Nils Frank
@nilsfrank99.bsky.social
PhD student in the List-Lab (Max-Planck für Kohlenforschung) | Previously: MedChem Intern @Roche | MRes @University of Oxford (Ed Anderson-, Duarte-Group) | KIT Karlsruhe (BSc)
Reposted by Nils Frank
AI companies will fail. We can salvage something from the wreckage | Cory Doctorow
AI companies will fail. We can salvage something from the wreckage | Cory Doctorow
AI is asbestos in the walls of our tech society, stuffed there by monopolists run amok. A serious fight against it must strike at its roots
www.theguardian.com
January 18, 2026 at 3:25 PM
AI companies will fail. We can salvage something from the wreckage | Cory Doctorow
Reposted by Nils Frank
In @science.org for chemsky this week, Ben List’s group crack open furans through a fascinating photo-oxidative dimerization reaction
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
The photohydrolysis of furans
The defossilization of the chemical industry is accelerated by the shift from petroleum- to biomass-based feedstocks. At the center stage are bioderived furans, from which valuable platform chemicals ...
www.science.org
January 15, 2026 at 10:08 PM
In @science.org for chemsky this week, Ben List’s group crack open furans through a fascinating photo-oxidative dimerization reaction
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
What else is possible besides oxidation and reduction of biobased furans? Just redox-neutrally hydrolyse them! We hope to add with this work another cool reaction to the arsenal of biobased chemistries. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
The photohydrolysis of furans
The defossilization of the chemical industry is accelerated by the shift from petroleum- to biomass-based feedstocks. At the center stage are bioderived furans, from which valuable platform chemicals ...
www.science.org
January 15, 2026 at 8:26 PM
What else is possible besides oxidation and reduction of biobased furans? Just redox-neutrally hydrolyse them! We hope to add with this work another cool reaction to the arsenal of biobased chemistries. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Nils Frank
Now online and open access:
Article by Benjamin List & co-workers
Catalytic asymmetric activation of bicyclobutanes
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
#Chemsky
Article by Benjamin List & co-workers
Catalytic asymmetric activation of bicyclobutanes
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
#Chemsky
Catalytic asymmetric activation of bicyclobutanes - Nature Synthesis
The precise manipulation of unfunctionalized hydrocarbons remains a fundamental challenge in chemical synthesis and catalysis. Here an organocatalytic asymmetric hydroxylation of bicyclobutanes with a...
www.nature.com
January 5, 2026 at 12:27 PM
Now online and open access:
Article by Benjamin List & co-workers
Catalytic asymmetric activation of bicyclobutanes
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
#Chemsky
Article by Benjamin List & co-workers
Catalytic asymmetric activation of bicyclobutanes
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
#Chemsky
Reposted by Nils Frank
Kevin Drum was the first journalist to really get into the ties between lead and crime rates (not just serial killers) and I think it is one of the most important articles we’ve ever done www.motherjones.com/environment/...
January 1, 2026 at 8:04 PM
Kevin Drum was the first journalist to really get into the ties between lead and crime rates (not just serial killers) and I think it is one of the most important articles we’ve ever done www.motherjones.com/environment/...
Reposted by Nils Frank
We have reached 1.4 degrees celsius #globalheating according to NASA data (smooth black trend line). Breaching 1.5 is now inevitable. From now on the fight is to keep overshoot as small and short as possible.
November 15, 2025 at 1:41 PM
We have reached 1.4 degrees celsius #globalheating according to NASA data (smooth black trend line). Breaching 1.5 is now inevitable. From now on the fight is to keep overshoot as small and short as possible.
Reposted by Nils Frank
The combined power of halogen bonding and asymmetric counteranion-directed catalysis = XB-ACDC: pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/.... Thanks to @mertenlab.bsky.social for structure elucidation and to the List group for this beautiful cooperation! A perfect #RESOLV project! @solvationsci.bsky.social
Asymmetric Counteranion-Directed Halogen Bonding Catalysis
Halogen bonding has been established as a promising tool in organocatalysis. Asymmetric processes are nevertheless scarce, and their applications are limited to a few studies applying chiral halogen b...
pubs.acs.org
March 3, 2025 at 7:40 PM
The combined power of halogen bonding and asymmetric counteranion-directed catalysis = XB-ACDC: pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/.... Thanks to @mertenlab.bsky.social for structure elucidation and to the List group for this beautiful cooperation! A perfect #RESOLV project! @solvationsci.bsky.social
Reposted by Nils Frank
The global oil industry appears to be backing away from renewable energy and returning to its core business of extracting and refining fossil fuels. Many companies are looking to increase oil and gas production.
Chevron and BP cutting thousands of jobs
Oil industry is broadly looking to cut costs, increase oil and gas production and cut renewable investments
www.chemistryworld.com
March 2, 2025 at 4:01 PM
The global oil industry appears to be backing away from renewable energy and returning to its core business of extracting and refining fossil fuels. Many companies are looking to increase oil and gas production.
Excited to share our first steps into the world of furan chemistry — an underexplored but increasingly important heterocycle in the shift away from fossil-based chemicals.
We hope to offer a robust method achieving "Birch"-type and fully reduced furans. pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
We hope to offer a robust method achieving "Birch"-type and fully reduced furans. pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
Bro̷nsted Acid-Catalyzed Reduction of Furans
Bioderived furans play a pivotal role in advancing defossilized chemical pathways. The complete reduction of furans currently relies on impractical metal-catalyzed hydrogenations at high pressures and temperatures. In addition, the Birch reduction of unbiased furans to 2,5-dihydrofurans remains an unsolved synthetic challenge. Herein, we report a mild Bro̷nsted acid-catalyzed reduction of furans to 2,5-dihydro- and/or tetrahydrofuran derivatives using silanes as reducing agents. In particular, the first formal Birch reduction of furan itself is achieved. Mechanistic investigations reveal an intricate behavior of HFIP as the crucial solvent, preventing the intrinsic polymerization behavior of furans under acidic conditions and introducing additional driving force by specific product binding.
pubs.acs.org
February 19, 2025 at 6:09 PM
Excited to share our first steps into the world of furan chemistry — an underexplored but increasingly important heterocycle in the shift away from fossil-based chemicals.
We hope to offer a robust method achieving "Birch"-type and fully reduced furans. pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
We hope to offer a robust method achieving "Birch"-type and fully reduced furans. pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
Reposted by Nils Frank
