Stephen Liddle

Last updated

Stephen T. Liddle
Born
Sunderland, UK
Alma mater Newcastle University [1]
Scientific career
FieldsChemistry
Institutions University of Manchester
University of Nottingham
University of Edinburgh
Newcastle University [1]
Doctoral advisor W. Clegg [1]
Website personalpages.manchester.ac.uk/staff/steve.liddle/

Stephen T. Liddle FRSC FRSE MAE is a British professor of inorganic chemistry at the University of Manchester. [2] He has been Head of Inorganic Chemistry and Co-Director of the Centre for Radiochemistry Research at the University of Manchester since 2015, and Director of the National Nuclear User Facility at the Centre for Radiochemistry Research since 2019. His research has contributed significantly to the field of f-element chemistry.

Contents

Early life and education

Liddle was born near Sunderland, in the North East of England, in 1974. In 1997 he graduated with a BSc(Hons) in chemistry with applied chemistry from Newcastle University. His degree included a year working as a research scientist for ICI Performance Chemicals at Wilton, Teesside. Alongside a stint in the Territorial Army, Liddle continued his studies at the university and received his PhD in 2000. His PhD supervisor was Professor W. Clegg. [2]

Career and research

After postdoctoral fellowships with P. J. Bailey at the University of Edinburgh, Keith Izod at Newcastle University as the Wilfred Hall Research Fellow, and Polly Arnold at the University of Nottingham, Liddle began his independent academic career at the University of Nottingham with a Royal Society University Research Fellowship (2007–2015) held with a proleptic Lectureship. He was promoted to Associate Professor and Reader in 2010 and Professor of Inorganic Chemistry in 2013.

He moved to the University of Manchester in 2015 as Head of Inorganic Chemistry and Co-Director of the Centre for Radiochemistry Research. He is Director of the National Nuclear User Facility at the Centre for Radiochemistry Research since 2019, and he held an Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council Established Career Fellowship (2015–2021).

He was Chairman of COST Action CM1006, a 22 country, research network of over 120 research groups in f-block chemistry (2011–2015), [3] is an advisor to the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission (2013–), and was an elected category 3 member of Senate, the University of Manchester (2016–2019).

Liddle's research is focused on synthetic inorganic chemistry, particularly making early transition metal, lanthanide, and actinide complexes to explore their structure, bonding, reactivity, and magnetism. [4] In 2011 he reported a single-molecule magnet based on depleted uranium. [4] In 2012 his research group was the first to synthesize a molecular terminal uranium(V) nitride. [5] [6] In 2013 he reported the isolation of a terminal uranium(VI) nitride akin to examples previously restricted to cryogenic matrix isolation experiments [7] , and that formed the basis from which to report the electronic structure of uranium nitrides [8] including quantifying the covalence of the uranium-nitrogen triple bond by using 15N NMR spectroscopy. [9] In 2013, his research group disclosed the first f-element cyclobutadienyl complexes. [10] [11] Between 2014-2025 he reported a range of M=EH bonds (M = Th, U; E =2.718 N, P, As, and Sb) along with phosphide, arsenido, and stibido derivatives. [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] In 2019 his research group isolated a uranium(V)-dinitrogen complex. [22] In 2021, Liddle reported a tri-thorium cluster featuring two-electron σ-aromatic actinide metal-metal bonding, [23] and in follow-up work reported on-electron analogues that exhibit exalted diamagnetism and were found to be open-shell aromatic superatoms. [24] Before the synthesis of those metal-metal complexes, examples of actinide-actinide bonding had been restricted to matrix isolation experiments and fullerene-encapsulated species. In 2022, he reported a terminal neptunium(V)-mono(oxo) complex. Before the synthesis of this complex all transuranium-ligand multiple bond complexes required two or more metal-ligand multiple bonds to be stable. [25]

Honours and awards

Liddle was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) in 2011 and is Vice President to the Executive Committee of the European Rare Earth and Actinide Society (2012–). [26]

He was elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland’s National Academy of Science and Letters in 2022. [27]

He was awarded the RSC Sir Edward Frankland Fellowship (2011), [28] the RSC Radiochemistry Group Bill Newton Award (2011), [29] the RSC Corday-Morgan Prize (2015), [30] and the RSC Tilden Prize (2020). [31]

He was a recipient of a Rising Star Award at the 41st International Conference on Coordination Chemistry (2014). [32]

He was awarded an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research award (2019). [33]

He was awarded a European Research Council (ERC) Starter Grant (2009) and Consolidator Grant (2014).

He was one of the Periodic Videos team awarded the IChemE Petronas award for excellence in education and training (2008).

Liddle is known for his work on The Periodic Table of Videos , a series of videos from the University of Nottingham presented on YouTube, which feature educational vignettes on the periodic table.

He is executive producer for Chemistry at Manchester Explains Research Advances (CAMERA), [34] [35] a series of videos from the University of Manchester presented on YouTube, which feature videos explaining chemistry research papers published from the University of Manchester.

He is a National Co-ordinating Centre for Public Engagement Ambassador (2013–). [36]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Stephen Liddle – The University of Nottingham Archived 2013-07-27 at the Wayback Machine
  2. 1 2 "Prof Stephen Liddle | The University of Manchester". www.research.manchester.ac.uk. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  3. ↑ "Action CM1006". COST. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  4. 1 2 Liddle, Stephen T.; Blake, Alexander J.; Lewis, William; van Slageren, Joris; McMaster, Jonathan; Moro, Fabrizio; Mills, David P. (June 2011). "A delocalized arene-bridged diuranium single-molecule magnet". Nature Chemistry. 3 (6): 454–460. Bibcode:2011NatCh...3..454M. doi:10.1038/nchem.1028. ISSN   1755-4349. PMID   21602860.
  5. ↑ Liddle, Stephen T.; Blake, Alexander J.; Lewis, William; McMaster, Jonathan; McInnes, Eric J. L.; Tuna, Floriana; King, David M. (10 August 2012). "Synthesis and Structure of a Terminal Uranium Nitride Complex". Science. 337 (6095): 717–720. Bibcode:2012Sci...337..717K. doi: 10.1126/science.1223488 . ISSN   0036-8075. PMID   22745250. S2CID   12121946.
  6. ↑ Johnson, Marc J. A.; Sattelberger, Alfred P. (10 August 2012). "Uncovering the Uranium-Nitrogen Triple Bond". Science. 337 (6095): 652–653. Bibcode:2012Sci...337..652S. doi:10.1126/science.1225351. ISSN   0036-8075. PMID   22879490. S2CID   206542786.
  7. ↑ King, David M.; Tuna, Floriana; McInnes, Eric J. L.; McMaster, Jonathan; Lewis, William; Blake, Alexander J.; Liddle, Stephen T. (2013). “Isolation and characterisation of a uranium(VI)-nitride triple bond”. Nature Chemistry. 5: 482–488. doi : 10.1038/NCHEM.1642.
  8. ↑ King, David M.; Cleaves, Peter A.; Wooles, Ashley J.; Gardner, Benedict M.; Chilton, Nicholas F.; Tuna, Floriana; Lewis, William; McInnes, Eric J. L.; Liddle Stephen T. (2016). "Molecular and Electronic Structure of Terminal and Alkali Metal-Capped Uranium(V)-Nitride Complexes". Nature Communications. 7: 13773. doi : 10.1038/ncomms13773.
  9. ↑ Du, Jingzhen; Seed, John A.; Berryman, Victoria E. J.; Kaltsoyannis, Nikolas; Adams, Ralph W.; Lee, Daniel; Liddle, Stephen T. (2021). "Exceptional Uranium(VI)-Nitride Triple Bond Covalency from 15N Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy and Quantum Chemical Analysis". Nature Communications. 12:5649. doi : 10.1038/s41467-021-25863-2.
  10. ↑ Patel, Dipti; McMaster, Jonathan; Lewis, William; Blake, Alexander J.; Liddle, Stephen T. (2013). “Reductive assembly of cyclobutadienyl and diphosphacyclobutadienyl rings at uranium”. Nature Communications. 4: 2323. doi : 10.1038/ncomms3323.
  11. ↑ Boronski, Josef T.; Doyle, Laurence R.; Seed, John A.; Wooles, Ashley J.; Liddle, Stephen T. (2020). "f-Element Half-Sandwich Complexes: A Tetrasilylcyclobutadienyl–Uranium(IV)–Tris(tetrahydroborate) Anion Pianostool Complex". Angewandte Chemie. 59: 295. doi : 10.1002/anie.201913640.
  12. ↑ King, David M.; McMaster, Jonathan; Tuna, Floriana; McInnes, Eric J. L.; Lewis, William; Blake, Alexander J.; Liddle, Stephen T. (2014). "Synthesis and Characterization of an f-Block Terminal Parent Imido [U=NH] Complex: A Masked Uranium(IV)-Nitride". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 136: 5619-5622. doi : 10.1021/ja502405e.
  13. ↑ Gardner, Benedict M.; Balázs, Gábor; Scheer, Manfred; Tuna, Floriana; McInnes, Eric J. L.; McMaster, Jonathan; Lewis, William; Blake, Alexander J.; Liddle, Stephen T. (2014). "Triamidoamine-Uranium(IV)-Stabilized Terminal Parent Phosphide and Phosphinidene Complexes". Angewandte Chemie. 53: 4484-4488. doi : 10.1002/anie.201400798.
  14. ↑ Gardner, Benedict M.; Balázs, Gábor; Scheer, Manfred; Tuna, Floriana; McInnes, Eric J. L.; McMaster, Jonathan; Lewis, William; Blake, Alexander J.; Liddle, Stephen T. (2015) “Triamidoamine Uranium(IV)-Arsenic Complexes Containing One-, Two-, and Three-fold U-As Bonding Interactions”. Nature Chemistry. 7: 582–590. doi : 10.1038/NCHEM.2279.
  15. ↑ Wildman, Elizabeth P.; Balázs, Gábor; Wooles, Ashley J.; Scheer, Manfred; Liddle, Stephen T. (2016). "Thorium-Phosphorus Triamidoamine Complexes Containing Th-P Single- and Multiple-Bond Interactions". Nature Communications. 7: 12884. doi : 10.1038/ncomms12884.
  16. ↑ Wildman, Elizabeth P.; Balázs, Gábor; Wooles, Ashley J.; Scheer, Manfred; Liddle, Stephen T. (2017). "Triamidoamine Thorium-Arsenic Complexes with Parent Arsenide, Arsinidiide and Arsenide Structural Motifs". Nature Communications. 8: 14769. doi : 10.1038/ncomms14769.
  17. ↑ Rookes, Thomas M.; Gardner, Benedict M.; Balázs, Gábor; Gregson Matthew; Tuna, Floriana; Wooles, Ashley J.; Scheer, Manfred; Liddle, Stephen T. (2017). "Crystalline Diuranium-Phosphinidiide and -μ-Phosphido Complexes with Symmetric and Asymmetric UPU Cores". Angewandte Chemie. 56: 10495-10500. doi : 10.1002/anie.201706002.
  18. ↑ Du, Jingzhen; Balázs, Gábor; Seed, John A.; Cryer, Jonathan A.; Wooles, Ashley J.; Scheer, Manfred; Liddle, Stephen T. (2022). "Actinide Pnictinidene Chemistry: A Terminal Thorium Parent-Arsinidene Complex Stabilised by a Super-Bulky Triamidoamine Ligand".Angewandte Chemie. I 61: e202211627. doi : 10.1002/anie.202211627.
  19. ↑ Du, Jingzhen; Hurd, Joseph; Seed, John A.; Balázs, Gábor; Scheer, Manfred; Adams, Ralph W.; Lee, Daniel; Liddle, Stephen T. (2023). "31P Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy as a Probe of Thorium-Phosphorus Bond Covalency: Correlating Phosphorus Chemical Shift to Metal-Phosphorus Bond Order". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 145: 21766-21784. doi : 10.1021/jacs.3c02775.
  20. ↑ Du, Jingzhen; Dollberg, Kevin; Seed, John A.; Wooles, Ashley J.; von Hänisch, Carsten; Liddle, Stephen T. (2024). "Thorium(IV)-antimony complexes exhibiting single, double, and triple polar covalent metal-metal bonds". Nature Chemistry. 16: 780-790. doi : 10.1038/s41557-024-01448-6.
  21. ↑ Sheppard, Rebecca F.; Dollberg, Kevin; Michel, Nick; Seed, John A.; Wooles, Ashley J.; Du, Jingzhen; von Hänisch, Carsten; Liddle, Stephen T. (2025). "Uranium-stibnidiide, -stibinidene, and stibido multiple bonds and uranium-nitride formation from multimetallic diuranium-distibene-mediated dinitrogen cleavage". Nature Communications. 16. 7136. doi : 10.1038/s41467-025-61612-5.
  22. ↑ Lu, Erli; Atkinson, Benjamin, E.; Wooles, Ashley J.; Boronski, Josef T.; Doyle, Laurence R.; Tuna, Floriana; Cryer, Jonathan D.; Cobb, Philip J.; Vitorica-Yrezabal, Inigo J.; Whitehead, George F. S.; Kaltsoyannis, Nikolas; Liddle, Stephen T. (2019) “Back-bonding between an electron-poor, high-oxidation-state metal and poor π-acceptor ligand in a uranium(V)–dinitrogen complex”. Nature Chemistry. 11, 806–811. doi : 10.1038/s41557-019-0306-x.
  23. ↑ Boronski, Josef T.; Seed, John A.; Hunger, David; Woodward, Adam W.; van Slageren, Joris; Wooles, Ashley J.; Natrajan, Louise S.; Kaltsoyannis, Nikolas; Liddle, Stephen T. (2021). "A Crystalline Tri-thorium Cluster with σ-Aromatic Metal-Metal Bonding". Nature. doi : 10.1038/s41586-021-03888-3.
  24. ↑ Seed, John A.; Deng, Xinglan; Tomecek, Joseph; Brookfield, Adam; Collison, David; Tuna, Floriana; Wooles, Ashley J.; Whitehead, George F. S.; Kaltsoyannis, Nikolas; Liddle, Stephen T. (2025). "Valence-Delocalized Trithorium Nanocluster Superatoms with Open-Shell Exalted Diamagnetism". Nature Chemistry. 17: 1035-1041. doi : 10.1038/s41557-025-01790-3.
  25. ↑ Dutkiewicz M.S.; Goodwin C. A. P.; Perfetti M.; Gaunt A. J.; Griveau J. -C.; Colineau E.; Kovács A.; Wooles A. J.; Caciuffo R.; Walter O.; Liddle S.T. (2022). "A Terminal Neptunium(V)-Mono(Oxo) Complex". Nature Chemistry. "A Terminal Neptunium(V)-Mono(Oxo) Complex"..
  26. ↑ "ERES". ereswww.epfl.ch. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  27. ↑ "FRSE". www.rse.org.uk.
  28. ↑ "2011 winner of the RSC Sir Edward Frankland Fellowship – Stephen Liddle". www.rsc.org. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  29. ↑ "Radiochemistry Awards – Bill Newton Award". www.rsc.org. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  30. ↑ "RSC Corday-Morgan Prize 2015 Winner". www.rsc.org. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  31. ↑ "RSC Tilden Prize 2020 Winner".
  32. ↑ "Event :: 41st International Conference on Coordination Chemistry (ICCC 41) :: ChemistryViews". www.chemistryviews.org. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  33. ↑ "Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research award".
  34. ↑ , https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXf3CFkyGpa2eIeT5wz_Prw/videos.
  35. ↑ , http://www.itv.com/news/granada/2017-10-02/scientists-at-manchester-university-make-chemistry-easy-through-bitesize-videos.
  36. ↑ , http://www.publicengagement.ac.uk.
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