David Nelson

🎆 Check out our latest work: 'Selective Formation of a 1,2-Diborane(4) and Alcohol-Driven B-B Bond Cleavage to Generate H2' now out. Work done by @rpaolan.bsky.social in collab. w/ @davidjn.bsky.social ! #boron 🔗: tinyurl.com/yhtckurf

Pay 'rise' of 2% for university staff in the UK. CPI is 3.3%. RPI is 3.4%. So another year of pay cuts in academia. Another year of the whole sector pretending that they can continue to balance the books by underpaying and overworking their staff.

The year is 2026, and I can now put my taskbar at the top of my screen in Windows 11 ... Would actually have rather had this feature rather than all of the attempts to shove CoPilot in my face ...

Our latest pre-print (with Vicky Listyarini, Ryan Oliver, and Kathleen Lao) is now up on ChemRxiv. doi.org/10.26434/che... We systematically explore the steric demand of oxidative addition vs halogen atom abstraction for nickel(0) complexes of some mono- and bidentate ligands, using DFT calc's.

Join us at our Faraday Discussion on: Understanding molecular catalysis through computation and experiment where we will explore the latest research in the field. First deadline (oral abstracts) is coming up on 5th October 2026... Find out more (and submit an abstract): invt.io/1bxbzpnohoi

in a world of JK Rowlings be a Dolly Parton

Remember folks: don't feed the trolls. They thrive on engagement. The block accunt button is there for a reason.

We are hiring for an open #PhD position! 🧪 PROJECT Your PhD offers the chance to pioneer a genuine step change in how chemistry is monitored: not just watching reactions as they happen but forecasting decision-critical events before they occur. Find ot more: www.dr-marc-reid.com/reid-group

It says a lot about a politician when 20% of people would rather vote for a bin.

British politics: where the main challenger in a parliamentary by-election is a man with a bin on his head. (Still preferable to Farage though)

Dalton Transactions is very pleased to support the upcoming RSC Scottish Dalton/USIC Conference which will be held at Heriot-Watt University on 1-2 September 2026 🚨 Read more & sign up here: www.rsc.org/events/find-...

Nico and Megan's paper on the reactions of organotriflates with Ni(0) has now been published in @catalysisscitech.rsc.org ! Some answers, but also more questions ... Thanks to Stephen for the EPR data, and AstraZeneca Colleagues (Tom, Rachel, and Scott) for their support. doi.org/10.1039/D6CY...

Thinking of doing a PhD in synthetic inorganic chemistry? Apply with the Mehta group. UK students only. Email me.

The way in which the University is approaching job cuts was already troubling for a number of reasons, and here is another ...

🔥Excited to share our latest: "From Borane to Metal-Bound Boraindene: A Cascade of Bond Breaking and Making at Rhodium” Now out in @chemcomm.rsc.org - a collab. w/ @davidjn.bsky.social! Work done by MSc student, Emily Addison! 💪 pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...

FWIW ... the reMarkable Windows app seems to behave (so far) in WINE (on Fedora 43).

Uh ... don't think a DLPNO-CCSD(T) calculation should do ... erm ... *waves hands* ... this?

But but but but 'project fear'!?

Pretty sure when I was a student a ChemComm was three pages at most. Now it's five ... !!!

every company in 2025

We’re already deep into the ballot! Here’s your reminder, the ballot closes on Friday 28 November. If you haven’t posted your vote yet, do it today. Every single vote counts. Vote early. Vote yes. #WeAreTheUniversity

Opening the Laphroaig for the first time in too long ...

In a change from dabbling in things I don't understand at work, I'm now dabbling in things I don't understand in the house. (Specifically: why the heating isn't working properly)

Fantastic @centa.bsky.social PhD scholarship co-supervised with @rmlab.bsky.social If you’re interested in sustainable #Electrocatalysis and CO₂ valorisation, do get in touch!

Academia seems to be that continual feeling that you're always doing your homework on the bus to school ...

We have Postdoc position open in my lab for SMOM. Please see this post on LinkedIn for full details. 👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇 www.linkedin.com/posts/andrew...

"Conversion therapy" is a polite name for something that isn’t conversion and isn’t therapy. It’s abuse.

Solidarity with @leicesterucu.bsky.social colleagues - on strike to protect their institution, their colleagues, and their students

I've reached the stage of fatherhood where my work from home lunch is the leftovers from the wee man's dinners ...

“Climate change is real - the burning of fossil fuels and other human activities is resulting in fundamental changes to our planet. It is increasing the risk of extreme weather, warming the ocean and causing ice caps to melt resulting in sea level rise,” 1/3

First it's removing 'illegal' small boats migrants. Then it's removing legal migrants with indefinite leave to remain. Then it'll be removing freedoms of minorities - religious, LGBT+, disabled. Then it'll be persecuting anyone who thinks differently (labelled 'leftists') for opposing 'patriotism'.

Our collaboration w/ @markstradiotto.bsky.social and team is now out in Chem. Eur. J. (@chemistryeurope.bsky.social)! Mark's team used DalPhos ligands for Ni-cat. C-P couplings, which we supported with DFT calculations of reductive elimination. doi.org/10.1002/chem... @cathweetman.bsky.social

@ukri.org I note that here (www.ukri.org/who-we-are/w...) you use the term 'biological sex' and not gender when balancing SATs. Why does what is (or was) in people's underpants matter here? Surely this is about lived experiences and perspectives?

Keir Starmer welcomed Israeli president Herzog to Downing Street as 200,000 Palestinians were forced to flee Gaza and Israel prepared for a further offensive.

The multimillionaire class pretending to be on the side of the working class.

Powerful new Banksy mural on the Royal Courts of Justice building shows a judge hitting a protester lying on the ground with his gavel, with blood splattering the placard.

Solidarity with colleagues at Edinburgh, fighting threatened job cuts proposed by their ineffective 'leadership'. (And I STILL don't understand how senior heads didn't roll over the whole People and Money shit show)

Shocking that our UCU 'leadership' deploy these horrific tactics to suppress industrial action

Ending the week on a high! Check out our comparison of manganate and magnesiate now published in ChemComm! Great team effort @bathchem.bsky.social with @tobiaskramer.bsky.social in understanding these elusive bimetallics!

Don't ever be fooled into thinking Farage is a 'man of the people' - he is a grifter and a pound shop Trump.

A man on the streets of the UK is asked about the “problem of immigration” and dismantles talking points with ease.