The Goodwin Group
Inorganic and Organometallic Chemistry


Archived News

  • 2025-01-12: The group is pleased to announce two funded PhD studentships ready to be filled by aspiring synthetic chemists who want to explore the basement of the periodic table and work on some interdisciplinary fundamental chemistry. The first project aims to unlock new high oxidation state f-element chemistry, the second aims to gain a better understanding of the electronic structure of Ce(III) molecules and to engineer their properties for potential qubit molecules. Please reach out to Conrad directly for more information.
  • 2024-09-21: We also welcome both Iain Cameron and Charlie Moir to the group. Iain is co-supervised by Dr Goodwin, jointly with Profs McInnes and Winpenny working on f-element EPR spectroscopy, whilst Charlie is a University of Manchester and Tsinghua Dual-Award PhD student working in the Baker group and co-supervised by Dr Goodwin along with Profs. Hanshi Hu and Jun Li at Tsinghua and will study f-element electronic structure using synchrotron experiments and computational chemistry.
  • 2024-09-18: The group has been awarded a Royal Society Research Grant to explore the use of cerium spectroscopy for the prediction of rare earth redox chemistry.
  • 2024-09-16: New PDRA Liam and PhD researcher Orry begin their time at Manchester. Welcome both and we can't wait to see what you get up to!
  • 2024-09-05: The group celebrates securing a European Research Council Starting Grant (ERC StG). Details of upcoming positions will be posted when available. We also welcomed both Liam and Orry on their first group social to Nells @ Kampus for some giant pizzas to celebrate.
  • 2024-08-14: Conrad and Darren (website) had the honor of hosting the 2024 Dalton Northern Regional Meeting at Manchester. Due to the immense work of the Chemistry Operations team, along with support on the day from Ben, Ross, and Cameron, it went off without a hitch. Congratulations to the poster prize winners, and thank you to the RSC Dalton Division and Andrew Jupp for holding his 2024 Frankland Award Lecture at the meeting.

    • 2024 RSC Frankland Award winner Andrew Jupp, and the poster winners!

  • 2024-07-28: Ross's first paper, "δ-Bonding Modulates the Electronic Structure of Formally Divalent nd1 Rare Earth Arene Complexes", has just been accepted in Chemical Science. Congratulations to all involved, and be on the look out for more!
  • 2024-07-24: Cameron's first paper has been accepted in the Journal of Organometallic Chemistry as part of their New Developments in Rare Earth Organometallic Chemistry issue. Congratulations to all involved! See the full article here
  • 2024-07-23: Ben's first paper with the group is now live on ChemRxiv (here). This work features multiple new uranium-thiolate and borohydride complexes using a bulky meta-terphenyl ligand system.
  • 2024-07-17: The group celebrates Harry's graduation and congratulates him on the excellent grades!
  • 2024-07-03 to 07-13: Conrad travels to China as part of the University of Manchester delegation to the Tsinghua Xuetang Chemistry Program, and gives research talks at Tsinghua, Peking, and Zhengzhou Universities.
  • 2024-04–03: More work from Conrad's time at LANL has appeared in Journal of the American Chemical Society: "N-Heterocyclic Carbene to Actinide d-Based π-bonding Correlates with Observed Metal–Carbene Bond Length Shortening Versus Lanthanide Congeners". In collaboration with Nik Kaltsoyannis, we found that M–NHC π-bonding to actinides, but not lanthanides, in [M(C5Me5)2(I){C(NMeCMe)2}] complexes seems to drive substantial actinide bond length shortening versus lanthanide examples, even out to americium where "lanthanide-like" behaviour usually dominates.
  • 2024-04-01: We are pleased to announce that our recent vacancy for a PDRA position has been filled. More details to come, but we look forward to this excellent researcher joining the group.
  • 2024-03–13: We invite comments on our first ChemRxiv deposit: "δ-Bonding versus Electron Localization in Formally Divalent Rare Earth Complexes". This is Ross's first project, and the group's first foray into low oxidation state rare-earth chemistry. Check out rare examples of Sc(II), Y(II), and La(II).
  • 2024-02–01: Work from Conrad's time at LANL, led by Jesse and in collaboration with Steve Liddle at UoM has now appeared in Journal of the American Chemical Society: "Carbene Complexes of Plutonium: Structure, Bonding, and Divergent Reactivity to Lanthanide Analogs". Metal–carbon multiple bonding now extends up to plutonium, and excitingly, there are key differences in the reactivity of both these plutonium complexes and the previously reported neptunium analogues to their lanthanide counterparts. Organometallic transuranium chemistry continues to reveal the hidden properties of these elements!
  • 2024-01-05: The group is pleased to announce a PDRA (Postdoctoral Research Associate) vacancy. Please check UoM job pages for details at a later date, while the particulars of appointment can be found here. This position is fully funded for up to 3 years, subject to performance, and will begin in April 2024. Contact Conrad directly for an informal chat.
  • 2024-01-02: The group is pleased to announce a fully funded PhD Project: "Valence electron isomerism in the f-block" open to home and EU students to start either April 2024 or September 2024. See the advertisement for details, and contact Conrad directly for an informal chat.
  • 2024-01-02: The group celebrates securing an Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) New Investigator Award (NIA). Details of the scheme can be found here, and the abstract for the group's award are here. The funding provides an EPSRC-funded Postdoctoral Research Associate (PDRA) position starting in April 2024. Please look out for this job listing and contact Conrad directly.
  • 2024-01-02: Dr Ben Reant joins the group in January 2024 as the group's first Postdoctoral Research Associate (PDRA). Conrad and Ben first worked together during Ben's MChem year, where he wowed everyone with his crystal-growing skills and unflappably positive attitude. We are excited to bring him on board as part of a Royal Society URF-funded position. Many thanks to the Royal Society! Ben's group bio can be found here.
  • 2023-12-18: Conrad, Ross, and Cameron attend the Dalton Northern Regional Meeting - 2023. Ross and Cameron presented posters on their work, and Conrad has agreed in principle to host the next Dalton Northern Regional Meeting at Manchester in 2024!
  • 2023-12-14: Our computational collaboration with Bess Vlaisavljevich at the University of South Dakota is out in Chemical Science: "What is the nature of the uranium(III)-arene bond?". We hope to have many more collaborations with Bess and her team. See here for the ChemRxiv preprint.
  • 2023-10-24: Cory Windorff (New Mexico State University) and Profs. Bill Evans, David Mills, and Thomas Albrecht-Schönzart), and a small team of graduate students and postdocs, publish actinide works spanning from 2015 to 2022 in Inorganic Chemistry: "Stabilization of Pu(IV) in PuBr4(OPCy3)2 and Comparisons with Structurally Similar ThX4(OPR3)2 (R = Cy, Ph) Molecules". Work from Conrad's PhD (2015 visit to UC Irvine) is featured along with a crystallographic contribution. Congratulations Cory!
  • 2023-09-30: Cameron Deakin (PhD) and Harry Silver (MChem) join the group as Researchers. Good luck to all!
  • 2023-07-27: Ross MacKenzie passed his 1st-year transfer viva with no issues and picked up some snazzy EPR skills to boot at the EPSRC National EPR Facility teaching workshop.
  • 2023-08-21: Conrad attends ICFE-11 in Strasbourg, France, and presented the group's latest work on low oxidation state lanthanide chemistry.
  • 2023-06-10: Work from Conrad's PDRA time at LANL, working to support Skye Fortier and Andy Gaunt, is out in Chemical Science: "Synthesis and comparison of iso-structural f-block metal complexes (Ce, U, Np, Pu) featuring η6-arene interactions". Congratulations everyone!
  • 2023-06-02: Conrad attends Actinides 2023 at Golden, Colorado, giving a talk exclusively on lanthanide chemistry which was enjoyed by all after many technical difficulties.
  • 2023-04-18: Conrad and Ross attend Dalton 2023 in Warwick, presenting a talk and a poster.
  • 2022-10-29: Former MChem Michaela, and summer researcher Sara feature in the group's first paper! Out in Chemical Communications: "Isostructural σ-hydrocarbyl phospholide complexes of uranium, neptunium, and plutonium", in collaboration with Los Alamos and Manchester's own John Seed. Congratulations everyone.
  • 2022-09: Ross MacKenzie and Daniel O'Neill join the group as Postgraduate Researchers, and Cameron Deakin joins as a final year MChem student. Good luck to all!