Chemistry professor, believer in democracy. Opinions are my own (but I'm always happy to share them).https://bsky.app/profile/catalyzer.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/catalyzer.bsky.social/post/3m7mjkv4wv22aGreat work by all, led by @ashishchemist.bsky.social A very rare example where a new catalytic reaction reveals a very fundamental organometallic question (Why is reductive elimination - and the reverse oxidative addtn - kinetically so much more favorable for Os than the isoelectronic Ir complex?) [contains quote post or other embedded content]10 Dec 2025 07:21 +0000at://did:plc:d4capoon6rpsv7vcsajngeds/app.bsky.feed.post/3m7mjkv4wv22ahttps://bsky.app/profile/catalyzer.bsky.social/post/3m25vgcfqcs2iI saw Jane Goodall give a presentation when I was in high school – it was the first time I was ever truly inspired to become a scientist. This may be the first time I have gotten emotional over the death of a public figure. (I know, I'm a terrible person.) Jane Goodall, thank you, RIP https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/01/obituaries/jane-goodall-dead.html01 Oct 2025 20:38 +0000at://did:plc:d4capoon6rpsv7vcsajngeds/app.bsky.feed.post/3m25vgcfqcs2ihttps://bsky.app/profile/catalyzer.bsky.social/post/3lyetz2yrpk2iOutstanding work by @ashishchemist.bsky.social and the team yields some promising catalysis and raises some extraordinarily fundamental organometallic questions! [contains quote post or other embedded content]09 Sep 2025 04:11 +0000at://did:plc:d4capoon6rpsv7vcsajngeds/app.bsky.feed.post/3lyetz2yrpk2ihttps://bsky.app/profile/catalyzer.bsky.social/post/3loqw4dohts2bTrump was merely the first US president to lose Canadian and Australian elections – but, much more impressively now, the first to lose an election for Pope! [contains quote post or other embedded content]09 May 2025 17:08 +0000at://did:plc:d4capoon6rpsv7vcsajngeds/app.bsky.feed.post/3loqw4dohts2bhttps://bsky.app/profile/catalyzer.bsky.social/post/3llcqkdimpk27Check out our new paper in Chem. Sci. Bimetallic cleavage of N2 gives very stable nitrides, with little driving force to add an H atom or H+/e- to get to ammonia. But the catalysts find a way around that problem... Great work by @souvikm.bsky.social and many others! https://doi.org/10.1039/D5SC00454C26 Mar 2025 21:36 +0000at://did:plc:d4capoon6rpsv7vcsajngeds/app.bsky.feed.post/3llcqkdimpk27https://bsky.app/profile/catalyzer.bsky.social/post/3lkc26pivoc2pGreat work by Ashish Parihar @ashishchemist.bsky.social and Prof. Faraj Hasanayn (AUB) demonstrating an unprecedented mechanism for double C-H activation of alkanes leading to dehydrogenation (and the reverse, olefin hydrogenation) and H/D exchange – all with bizarre selectivity! https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/jacs.4c1669913 Mar 2025 21:30 +0000at://did:plc:d4capoon6rpsv7vcsajngeds/app.bsky.feed.post/3lkc26pivoc2phttps://bsky.app/profile/catalyzer.bsky.social/post/3lhfavuusyc2dDon't let the disgusting racism and misogyny distract us from the irony! A cry for "Competent white men" from the people that gave us Gaetz, Hegseth, RFK Jr... [contains quote post or other embedded content]04 Feb 2025 23:53 +0000at://did:plc:d4capoon6rpsv7vcsajngeds/app.bsky.feed.post/3lhfavuusyc2dhttps://bsky.app/profile/catalyzer.bsky.social/post/3ldc634deck2uAliens traveling from distant galaxies to Earth always make their first stop the Garden State. (Just sayin') #NJPride https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_of_the_Worlds_(1938_radio_drama) https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-14191535/drones-New-Jersey-alien-tech-UFO-expert.html14 Dec 2024 20:44 +0000at://did:plc:d4capoon6rpsv7vcsajngeds/app.bsky.feed.post/3ldc634deck2uhttps://bsky.app/profile/catalyzer.bsky.social/post/3lcvofto43k2uvis.sciencemag.org/chemhaiku/ https://vis.sciencemag.org/chemhaiku/09 Dec 2024 21:31 +0000at://did:plc:d4capoon6rpsv7vcsajngeds/app.bsky.feed.post/3lcvofto43k2uhttps://bsky.app/profile/catalyzer.bsky.social/post/3lcnzpz6j6222Sure, why wouldn't we want to give away hard assets owned by our government in return for a made-up "currency"? This is being promoted by a US Senator (and bitcoin owner) to a sympathetic incoming Trump administration. Amazing [contains quote post or other embedded content]06 Dec 2024 20:33 +0000at://did:plc:d4capoon6rpsv7vcsajngeds/app.bsky.feed.post/3lcnzpz6j6222https://bsky.app/profile/catalyzer.bsky.social/post/3lcnys6t6es22As STEM faculty, I support any 'vices' of young people that involve sharpening their probability/statistics skills. Glad to see The Economist agrees... https://www.economist.com/leaders/2024/12/05/americas-gambling-boom-should-be-celebrated-not-feared06 Dec 2024 20:16 +0000at://did:plc:d4capoon6rpsv7vcsajngeds/app.bsky.feed.post/3lcnys6t6es22https://bsky.app/profile/catalyzer.bsky.social/post/3lbunzb6moc2qGreat work by @ashishchemist.bsky.social and Prof. Faraj Hasanayn (AUB) demonstrating an unprecedented mechanism for double C-H activation of alkanes leading to dehydrogenation (and the reverse, olefin hydrogenation) and H/D exchange all with bizarre selectivity. [contains quote post or other embedded content]26 Nov 2024 18:26 +0000at://did:plc:d4capoon6rpsv7vcsajngeds/app.bsky.feed.post/3lbunzb6moc2qhttps://bsky.app/profile/catalyzer.bsky.social/post/3lbuljarn7c2iMine is a trimodal function with a third grouping at never–or until you remind me and then recursive, back to the trimodal distribution. [contains quote post or other embedded content]26 Nov 2024 17:42 +0000at://did:plc:d4capoon6rpsv7vcsajngeds/app.bsky.feed.post/3lbuljarn7c2ihttps://bsky.app/profile/catalyzer.bsky.social/post/3lbiapspxys2v“Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty.” ― Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism21 Nov 2024 19:57 +0000at://did:plc:d4capoon6rpsv7vcsajngeds/app.bsky.feed.post/3lbiapspxys2vhttps://bsky.app/profile/catalyzer.bsky.social/post/3lbhqfk2fok2o"Think back two months. You’re reading someone ranting about Trump. “Imagine a second term...RFK Jr for HHS secretary. Tulsi Gabbard leading intelligence services. Matt Gaetz is going to be AG." Most people reading that would have thought that’s a parody of what a Trump-hating liberal imagines..." https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/19/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-anne-applebaum.html21 Nov 2024 15:04 +0000at://did:plc:d4capoon6rpsv7vcsajngeds/app.bsky.feed.post/3lbhqfk2fok2o