The Tonks group has helped to revitalize interest in early metal, especially titanium, organometallic chemistry in recent years. Often his group uses Ti complexes for multi-component coupling, increasingly with masked low-valent Ti(II) as an important intermediate. This paper is more fundamental, exploring a ligand based on ortho-terphenoxide since the meta- and para- derivatives were already known. Along the way, they report some interesting NMR and structural information, and finish with some hydroamination catalysis. 

When I saw this paper come out, I thought it would make a great teaching paper. It has synthesis, characterization, reaction mechanisms, computational chemistry and it directly impacts catalysis by a thorough examination of the reductive elimination reaction. What are the factors governing the rate of C-C RE? Can geometry (sterics) control reactivity or is it only based on the hybridization (sp²/sp³) of the carbon atom in question (electronics)?

I saw Amanda Cook present this work (and another paper, Organometallics, 2022, 41, 997) at the Organometallics Gordon Conference in summer 2023 and while I was furiously taking notes, I knew that I wanted to teach this paper. The paper elucidates the mechanism of oxidative addition of tertiary silanes to palladium zero phosphine complexes. 

In Fall 2022, R. David Britt was awarded the ACS Alfred Bader Award in Bioinorganic Chemistry for pioneering pulse electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy of the photosystem II oxygen-evolving complex, plus the advanced EPR spectroscopic characterization of numerous and varied key metalloenzymes and catalysts. 

Joanna Aizenberg of Harvard University was awarded the 2023 ACS Award in Colloid Chemistry for her outstanding contributions to fundamental and applied colloid chemistry in developing large-scale, highly ordered porous colloidal materials with unique photonic, catalytic, and sensing properties. This literature discussion will highlight her recent work to understand how colloidal crystals of polystyrene spheres grow when the solvent evaporates.