Dr Josef Boronski

I completed my undergraduate degree at the University of York in 2017. My final-year research project involved the study of low-valent gallium complexes under the supervision of Dr John Slattery. Subsequently, I undertook a PhD with Professor Steve Liddle at the University of Manchester, which I completed in 2021. My doctoral research focused on the preparation of uranium and thorium complexes furnished with carbene and cyclobutadienyl ligands. These studies led to the preparation of the first stable compound with actinide–actinide bonding – the heaviest homometallic bonding reported to date.

In 2021, I began a Junior Research Fellowship at St John’s College. Within the Department of Chemistry, I initiated a programme of research into the chemistry of beryllium, with a particular emphasis on beryllium-metal bonding and low oxidation state compounds. This work resulted in the synthesis of diberyllocene, the first stable compound with a beryllium–beryllium bond – the lightest homometallic bonding reported to date.

In 2023, I was awarded the Dalton Emerging Researcher Prize by the Royal Society of Chemistry.

My interests lie in the field of organometallic chemistry. I focus on the synthesis and reactivity of low-valent compounds of s– and p–block elements. My aims are to accomplish industrially relevant chemical transformations using Earth-abundant metals.

I am also interested in the fundamental chemistry and electronic structure of organoactinide complexes. This work may reveal new properties of these radioactive elements and inform enhanced methods for the remediation of nuclear waste.

Representative Publications

J. T. Boronski* et al., Diberyllocene, a stable compound of Be(I) with a Be–Be bond, Science, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adh4419

J. T. Boronski et al., A crystalline tri-thorium cluster with σ-aromatic metal–metal bonding, Nature, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03888-3

J. T. Boronski* et al., Inducing Nucleophilic Reactivity at Beryllium with an Aluminyl Ligand, Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.3c00480

J. T. Boronski et al., Insights into the Composition and Structural Chemistry of Gallium(I) Triflate, Angewandte Chemie, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202010837

J. T. Boronski et al., f‐Element Half‐Sandwich Complexes: A Tetrasilylcyclobutadienyl–Uranium(IV)–Tris(tetrahydroborate) Anion Pianostool Complex, Angewandte Chemie, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201913640