Brenna Bierman
@brennabierman.bsky.social
Graduate student in the Rhodes Lab at UW-Madison, materials chemistry
Our work examining SnxTaSe2 is out in @jacs.acspublications.org! From a single intercalated TMD growth composition, we find unexpected structural diversity that is not captured by common characterization techniques. #chemsky 🧪 pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
Superconducting Sn-Intercalated TaSe2: Structural Diversity Obscured by Routine Characterization Techniques
Using Sn-intercalated TaSe2 as a model system, we demonstrate the presence of structural heterogeneity captured by single-crystal X-ray diffraction (SCXRD) and scanning transmission electron microscop...
pubs.acs.org
October 21, 2025 at 1:10 PM
Our work examining SnxTaSe2 is out in @jacs.acspublications.org! From a single intercalated TMD growth composition, we find unexpected structural diversity that is not captured by common characterization techniques. #chemsky 🧪 pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
Reposted by Brenna Bierman
"An outstanding accomplishment": The MagLab sets a new world record.
nationalmaglab.org/news-events/...
nationalmaglab.org/news-events/...
September 11, 2025 at 3:25 PM
"An outstanding accomplishment": The MagLab sets a new world record.
nationalmaglab.org/news-events/...
nationalmaglab.org/news-events/...
Reposted by Brenna Bierman
My work assessing the effect of preorganization on dihydrazide activity is out in @jacs.acspublications.org. We find that dihydrazides with flexible tethers can replicate much of the catalytic activity of complex dihydrazides with preorganized foldamer scaffolds. #Chemsky
doi.org/10.1021/jacs...
doi.org/10.1021/jacs...
Bifunctional Catalysis of Aldol Reactions by Foldamer Dihydrazides: Assessment of Conformational Preorganization
We previously reported that molecules containing two cyclic hydrazide units connected by a polymethylene linker could catalyze aldol condensations via a bifunctional mechanism. One hydrazide apparentl...
doi.org
September 5, 2025 at 3:03 PM
My work assessing the effect of preorganization on dihydrazide activity is out in @jacs.acspublications.org. We find that dihydrazides with flexible tethers can replicate much of the catalytic activity of complex dihydrazides with preorganized foldamer scaffolds. #Chemsky
doi.org/10.1021/jacs...
doi.org/10.1021/jacs...
Reposted by Brenna Bierman
A key study claiming to provide evidence of Majorana quasiparticles has received an extensive correction five years after it was published
go.nature.com/45RK3UE
go.nature.com/45RK3UE
Controversial quantum-computing paper gets hefty correction — but concerns linger
The journal Science has lifted an expression of concern on a paper claiming evidence of Majorana quasiparticles and added new details.
go.nature.com
August 18, 2025 at 11:12 AM
A key study claiming to provide evidence of Majorana quasiparticles has received an extensive correction five years after it was published
go.nature.com/45RK3UE
go.nature.com/45RK3UE
Reposted by Brenna Bierman
#chemsky, have you used a Wisconsin Photoreactor? I designed them and will soon defend my PhD. I’d like to include photos of Wisconsin Photoreactors in use by other chemists in my defense. Please share (reply to this post or DM me) a photo of your photoreactor in action!
doi.org/10.1021/acs....
doi.org/10.1021/acs....
Versatile Open-Source Photoreactor Architecture for Photocatalysis Across the Visible Spectrum
Adoption of commercial photoreactors as standards for photocatalysis research could be limited by high cost. We report the development of the Wisconsin Photoreactor Platform (WPP), an open-source phot...
doi.org
July 8, 2025 at 1:13 PM
#chemsky, have you used a Wisconsin Photoreactor? I designed them and will soon defend my PhD. I’d like to include photos of Wisconsin Photoreactors in use by other chemists in my defense. Please share (reply to this post or DM me) a photo of your photoreactor in action!
doi.org/10.1021/acs....
doi.org/10.1021/acs....
Our work on 2M-WSe2 is out now in Adv. Funct. Mater.!
doi.org/10.1002/adfm...
doi.org/10.1002/adfm...
Evidence for Topological States and a Lifshitz Transition in Metastable 2M‐WSe2
This study demonstrates the Fermi surface characteristics and transport properties of 2M-WSe2 bulk single crystals. The measurements and first-principles calculations reveal multiple Fermi pockets wi...
doi.org
March 13, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Our work on 2M-WSe2 is out now in Adv. Funct. Mater.!
doi.org/10.1002/adfm...
doi.org/10.1002/adfm...
Reposted by Brenna Bierman
My work on bifunctional organocatalysis of aldol reactions by flexible dihydrazides is out in JACS (@pubs.acs.org). I find that hydrazide units connected by long, flexible linkers offer significant rate enhancement relative to monohydrazides. doi.org/10.1021/jacs... #ChemSky
Dual Activation Modes Enable Bifunctional Catalysis of Aldol Reactions by Flexible Dihydrazides
Hydrazides are known to catalyze reactions of α,β-unsaturated aldehydes via transient iminium formation. The iminium intermediate displays enhanced electrophilicity, which facilitates conjugate additi...
doi.org
January 15, 2025 at 3:05 PM
My work on bifunctional organocatalysis of aldol reactions by flexible dihydrazides is out in JACS (@pubs.acs.org). I find that hydrazide units connected by long, flexible linkers offer significant rate enhancement relative to monohydrazides. doi.org/10.1021/jacs... #ChemSky