Group 13/15 heteroalkenes RMER' with M-E double bonds (M = B-Tl; E = N-Bi) offer promising potential for bond activation reactions, but they are difficult to prepare. A team led by CENIDE professor Stephan Schulz now describes new synthetic methods for group 13 metallapnictenes in no less than three articles in the journal "Angewandte Chemie". They allow for the preparation of preparative amounts as a basis for systematic reactivity studies.

Rushing through the pedestrian zone for the last presents just before the feast, the sounds of "Jingle Bells" mix unpleasantly with "Last Christmas" from the neighboring stand at the Christmas market and – oh dear, is the roast really enough for everyone on Christmas Eve? Christmas 2020 is bound to be more relaxed. Enjoy the time with your closest circle and don't worry: WHO announces Santa Claus is coming despite the pandemic, read for yourself:

Analyzing tiny nanoparticles separately is a challenge.A team from the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE) and Ruhr-Universität Bochum has developed a new technique that could make the process much easier. The journal "Angewandte Chemie" covers the method in its latest issue.

They are known as "magic sized nano clusters" because they have special properties: The particles consist of only a few atoms, but since they are arranged in a special crystal structure, they are extremely stable. Unless you expose them to light. Scientists from the Center for Nanointegration (CENIDE) at the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE) have discovered that such materials undergo fundamental changes as soon as they are merely analysed using optical methods. "Nature Communications" reports on the issue.