Michael Haley - UOregon Chemistry

@Aromaticist White frosting = ???

It is that time of year again! My Molecular Orbitals class is coming to an end tomorrow and that means.... Cupcakes!!! 🧁 🤫 Students don't know yet. In our color coding: 🔴=filled, 🔵=unfilled; 🟢=con, 🟣=dis. 😁😁

@StawskiWojtek ISMSC in Bordeaux two weeks ago had flash talks, but ISNA rarely ever has. GRC meetings do a good job of letting students/postdocs talk. David made a good point about funding. In some instances, such as in US, early career means Asst Profs. 🫤

Will be attending another conference, which again, has ZERO talks given by PhD students or postdocs. Really sad. Why can’t we normalize giving early career researchers opportunities to talk, not only presenting posters?

Hot science & even hotter temperatures here at the #ISMSC2026 meeting in Bordeaux. There are more people in the 2 remote, air-conditioned classrooms listening to the lectures than in the un-air-conditioned big lecture hall…😬 The organizers & participants are making it work! 👍

@MichelRickhaus Breeze indeed - 19 C here at 1830!

@UOHaleyLab Enjoy the breeze :)!

Oh please, Please, PLEASE – let the University of Bordeaux facilities used for the #ISMSC2026 meeting in one week have good air conditioning! Otherwise, it is NOT going to be much fun... Short sleeves, shorts, & lots of sunscreen seem to be the main items I need to pack. 😳🙄😬🧴

@MichelRickhaus I know! Europe has gotten hammered by the heat this summer! Other than 2-3 days, Oregon has been below 30 C so far this summer. Today is supposed to be 22 C.

@UOHaleyLab And this is after the major heatwave that hit Europe about a week ago :) Fingers crossed!

@wpiers1 @rushtheband OK I cannot do math - 17 is not divisible by 2. Still the point is only 8 or 9 songs were repeated

@wpiers1 @rushtheband I was there for nights 2 (all of 2112) and 3 (all of Moving Pictures). 52 songs in total, 35 of which were unique, i.e., they only repeated 17. Wow, just wow!!!

Still over the moon from the two Rush shows I saw in LA! So great they put the band together again. Anika Nilles, the new drummer, just killed it! She is so talented, and while not Neil Peart, she breathed new life into the band and it shows! @rushtheband

@ShilongSuPEK @cenmag Alkyne metathesis is part skill and part black magic. We only used it once, and that was me sending my grad student to Jeff Moore’s lab in Illinois in 2006. Have never tried it since….🫤😬

@UOHaleyLab @cenmag I get your point on Alkyne metathesis. But imo, the key problem still rely on the catalysts, much more complicated, expensive, and too sensitive. Our group tried some alkyne metathesis, and never worked as these papers reported. The reaction setup is quite annoying either.

The $h!tshow that is graphyne research... My group stopped working in the this area in 2008. We made big oligomers, not the polymer. Asked today to review yet another manuscript—said "NO!" Graphyne, retractions, & bad blood between chemists cen.acs.org/research-integ… via @cenmag

@ShilongSuPEK @cenmag Alkyne metathesis holds more promise than Sonogashira rxn as reversible metathesis can correct structural "mistakes" whereas Sonogashira is irreversible. Based on the THOUSANDS of Sonogashira rxns we've done, yields simply aren't high enough (>99.99%) to make a pristine polymer.

@UOHaleyLab @cenmag Maybe it just turns out that alkyne methathesis and Sonogashira are both bad choice for that kind of “insoluble polymer”, just don’t work……extremely alkyne metathesis, which is too complicated and expensive.

@Aromaticist @cenmag It is the tip of the iceberg! Rodionov has a very detailed blog piece linked via Bluesky about all the sh!t he went through BEFORE the timeline in the C&ENews article. It’s just a mind blowing series of occurrences & events. It makes my decision in 2008 to abandon the field wise!

@UOHaleyLab @cenmag Wow... This is like a soap opera.

@jfchimie @CrowleyGroup @cenmag Et tu, Brute? If you are going to ISNA, you’ll have your chance

@UOHaleyLab @CrowleyGroup @cenmag I would have a lot to say about this saga…another time with a good glass (bottle) of wine :-)

@CranfordMATTER @StawskiWojtek @cenmag And who first told the Editor of Matter in summer 2022 they thought the “holey graphyne” paper was a pile of 💩? Hmmm….🤔

@UOHaleyLab @StawskiWojtek @cenmag

@StawskiWojtek @cenmag This is gonna get interesting...

@UOHaleyLab @cenmag I do love a good drama 👀

Long overdue new group photo for June 2026. L2R top – Nathan, Ryan, Zosia; btm - Natalie, moi+RB2, Megan. Overdue congratulations🥳 to Megan for winning the Keana Graduate Fellowship, Natalie for passing her PhD candidacy exam w/ flying colors & Zosia as the newest group member!

@anika_nille35kz And vielen dank for kicking ass behind the kit! You have re-energized the band. I attended nights 2 and 3 in L.A. which were off the chart - keep up the great work!

Hey there, the past few days have been quite overwhelming. I'm sure many of you feel the same. I want to take a moment to sincerely thank Geddy and Alex for their trust and for welcoming me on this incredible new journey with . I also don't want to ...

Grading 18 final exams on the patio of the hotel in LA in between Rush shows at the Kia Forum. Last night was awesome with lots of unexpected song choices, including the entirety of 2112! 🤯 Curious what night #3 will entail - additional unearthed songs or repeat of night #1???

@NMRspectroscopy No, just no.... 7.23-7.12 (m, 3H) 😉

Why the observed splitting is not the same as the coupling constant. #NMRMultiplet of a complex spin system with magnetically non-equivalent nuclei. If you try to describe this signal using a coupling tree or the n+1 rule, you'll get the wrong results. 🛑 #nmrchat 🧵👇