In the Kemian kevät event’s evening party on last Friday, IMC’s students received two wonderful prizes.
Our MSc student Sinna Lampinen received an encouragement award for commendable work, growing into an expert and for her presentation on the production and properties of manganese hackmanite. The award was issued by the Department of Chemistry.
Likewise, MSc student Nina Rehnberg won the Chemistry Club of Turku’s (Turun Kemistikerho) board’s vote for the best poster, and the value of this award named after Adj. Prof. Antti Vesala is 250 €. Nina’s poster was about β spodumene’s modification: luminescence and composition.
From top left: Prof. Mark Weller, MSc Sami Vuori, Dr. Miradije Rama, Prof. Henrik Friis, Prof. Esa Heilimo, Dr. Ludo van Goethem, Prof. Tangui Le Bahers, and Prof. Mika Lastusaari.
We had the first meeting of the Soda-Lights project. With Sami and Mika from IMC, we have expert collaborators Prof. Mark Weller (Cardiff, UK), Prof. Henrik Friis (Oslo, Norway), Dr. Ludo van Goethem (Antwerp, Belgium), Prof. Tangui Le Bahers (Lyon, France), Dr. Miradije Rama (Espoo, Finland) and Prof. Esa Heilimo (Turku, Finland). The project is now well on the way with interesting results to be expected.
Meet Madara Tomele, an international student from Latvia. She is doing her project work at IMC, focusing on hackmanite research. You can run into Madara in the big lab in Aurum.
Hackmanite’s popularity expanded again when Tomi Kangasniemi, an experienced journalist from the Keskisuomalainen Group, visited Aurum to interview Mika, Isabella and Sami about hackmanite research and the uses of the material. The story was published on Dec 28 and ended up in at least 18 different newspapers: Keskisuomalainen, Karjalainen, Aamuposti, Itä-Savo, Etelä-Suomen Sanomat, Kymen Sanomat, Länsi-Savo, Uusimaa, Etelä-Saimaa, Itä-Häme, Länsi-Uusimaa, Savon Sanomat, Hämeen Sanomat , Keski-Uusimaa, Iisalmen Sanomat, Forssan Lehti, Kouvolan Sanomat and Warkauden Lehti. Read the article (€) at https://www.ksml.fi/uutissuomalainen/5619263
Anssi (left) and Sami on Tuesday morning before leaving to Jyväskylä. Photo by Ari Lehtonen.
Anssi and Sami visited the University of Jyväskylä on Tuesday and Wednesday to get a single-crystal X-ray diffractometer, which we don’t have at our chemistry department. After arriving in Jyväskylä on Tuesday afternoon, all the peripherals were removed from the device and it was strapped, and on Wednesday morning Martela’s movers came to move it with a safe dolly to the van.
Anssi working on detaching the peripherals.The device safely in the van.
In Turku, Muuttohaukat’s men wheeled the device into our X-ray lab. Everything went successfully and according to plans, and right at the beginning of the year we will get it up and running.
The instrument in its place in Aurum, but not yet running.
With the device, it is possible to acquire information about substances made into crystalline form in such a way that their three-dimensional structure can be resolved with the help of the diffraction pattern of the sample. The method is especially used to determine the structures of IMC’s organometallic compounds, but the new device is expected to be used by synthetic chemists in the entire Department of Chemistry, as well as more widely by researchers at the University of Turku and Åbo Akademi University. Special thanks to JYU’s Kari Rissanen, Heikki Tuononen, Manu Lahtinen, and Samu Forsblom!
Adjunct Professors Anssi Peuronen (left) and Ari Lehtonen.
Yesterday was a glorious day for IMC, because Anssi and Ari’s article “Charge-assisted halogen bonding in an ionic cavity of a coordination cage based on a copper(I) iodide cluster” was just accepted in Angewandte Chemie International Edition, which has a staggering impact factor of 16.823, topping the current highest one (Materials Horizons, 15.717) in IMC’s history. Anssi celebrated this by offering cake and cognac. Congratulations!
BSc Bettiina Muurinen has started her MSc studies at IMC. She did her BSc lab work on nanocrystalline sulphide phosphors and now continues to work on the synthesis and research of color-changing hackmanites as part of project 1 work.
Laboratory exercises for the Materials Chemistry and Sustainability course are currently going. In the first work, metals were separated by dissolving metal-containing samples in nitric acid and precipitating the metals in different groups, taking advantage of the different solubilities of the salts they form. In the second project, the students prepare hackmanites, which are known as sensor materials, and study their properties.
Introducing two laboratory technician students from Turku Vocational Institute. Jemina Elo (left) is in Mika Lastusaari’s group doing work related to hackmanites, and Silja Lohvansuu is focusing on synthesizing organometallic compounds under Ari Lehtonen’s supervision.
Professor Mika Lastusaari as the cover face of the latest issue of Aurora.
Mika, Sami, Hannah and Isabella are in the latest issue of Aurora magazine, where they were interviewed about their research. The article deals with the history of hackmanite research, which became a scientific phenomenon in the IMC group. Read the article in the physical magazine that is distributed on campus or electronically at https://www.utu.fi/fi/ajankohtaista/aurora/ihmeen-tekijat
