News

5/2015: In addition to finally getting the webpage up and running, Shelly, Kevin, Preston, and Matt (MFC) all had their abstracts accepted to Pacifichem, which takes place in Honolulu, HI from December 15-20, 2015! Come see/hear our talks and posters.

6/2015: The Cain Lab welcomes its new crop of synthetic gurus: Mika, Uyen, and Brandon (for the summer).

8-9/2015: The Cain Lab hires its first two Postdoctoral Research Fellows: Jakub Hyvl and Brant Landers. Super exciting!!!!

12/15–12/20/15: Pacifichem 2015 was an overwhelming success. Shelly, Preston, and Kevin presented their posters, and Matt (MFC) gave a talk at the "Advances in Phosphorus Chemistry: Materials, Reactivity at Phosphorus, and Synthesis" session. Evidence is shown below:

9/15 – 1/16 Recruiting: Undergraduates Jarin Loristo and Lesley Wong joined the lab in the Fall, and have started a brand new project in a brand new area (for us): Anti-Cancer Organometallics. Although not quite official in the Fall, but now official (1/16), Matthew Riek, a first year graduate student has also joined the lab. In his first term, he already grew his first (of many!) X-ray quality crystal. Stay tuned!

2/5/2016: After what seemed like an eternity ... we submitted our first paper to Organometallics ... will it get in?

Update (3/5/2016): The paper been accepted for publication (with very minor revisions). Congrats to Kevin and Shelly for performing the synthetic studies, and the communication should hit the ASAP feed soon! Stay tuned.

3/16/2016: Our paper on the "Streamlined Preparation and Coordination Chemistry of Hybrid Phosphine–Phosphaalkene Ligands" is an ASAP in Organometallics!

3/29/2016: Our second paper has been submitted to Organometallics ... will we go 2 for 2? We hope so!

Update (5/2/2016): Accepted (with a few real revisions)!

6/22/2016: Our second paper on the "Synthesis of a Tris(phosphaalkene)phosphine Ligand and Fundamental Organometallic Reactions on Its Sterically Shielded Metal Complexes" is an ASAP in Organometallics!

7/18/2016: Our PP3 paper was also highlighted in C&ENews! Check out the July 18th Issue!

9/21/2016: After what seemed like a lifetime...our paper "A Masked Phosphinidene Trapped in a Fluxional NCN Pincer" appeared online in Chem. Eur. J. Congrats to Jakub for doing 100% of the synthetic work! We are excited to explore more "bell-clappers" and uncover new reactivity of these masked phosphinidenes. Read the communication and stay tuned for more!

8/3/2017: Our 4th paper: "Unexpected Detours and Reactivity Encountered During the Planned Synthesis of Hypervalent 10–Pn–3– Species (Pn = P or As) was accepted (with revisions) to a special issue in Polyhedron on pincer ligands. 8/24/2017: Fully accepted.

5/4/2018: Our 5th paper: "Heterocycles Derived from Generating Monovalent Pnictogens within NCN Pincers and Bidentate NC Chelates: Hypervalency vs. Bell-Clappers vs. Static Aromatics" was submitted for publication in Organometallics. 6/18/2018: Accepted :)

11/29/2018: [Insert HUGE sigh of relief]. Our NSF CAREER Award was funded. BANG! Stay tuned for all of our chemistry concerning hypervalent 10–P–3 species.

Summary News Update - 4/2019:

Since the "News" Section was pretty neglected over the last 24 months or so ... Here is some of the major events:

1. Mika passed her Part 2 (Original Research Proposal) and is closing in on finishing her PhD.

2. Preston passed his Part 1 (Year 2 Status Update) and is working on his Part 2.

3. Matt passed his Part 2, is making some revisions, and then will be focusing on his laboratory work.

4. Rice joined the laboratory as a Master's Student and is working on the synthesis of new hypervalent 10–P–3 Species.

5. Cyrus (a while ago, January 2018?) and Daniel (12/2018) joined the laboratory as Undergraduate Researchers. They are spearheading projects on benzoazaphosphole functionalization, reactivity, and applications in catalysis. They have provided the laboratory with some pure compounds, but they promise that there will be more.

6. MFC attended the ACS Meeting in Orlando, Fl, presented two talks (see below), caught up with some old buddies, saw some interesting new chemistry, and saw his old man (father).

7. MFC will also attend ICHAC-2019 in Prague in June/July and the Organometallics Gordon Conference in Newport, Rhode Island the following week.

8. Mika and MFC have been actively participating in local High School and younger STEM events including Niu Valley Middle School Science Fair, Honolulu District Science and Engineering Fair, Pearl City High School College and Career Fair, and as a guest speaker at the Center for Tomorrow's Leaders Organization.

7/2019: Coming soon ... ICHAC and Gordon Pictures, Mika's paper, and much more! Quick preview: MFC won the shirt award at ICHAC :)

8/8/2019: Mika's paper (and the lab's 6th) is officially accepted in Organometallics!!! Congrats to all who contributed. Check it out!

DOI: 10.1021/acs.organomet.9b00425

Early Fall 2019: Garrett Nada, a new MS student and former undergraduate of UH Manoa, joined the research group.

MFC submitted an invited review to Comments on Inorganic Chemistry and his tenure dossier (fingers crossed).

10/15/2019: Review accepted with revisions... Tenure decision pending.

January 2020: Review is online. See "Publications" for the link.

Spring/Summer 2020: Tenure granted :)

Daniel's paper in Dalton Transactions has been accepted with revisions. Hoping to get everything revised before Daniel heads to University of Washington for a PhD in Chemistry in September! AND our new VAC double-wide glove box arrived - WE ARE PUMPED.

December 2020: End of a long year ... but Daniel's paper finally got resubmitted and accepted! DOI: 10.1039/D0DT01367F

March 15, 2021: Mika becomes Dr. Mika and defends her PhD thesis. PhD #1 from the Cain Lab. Congrats to Dr. Nakashige!!!!!

August 3, 2021: Rice becomes Master Rice and defends her MS thesis entitled "Attempted Synthesis of a 10–P–3 Species: Unexpected Cyclization Interrupts the Pathway". MS #1 from the Cain Lab! Congrats to Rice on finishing and an excellent seminar/presentation/defense!!!!

On the left, Rice and 2/3 of her committee (Craig Jensen and MFC). On the right, Rice and some of her friends post shots :)

8/25/2021: Rice's paper hits the RSC Advances feed - icing on the Master's cake. Check out the "Publications" section.

10/13/2021: Great News! Our ACS-PRF Grant "Limitations with Carbenes, Solved with Phospheniums for the Oxidative Addition of Small Molecules and Functionalization of Petroleum Relevant Substrates" was recommended for funding. $110,000 over 2 years ... bang bang

4/4/2023: Long hiatus in the feed here... but today, Preston's 17 page Organometallics paper finally hit the feed! Check it out.

DOI: 10.1021/acs.organomet.3c00070

10/20/2023: Preston successfully defended his PhD!!!!!! Congrats!!!!

Fun Fact: Preston joined the Cain Lab on Day 1, 7/1/2014, as an undergraduate. He got his BS, took some time off, came back and enrolled as a graduate student, battled through the COVID Years, and then polished off the PhD. Several papers published, several more on deck!

The defense was followed by an after party at legendary local dive bar Rock Bottom aka Rbizzle.

Beers, pizza, wings, and shots ... and one selfie of Preston and MFC :)

2/17/2024: Miranda's paper on the "Synthesis and Reactivity of a P–H Functionalized Benzazaphosphole" was accepted for publication. This paper describes an unusual PN heterocycle with an exocyclic P–H bond that behaves as a weak hydride and features a collaborative team spanning from Hawaii to Florida to Argentina to California to Pennsylvania and to Delaware! Check out the publication section!

March 28, 2024: Miranda did a great job of defending her MS Thesis entitled "Synthesis and Functionalization of a P–Hydrogen Benzazaphosphole! Congrats to her (photo, up and to the left)!!!! Cain Laboratory Scoreboard so far: 2 PhDs (1 male / 1 female), 2 MS (both female).

Shelly looking professional and proud of her chemistry. Lots of good ligands!

Preston enjoyed the free apple juice.

Kevin. Enough Said.

The proud coauthors.

Kevin, 76"; Shelly, 58"

Noble Prizing Winning Thoughts with Jakub?

How many bonds to Carbon?!?!

7/11/2016: When our article officially got page numbers ... it was the 2nd most read article in Organometallics behind the NMR impurities and ahead of the "Legacy of Richard Heck" !!! AMAZING!!!