N EWS OF THE W EEK
NSF REVISES PROPOSAL POLICIES FUNDING: Agency requires mentoring
activities in grant applications
soon become mandatory for NSF proposals that include postdoctoral researchers. This change is one of several policy revisions described in NSF’s 2009 Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide. Other revisions cover salary reimbursement and the use of identification numbers for tracking. The changes will affect proposals submitted on or after Jan. 5, 2009. For chemists, the most significant impact of the revised policies is the incorporation of postdoctoral mentoring in project descriptions, says Katherine J. Covert, NSF’s Division of Chemistry program manager. The guidance document specifies that proposals asking for support for postdoctoral researchers must include a separate section within the project description that details “the mentoring activities that will be provided for such individuals.” Annual reports will also SHUTTERSTOCK
Next year, NSF proposals involving postdocs must include a mentoring section.
A
POSTDOCTORAL-MENTORING section will
TAMED GERMANIUM MAIN-GROUP CHEMISTRY:
COURT ESY O F KIM BAI N ES
Cryptand cage sequesters a nearly naked germanium dication
B
Y ENTOMBING a germanium dication within a cryptand molecule, chemists in Canada have managed to catch this highly reactive species. The work, published in Science (2008, 322, 1360), represents the first time that a douCAGED DICATION bly charged nonmetallic ion without any A cryptand molecule covalent bonds has been isolated. The dis(N is blue, C is gray, O is red) covery could provide an avenue for creating encapsulates an elusive other so-called naked nonmetallic cations, Ge2+ ion (turquoise). such as Si2+ and P3+, the researchers say. Isolating this novel reactive intermediate is “a remarkable and exciting achievement,” notes Northwestern University chemistry professor Joseph B. Lambert in a commentary that accompanies the paper. “Under particular circumstances, reactive intermediates have been isolated and characterized, but establishing the existence of an entirely new class of intermediates is rare indeed,” he adds. W W W.CE N -O N L IN E .O RG
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require the mentoring component, according to Covert. The mentoring clause helps fulfill requirements of the America Competes Act, legislation aimed at keeping the U.S. competitive in the global marketplace (C&EN, Aug. 13, 2007, page 12). It “recognizes the critical role that mentoring plays in helping postdoctoral scholars make informed choices as they plan their careers,” says Arthur B. Ellis, former director of NSF’s Division of Chemistry and vice chancellor for research at the University of California, San Diego. Under the imminent mandate, “it is the unsolicited proposals or the renewal proposals that come in July 2009 that I am most concerned about,” Covert says. Proposal writers requesting salary support for postdoctoral researchers must include the section on postdoctoral mentoring and career development. If they don’t, under the new NSF-wide policy, the proposal will be returned without review, she tells C&EN. The revised guidance document also cuts “summer salaries” for senior personnel and replaces them with a two-month salary compensation that they can take anytime during the year. And it clarifies the definition of coprincipal investigator as someone with equal responsibility and recognition for proposals. In addition, NSF will use NSF identification numbers, instead of Social Security numbers, for tracking. The policy changes can be found at www.nsf.gov/bfa/ dias/policy/papp/papp09_1/notice.jsp.—ROCHELLE BOHATY
After trying unsuccessfully to crystallize a crown ether complex of the elusive Ge2+, Paul A. Rupar, Kim M. Baines, and Viktor N. Staroverov of the University of Western Ontario turned to cryptand molecules. These bicyclic macromolecular polyether cages have been used to imprison metallic cations. Because a cryptand has the ability to completely surround an ion, the chemists reasoned that it could protect the remarkably reactive Ge2+ from nucleophilic counterions and solvent molecules. Trapping the dication with the cryptand turned out to be surprisingly easy, Baines says. It worked on the first try, rapidly producing a white precipitate when the researchers mixed a germanium carbene complex with a cryptand. “It is just a beautiful reaction,” Baines adds. “We hope it will inspire others to think of using cryptands in this area of chemistry.” Crystallographic studies indicate the Ge2+ sits halfway between the cryptand’s nitrogen atoms and is equidistant from its oxygen atoms. Although the ion is too far away to form covalent bonds with any of these atoms, Lambert believes it is likely that each atom provides a “small amount of bonding.” Consequently, he describes the germanium as “nearly naked,” even though the germanium has been stripped of any bonding partners. “Without a doubt,” he adds, it is “a species for which there is no precedent in nonmetallic inorganic chemistry.”—BETHANY HALFORD
DECE MB E R 1 , 2008
