This is one of a collection of learning objects developed to honor the 2021 ACS Award Winners in inorganic chemistry.  Marinella Mazzanti from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology was awarded the F. Albert Cotton Award in Synthetic Inorganic Chemistry for her outstanding accomplishments in uranium and lanthanide chemistry, including the stabilization of unusual oxidation states and multimetallic cluster synthesis and small-molecule activation. In this paper photoredox chemistry is used to synthesize a uranium (VI) nitride.

The discussion covers a 2021 publication by the Chirik group (Nature Chemistry, 2021, DOI: 10.1038/s41557-020-00614-w) which details the discovery of a new way to polymerize butadiene through iron-catalyzed [2+2] cycloadd

This paper in Chemical Science written by Ellen Matson and co-workers describes a structure function approach to improving the properties of non-aqueous redox flow batteries based upon polyoxovanadate-alkoxides (POV-alkoxides). Given the importance of battery technology on society and sustainable chemistry, this article allows students to engage with a paper that could have broad implications in society.

In this paper (Llewellyn, Green and Cowley, Dalton Trans. 2006, 4164-4168) the synthesis and characterization of two cobalt compounds with an N-heterocyclic carbene ligand (IMes) are reported. the first, [Co(CO)₃(IMes)Me] was prepared by the reaction of [Co(CO)₃(PPh₃)Me] with IMes. The second compound, [Co(CO)₃(IMes)COMe] is formed by the addition of Co to the first.