Congrats to Shijin, Drew, and Martin on publication of this C-H arylation with remarkable terminal selectivity! 3,5-lutidine turns out to be key! Check it out in Chem Eur J @chemistryeurope.bsky.social chemistry-europe.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Excited to share this new paper in @natcomms.nature.com co-led by Harry Bian and Shijin Yu on photocatalytic azidofunctionalizations using iron terpy complexes. Iron LMCT in the visible range! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Really excited to share this collaboration with the Katayev group @unibe.ch showing how Fe/S catalysis can make privileged bioisosteres quickly, easily, and cheaply! Check it out in @angewandtechemie.bsky.social onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Movie you’ve watched more than six times using gifs. (“Hard mode” no Star Wars, Star Trek, or LOTR)

PhD Timeline xkcd.com/3081

Congrats @austinjacious.bsky.social, Paige Sutter, Alex Chavez, and Sebastian Cruz on publishing this cool study on alkene hydroalkylation using TBADT/thiol catalysis! A brand new project area started and led by Austin! #realtimechem pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

Congratulations also to DOCTOR @austinjacious.bsky.social for defending his innovative thesis on Monday as part of the West Lab double-header!! So excited for the great things he'll do beyond Rice!

Enormous congratulations DOCTOR @sbuzsaki.bsky.social!!! What a fantastic defense to wrap up a truly pathbreaking PhD and I am so glad I could celebrate with you yesterday! It has been a true privilege to work with you and I look forward to supporting you in the years to come!

As a small piece of science news, it was great to see our report on iron photocatalyzed diazidation, dichlorination, and fluorochlorination featured in the 2024 @chemicalscience.rsc.org most popular organic chemistry papers collection! Paper here: pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...

Age yourself with a cartoon you watched as a kid

Excited (and nervous) to say that as of today, I'm a month away from my thesis defense! If you're not at Rice and interested in virtually attending, please fill out this google form :) docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Share with US students who had their offers of admission withdrawn for PhD programs: Apply to Canada. Check out Canadian professors, and contact us. Our system works differently here, and we are all still, technically, able to accept students for Fall 2025.

No matter what you think of the Israel/Palestine situation, and no matter what you think of the Columbia Univ. protests: If ICE can grab a permanent resident, suddenly revoke their Green Card (!) and whisk them away to a distant prison incommunicado, no one’s liberties are really safe.

Movies you've watched more than six times, gifs only

As FDA regulations are "revisited" and countless reviewers are fired, it's worth reviewing why we built up the modern FDA in the first place (spoiler alert: preventable national tragedy). www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

Excited to share our latest work on photoactive surfactants for photocatalysis in aqueous solution. Congratulations to Ying Chen for a great paper! #PhotoactiveSurfactants #Photocatalysis

Delighted to contribute some thoughts to this wonderful article in @chemistryworld.com by Rachel Brazil on putting fluorine in drug molecules along with @tnoel82.bsky.social , Veronique Gouverneur, David O'Hagan, and Rob Young! Check it out! #realtimechem www.chemistryworld.com/features/put...

In your opinion, what’s a cover version of a song that not only holds up to the original but wildly exceeds it? Here's mine (not too deep a cut, admittedly): music.youtube.com/watch?v=gSS2...

Excited for this collaborative paper on nanoscale photoreactors to finally be out in #ChemSci @roysocchem.bsky.social! Check it out! pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...

Thrilled to welcome our newest postdoc, Shih-Chieh Kao, who joins us after his PhD in the West group at Rice. Looking forward to all the exciting chemistry you will do over the next few years. @pushingarrows.bsky.social @oxfordchemistry.bsky.social

This is also true about running a research group

🚨Coming up today at 12 noon ET🚨 Join us for today's @organicdivision.org Virtual Symposium Watch for free: YouTube: orgn.link/watch Zoom: orgn.link/vs-zoom Thank you to @BeyondCCHF #ChemSky

What a fantastic surprise to see our new photocatalytic hydrochlorination featured by @thealexknapp.bsky.social in The Prototype @forbes.com!! We hope the reaction will help revolutionize discovery and manufacturing of important molecules for modern life!

Cool paper from a team led by @pushingarrows.bsky.social (a Forbes 30 Under 30 alum) at Rice: they figured out a way to chlorinate organic compounds with blue light and catalysts at room temperatures. This has interesting potential for pharmaceutical manufacturing. www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Traditionally, chemists have had to resort to harsh conditions, pricey reagents, or multiple synthetic steps to manage anti-Markovnikov hydrochlorination. Researchers have now devised a new way to do it with inexpensive catalysts and mild conditions. cen.acs.org/synthesis/ca... #chemsky🧪 #scinews

Check out this great article by @bribarbu.bsky.social in @cenmag.bsky.social on our hydrochlorination! Bri has an unmatched talent for summarizing chemistry in ways that are accessible, interesting, and make you want to keep reading more!

My first story of 2025--a news item about some neat iron-based photochemistry from @pushingarrows.bsky.social that I've had in the hopper since December--has now been released into the world! Many thanks to @laurahowes.bsky.social for stepping in to edit me this week! cen.acs.org/synthesis/ca...

Now online: Article by Kang-Jie Bian, @pushingarrows.bsky.social & co-workers Anti-Markovnikov hydro- and deuterochlorination of unsaturated hydrocarbons using iron photocatalysis www.nature.com/articles/s44... ($) #chemsky

Excited to start the new year with this new method for photocatalytic hydro- and deuterochlorination in @NatureSynthesis! A tour de force led by Kangjie (Harry) Bian! www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Coming up at the next @organicdivision.org Virtual symposium on Jan 15 @ 12 Noon ET our 2nd speaker will be Prof. Julian West @pushingarrows.bsky.social @ChemistryRice #ChemSky For more info: www.organicdivision.org/doc-virtual-...

Coming up in just a few weeks! Join us for the first edition of the 2025 @organicdivision.org Virtual Symposium on January 15th featuring Yang Yang and @pushingarrows.bsky.social #ChemSky

That looks familiar

Save the Date!! The first ACS-DOC @organicdivision.org Virtual Symposium of 2025 is on January 15, 2025 @ 12 noon ET featuring Yang Yang & Julian West @pushingarrows.bsky.social Watch for free at: YouTube: orgn.link/watch Zoom: orgn.link/vs-zoom Thank you to @BeyondCCHF for hosting #ChemSky

Belated congratulations to Dr. Kangjie (Harry) Bian on his beautiful PhD defense (#3 from our group)! So excited for his next steps!

Honored to receive the 2025 Grammatikakis-Neumann Prize from the Swiss Chemical Society recognizing our group's contributions in inner-sphere photocatalysis scg.ch/scg-news/scs...

16 early career researchers have won awards in the first year of #Scialog: Sustainable Minerals, Metals, and Materials, a 3-year initiative that aims to spark advances in the mining, design, manufacture, and disposal of materials needed to achieve a more sustainable and low-carbon energy system.

Wonderful article by Bri Barbu in @cenmag.bsky.social surveying the field of earth abundant element catalysis! Happy to have contributed a few quotes alongside some giants in the field!! cen.acs.org/synthesis/ca...

So happy to share our latest, a concept article led by Austin Moser and Brian Funk describing the promise of vitamin B12 as a cooperative photocatalyst in ChemCatChem! chemistry-europe.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...

Great summary of our work in Nature Chemistry by Fabio Juliá: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Also happy to share our approach to catalytic alkene hydrofluoroalkylation co-led by Kang-Joe (Harry) and Yen-Chu along with David, Shih-Chieh, and Xiaowei published in Nature Chemistry! rdcu.be/dqZkO

Really happy to share this iron photocatalyzed general alkene difunctionalization system developed by Kang-Jie, David, Xiaowei, Shih-Chieh, and James just published as a HOT article in Chemical Science! pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...

Proud to share this collaborative study with the Miller and Holland groups co-led by the amazing Sarah Buzsaki and Savannah Mason on how mechanistic insight enabled the first asymmetric radical hydrogenation! chemrxiv.org/engage/chemr...

Tell us a perfect album that came out when you were 16

Really fun to receive physical copies of our #chemcomm cover showing #CANcats beautiful created by the talented Dr. Renee Man!

From a while ago, but still to the point. The Karikó problem: Lessons for funding basic research www.statnews.com/2022/02/01/k...

As much as I admire him, the RB Woodward mentality re: the "hours culture" in org synth needs to die a death. I am happy to learn change is happening.

Today, you can order four free COVID tests. Go here: www.covid.gov/tests Pass it on.

Some good tips for advising and supporting creative people in this article! www.google.com/amp/s/www.bi... #chemsky #academia

Just want to tell ChemSky that it is not too late to get your application in for our faculty position; we are still reviewing applications and are specifically seeking women of colour with interests in chemical synthesis.