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May 2025 – Huge Update

In celebration of the group’s second anniversary this April which was marked by a big barbecue, we’re excited to finally share some fresh updates!

We are excited to welcome several new and returning members to the group – see them all in the new group photo to the right:
Jasper has joined us for his research internship and was collaborating with Leon on his phosphorus-based project.
Following her research internship, Miray transitioned directly into her Master's thesis. She is developing a new class of sterically demanding ligands in the group, now being applied to stabilize low-valent Group 14 species.
Piet has also begun his Master's thesis building on the synthesis skills he honed during his previous internship. His current focus is on cationic Group 14 complexes supported by a multidentate ligand.
David recently started his Master’s thesis as well. After completing an entire project during his research internship – soon to be published – he is now investigating ligand-based driving forces to advance catalysis involving Group 14 elements.
Returning to the group for his Master's thesis, Marius is temporarily stepping away from boron chemistry to significantly contributing to the CRC1633 project.
Simon joined us for his research internship, working on a project that emerged from Miray's recent work.
And last but not least, Jakob and Miriam represent the second generation of Bachelor students in the group. Jakob will collaborate with Leon, while Miriam embarks on a joint project with the Meyer group.
Lots of (continuing) fun and success with your projects!

Since our last update, several publications have been accepted:
Just having mentioned Marius' beautiful work on boron chemistry, the first paper led by him has been published in Inorganic Chemistry (Structural Snapshots on Stepwise Anionic Oxoborane Formation: Access to an Acyclic BO Ketone Analogue and Its Metathesis Chemistry with CO₂ and CS₂) in collaboration with the Beckmann group in Bremen.
Felix's contribution, making our first, but definitely not last, foray into early transition metal chemistry has been published as a 'Hot article' in Dalton Transactions (Isolation of the parent triplet titanocene via NHC stabilisation). The work was carried out together with Olie, Serhiy and Christopher.
We are also thrilled to announce that the joint effort by Jennifer and Navutheya has successfully transitioned from ChemRxiv to Nature Communications (Carbene-activated stannylenes to access selective C(sp³)–H bond scission at the steric limit)!
In addition, several collaborative papers featuring Malte's contributions – with the Beckmann, Hering-Junghans and Stalke groups – are now out in Angewandte Chemie, ChemistryEurope, Chemistry – A European Journal and Organometallics.

On the conference front, Malte and Leon recently took part in the regional meeting of the "Fonds der Chemischen Industrie" here in Göttingen. Malte also represented the group at both the KCT2025 in Münster and the CDT2025 in Braunschweig.

Updates are now back to a monthly rhythm and the first research section is nearly complete. Stay tuned!

November 2024 – New and returning group members and group trip to the Christmas market

Navutheya has returned to the group as a "HiWi" following the successful completion of her Bachelor's thesis, and Miray has joined us to begin her research internship. Welcome (back) to both, and we wish you lots of fun and success with your projects!

With the beautiful Christmas market in Göttingen now open, we took the opportunity to enjoy a delightful evening together, savoring mulled wine and delicious food. It might not be the last time we visit this year!

October 2024 – Two new research papers from the group and Steve starts his research internship

The outstanding research led by David on stannylenes suitable of ammonia activation under mild reaction conditions has been accepted for publication in Inorganic Chemistry Frontiers (Ammonia activation using a heteroleptic stannylene and lithium stannylenoid formation facilitated by hemilabile iminophosphorane-based ligands)! Additionally, the impressive combined work from Jennifer's Master thesis and Navutheya's Bachelor thesis, exploring unexpectedly unstable NHC-ligated stannylenes and their distinctive follow-up reactivity leading to unique multinuclear tin macrocycles, has been deposited on ChemRxiv (Carbene-destabilised stannylenes: Accessing selective C(sp3)–H bond scission at the steric limit)! Two fantastic collaborations with Olie, Christopher, Nico, Regina, and Dietmar!

With the start of a new month, we're excited to welcome Steve as he begins his research internship with the group! A warm welcome, and best of luck with your project!

September 2024 – Navutheya and Maximilian handed in their thesis, conference contributions, and Jan starts his research internship in the group

Both Naudi and Maxi handed in their thesis this month!

Malte attended both the GDCh Inorganic Chemistry Conference in Munich and the International CataLysis Networking Conference 2024 in Pforzheim. Many great interactions, insightful lectures, and first-time meetings!

Finally, a warm welcome to Jan, who is the group's next research internship student!

August 2024 – The group's second PhD student and Jörg are taking off

We are thrilled to welcome back Leon as the group's second PhD student, supported by a PhD stipend from the Fonds der Chemischen Industrie (FCI), and to welcome Jörg, who is starting his research internship!

July 2024 – Submission of the first theses and the group's first bowling night

Huge congratulations to Jonathan and Jennifer, who handed in their Bachelor’s and Master’s theses, respectively, making them the first students in the group to finish their theses. They both did a fantastic job in advancing their respective topics to the next stage – well done to both of you!

Additionally, we had great fun on the group's first bowling night. The next one is already being planned.

June 2024 – Julie Kersting starts as the group's first PhD student and Maximilian Homann starts his Bachelor thesis work in the group

Exciting times ahead! Julie Kersting has started her PhD studies in the group, effective from June 1^st. Julie completed her Master's degree at Universität Hamburg, finishing her Master's thesis in the Centre for Material Science and Nanotechnology (Department of Chemistry) at the University of Oslo in Norway, facilitated by the Erasmus+ trainee-/internship. Julie will work within CRC1633, demonstrating how PCET and main group chemistry join forces. Simultaneously, Maximilian began his Bachelor thesis work in the group, focusing on creating novel ligands based on principles that should enable redox shuttling at main group element centers.
We are incredibly happy to have both of you on the team, and of course: good luck and much success with your projects!

By the way, with the start of the new group members, our group size has reached double digits for the first time, necessitating a new group photo (see on the right)!

May 2024 – New and Continuing Group Members
After his research internship in the group, Marius continues as a 'HiWi', Felix takes off with a research internship and Navutheya starts her Bachelor thesis project! A heartly welcome to you and lots of fun with your research!

April 2024 – The Group's First Research Paper is Online
Exciting news: The group's first research manuscript has just been accepted in Inorganic Chemistry (En Route to a Molecular Terminal Tin Oxide)! Dive into our story on how stepwise modulations in the ligand framework of heteroleptic stannylenes lead to diverse reactivity in targeting a molecular terminal tin oxide! It was a fantastic collaboration with Olie, with (hopefully) many more to follow, and a huge thanks to everyone involved (Daniel, Pim, Nico, Regine, Dietmar). A special shoutout to Leon, who was one of the first students to join the group and completed the synthetic part of the project.
(A previous version of the manuscript is available on ChemRxiv: Link).

April 2024 – First Group Birthday, Start of CRC1633, and a New Group Member
What better way to commemorate our first year in Göttingen than by inaugurating the start of CRC1633 "Pushing Electrons with Protons – Unifying Multi-Electron Redox Catalysis by Proton-Coupled Electron Transfer" (Link) where we will engage in a collaborative project (A05) with the Siewert group? Additionally, we extend a warm welcome to Jonathan Kieselbach, who embarks on his Bachelor thesis journey with us. Welcome, Jonathan, and may your project be met with great success!

March 2024 – New Publication in ChemPlusChem
A new manuscript together with Christian and collaborators has been accepted for publication: ChemPlusChem 2024, accepted manuscript. Link
The beauty of combining the flagship compounds of my Postdoc time in the group of Christian including solid state ³¹P NMR spectroscopy.

January 2024 – Trendbericht Anorganik 2024: Hauptgruppen- und Molekülchemie
Dominikus' and my attempt for the third time to condense the fantastic molecular chemistry of the main group elements from last year into nearly 50 examples is now online: Nachrichten aus der Chemie 2024, 72, 46-57. Link

January 2024 – New and Continuing Group Members
After her research internship, Jennifer continues in the group with her Master's thesis, David stays with us as a 'HiWi', and Marius is joining us during his research internship! Welcome to all, good luck, and much success with the projects!

Summarizing 2023
The year 2023 was an exciting one, and the first 9 months flew by in the blink of an eye! I look back on a fantastic start here in Göttingen and am delighted that David Krengel, Leon Kreßner, Jennifer Klaucke, and Hein Erik Diepers, the first students in the group, have successfully worked on initial projects and tackled the numerous small challenges of a new research group with great enthusiasm! Countless milestones, such as holding first lectures and presentations (a huge “thank you” to the “Fachschaft” for inviting me to the “Bier und Bretzel” lecture series), and the first group events (visiting the Christmas market and having a joint Christmas party with the Siewert group), eagerly anticipate the first full year of the research group!
Here’s to many more of beautiful crystals in 2024 – the excitement is immeasurable!