Main-Group meets Early Transition-Metal and f-Block Chemistry
Final Report Abstract
My time as DFG Fellow in Prof. John Arnold’s group at the University of California, Berkeley was a formative and very positive experience. Beyond UC Berkeley being an excellent environment for scientific research and career development, John and his research group were very welcoming and exceptional to collaborate with. The DFG Research Fellowship provided independence, thus enabling me to thrive as a scientist, explore new research areas, and actively contribute to outreach and science policy activities. With respect to the title of my research proposal “Main-Group meets Early Transition-Metal and f-Block Chemistry”, I primarily worked in two fields: On the frontier of main-group chemistry, I managed to publish two peer-review articles. In regard to transition-metal and f-block chemistry, I intensively collaborated with various members of the Arnold group. Beyond performing density functional theory (DFT) calculations, I set up a collaboration with the Molecular Graphics and Computation Facility at UC Berkeley, and co-mentored a visiting student researcher as well as a transfer student. Scientifically, I achieved the most interesting results in successfully performing a comprehensive DFT validation of a niobium (III) synthon, and analyzing the ethylene insertion and retro [3+2] cycloaddition of a bis(NHC)-supported niobium azacyclopropane. This project led to new insights into assessing the selection of DFT methods, as well as evaluating the fundamental impact of effects, such as dispersion interactions. My time in Berkeley also provided me with fascinating professional development opportunities. Most notably, I was able to contribute to the 2018 report on “Safer Chemistry Innovation in the Textile and Apparel Industry” and the Executive Summary “(Un)Tapped Potential – The Future of Universities and Entrepreneurship”. Through these projects, I became more aware of the impact of fluorinated chemicals on the environment, and discovered academic entrepreneurship as a potential career perspective. I am now interested in finding alternatives to fluorinated chemicals that equally perform, but are ecologically less harmful. Regarding outreach activities, I actively volunteered in the Be A Scientist program, thus guiding a group of seventh graders at a public middle school to design, carry out, and report on their own independent scientific investigations. In terms of science policy, I successfully joined the Advisory Council of the German Academic International Network (GAIN), and served as Vice President of the Berkeley Postdoctoral Association. For my services to the postdoctoral and visiting scholar community, and for co-creating the Bear Slam 2018, a campus-wide science communication competition, I was awarded the UC Berkeley Postdoc Leadership Award 2018. Other awards during my research stay include the ChemSlam 2017 of the German Chemical Society and the Leadership Academy Fellowship of the German Scholars Organization.
Publications
- Catalytic Use of Low‐Valent Cationic Gallium(I) Complexes as π‐Acids. Adv. Synth. Catal. 2018, 360, 544-549
Z. Li, G. Thiery, M. R. Lichtenthaler, R. Guillot, I. Krossing, V. Gandon and C. Bour
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1002/adsc.201701081) - Träume aus Salz. Chem. Unserer Zeit 2018, 52, 410-415
M. R. Lichtenthaler
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1002/ciuz.201800824)
