News
Ewa Nowicka has qualified for the national final of the German FameLab
Dr. Ewa Nowicka, an IPODI fellow within the UniCat framework became a runner-up in the regional contest in Potsdam, and qualified for the national final of the German edition of FameLab.
Junior Professorship for Gregor Wehinger
Dr. Gregor Wehinger from the UniCat group led by Professor Matthias Kraume has been appointed junior professor at Clausthal University of Technology. Professor Wehinger represents the teaching subject “Chemical Process Dynamics” at the Institute of Chemical and Electrochemical Process Engineering, according to an announcement by TU Clausthal.
Hot paper at room temperature
The first single-component N-heterocyclic silylene borane activates a variety of small molecules, such as O2, N2O, CO2, H2, and H2O. Notably, the activation of H2O makes it a metal-free system for dehydrogenation of H2O.
New Chemistry Lab for Start-ups
The Inkulab – a laboratory container system, fully equipped with a ventilation system, and laboratory and safety facilities – was inaugurated at the TU Berlin’s Charlottenburg Campus. It provides tailor-made infrastructure for start-ups working in the natural sciences.
Vibrant insight
New joint paper by Driess and Hildebrandt in Angewandte Chemie. The first S-oxygenated [NiFe] complex is a structural and vibrational spectroscopic model for the S-oxygenated active site of the NAD+-reducing [NiFe] hydrogenase from Ralstonia eutropha.[more]
Nanomaterial-Based Biosensors for Health Care Diagnostics
Upon receiving grants from EU and Marie Curie Actions, Dr. Zeynep Altintas moved to Berlin University of Technology to conduct multidisciplinary projects in close collaboration with UniCat researchers. UniCat asks her about her research, her cooperation, and plans for the future.
Leopoldina Medal of Merit for Bärbel Friedrich
Today, microbiologist Prof. Bärbel Friedrich and former member of UniCat has been awarded the Medal of Merit of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.
Research Highlight "Biosynthesis of the metal carbonyl in the catalytic center of [NiFe]-hydrogenase"
Activation of dihydrogen is by far not a trivial catalytic reaction. Microbes have evolved sophisticated hydrogenases with complex transition metal centers to get access to dihydrogen (H2). A recurring feature of these centers is the presence of iron atoms equipped with carbon monoxide ligands. In case of [NiFe]-hydrogenases, which contain a NiFe(CN)2CO catalytic center, biosynthesis of the toxic CO ligand remained elusive. Oliver Lenz, Ingo Zebger and colleagues show for the first time that [NiFe]-hydrogenases that are catalytically active...[more]
Research Highlight "A New Domain of Reactivity for High-Valent Dinuclear [M(µ-O)2M’] Complexes in Oxidation Reactions"
The strikingly different reactivity of a series of homo- and heterodinuclear [(MIII)(µ-O)2(MIII)’]2+ (M=Ni; M’=Fe, Co, Ni and M=M’=Co) complexes with β-diketiminate ligands in electrophilic and nucleophilic oxidation reactions is reported, and can be correlated to the spectroscopic features of the [(MIII)(µ-O)2(MIII)’]2+ core.
Carbon dioxide for the oxidative coupling of alkanes
IPODI fellow, Dr. Ewa Nowicka is going to use the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) as a mild oxidant to suppress over-oxidation of alkanes. She has proposed a bottom-up approach for designing catalyst for the oxidative coupling of methane (OCM) by combining oxidizing power of CO2 with the exceptional catalytic properties of cerium dioxide (CeO2).