Ross' work on divalent lanthanide reductive chemistry with 4,4′-bipyridine and pyridine is now live in Chemical Science: "One- and Two-Electron Coordinatively-Induced Reduction of N-Heterocycles by Divalent Rare Earth Terphenyl Anilide Complexes".
Pushing oxidation-state limits in the f-block.
Latest news
What the group has been up to
The group's first collaboration with the Baker group is now on ChemRxiv: "Resonant inelastic X-ray scattering covalency analysis reveals non-Aufbau electronic configurations in low-valent lanthanides".
Work from Conrad's time at Los Alamos compairing transuranium electronic structure and bonding in organometallic complexes is now on ChemRxiv: "Actinide Tris(tetramethylcyclopentadienide) Complexes: Bonding and Electronic Structures Across the Isostructural [An(C5Me4H)3] (An = Th, U, Np, Pu, Am) Series".
Ross passes his viva to become the first PhD graduate from the group! Many thanks to Prof. Grégory Nocton as the external examiner, and Prof. David Mills as the internal, and also to Heather Partlow for the expert-level cake, and everyone for the gifts.
Along with Lucy and Modinat, the group organised three evenings of science outreach as part of Pint of Science 26. Many thanks to Meagan and Sam for their Electron Ejector! and Sandbar Withington for hosting us, and all the speakers.
Charlotte (Charly) joins the group for an undergraduate research internship from the Szych group (Münster). She will be working with Ross on rare earth soft-donor complexes.
What we do
Chemistry at the bottom of the periodic table
We are the Goodwin Group in the Department of Chemistry at The University of Manchester, working to further our understanding of the f-block elements — the 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. By understanding the link between metal coordination environment and electronic structure, we aim to tune the physicochemical properties of f-block ions and direct them toward new chemistry and quantum properties.
Recent work
Newest publications
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Chem. Sci. 2026, ASAP. DOI: 10.1039/D6SC03059A. Preprint here: https://doi.org/10.26434/chemrxiv.15002040/v1.
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Reactions of a Uranium(III) Complex with N-Heterocycles to Form Diuranium(IV) Ketimides
Inorg. Chem. 2026, ASAP. DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.6c01722. Preprint here: https://doi.org/10.26434/chemrxiv.15001627/v1.
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J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2026, ASAP. DOI: 10.1021/jacs.6c00505.
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Magnetic Hysteresis at 31 K in a Four-Coordinate Dysprosium(III) Amide Complex
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2026, 148, 2942-2953. DOI: 10.1021/jacs.5c13255. Preprint here: https://doi.org/10.26434/chemrxiv-2025-m8q8l.
The group
Who we are
11 researchers across postdoctoral, postgraduate and undergraduate positions — plus 16 alumni.
Ross MacKenzie
April 2026 – Present
Dr Liam Griffin
Sept. 2024 – Present
Dr Ben Reant
Jan. 2024 – Present
Kaitlin Robinson-Makin
2025 – Present
Stanley Bagio
2025 – Present
Iulia Turcas
2025 – Present
Charles Moir
2024 – Present
Orry Mayne
2024 – Present
Cameron Deakin
2023 – Present
Charlotte (Charly) Schlebusch
2026
Benjamin (BenChem) Mullock
2025 – 2026Support
Our work is funded by
