We were finally able to celebrate the completion of Rob's thesis (one year later!). It was great to meet again and Rob, sporting a decorated lab coat, masterly opened the traditional bubbles. 
Congratulations Dr Nixon!

Tom is now known as Dr Carr! He brilliantly defended his thesis today in front of Prof. Paul McGonigal and Prof. Simon Webb, after 3.5 years of hard work in the group. 
Many congratulations Dr Carr and best of luck in your future adventures!

Our recent paper on dynamic isotope effect in the activation of a mechanophore made it to the front cover of JACS with the great artwork of Ella Maru Studio. Read the paper here.

Danny and Antonia are joining us for a PhD funded by the Leverhulme Trust. Danny will work on mechanocatalysis and Antonia will explore the mechanochemistry of catenanes. Welcome both!

Our recent Nature Chemistry paper was highlighted in Chemistry World. Fernando Gomollón-Bel did a great job at summarising the project. With comments from Andrew Boydston.

It was a long journey but Rob's impressive work on the mechanical activation of NHC precursors is finally published in Nature Chemistry! In this paper we have found that our new mechanophore breaks at a C-C bond following 3 dissociation pathways... at the same time! In top of that, we've shown that it's possible to select the main pathway by altering the polarisation of the scissile bond. Congratulations Rob!

Read the paper here.

We said goodbye to Paramita today during our weekly Zoom meeting. Paramita managed to go back in Kolkata on time to reintegrate her position as Assistant Professor the University of Calcutta for the start of the academic year despite the lockdown.
It was a great pleasure to have Paramita in the group and we wish her all the best for the future!

Many congratulations to Rob who passed his viva today, examined remotely by Prof. Andrew Dove and Prof. Igor Larrosa. 
As the second PhD student in the group, Rob pioneered our catalysis research and was instrumental in setting up (and maintaining) our new lab. We feel very lucky that Rob has decided to stay with us for a postdoc.
​Many congratulations Dr Nixon!

Rob has been awarded one of the Spring 2020 Outstanding Achievement Awards by the Department of Chemistry for his discovery and investigation of three concomitant C-C dissociation pathways during the mechanical activation of a N-heterocyclic carbene precursor. Rob had the opportunity to present his research during the Spring Staff Symposium. Congratulations Rob!

Our recent paper describing the use of a catenane as a force-protecting group has been highlighted in Chemistry World with nice comments from Charles Diesendruck and Niamh Fox!