Editorial Cite This: Inorg. Chem. 2019, 58, 10607−10610
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Inorganic Young Investigators: A Celebration for Our Rising Stars Inorganic Chemistry and the ACS Division of Inorganic Chemistry are delighted to present a Virtual Issue featuring articles authored by recipients of the Division’s 2019 Young Investigator Awards. These eight accomplished chemists are at the forefront of their respective research areas of inorganic chemistry. Along with their nominators, they are being honored at the 2019 ACS Fall National Meeting in San Diego during a symposium that will take place on Sunday afternoon, August 25. This annual award was instituted in 2005 as a simple idea to host an annual symposium to bolster national meeting programming and to recognize some of inorganic chemistry’s brightest rising stars at the beginning of their careers. It was an opportunity to step beyond the boundaries of ACS National Awards, for which only established scientists are qualified. Young Investigators selected over the years, now numbering more than 100, are enjoying diverse careers at universities, companies, and national laboratories all around the world. To be eligible, the candidates must be nominated by an advisor and be members of the Division of Inorganic Chemistry. They are chosen from among a pool of young graduate students, industrial chemists, or postdoctoral scholars not more than 1 year beyond completion of their Ph.D. and who have not started an independent academic position at the time of award selection. In addition to speaking at the symposium, each award recipient is presented with a plaque and a $1000 honorarium.
investigated the properties of borides, such as the single-phase dodecaborides Zr0.5Y0.5B12 and Zr0.5U0.5B12 (DOI: 10.1021/jacs. 9b03482). These compounds display remarkable hardness values of ∼48 and ∼43 GPa at 0.49 N load, respectively. In addition, they are blueish-colored because of boron-to-metal charge-transfer transitions and display superconducting properties with transition temperatures below 6 K. At the symposium, Dr. Akopov will discuss the crystal chemistry of higher borides.
Dr. Julie L. Fenton did her graduate work at Pennsylvania State University, where she worked with her nominator, Prof. Raymond E. Schaak. She is now a postdoctoral researcher with Prof. William R. Dichtel at Northwestern University. As a graduate student, Julie explored the use of nanoparticle cationexchange reactions for the targeted synthesis of nanoparticles, such as inorganic sulfides. She demonstrated that it is possible to selectively generate wurtzite (hexagonal) or zincblende (cubic) CdS, ZnS, and CuInS2 from roxbyite (hexagonal) and digenite (cubic) Cu2−x, respectively, when the cations in the sublattice are exchanged for Cd2+, Zn2+, and In3+, while retaining the morphology and crystal structure (DOI: 10.1021/acs. inorgchem.8b02880). In her presentation, Dr. Fenton will discuss the synthesis of libraries of nanoparticles using this Among this year’s Young Investigators, Dr. Georgiy Akopov is currently a postdoctoral scholar at Iowa State University with Prof. Kirill Kovnir. He was nominated by Prof. Richard B. Kaner, his graduate advisor at University of California at Los Angeles. For his graduate work, Georgiy isolated and © 2019 American Chemical Society
method.
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a postdoctoral scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, with Prof. John F. Hartwig. At the symposium, Pengfei will discuss the use of metal−organic frameworks (MOFs) as heterogeneous catalysts. Pengfei found during his graduate work that hydroxo-bridged TiIV and ZrIV nodes in MOFs are reduced to TiIII and ZrIII through bimetallic reductive dihydrogen elimination and that these reduced centers are selective for 1,4dearomative hydroboration and hydrosilylation of pyridines and quinolones (DOI: 10.1021/jacs.7b09093). These transformations involve the secondary building unit in the MOFs to generate electronically unique single-site solid-state catalytically active sites.
Dr. Joshua A. Buss, who is now a postdoctoral scholar in Prof. Shannon S. Stahl’s group at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, was nominated by his California Institute of Technology graduate advisor, Prof. Theodor Agapie. As part of his graduate work, Joshua investigated the proton-induced cleavage of CO 2 in a Mo 0 -CO 2 complex and how it is enhanced by the formation of Lewis acid adducts (DOI: 10.1021/jacs.8b05874). He found that cleavage of CO2 depends on the bond activation and residence time of the Lewis acid, which indicates that kinetic effects, in addition to the more commonly seen thermodynamic effects, influence the cleavage mechanism. Dr. Buss will discuss the role of Mo0 in the fixation of carbon in San Diego.
Dr. Luis R. de Jesus, a postdoctoral scholar at Pennsylvania State University with Prof. Thomas Mallouk, was nominated by his graduate advisor, Prof. Sarbajit Banerjee at Texas A&M University. Luis will discuss the nanoscale evaluation of layered materials by X-ray microscopy. During his graduate work, Luis investigated charge diffusion pathways in intercalation cathode materials. Using V2O5 as a model system, he evaluated constrictions in ionic conduction pathways, the narrow energy dispersion of conduction band states, and the stabilization and self-trapping of polarons as local phenomena. He suggested that decreased diffusion path lengths through nanostructuring and the reduction of particle size, and new metastable phases of V2O5 with differently structured cation diffusion pathways and varying extents of covalency, lead to decreased barriers for electron and ion diffusion (DOI:
Dr. Pengfei Ji, who was nominated by his graduate advisor, Prof. Wenbin Lin of the University of Chicago, is now
10.1021/acsenergylett.8b00156). 10608
DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.9b02249 Inorg. Chem. 2019, 58, 10607−10610
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Dr. Gwendolyn A. Bailey was nominated by her graduate advisor, Prof. Deryn E. Fogg of the University of Ottawa.
Young Investigator Lauren N. Grant will be discussing rare
Dr. Bailey is now a postdoctoral scholar with Prof. Theodor
metal−ligand multiple bonds in early-transition-metal com-
Agapie at California Institute of Technology. At the symposium,
pounds in San Diego. Ms. Grant, a fourth-year graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania, was nominated by her
she will be presenting on the fundamental behavior of active, on-
graduate advisor, Prof. Daniel J. Mindiola. As part of her doctoral cycle intermediates in ruthenium-catalyzed olefin metathesis. studies, Lauren has isolated a zirconium complex with a During her graduate work, Gwen investigated the decom-
terminally bound imide, (PN)2ZrNH, where PN− is
position of olefin metathesis catalysts by Brønsted bases. She
N-(2-iPr2P-4-methylphenyl)-2,4,6-trimethylanilide, from the
found that the initial site of catalyst deprotonation is the
reduction of trans-(PN)2Zr(N3)2 with KC8 (DOI: 10.10221/ jacs.8b11198). Treatment of the imide complex with a strong
metallacyclobutane ring, which forms upon the treatment of
base afforded a molecular zirconium nitride, {(PN)2ZrN[μ2-
second-generation Hoveyda and Grubbs catalysts with DBU,
Li(THF)]}2. Both compounds display extremely short ZrN PCy3, or NEt3 and not the H2IMes ligand. This indicates that the
distances of 1.830(3) Å for the imide and 1.822(2) Å for the
protons of metallacyclobutane are more acidic than expected
nitride. The latter is superbasic, in the range of −36 to −43 pKb
(DOI: 10.1021/jacs.7b08578).
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DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.9b02249 Inorg. Chem. 2019, 58, 10607−10610
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ORCID
Ana de Bettencourt Dias: 0000-0001-5162-2393 William B. Tolman: 0000-0002-2243-6409 Notes
Views expressed in this editorial are those of the authors and not necessarily the views of the ACS.
Dr. Yayuan Liu was nominated by her graduate advisor, Prof. Yi Cui of Stanford University, and is now a postdoctoral scholar with Prof. T. Alan Hatton at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. At the symposium, she will discuss metallic lithium for next-generation batteries. During her graduate work at Stanford University, Yayuan developed a conformal coating technique, using Freon to passivate lithium surfaces, leading to the formation of uniform LiF coatings, even on highly patterned lithium surfaces (DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.7b01020). When the LiF coating was applied to a 3D layered lithium-reduced graphene oxide electrode, the generated symmetric cells showed increased cycling stability without a change in the overpotential for more than 200 cycles and fewer side reactions. Improved cyclability and Coulombic efficiency with an excellent rate capability of ∼800 mAh g−1 at 2C was also demonstrated for Li−S cells with LiF-protected lithium-reduced graphene oxide electrodes. The collection of articles by these Young Investigators nicely highlights the diversity of our field and new directions of contemporary inorganic chemistry research. We congratulate them and are excited to feature their work in this Virtual Issue! We also invite you to have a look at the latest Inorganic Chemistry Forum published in this issue: “Celebrating the Year of the Periodic Table: Emerging Investigators in Inorganic Chemistry”. This Forum centers on emerging investigators who are just beginning their careers, whom the journal invited to submit new research articles focused on their work from across the Periodic Table in celebration of the International Year of the Periodic Table. Taken together, these two sets of researchers are pushing back frontiers within the Periodic Table through their innovative work in inorganic chemistry.
Ana de Bettencourt Dias,* Chair ACS Division of Inorganic Chemistry William B. Tolman,* Editor-in-Chief
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AUTHOR INFORMATION
Corresponding Authors
*E-mail:
[email protected] (A.d.B.D.). *E-mail:
[email protected] (W.B.T). 10610
DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.9b02249 Inorg. Chem. 2019, 58, 10607−10610
