I live in Wales and today received my Join Us letter from Reform UK, complete with SAE which I posted back to them, immediately, empty. If every other person in Wales did this, Reform would spend over £1.5 million on postage. Not sorry. Join me Cymru.

Here’s a really nice paper from Luis Salvatella on alkyl group electronic effects pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

Our thoughts on the teaching of hybridization and how it impacts hyperconjugation have just been published in J. Chem. Ed. If you know organic chemists within the education sector, please share. pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

Delighted to announce the publication of our work in @nature.com, in collaboration with @nfchilton.bsky.social's group, on a dysprosium compound with magnetic memory at 100 Kelvin. Congrats to all authors inc. @gemmagransbury.bsky.social, @jeffjefftyjeff.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...

I’m really honoured to be the 2025 winner of the RSC Sir Geoffrey Wilkinson Prize. Thanks to my current research group, past students and postdocs, and collaborators and mentors who have made this possible @rsc.org #RSCprizes

Different alkyl groups don't have different inductive effects in neutral molecules, which means that they only differ in their ability to stabilize positive and negative charges. pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...

Here’s a whimsical blog to kick off my new blog site. I wrote it a couple of years ago, and it’s time to share blogs.cardiff.ac.uk/ocpr/organic...

Ten simple rules for developing good reading habits during graduate school and beyond journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol...

Excellent perspective by @lisamjarvis.bsky.social @bloomberg.com on the deep freeze at NIH

As universities begin preparing for the next cycle of REF it's worth digging this out @chemistryworld.com www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/teac...

Great paper here from the group of Edwin Johnson. pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...

The countdown is on to the release of my book “Onscreen Chemistry” - which tells the story of chemistry/chemists in moving pictures from the very beginning up to the present day, charting all the highs & lows. You can pre-order it here for 12th Feb #Chemistry #SciComm books.rsc.org/books/monogr...

I was already addicted to advocaat but once I started adding lemonade and lime juice it snowballed.

Just to let you know, @craigdcampbell.bsky.social and I got asked many times about this paper at our organic chem admissions interviews. You are now main stream 😍

My little side project for 2025. To highlight 1,000 portraits of #womeninSTEM #womeninscience from all eras, all nationalities and all disciplines. ➡️ @1000womeninstem.bsky.social More info here : aninfinityofhypotheses.wordpress.com/2024/12/09/1...

every time

#chemsky I’m loving the attention our latest paper has been getting, so I’ve decided to keep ‘Building Skills in Organic Chemistry’ discounted on Kindle for another couple of weeks. amzn.eu/d/6WB8lfx

Someone does a PhD in a subject I don’t understand. They worked hard. That person is female. They probably worked harder and have barriers I don’t understand. But I also have a PhD. How the hell does it diminish me that they have the same qualification? Let’s just be kind to one another!

I've started to think a lot about how women like me in academia are being villainized, and how important it is for young women to continue to see examples of what women can accomplish in any sphere, including at home or in the lab. www.vox.com/culture/3894...

Women are under-represented at senior levels in #academia globally, & across all #science 🧪 disciplines, as shown by these "scissor-shaped curves" ✂️ So how can we ever achieve #gender #equality? We discuss various strategies in this #Cell Commentary #WomeninSTEM www.cell.com/cell/fulltex... 🧵 1/

#chemsky our paper is apparently doing quite well rsc.altmetric.com/details/1703...

Tim is a fantastic scientist AND an excellent human being, so this is a great opportunity for someone looking for a PhD right now. 🙄

Optimist: The cup is half full Pessimist: The cup is half empty Referee 1: Yeah, cups are fine, but can you do it with jars, mugs & glasses? Referee 2: You need to cite these 12 papers showing how to fill things (all ref. 2’s papers) Referee 3: You misspelled ‘container’ on page 6

Optimist: The cup is half full. Pessimist: The cup is half empty. Quantum Chemist: Either way, I'm going to have to do an open-shell calculation on this damned cup

Wishing the Elsevier editors who desk-accepted this all the best for their next career moves. doi.org/10.1016/j.ij...

This!

Shameless plug! My book, 'Building Skills in Organic Chemistry' is down to £3.05 on Kindle in the UK (and comparable in other territories). Feel free to tell your students. www.amazon.co.uk/Building-Ski...

Why didn’t I join bluesky sooner? Connecting with some great people and having some nice scientific discussions!

First post on here for #chemsky you’ve always been told that alkyl groups are inductively electron donating. I’m afraid that’s not actually true! There’s a fair bit of evidence that they are electron withdrawing and we’ve just added to that! pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...