Two members of our working group were recently awarded with Sigrid Peyerimhoff awards.

Dr. Jan Niklas Hansen und Dr. Jan Ruland sind mit dem Klartextpreis für Wissenschaftskommunikation 2023 ausgezeichnet worden. Sieben Promovierte der Naturwissenschaften und der Informatik hat die Klaus Tschira-Stiftung für besonders gelungene Wissenschaftskommunikation ausgezeichnet, darunter die beiden Bonner Wissenschaftler. Dr. Jan Niklas Hansen forscht am Institut für angeborene Immunität der Universität Bonn. Dr. Jan Ruland war bis vor kurzem Doktorand am Institut für Physikalische und Theoretische Chemie der Universität Bonn und ist jetzt Mitarbeiter der Firma Biontech.

according to an evaluation by research.com

A novel catalysis scheme enables chemical reactions that were previously virtually impossible. The method developed at the University of Bonn is also environmentally friendly and does not require rare and precious metals. The researchers recorded the exact course of the catalysis in a kind of high-speed film. They did this using special lasers that can make processes visible that last only fractions of a billionth of a second. The results allow them to further optimize the catalyst. They have been published in the international edition of the renowned journal “Angewandte Chemie.”

Femtosecond ultraviolet-pump/mid-infrared-probe spectroscopy reveals that singlet and triplet azide-anion diradical ligands facilitate the efficient formation of a metallonitrene from a diamagnetic azido precursor.

Photolysis: The yield and product distribution of the photolysis of the archetypal azidoporphinatoiron(III) complex are examined by stationary and transient IR spectroscopy in conjunction with chemical quenching reactions with iodide and an isonitrile. The complex decomposes almost equally to the Fe(II) and the nitrido-Fe(V) product, with small absolute yields. Moreover, subsequent bimolecular reactions of the products are considered.

We still do not understand exactly how antibiotics kill bacteria. However, this understanding is necessary if we want to develop new antibiotics. And that is precisely what is urgently needed, because bacteria are currently showing more and more resistance to existing antibiotics. Therefore, researchers from the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the University of Bonn used high-performance microscopes to observe the effect of different antibiotics on the cell division of Staphylococcus aureus. They found that the biosynthesis of peptidoglycan, core component of the bacterial cell wall, is the driving force during the entire process of cell division. In addition, they clarified how exactly different antibiotics block cell division within a few minutes. The results have now been published in the journal Science Advances.

From December 2022 onward, Prof. Barbara Kirchner is appointed as Senior Editor of the ACS Journal of Physical Chemistry A/B/C.

This list contains news from the Kirchner group from the period 2012 to 2022.

Prof. Peyerimhoff is honored with the Erich Hückel Award 2022

Femtosecond UV-pump/IR-probe spectroscopy elucidates the molecular mechanism of the photo-induced 1,3-dipolar cycloelimination of N2 from a tetrazole. In liquid solution, the nitrile imine photoproduct is a very floppy molecule that can adopt a variety of different conformations ranging from propargylic all the way to allenic structures.

The News Archive contains news from the Mulliken Center from 2011-2022.