitler groups has been accepted by Angewandte Chemie! The paper reports mechanistic insights into the photocatalytic arylation of P₄ and the development of a photocatalytic method for the arylation of PH₃ based on the results. Congratulatoins to lead authors Robin and Verena and all other authors involved - fantastic team effort!

August 30th: We congratulate Franziska Gilch for submitting her M.Sc. thesis. We wish her an enjoyable external module with Stephen Thomas in Edinburgh!

July 30th: We say goodbye to postdoc John Kelly. Thanks for everything John! Especially for great contributions to low-oxidation state organometallic chemistry and P₄ activation (more manuscripts to come some)!

July 17th: We feel proud to announce our 10-year anniversary at the University of Regensburg! To celebrate this milestone, we gathered by the Danube, with many of our alumni and our current group members. Huge thanks to all for being there on this special occasion.

July 8th - Martin Gawron has won a prestigious Kekulé fellowship by the Fonds der Chemischen Industrie. Congratulations Martin!

July 7th - Peter's paper on the synthesis and reactivity of carbaborane-diphosphanido complexes has been accepted for publication in Chemical Science! The paper results from a collaboration with Evamarie Hey-Hawkins (Leipzig University) on the coordination chemistry of carborane diphosphatenes. Congratulations to all authors involved!

June 29th - Evamarie Hey-Hawkins is awarded the Karl-Ziegler-Preis by the German Chemical Society (GDCh). Congratulations!

June 10th: Congratulations to Gabriele Hierlmeier who passed her PhD exam today! Well done Dr. Gabs!

June 7th: John gave an exciting talk about heterobimetallic activation of white phosphorus at the JuWöV Sessions (Junge Wöhler Vereinigung für Anorganische Chemie).

June 1st: Martin Gawron starts his Ph.D. studies - We wish him much success and fun!

May 15th: Extensive review with Dr. Maria Caporali and co-workers on the coordination chemistry of elemental phosphorus published in Coordination Chemistry Reviews; open access. Congratulations to Vanessa Landaeta and John Kelly and all co-author to their titanic effort in preparing this review.

April 19th: Ajdin Velić joins the group for his M.Sc. thesis - Welcome Ajdin.

April 5th: Our manuscript on an efficient method for converting P₄ into valuable organophosphorus compounds was published by Nature Chemistry. Congratulations to co-corresponding author Daniel Scott and co-authors Jose and Maxi!

April 1st: We welcome Zahra Farasat from Shiraz University. Zahra joint the group as part of her Ph.D. studies.

March 29th to 31st:  Karo, Jose, Sebastian and Gabi participate in the 1st Online Workshop on Phosphorus Chemistry. Congratulations to the organisers Axel Schulz, Christian Hering-Junghans, Christian Müller and Jonas Bresien for organising such a marvellous event. Gabi gives an excellent talk on the chemistry of diphosphatetrahedranes.

Despite all the online excitement, we look forward to seeing everyone in person next year!

March 8th: Isonitrile complexes revisited: Our paper on new bidentate isonitrile complexes was accepted for publication by Organometallics. Congratulations to first author Marion and all other authors - especially our collaborators Oliver Reiser and Eugen Lutsker.

March 4th: Gabi's article is on the front cover of ChemComm.

February 26th: We say goodbye to our colleague Christoph Ziegler, who is beginning a new chapter of his professional career in the regional glass industry. Thanks for all your contributions Christoph and all the best for the future!

February 22nd: A diphosphatetrahedrane paper: A reactivity study of 1,2-tert-butyldiphosphatetrahedrane toward NHCs appers in ChemComm. The manuscript was selected as a ChemCommHOT article.

February 9th: Gabi's paper on the reactivity of diphosphatetrahedrane toward nickel complexes was published by Angewandte Chemie!.

Our work on diposphatetrahedrane and P4 activation by nickel complexes is highlighted in this year's "Trenbericht Anorganische Chemie" (Nachr. Chem. 2021, 69, 52–68).

Jan 30th: A romantic act in difficult times. Congratulations to Rafa and Vanessa for getting married in church this Saturday! God bless you! (And thanks so much for the delicious home-made wedding cake!)

January 6th: Franziska Gilch and Maria Uttendorfer are starting the M.Sc. thesis. A warm welcome!

Sept 3rd - An unsual Ni₂Si₂P₈ cluster formed by complexation and thermolysis was accepted for publication by ChemComm! Congratulations to all co-authors - it's another nice example of our on-going fruitful collaboration with the Weigand group at TUDresden.

July 21st - Our review on transition-mediated P4 functionalization authored by Christian and Daniel has been accepted for publication today and will appears soon in Chemistry - A European Journal. Congratulations to both co-authors!

July 20th - The group enjoyed a trip to the beautiful Kloster Weltenburg, just a stone's throw away from Kelheim (Pictures above). No better way to spend the day as our Glovebox rooms get some much needed air conditioning installed. 

July 13 - Gabi, Julia and John all participated in the Global Inorganic Discussion Weekdays (GIDW) Symposia. Julia went ahead and won herself a poster prize, congrats! (On the same day she submitted her thesis no less)

June 25th - A 1‐Phospha‐7‐bora‐norbornadiene is on the front cover of Chem. Eur. J. 35/2020 - wonderful collaboration with Chris Slootweg (University of Amsterdam), Christian Müller (FU Berlin) and Ruth Gschwind is on the front cover of Chemistry - A European Journal. Have a look at the cover profile here.

June 19th - Peter is leaving the group after a successful year with us (scientifically and personally!) to assume a DFG-funded postdoc position with Hansjörg Grützmacher at ETH Zürich. All the best for the future, Peter!

June 17th - Julia's paper entitled "Phosphorus-Analogues of [Ni(bpy)2]: Synthesis and Application in Carbon-Halogen Bond Activation" was accepted for publication at Inorganic Chemistry. This paper results from our fruitful colloboration with the Müller group. Congratulations to all co-authors.

June 5th - Gabi's paper on P4 activation by nickel(0) NHC complexes was published by Angewandte Chemie. Thanks to Klaas van Leest and Bas de Bruin for the nice EPR work!

June 4th - Gabi presents the chemistry of diphosphatetrahedrane at the 3rd P Chemistry Webinar. Well done Gabs!

June 2nd - Percia and Uli's manuscript on the visible-light-driven synthesis of asymmetrical phosphines and phosphonium salts was accepted by Chemistry - A European Journal. Congratulations to all authors, including our collaboration partners Kirsten Zeitler and Tillmann Fischer from the University of Leipzig.

May 28th - Thomas Maier successfully defends his PhD thesis! Congratulations, Dr. Maier!

May 16th - Front cover and cover profile our collaborative paper on heterogeneous olefin hydrogenation enabled by a highly‐reduced nickelate catalyst precursor published in Chemistry A European Journal

March 31st - Percia is leaving the group after two years. Farewell and all the best for the future!

Dec 4th - Congratulations to Dr. Christian M. Hoidn!

Dec 2nd - Sebastian Hauer starts his PhD studies - welcome back!

Nov 22nd - Celebrating recent synthetic success.

Nov 18th - Di-tert-butyldiphosphatetrahedrane is on the front cover of Angewandte Chemie.

Please also have a look at our report on a photocatalytic method for the organofunctionalization of white phosphorus to prodcue arylphosphonium salts and arylphosphines, published online at Nature Catalysis today. Congratulations to all co-authors!

Nov 6th - Anup's paper on the coordination properties of pentaphosphorus cations has been published by Angewandte Chemie. The paper is the result of our collaboration with the Weigand group at TU Dresden.

Nov 7th -Please also have a look at our manuscript on the [3+2] fragmentation of pentaphosphido cobalt complexes which has just been published by Angewandte Chemie. Congratulations to first author Christian Hoidn and all co-authors.

Sep 15th-18th - Robert gives an invited lecture at the Symposium "Happy 350th Anniversary Phosphorus" at the Wissenschaftsforum Aachen.

Congratulatons to Felix Seeberger and Sebastian Hauer for succesfully completing their M.Sc. thesis. They will remain in the group and start their PhD work soon!

Aug. 26th - 30th: A big part of the group travels the the beautiful Kleinwalsertal to present at the Inorganic Colloquium organized by the University of Marburg. A great combination of excellent science and some hiking!

August 23rd - Julia's paper on iron-mediated CO₂ cleavage was just accepted by Angewandte Chemie. Congratulation to Julia and all co-authors! Special thanks go to our collaboration partners Michael Marquardt and Christian Müller from FU Berlin.

August 5th - Our collaborative paper with the Müller group on the cleavage of carbon dioxide by a low-valent phosphinine Fe complex was accepted by Angewandte Chemie today. Congratulations to first author Julia and all co-authors!

August 2nd - On the water: Our group trip takes us on the rivers Vils and Naab in the beautiful Oberpfalz region (near Regensburg). Good fun!

July 10th - Thomas's collaborative paper with the Jacobi von Wangelin group was accepted by ACS Catalysis.

July 4th - Robert is the plenary speaker at the 11th Göttinger Chemie-Forum organized by the local Young Chemists Committee. A great opportunity to spread the Word about our activities in P chemistry and to meet students, longtime friends and new colleagues at Göttingen.

July 3rd - Christian Rödl completes his PhD exam. Congratulations Christian and all the best for the future! The photo shows the successful PhD candidate with the examination committee, from left to right: Prof. Frank-Michael Matysik, Prof. Robert Wolf, Dr. Christian Rödl, Prof. Manfred Scheer and Prof. Alkwin Slenczka.

July 1st - John travels to Prague to present a poster at the 13th International Conference on Heteroatom Chemistry (ICHAC 2019).

June 12th - Prof. Donna Blackmond (The Scripps Research Institute, LaJolla) visits our department to deliver the 8th Vilsmeier lecture. Her fantastic lecture on "Models for the Emergence of Biological Homochirality" and her tutorial on reaction progress analysis are very well-received. Thanks for coming all the way from California to teach us about such fascinating chemistry!

June 10th - Jose Cammarata joins the group for his M.Sc. thesis - welcome Jose!

May 31st - Anup is finishing up his postdoc in the group. He will assume a new PD position in Saarbrücken soon. We wish him all the best for the future.

May 29th - Group outing the local Dult festival. Who needs to wait for the Oktoberfest?

May 27th - Christina Graf submits her B.Sc. thesis on photocatalytic P₄ functionalization. Well done!

May 9th-10th - Great talk by Christian Müller from the Free University of Berlin in the inorganic colloquium this Thursday. Next day, we met with Michael, Julia, Felix, Matt and Peter to discuss the latest results of our DFG-funded phosphinine chemistry project. Good work everyone - please keep it up!

April 24th-26th - Part of the group travels to Bristol to participate in the 16th European Workshop on Phosphorus Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry Symposium (IndPhos). Both events display fantastic talks and posters. Congratulations to Paul Pringle and his group for organizing a fantastic symposium! The meeting was particularly successful for our group: Uli Lennert wins the 2nd prize for the best oral presentation, while Christian Hoidn wins a poster prize!

April 12th - Nacht.Schafft.Wissen: Robert lectures on the numerous facets of elemental phosphorus, while Marion, Christoph and Uli assist with the most stunning experiments in P chemistry.

April 2nd - Christian Rödl's full paper "Flexidentate Coordination Behavior and Chemical Non-Innocence of a Bis(1,3-Diphosphacyclobutadiene) Sandwich Anion" was just accepted by Chemistry - A European Journal. Congratulations!

April 2nd - We welcome a number of B.Sc. and M.Sc. students to our labs this month: Matthias Gruber, Marcel Fischer, Christina Graf, Tim Kögelmeier, Karolina Trabitsch and Jonas Strohmaier - success to every one of you!

March 29th - Matthew successfully completes his M.Sc. thesis. Well done Matt!

March 27th - EurJIC's special issue on "Advances in Fundamental and Applied Phosphorus Chemistry" has been published. We have been delighted to provide the front cover for this issue. A cover profile has also been published on our contribution "Halide‐Substituted Phosphacyclohexadienyl Iron Complexes: Covalent Structures vs. Ion Pairs".

March 26th - After nine months with us sponsored by the DAAD and iPur Miguel is returning to his home country Venezuela. Farewell Miguel, we wish you all the best!

March 6th - Congratulations to Christian Rödl: His manuscript on "1,3-Diphosphacyclobutene Cobalt Complexes" was accepted by Chemistry - European Journal. Thanks are due to Dr. Kai Schwedtmann and Jan J. Weigand for beautiful 2D and VT ³¹P NMR experiments!

March 3rd-5th - Julia and Christoph present posters at the 15th Koordinationschemietreffen at LMU Munich

March 1st - Thiemo Höllen and Maria Ultendorfer join the group for a research intership - welcome!

Feb 13th - Wonderful group trip to the beautiful Bavarian Forest: Snowshoe hiking up to the Kleiner Arber mountain (1384 m above sea level) followed by sliding down to Bodenmais on sleds.

Jan 30th - Our joint paper with the Weigand group (Dresden) was highlighted with a cover of Chemical Science. Have a look here!

Jan 7th - It is not just the US government, but UR also shuts down over the holiday period. After enjoying such incredibly long holidays, we are back in full swing from today, so stay tuned for new adventures in teaching and research.

Jan 2nd - Thomas's collaborative paper with the AJvW group (Hamburg) was highlighted as a "hot paper" and with a cover of Chemistry - A European journal. Have a look here!

Dec 24th - Merry Christmas and a happy new year to all readers of this diary!

Dec 17th - Robert gives the annual Christmas lecture of the department of Chemistry and Pharmacy. As usual, the lecture has been organized by our local young chemists committee (JCF). "Der chemische Adventskalender" ("The chemical advent calender") was a stunning allocation of funny and entertaining chemical experiments.Thanks go to Sabrina Dinauer, Melissa Janesch, Robert Szlosek and Franz Thuringer, who did the experiments, and many other who ensured a smooth operation! Check out the short video here!

Dec 12th - We reunite with the Rehbein group once again for the annual Christmas party. Thanks again to everybody for the great buffet and participating the entertaining sports events, In particular, Robert is pleased by the opportunity to demonstrate his incredible accuracy with the table tennis ball!

Nov 29th - Congratulations to Prof. Werner Uhl (Universität Münster) on the occasion of his 65th birthday! Among other events, his birthday is celebrated by dedicated volumes in Zeitschrift für Anorganische und Allgemeine Chemie (Check out Volume 644, Issue 21) and Zeitschrift für Naturforschung B (Volume 73, Issue 11)

Our manuscript on the "Construction of Alkyl-Substituted Pentaphosphido Ligands in the Coordination Sphere of Cobalt" was accepted by Chemical Science. This is another product of our ongoing collaboration with the Jan J. Weigand group at TU Dresden. Congratulations to the authors Christoph, Thomas, and Stefan (Wolf group) as well as Clemens and Felix (JJW group).

November 5th - A birthday present for Julia: Her latest co-production with Christian Hoidn unravelling the chemistry of halide-substituted phosphacyclohexadienyl iron complexes has sailed into EurJIC with flying colors! The manuscript, which is dedicated to Prof. Koop Lammertsma was rated a "very important paper" by two referees and will be part of the upcoming special issue on phosphorus chemistry. Thanks and congratulations also go to the other co-authors Christoph for providing insight from computations, our NMR guru Ilya Shenderovich for tirelessly measuring solid-state NMR spectra as well as our friends at FU Berlin for their help with conductometry.

Nov 2nd - Welcome to Dr. J. Chris Slootwegfrom the University of Amsterdam! Chris joins us as an Alexander von Humboldt fellow this winter for a period of three months!

November 5th - Robert travels to Kazan, Russia, to deliver a plenary lecture at the Arbuzov Memorial conference 'Dynamic processes in the chemistry of organoelement compounds' dedicated to the 115th anniversary of Boris Arbuzov

Thomas' paper on cobalt-catalyzed hydrogenation and dehydrogenations with amine-borane sailed through the refereeing process of Chem. Eur. J. with flying colors! Congratulations to all co-authors. Special thanks to our collaborators Sebastian and Axel (AJvW group).

Oct. 15th - Lectures are starting this week. Welcome back everyone. A particularly warm welcome to nearly 250 first year students. Have fun and success!

We welcome Daniel Scott and John Kelly, two new postdocs from the UK keen to work on P₄ functionalization! After undergraduate studies at Cambridge, Daniel obtained his PhD with Dr. Andrew Ashley at Imperial College London. John studies in Manchester and subsequently moved down under for his PhD studies with Prof. Cameron Jones

Molecular and solid state inorganic chemists from all over Germany convene on our home turf for the first a joint meeting of the  Wöhlervereinigung and the solid state and materials research interest groups of the German Chemical Society. It was a splendid event with >400 participants. The group presented one talk (by Robert) and nine posters!

[K(thf)][Co(cod)₂]^- as a "Co^-" source - part I: Our paper on the synthesis of a beautiful new cobalt-tin cluster was just accepted by JACS! Thanks and congratulations to Christian Hoidn (who synthesized the title compound) and all other authors involved.

[K(thf)][Co(cod)2]- as a "Co-" source - part II: Using the same compound, Robert Wilson from the Dehnen group in Marburg synthesized a fascinating tin-bismuth Zintl cluster with an endohedral, off-center Co- anion. The results just appeared in Angewandte Chemie Congratulations to Bob and everyone else involved.

Gladly, Robert has submitted our latest contribution to phopsphaorganometallic chemistry to EurJIC (to be part of the upcoming special issue Phosphorus2019). This paper wonderful teamwork involving Julia L., Christian H., Christoph Z. and Ilya Shenderovich from our NMR department - please stay tuned!

Meanwhile, Julia L. visits Germany's biggest city to learn the latest tricks of the trade of phosphinine ligand synthesis. Thanks go to our collaborators at the Christian Müller group as well as M. Sc. Karsten Sonnenberg and Prof. Sebastian Hasenstab-Riedel for access to their electrical conductometer.

August 30th - Dirk succesfully completes his PhD colloquium. Congratulations and all the very best for the future!

Christian's full paper on the functionalization of diphosphacyclobutadiene cobalt complexes was accepted by Z. Naturforsch. B. The paper will be part of a dedicated volume on the occasion of Prof. Werner Uhl's 65th birthday. Jenni Bissmeyer started the work. Congratulations both of you!

It's conference time again. Robert travels to Dresden to deliver an invited to talk at ISNSC , Christian R. and Christoph Z. are off to Budapest to join ICPC-22 , Thomas presents a poster at the ICOMC2018 in Florence, Italy. While Gabi and Christian H., our seasoned travelers, join ICCC2018 in Sendai, Japan. Rightfully, both look very cheerful!

July 4th - Congratulations to Dirk! Last week he submitted his PhD thesis, this week, his full paper on the synthesis, electronic structure and redox chemistry of a naphthalene-bridged diruthenium complex (see here) has been accepted for publication by Dalton Transactions. Thanks go to our collaborators Bas de Bruin and Frantisek Hartl for their invaluable contributions!

July 1st - Gabi receives a prestigious Kekulé PhD fellowship by the Fonds der Chemischen Industrie - congratulations! Miguel returns to our lab for another 8 monts supported by a DAAD fellowship. Welcome back Miguel and much success for your endeavours!

Robert travels to Cologne, Tübingen and Heidelberg to spread the word on our activities in phosphorus chemistry.

June 12th - UR celebrates the annual Chemistry and Pharmacy Day. Gabi is awarded a prize by the Alfons Paulus foundation for her performance in the Master‘s course. Congratulations Gabi!

Guy Bertrand from UCSD delivers the 7th Anton Vilsmeier Lecture. Thanks Guy for a brillant lecture! As usual, the day concludes with a cheerful garden party in front of the chemistry building.

19th - Inke Siewert from Göttingen University visits us to give a brilliant update on electrocatalysis in the inorganic chemistry colloquium. Thanks for visiting, Inke! 

16th - Philipp and Effi's paper on "Recyclabe Cobalt(0) Nanoparticle Catalysts for Hydrogenations was accepted by Catalysis, Science and Technology. The manuscripts describes catalysis at the border between homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis. We report the synthesis of small, well-defined, and well characterized cobalt nanoparticles which are versatile and very active catalysts for the hydrogenation of various alkenes, imines, and quinolines. This work was performed in close collaboration between the groups Axel Jacobi von Wangelin and Claus Feldmann. 

9th - Koop Lammertsma's farewell from the VU: Robert travels to Amsterdam to participate in Koop Lammertsma's farewell symposium and "afscheidsrede" at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. The official part is followed by a lush party in Amsterdam Zuid. Thanks and all the best, Koop!

1st - It's not an april joke: The Axel Jacobi von Wangelin Group has moved to fresh and windy north Germany to set up their new labs at Hamburg University. Sad to see you leave and all the best to all of you. Thanks for splendid years united at UR!

We welcome Percia Beatrice Arockiam as a new postdoc to the group. Percia obtained her PhD in France under the supervision of Christian Bruneau and Pierre Dixneuf. After postdocs with Matthias Beller in Rostock and Joanna Wencel-Delord in Straßbourg, she has now joined us to work on the photochemical activation of strong chemical bonds.

Christoph and Thomas return from a fruitful visit to the University of Amsterdam. Welcome back!

We welcome our three new  B.Sc. students in the group: Carolin Nagel, Karolin Trabitsch and Martin Gawron. Welcome to the group and much success with your projects!

Conference time again: The Chemiedozententagung in Jena features the hottest chemistry presented by upcoming researchers. Congratulations to Hans-Dieter Arndt for organizing such a splendid meeting.

German coordination chemists meet in Heidelberg this year to exchange the latest results in the field. Our group is represented by "the two Christians" (Hoidn and Rödl). Christian Hoidn wins an award for his presentation on a new tin-cobalt cluster. Congratulations, well-done indeed!

This yearly meeting of the European phosphorus chemistry family gathers in Uppsala to showcase latest research highlights at the 15th European Workshop on Phosphorus Chemistry (EWPC 15). Gabi is awarded with a prize for her presentation on the synthesis and reactivity of new nickel phosphido complexes (collaborative work with Jose Goicoechea. Robert steps in for an invited lecture on P₄ activation. Thanks to Andreas Orthaber and Sascha Ott for organizing this meeting.

13th - Our paper on the synthesis of new anionic tetraphosphido iron complexes was accepted by Dalton Transactions. Congratulations to all authors involved!

Christoph and Thomas travel to Amsterdam to work  on computational projects with Andreas Ehlers (University of Amsterdam).

Julia Märsch and Marion Till join the group for the masters's project. Welcome and much success to both of you!

A fantastic seminar program this winter semester draws to a close with the talks by Prof. Corinna Hess from TU Munich and Katja Heinze. Thanks for visiting!

Nov 28th - Robert has been awarded an ERC Consolidator Grant 2017!

Nov 11th - Our joint paper with Jose Goicoechea was accepted by publication by Angewandte Chemie. This paper contains a large part of Gabi's master's thesis, which describes the generation and reactivity of Nickel stabilized P₂ and As₂ units using sodium 2-phosphaethynolate NaPCO. Congratulations to everyone involved and to Gabi in particular.

Nov 7th and 13th - On the road again: Robert visits universities at Bayreuth and Oldenburg to give talks

Nov 9th - Nicolas Mézailles from Toulose visits Regensburg to deliver the second SynCat lecture. Thanks Nicolas for your visit and the fruitful discussions we've had.

Nov 2nd - Gabi and Christoph return to start their PhD research with us. Welcome back!

Oct 6th Our collaborative paper with Evamarie Hey-Hawkins on the first cobalt phosphanido complex with a low-spin ground state was accepted by Angewandte Chemie. Congratulations to Peter Coburger from the Hey-Hawkins group and all other authors involved.

Oct 4th - Sebastian Hauer completes his B. Sc. thesis - well done! In addition, SynCat student Eliniy joins us for a "praktikum" - welcome!

Robert was elected as the chair of the local chapter of the Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker GdCh,

Sep 30th - Gabi and Christoph complete their M.Sc. theses on (poly)phosphorus molecules coordinated to transition metals. Congratulations to both of you

This beautiful month of August brings Julia, Christian H., Philipp, and Uli to the pristine Kleinwalsertal Valley, where they present their research to colleagues and friends from Regensburg, Marburg and Münster. The programme is ambitious, likewise the hikes through the beautiful mountains. The photo shows the Wolf group on top of Großer Widderstein (2533 m), the main mountain of the valley.

Meanwhile, Thomas travels to Ludwigshafen to participate in BASF's traditional summer course.

Miguel is off to Florence in order to present his research in main group catalysis at EUROPACAT 2017.

Not everyone is away though. Our bachelor students Dominik and Sebastian sweat in the lab completing the experimental work for their theses.

July 26th - You cannot win them all: Our ChemCup team with Christian R., Philipp, Thomas and Venezuelan tiger Miguel makes it to the final for the third time in a row, only to be beaten by AK Göpferich this time.

July 9th - 13th - Splendid days of organometallic chemistry at EuCOMC 2017. Robert was honoured to be one of the young plenary speakers at the conference. Our congratulations go to David Milstein, who was awarded the EuChemS Organometallic Chemistry Prize and gave a fantastic award lecture.

July 4th - The sun is out over the beautiful city of Oxford. Robert visits to give a seminar and discuss our joint reserach efforts with Gabi and Jose Goicoechea. Well done Gabi so far, and thanks Jose for being such a great host.

Successful group meeting on our anion+cation project with the Weigand group in Dresden. Keep it going, guys!

We welcome our new postdoc Anup Adhikari, who's joining us after a successful PhD with the Hey-Hawkins group at Leipzig University.

Jaap Borger from Koop Lammertsma's group defends his PhD thesiscum laude. at the VU Amsterdam on June 6th. Jaap spent a month at our lab in 2013, where - quoting him he learned "the German standard of chemistry". Well done Jaap and all the best for the future! The picture shows Jaap with his PhD commitee.

Talk at ICIQ in Tarragona on May 31st. It was a fantastic day at this wonderful institution. Muchas gracias Julio Lloret-Fillol.

Robert gives lectures at GDCh colloquia in Kassel and Paderborn. Thanks to Rudi Pietschnig and Matthias Bauer for the invitation and great hospitality.

Gabi crosses the channel to continue her joing M.Sc. project with Jose Goicoechea at Oxford University. Good luck and much success, Gabi!

April 3rd - Uttam's paper on a cyclopentadienyl iron(I) single molecule magnet was accepted by Angewandte Chemie today. Congratulations to everyone involved. This work has taught some important lessons about SMM design. Thanks are due to our collaborators Serhiy Demeshko, Franc Meyer, Christophe Rebreyend, Bas de Bruin, Mihail Atanasov, and Frank Neese for their great contributions to this manuscript.

Lab technician apprentice Julia Kefer is moving on to continue her training in the institute of Pharmacy. Dear Julia, thanks for all good work and much success in the future.

Martin, our new lab technician apprentice, joins us to continue his training in our group. Welcome Martin!

A warm welcome also goes to Felix Seeberger and Dominik Venus, who will do their B.Sc. projects with us.

Spring starts with EWPC-14 in Cluj, Romania, where Christian Rödl presents his results on 1,3-diphosphacyclobutadiene complexes. Julia, Christian H. and THomas present posters at this lively get together of the Europen P community.

Our publication on the "C-H-Photooxygenation of Alkyl Benzenes Catalyzed by Riboflavin Tetraacetate and a Non-Heme Iron Catalyst" (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2016, 55, 427-430) is highlighted in "Trendbericht Anorganische Chemie" (Nachr. Chem. 2017, 65, 245-254)

Miguel returns from Venezuela to continue his adventures in main group catalysis - welcome back Miguel!

Thomas receives a PhD fellowship by the Fonds der Chemischen Industrie - congratulations!

Philipp and Christian R. represent our group at the 15th Ferrocene Colloquium in Mainz (www.ak-heinze.chemie.uni-mainz.de/research/15th-ferrocene-colloquium-2017/).

The new year will bring novel excitement and more chemical adventures. We look forward to a bunch of new students and exciting visitors in the lab. Meet us at EWPC-14, the 15th Ferrocene Colloquium and EuCOMC.

Gabriele Hierlmeier and Christoph Ziegler join the group as Masters's students. Wecome and much success and fun with your projects.

Bernd's Paper on the photocatalyzed synthesis of methyl esters from benzaldehydes, benzyl alcohols and toluene derivatives was accepted by ChemCatChem. Congratulations Bernd!

Our collaboration with the Axel Jacobi von Wangelin group on hydrogenation catalysis is bearing fruit: Chemistry - A European Journal has accepted our full paper on the use of low-oxidation state ferrate and cobaltate complexes as hydrogenation catalysts. Congratulations to everyone involved, in particular first author Philipp as well as Friedrich Kreyenschmidt and Konrad Koszinowski (www.uni-goettingen.de/de/321433.html) from Göttingen for a splendid collaboration.

Julia, Thomas and Uli continue and expand their endeavours in organometallic chemistry and catalysis. Good luck and much success!

Christian Hoidn is back from the US, having completed a fruitful visit in Prof. Phil Power's (chemgroups.ucdavis.edu/~power/ppp/Home.html) laboratory  at UC Davis. Christian returns with a couple of nice new structures in his bag - more to come soon!

Congratulations to Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Sir James Fraser Stoddart and Ben L. Feringa to being awarded the Nobel Prize for their work on molecular motors (Link: www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2016/) Incidentally, Ben Feringa was the Vilsmeier lecturer at Regensburg University in 2015 ;-)

This month brings exciting travel for Robert, who gives talks at the Leibniz Institute of Catalysis in Rostock and the University of Girona in Catalonia.

Margarida Borrell from the group of Miquel Costas (University of Girona) is joining us for some joint adventures in photocatalysis. Welcome!

Thomas Maier hands in his Master's thesis on the chemistry of low-oxidation state cobalt complexes. Congratulations, Thomas!

Christian, Philipp and Robert are off to Berlin to join the "Wöhlertagung" - a splendid biennial display of German (molecular and a bit of solid state) inorganic chemistry. Christian wins a EURJIC poster prize for his poster on "Bis(1,3-diphosphacyclobutadiene) Sandwich Anions as Metalloligands to Late Transition Metal Cations" - congratulations Christian!

Philipp Büschelberger (on the left) and the happy poster prize winner Christian (on the right).

Julia Leitl hands in her master's thesis on the synthesis and reactivity of phosphinine iron complexes - congratulations and well-done, Julia!

Ulrich Lennert submitted his Master's thesis about photocatalytic C-H oxygenations. Congratulations, Uli!

Our paper on the selective activation of P₄ by a highly reduced cobaltate anion was accepted by Chemistry - A European Journal. Congratulations to Stefan, Thomas, Dirk and all other authors involved!

Peter Coburger from Leipzig is visiting us to study low-valent transition metal chemistry with the carborane-based-ligands. Welcome to Bavaria and much success, Peter!

Stefan and Dirk present posters at the 27th International Conference on Organometallic Chemistry (ICOMC 2016) in Melbourne, Australia.

Stefan publishes the reaction of low-valent nickel complexes with phenyl isocyanate and phenyl iso (thio)cyanate (pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.organomet.6b00473)

On the way to tripeldeckers: Marion Till is joining us for her bachelor project aiminig at the synthesis of unique tripeldecker complexes based on diphosphacyclobutadienes. Welcome Marion and much success!

Germany's premature departure from the Euro 2016 is quickly forgotten as the football team of the Jacobi, Gschwind, Garcia, and Wolf groups wins the departmental "ChemCup" for the second time in a row! Congratulations to all players!

Miguel Chacon from Venezuela is joining us for a three month project supported by the iPur program (www.ipur-regensburg.de/ ) Welcome Miguel and much success!

Our group seminar brings us to the Thüringer Hütte in the beautiful Rhön this year. Thanks, Philipp, for your efforts in organizing this fantastic event!

The month of June brings Robert, Christian and Uttam to Kasan, the impressive capital of Tartarstan (Russia). The 21st International Conference on Phosphorus Chemistry is staged here, discussing phosphorus compounds in all oxidation states and the essential role of phosphorus for life. Robert has been invited to deliver a keynote; Christian and Uttam present flash talks and posters at the lively poster session. Congratulations to Uttam Chakraborty and Christian Rödl for winning the first and second prize for their splendid flash presentations!

Double stars: This day is a very special one for the Wolf group. Bernd Mühldorf and Stefan Pelties both complete their PhDs with back-to-back PhD colloquiua. Well done and all the best for the future to both of you!

Phosphorus takes us to the capital: EWPC-13 gave an excellent display of current developments in phosphorus chemistry presented by PhD students. This EWPC marked the 50th anniversary of the discovery of 2,4,6-triphenylphosphinine by Prof. Gottfried Märkl, professor at the University of Regensburg for 26 years. Our group was represented by our veteran Stefan Pelties and "the two Christians", Christian Rödl and Christian Hoidn. The latter gave a well-received oral account of his Master's project on the reactivity of phosphinine ferrates. The exciting scientific program was rounded off by a memorable dinner on top of the roofs of Berlin.

ICSPC-2016 followed EWPC-13 immediately. Organized by Chris Slootweg of the SusPhos network, the meeting brought together academia and industry to discuss current research developments and the sustainable future of phosphorus.

Applications welcome! Our new international M.Sc. program SynCat will start in October. Supported by the state of Bavaria, SynCat is a tuition-free excellence program focused on modern themes of synthesis and catalysis.

Have a look at the SynCat website: www.syncat.eu

SynCat on YouTube: youtu.be/Um4FqiAGEOg

Successful cooperation: Thea Hering (AK König) and Bernd have developed a new biomimetic catalyst system for the light-driven oxidative chlorination of aromatic compounds. The publication was accepted by Angewandte Chemie.

After an endless Christmas break, life (and warmth) return to the department.

The Wolf group welcomes its new members: Julia, Thomas, and Uli start new adventures in organometallic chemistry and catalysis - we are happy to have you on board and wish you a lot of fun and success with your projects!

Alle (ungeraden) Jahre führt uns die Anorganische Chemie zum Arbeitskreis-Treffen nach Hirschegg im kleinen Walsertal. Neben vielen Vorträgen und Gesprächen bleibt auch Zeit für die eine oder andere Wanderung. Unser "Höhepunkt" ist die Widdersteinhütte.

05. Februar

Neuerscheinungen: Unser Full Paper über neue Eisen-Phosphinin-Komplexe wird von Organometallics publiziert. Die Arbeit ist eine Kooperation mit Christian Müller von der FU Berlin.

Bernds Paper über die photokatalytische C-H Oxidation von benzylischen Substraten wird von ChemComm veröffentlicht.

Glückwunsch an alle Co-Autoren - auf ein Neues!

12. Januar

Besuch aus dem hohen Norden: Helge Lange aus Rostock ist für einen Monat bei uns zu Gast. Helge fertigt seine Masterarbeit am LIKAT bei Marko Hapke an und wird die katalytische Aktivität einiger unser Komplexe unter die Lupe nehmen. Viel Erfolg, Helge!

1. Januar

Wir wünschen allen ein frohes, friedvolles und erfolgreiches neues Jahr!

23. Dezember

Die Universität Regensburg geht am Heiligabend für zwei Wochen in den Winterschlaf, wir verabschieden uns mit einer Vorlesung zum Thema "Redoxreaktionen" von unseren Drittsemestern. Großen Dank an Philipp für die hervorragende Vorbereitung der Versuche! Wir hoffen, die Vorlesung hat Euch/Ihnen Spaß gemacht!

4. und 5. Dezember

The First Conference on Sustainable Phosphorus Chemistry findet in Florenz statt und wird sicher lebhafte Diskussionen zur Zukunft der Phosphorchemie in Gang bringen. Für uns ein ganz besonderer Anlass: Die Konferenz ist Prof. Koop Lammertsma zum 65. Geburtstag gewidmet.

1. Dezember

Wir begrüßen ganz herzlich einen neuen Kollegen am Institut: Dr. Robert Kretschmer stößt als frisch gebackener Liebig-Stipendiat aus Berlin zu uns. Herzlich willkommen, Robert.

26. November

Christian Rödl schließt seine Masterarbeit über neue oligonukleare 1,3-Diphosphacyclobutadien-Komplexe ab. Herzliche Glückwunsch und weiter viel Erfolg bei der Promotion, Christian!

1. November

Philipp beginnt mit der Promotion. Thema seiner Arbeit ist die Untersuchung von cobalt- und eisen-katalysierten Hydrierungen und verwandten Reaktionen. Viel Erfolg, Philipp!

30. Oktober

Eine Vortragseinladung führt Robert ins AC-Kolloquium unserer bayrischen Schwesteruniversität LMU München. Herzlichen Dank den Münchener Kollegen für die die Gastfreundschaft und die schönen Diskussionen, ganz besonders natürlich dem Gastgeber Konstantin Karaghiosoff.

06. Oktober

Beginn der Vorlesungzeit: Wir begrüßen herzliche 232 Ersemester im Bachelor und in den Lehramtsstudiengängen. Allen Erstis einen guten Start und viel Erfolg!

Abgabe: Philipp reicht seine Masterarbeit zum Thema "Cobaltkatalysierte Hydrierungen: Anwendungsbreite und Mechanismus" -beim Prüfungsamt ein. Herzlichen Glückwunsch, Philipp!

In jedem geraden Jahr führt die Wöhlervereinigung für Anorganische Chemie eine Vortragstagung durch. Die 17. "Wöhlertagung" wurde von David Scheschkewitz in Saarbrücken organisiert. Tolle Vorträge, spannende Poster und ein Teilnehmerrekord machten die Tagung zu einer rundum gelungenen Veranstaltung. Dirk und Stefan waren mit dabei.

Phosphor - ein Element mit vielen Facetten: So lautete der Titel eines Seminars der Sommerakademie Überlingen der Jungen Akademie und der Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes, das ich gemeinsam mit Prof. Jan J. Weigand (TU Dresden) leiten durfte. Die sechs Seminartage waren geprägt von intensiven Diskussionen über die Grundlagenchemie, die industrielle, biologische, historische und gesellschaftliche Bedeutung des Phosphors und die drohende Phosphorkrise. Highlights waren - neben den Beiträgen der Stipendiatinnen und Stipendiaten- der Vortrag von Prof. Christian Hackenberger (FMP und HU Berlin) und die Exkursion zu BASF Basel, wo wir die industriellen Aspekte der Phosphorchemie aus erster Hand kennenlernten. Ganz herzlichen Dank meinem Co-Seminarleiter, Prof. Jan J. Weigand sowie Prof. Christian Hackenberger, Prof. Hansjoerg Grützmacher (ETH Zürich), Dr. Reinhard Sommerlade von der BASF. Mein ganz besonderer Dank gilt den 15 Teilnehmer/-innen des Seminars. Es hat Spaß gemacht!

Großartige Vorträge, neue Inspiration, Begegnungen mit alten Freunden und neuen Freunden - all dies bieten die ICOMC2014, die ICCC-41 und das 25. IUPAC Symposium zur Photochemie. Ganz herzlichen Dank an den DAAD für die finanzielle Unterstützung.

Ein Blick voraus: vom 24.-26. September findet die 17. Vortragstagung der Wöhlervereinigung für Anorganische Chemie in Saarbrücken statt.

Anna reicht ihre Masterarbeit zur Synthese neuer Polyhydridokomplexe ein - herzlichen Glückwunsch!

Nach fünf Jahren Mitgliedschaft scheide ich aus der Jungen Akademie aus - mit einem weinenden und einem lachenden Auge, denn die zehn neuen Mitglieder werden die interdisziplinären Aktivitäten der JA mit vielen neuen Ideen weiter beleben. Ein "Bonbon" zum Abschluss: die ersten Resultate unseres Forschungsprojekts mit Melanie Schnell (Center for Free Electron Laser Science, Hamburg) zur Paritätsverletzung in chiralen Molekülen werden in Kürze in der Angewandten Chemie publiziert.

Hochwillkommener Besuch: Philip Power (UC Davis) und Michael Whittlesey (University of Bath) sind am Institut für Anorganische Chemie zu Besuch. Phil and Mike: Great to have both of you here! Mehr als eine Zugabe: Am Freitag (27.06.) hält Corey Stephenson (University of Michigan) einen Vortrag im Rahmen des GRK1626.

Tag der Chemie an der Universität Regensburg: Josef Michl (Boulder, Colorado, und Tschechische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Prag) ist dieses Jahr der Anton-Vilsmeier-Lecturer. Reger Andrang auch bei der Postersession, bei der Julia, Rebecca, Christian und Thomas die Ergebnisse ihrer Bachelorarbeit präsentieren.

Miquel Costas unterrichtet uns in einem beeindruckenden Kolloquiumsvortrag über seine aktuellen Arbeiten in der Oxidationskatalyse mit biomimetischen Eisenkomplexen. Miquel, thanks for visiting!

Stefans Untersuchungen zur Reaktivität eines neuen Carben-stabiliserten Nickel(I)-Radikals erscheinen in ChemComm. Glückwunsch Stefan!

Gastvortrag von Robert an der Universität von Alaclá de Henares (Spanien). Marta Gonzáles Mosquera ist die Gastgeberin. Thanks for the kind invitation and hospitality, Marta!

Das Sommersemester hält ein reiches Vortragsprogramm im anorganischen Kolloquium bereit. Wir freuen uns auf Vorträge u.a. von Ferdi Schüth, Steffi Dehnen, Miquel Costas, Richard Bourne, Mike Whittlesey, Philip Power und Judith Howard!

Die Vorlesungszeit beginnt: Wir wünschen allen ein erfülltes und lehrreiches Sommersemester.

Der 11th European Workshop on Phosphorus Chemistry führt Stefan und Robert nach Sofia. Im kommenden Jahr wird die EWPC-12 von Rudolf Pietschnig in Kassel organisiert.

Chemiedozententagung 2014 in Paderborn. Im kommenden Jahr wird die CDT in Regensburg stattfinden (2.-4. März 2015, Chairman: Arno Pfitzner). Herzliche Einladung schon jetzt an alle!

The next generation: Rebecca Grünbauer, Julia Leitl, Christian Preischl und Thomas Maier fertigen ihre Bachelorarbeit bei uns an. Christian Rödl beginnt seine Masterarbeit. Wir wünschen alle viel Freude und Erfolg!

Phillip Büschelberger beginnt seine Masterarbeit in unserem Arbeitskreis - herzlich willkommen und viel Erfolg, Philipp!

Lesestoff für's neue Jahr: Der Kalender "Wissenschaft 2014" der Jungen Akademie rückt aktuelle und kontroverse Forschungsfragen in den Blickpunkt, die sich nicht eindeutig mit "Ja" oder "Nein" beantworten lassen, sondern deren Beantwortung ambivalent und offen bleiben muss.

Klaus Oschema / Ulrike von Luxburg / Marc Helbling (Hg.), Wissenschaft 2014 - Ein Kalender der Ambivalenzen, Jan Thorbecke Verlag, Ostfildern, ISBN: 978-3-7995-0425-6

Eine weitere gute Neuigkeit im Jahr 2013: Unser Paper "Heteroatom-free Cobalt and Iron Catalysts for Hydrogenations" wurde von der Angewandten Chemie zur Veröffentlichung angenommen. Das Manuskript beschreibt die Ergebnisse unserer engen Kooperation mit dem Arbeitskreis von Axel Jacobi von Wangelin bei der Untersuchung der katalytischen Eigenschaften von Polyarenkomplexen von Eisen und Cobalt.

Herzliche Glückwünsche an unsere Co-Autoren Dominik Gärtner, Alice Welther und Babak Rezaei Rad.

Und dieser war der dritte Streich: Jennifer Malberg wird mit einer Dissertation über "Synthesis and Characterization of Oligonuclear Naphthalene and Diphosphacyclobutadiene Transition Metal Complexes" zum Dr. rer. nat. promoviert.

Liebe Jenni, ganz herzlichen Glückwunsch!!!

Wir gratulieren Prof. Werner Uhl (WWU Münster) ganz herzlich zum 60. Geburtstag!

Babaks Paper über das Koordinationsverhalten eines neuen 2-pyridyl-substituierten Eisenkomplexes wurde von Dalton Transactions zur Veröffentlichung angenommen.

Gute Nachrichten auch von der Redaktion der Angewandten Chemie, die Jennis Publikation über ein molekulares Quadrat aus Gold(I)-Ionen und Diphosphacyclobutadien-Cobaltat-Bausteinen (Kollaboration mit Thomas Wiegand und Hellmut Eckert aus Münster) angenommen hat.

Ganz herzlichen Glückwunsch an alle Co-Autoren!

Roberts ehemalige Münsteraner Kollegin Olga García-Mancheño tritt die Professor für Organische Chemie an der Universität Regensburg und dem Wissenschaftszentrum Straubing an. Liebe Olga, herzlich willkommen und viel Erfolg!

Prof. Reinhard Nesper von der ETH Zürich eröffnet mit einem faszinierenden Vortrag über Zintl-Phasen die Vortrags-Saison. Wir freuen uns dieses Semester auf ein umfangreiches und abwechslungsreiches Programm mit Vorträgen von Prof. F. Ekkehardt Hahn (Münster), Jan J. Weigand (Dresden), Rhett Kempe (Bayreuth, Sondertermin am 16.12.), vielen Studentenvorträgen und der Premiere des "Nikolauskolloquiums". Hier finden Sie das komplette Semesterprogramm.

Wir begrüßen in diesem neuen Semester 245 Erstsemester an unserer Fakultät. Ihnen allen einen guten Start und viel Erfolg!

Herzlich willkommen Anna, Anne-Kathrin und Nadine: Anna Kohl, Anne-Kathrin Wiegel und Nadine Maue beginnen Ihre Master- bzw. Zulassungsarbeit - viel Freude und gutes Gelingen!

Kleine Englandreise: RW präsentiert unsere aktuelle Forschung in Bath und Oxford. @Mike&Jose: Thanks very much again for your hospitality!

Feuertaufe: Bernd, Dirk und Stefan halten Vorträge beim traditionellen Treffen anorganischer Arbeitskreise in Hirschegg (Kleinwalsertal). Das Gipfelpanorama vom Hohen Ifen entschädigt für die Mühen des Aufstiegs!

Hommage an Münster: Unsere Arbeit zum Aufbau ungewöhnlicher Käfigstrukturen auf der Basis von Ruthenium-Aluminat-Anionen wurde für das Titelbild der aktuellen Ausgabe von Organometallics ausgewählt. Die Grafik zeigt die drei Käfige der Lambertikirche von Münster, die zu den bedeutendsten Wahrzeichen der Stadt zählen und uns zu diesem Titelbild inspirierten. Die Forschungsarbeiten wurden im Rahmen des SFB858 an der WWU Münster durchgeführt. Mehr über metallorganische Käfigverbindungen lesen sie hier.

Vorgezogene Weihnachtsgeschenke: unsere neue Glovebox (MBraun-UniLab) und Lösungsmitteltrocknungsanlage (MBraun-SPS) sind eingetroffen!

Aller guten Dinge sind drei: Bernd Mühldorf, Dirk Herrmann und Stefan Pelties starten heute ihre Promotion im AK Wolf. Herzlich willkommen, wir wünschen viel Erfolg und Spaß in den nächsten Jahren!!!

Goldener Oktober: Markus' Manuskripte über neue Polyhydrido-Komplexe wurden von der Angewandten Chemie und Organometallics angenommen (siehe Publikationsliste). Jennis Full Paper über Diphosphacyclobutadiene-Cobaltate von Gold und Silber erscheint demnächst in Chemistry - A European Journal. Glückwunsch an alle Co-Autoren!

Wir gratulieren ganz herzlich Prof. Werner Uhl von der Universität Münster zum Alfred-Stock-Gedächtnispreis der GDCh! Herzliche Glückwünsche gehen gleichfalls an "Fluorian" Kraus (TU München) zum Wöhler-Nachwuchspreis.

Wir erhalten Zuwachs! Babak Rezaeirad stößt als Postdoc zu uns. Herzlich Willkommen, Babak!

Kolloquium von Arbeitskreisen der Anorganischen Chemie in Hirschegg (Kleinwalsertal). Jenni, Eva und Markus halten Vorträge. Der AK Wolf bezwingt den Hohen Ifen.

Der AK Wolf zieht um!