The Goodwin Group
Inorganic and Organometallic Chemistry


Latest News
  • 2025-01-12: The group is advertising two funded PhD studentships working on interdisciplinary fundamental f-element chemistry. These projects blend both synthesis and physical characterisation through EPR spectroscopy and advanced synchrotron beamline X-ray spectroscopic techniques. The balance between synthesis and spectroscopy is flexible and depends upon the candidate. The first project will explore the bonding and electronic, structure of rare earth complexes in the formal 2+ oxidation state and involves two years research in Manchester, and two years research in Peking University with Prof. Wenliang Huang with travel to international beamlines throughout. The second project aims to gain a better understanding of the electronic structure of Ce(III) molecules and to engineer their properties for potential qubit candidates. Please reach out to Conrad directly for more information.
  • 2025-04-01: Liam, Ross, Cameron, Orry, and Conrad attend Dalton 2025 at Warwick and Ross wins the group's first poster prize!

  • 2025-02-07: Ben's first research article in the group has been published in Inorganic Chemistry. Congratulations to all!
  • 2025-01-16: Conrad gives an invited research talk at the University of Greenwich and shared the latest results by Ross and Ben to a new audience. Many thanks to Xacobe and Ewan for the invite.

We are The Goodwin Group in the Department of Chemistry The University of Manchester, and we are working to further our understanding of the f-block elements – lanthanides and actinides. We predominantly focus on non-aqueous chemistry to realise well-defined coordination geometries with which to stabilise highly reactive oxidation states and bonding motifs.

Goodwin Group in November 2024, and post Christmas meal 2024

  • 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.
  • 2024-09-16: 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.

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