GROUP | Hintermair Research

The Group

Current members

Mandeep Kaur

Mandeep graduated from Guru Nanak Dev University of Amritsar in Punjab, India in 2012. She has gained an interest in research during her master's internship with Prof. Partha Sarthi Mukherjee at the IISc Banglore before commencing her doctorate studies the esteemed Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IITK) under the supervision of Prof. Jitendra Bera. Her dissertation focused on "Organometallic Compounds Containing Functionalized Normal and Mesoionic N-Heterocyclic Carbene (NHC) Ligands: Directed Synthesis, Catalytic Evaluation, and Antibacterial Activity". After obtaining her PhD in 2020 she joined Dr Sanjay Singh's group at IISER Mohali where she gained expertise in main group (Al & Mg) catalysts for organic transformations.

In 2022 she moved to the UK to join the Hintermair group as a Research Associate to carry out fundamental investigations into the f-block chemistry of substituted pentalenide ligands.

Apart from research, her interests lie in playing table tennis, running, and watching cricket highlights and movies. In her spare time, she loves to sit with a cup of tea and listen to music (though a bad singer).

Niko Jenek

Niko started his chemistry studies at the University of Stuttgart, where he focused on catalysis, organometallics and polymerisation chemistry working with Prof Michael Buchmeiser. Thereafter Niko moved to the University of Freiburg to fulfill his lifelong dream of working with elemental fluorine. Surviving a master thesis project on the fluorination of silicon surfaces under the supervision of Prof Ingo Krossing, he graduated with an MSc in Chemistry in 2017. In Freiburg Niko also gained experience in non-university research while working at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems from 2015 to 2017.

This time considering somewhat more benign inorganics, Niko joined the Hintermair lab in 2018 to develop novel base metal catalysts based on dinuclear organometallics for his PhD. Besides pentalenides, Niko is passionate about humor, movies, ski jumping, football as well as weight lifting.

Rachel graduated from Manchester Metropolitan University in 2018 with an MChem where her project focused on the synthesis of FAU-type zeolites from waste products such as peat ash.

Since graduating she has undertaken a PhD at Bath, where she is synthesising pincer ligands to make novel transition metal complexes for C-H and CO2 activation. With the help of Natalie Fey at Bristol she has recently discovered her passion for DFT calculations

When she’s not in the lab making stuff, titrating BuLi or labelling things she can be found in the gym, playing tennis and squash or baking.

Rachel Johnston

Asad graduated from the University of Kent with a MChem in 2018. His fourth year research, supervised by Dr Ewan Clark, concerned the synthesis of phosphine-derived Stenhouse adducts as routes to novel P/N chelating ligands.

He then moved to Bath to carry out his PhD on Homogeneous Catalysis for Fine
Chemical Production utilising FlowNMR spectroscopy in a joint industrial project with DSM.

When he isn’t processing data or worrying about crystals, you can find him playing badminton in the STV, solving puzzles or critiquing the IMBd top 250 movies.

Asad Saib

Alejandro Bara Estaún

Jano graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry in 2017 from the University of Zaragoza. In his final year, he worked with Prof. Andrew Beeby at Durham University on molecular wires based on pyrazol and bipyridine complexes.

Afterwards, he undertook a joint master’s degree from the Universitat Rovira i Virgili and the Institut of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ) in Tarragona. During that year he carried out an industrial placement at IFP Energies Nouvelles in Lyon under the supervision of Hélène Olivier-Bourbigou, working on titanium prrole complexes for the catalytic oligomerization of ethylene.

He then returned to the UK to join the CDT in Catalysis between Cardiff, Bristol and Bath. During his MRes with Prof. Graham J. Hutchings he studied the partial oxidation of methane with Au and Pd nanoparticles on H-ZSM-5 zeolites before joining the Hintermair lab to use multinuclear FlowNMR spectroscopy to study homogeneous hydroformylation catalysis in a collaborative project with Paul Pringle at Bristol as well as LIKAT and Evonik in Germany.

In his spare time you can find Jano watching Netflix, looking for flights at Ryanair to go home skiing in the Pyrenees or practising his languages skills in French, Italian and Portuguese.

Owen Harper

Owen graduated in 2017 with an MChem from the University of Huddersfield. His final year project with Professor Craig Rice involved the synthesis and investigation of ruthenium based dinuclear double helicates and mesocates as well as an examination of their anti-cancer properties with Professor Roger Phillips.

After a couple of years away from academia and working at ThermoFisher Scientific, Owen burst back onto the scene in Bath to research homogeneous catalytic ester hydrogenation in a joint industrial project with Johnson Mathey. Owen cares deeply about ‘good explanations’ and endeavours to follow the scientific philosophy of David Deutsch.

Outside of science, Owen loves to sing, dance and generally entertain the people around him. Taking part in and watching sports is a delight of his and he particularly enjoys playing American football.

Hugh Sanderson

Hugh graduated from the University of Bath in 2020 with an MChem in Chemistry. His third year was spent studying abroad at TU Wien, where he undertook a research project with Kirchner group looking at manganese catalysed hydrogenation of carbonyls. Upon returning to Bath for his final year, Hugh joined the Webster group to investigate germanium catalysed hydrophosphination of activated alkenes. Hugh joined the Hinterlair in the summer of 2020 to undertake a PhD synthesising novel pentalenide complexes.

Away from the lab, Hugh is an active member of the Bath University Mountaineering Club (BUMC), with a keen interesting in climbing and cricket often swiftly followed by complaints about how broken his body is. Whilst nursing these injuries, he can be often found nursing some sort of beverage accompanied by a book, film, TV show or even the occasional video game.

Adam Khan

Adam graduated from Cardiff University in 2020, completing a master’s in chemistry with a CUROP research placement in the Browne group. He completed his MChem project under the supervision of Dr Niklaas Buurma in the field of automated reaction optimization before joining the University of Bath to study for a PhD in homogeneous catalysis.

His current research focuses on the use of real time multi-nuclear operando NMR techniques to investigate catalytic amine formation reactions in a joint industrial project with Syngenta. This work has him cooking up chemicals in the Hinterlair and running experiments in the DReaM facility.

When he is not at the fume cupboard or sprinting down to the NMR room he’s out looking for a gig, keeping fit (or trying to) and reading a book with something caffeinated.

Alec Coles

Alec graduated with an MChem from Keele University in 2021. His Masters research investigated non-covalent interactions in metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) under the supervision of Dr Chris Hawes. The aim of this research was to elucidate and quantify the extent to which designed outer-sphere hydrogen-bonds in the secondary building units of MOFs may contribute to structural stability. In 2021 he joined the Hintermair research lab as a PhD in the field of homogeneous catalysis. His research aims to make bimetallic complexes for dioxygen activation, towards the development of new aerobic oxidation catalysts, based on first-row transition metals and palladium with designed ligand scaffolds.

During his undergraduate degree, Alec was given the opportunity of a year living and studying abroad in Tokyo, at Tokyo Metropolitan University. During this time he took the opportunity to travel that part of the world and undertook Japanese language and cultural studies.

While he is not in the lab, he can usually be found on a tennis court or exploring Bath’s lovely cafes and book shops. He enjoys popular science and history and thick fantasy novels, exploring the Cotswolds, watching Formula 1 and trying keep up his Japanese

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Group photos