Functionalisation of Carbon-Fluorine Bonds with Main Group Reagents

Synthetic approaches to produce reactive chemical building blocks from fluorinated molecules by the functionalization of carbon–fluorine bonds with main group reagents are reviewed. The reaction types can be categorized as: (i) the formal 1,2-addition of C–F bonds across Si–Si, B–B, or Mg–Mg bonds; (ii) the oxidative addition of C–F bonds to Si(II), Ge(II), and Al(I) centres; and (iii) the dehydrogenative coupling of C–F bonds with Al–H or B–H bonds. Many of the advances have emerged between 2015–2016 and are largely focused upon aromatic substrates that contain sp2 C–F bonds

Art and Conflict

This online journal focuses on the relationship between art and international conflict, the outcome of a year-long research programme. It brings together a diverse range of perspectives, provocations, questions, insights and possibilities by artists and curators, writers, and academics. The publication explores the work of contemporary artists, activists and cultural organisations in the context of armed conflict, revolution and post-conflict. An introduction by Michaela Crimmin (Royal College of Art and co-director Culture+Conflict) precedes specially commissioned essays and texts by artist Jananne Al-Ani; Dr Bernadette Buckley (Goldsmiths, University of London); writer Malu Halasa; curator Jemima Montagu (co-director, Culture+Conflict); curator Sarah Rifky (Beirut, Cairo); artist Larissa Sansour; and, Professor Charles Tripp (SOAS). Two further essays by Michaela Crimmin and Dr Bernadette Buckley reflect on art and conflict in Higher Education in the UK

4Cs Artist Residency

The RCA is a partner in a major four-year research programme titled 4Cs: from Conflict to Conviviality through Creativity and Culture. This included an Artist Residency co-funded by Creative Europe and the RCA, curated by Michaela Crimmin, Reader in Art and Conflict, RCA and 4Cs UK art director. After an extensive selection process, advised by international curators, Noor Abuarafeh was invited to London. A Palestinian artist living and working in Jerusalem, Abuarafeh questions how history is constructed, visualised, perceived, and understood; how all these elements are related to fact and fiction, including imagining the past when there are gaps in documentation. Noor Abuarafeh’s research focused on the whereabouts of works by Palestinian artists from exhibitions that took place in Europe in the last century, and particularly from an exhibition in 1919 held at the Imperial War Museums. Lost, overlooked, displaced, or hidden, these artworks and the process of finding them act as a metaphor for displaced and marginalised people - a constructive reclamation of history in part as an act of reconciliation, contextualising the present in the past. The outcome of the residency was an art book entitled ‘Rumours Began Some Time Ago’, a response to the question ‘how can we document what is absent?’ It includes an illustrated account of British involvement during the Mandate where civil servants sought to create a museum dedicated to Palestinian art and crafts in Jerusalem. It focuses particularly on the role of the ‘Pro Jerusalem Society’, established in 1917 by Sir Ronald Storrs, the then Military Governor of Jerusalem. An online version of the publication is available. The Delfina Foundation hosted Noor’s residency. Hilary Roberts, Research Curator of Photography at the Imperial War Museums, and Jack Persekian, director of the Al-Ma’mal Foundation for Contemporary Art in Jerusalem, both supported the residency. Further informations: https://4cs-conflict-conviviality.e

Functionalization and Hydrogenation of Carbon Chains Derived from CO

Selective reactions that combine H 2 , CO and organic electrophiles (aldehyde, ketones, isocyanide) to form hydrogenated C 3 and C 4 carbon chains are reported. These reactions proceed by CO homologation mediated by [W(CO) 6 ] and an aluminum(I) reductant, followed by functionalization and hydrogenation of the chain ends. A combination of kinetics (rates, KIEs) and DFT calculations has been used to gain insight into a key step which involves hydrogenation of a metallocarbene intermediate. These findings expand the extremely small scope of systems that combine H 2 and CO to make well-defined products with complete control over chain length and functionality

Admiralty administration 1783-1806

This thesis examines the professional, political and social composition of the Admiralty Board, its secretariat, business and financial methods and office routine between 1783 and 1806, Membership of the Board was confined to younger sons of politically powerful aristocrats and seamen of political importance or professional reputation. Most civil lords moved to other departments after short terms at the Admiralty. For seamen a seat at the Board was often the culmination of a career. The secretaries and chief clerks, possessing a life time's experience of affairs, were of prime importance in office routine. The Admiralty was an executive branch of government with extensive patronage but limited machinery. It controlled the weapon the Cabinet directed, but the feeding and clothing of that weapon was the responsibility of subordinate offices, chiefly the Navy and Victualling Boards, often virtually autonomous, on whom the Admiralty relied for professional advice. The First Lord was an important Cabinet minister and the Admiralty co-operated with the major government departments. Personal relationships between departmental heads and secretaries, often made easier by a similar social background, were all important to facilitate business in the web of ancient government practice. Only occasionally did politics make the Admiralty a storm centre, leading to the downfall of ministries and the political ruin of the First Lord as in 1804-6.The Admiralty's attitude to its employees was paternalistic. There was an improvement in conditions of work, pay and pensions by 1806 and a greater emphasis on regular attendance and efficiency by 1806, thanks to the reports of several Parliamentary commissions of inquiry into Admiralty affairs, and to the work of individual First Lords, especially Lords St. Vincent and Barham.<p

Hexa-coordinated strontium silylamide complex stabilized by tetradentate alkoxy ligand

The heavier group 2 metal bis(trimethylsilyl)amides [M(btsa)2; M= Mg, Ca, Sr, and Ba] are efficient catalysts for hydroamination reactions, but their extreme sensitivity to air and moisture makes them experimentally inconvenient. Therefore, the substitution of one btsa ligand of M(btsa)2 for a sterically bulky amidinate or a ??-diketiminate ligand was accepted as a worthy strategy for increasing the stability of the complexwhile retaining its reactivity.1-6 The bulky amidinate and diketiminate ligands that are used to substitute one btsa group of M(btsa)2 effectively stabilize smallermetal cations (Mg and Ca), whereas the biggermetal centers (Sr and Ba) have a propensity to assume a six-coordinated (rather than a three- or four-coordinated) state. This makes partially substituted heavier alkaline-earth metal amides far from stable for easy use, which reiterates the necessity of having a reasonably stable, partially substituted strontium bis(trimethylsilyl)amide for smooth handling while retaining its reactivity. Here we describe the synthesis of a dimeric strontium complex with six-coordinated metal centers, which contains two bis(trimethylsilyl)amides groups and two tetradentate alkoxide ligands. &amp;copy; 2015 Korean Chemical Societyclose