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Rosa Diego Creixenti

Rosa Diego Creixenti

Current position: PhD student at Barcelona University, Spain

Jan-July 2020: Visiting researcher in Brookers Bunch during her final year as a PhD student at the University of Barcelona

Rosa at the Moeraki Boulders near Dunedin.

I enrolled in Sally Brooker’s group as a visiting research student in January 2020. Theoretically, it was supposed to be a 5 months PhD internship to meet the international research visit requirement for my doctorate from my home institution, the Universitat de Barcelona under Professor Guillerm Aromí’s supervision. However, 2020… nothing else to say right? I’m not going to be the first one mentioning the unpredictable changes that 2020 has brought to everyone worldwide. So instead, I spent 6 months and a half (including one month of lockdown) doing my research project abroad.

The study of heteroleptic spin-crossover (SCO) complexes in the solid-state is commonly explored. The combination of different ligands chelating in the same iron(II) metal centre is an interesting strategy for manufacturing new functional materials. In these systems, the electronics can be fine-tuned replacing a simple ligand. We previously reported on the solid state SCO properties of heteroleptic complexes comprising two differing 2,6-bis(pyrazol-3-yl)pyridine (3-bpp) ligands as interchangeable moieties. Among these lines, my purpose in Sally’s group was to elucidate the intrinsic behaviour of these heteroleptic complexes in solution phase, without the complications of solid state packing effects. Hence I learned the Evans NMR method and about the many factors that most be considered when working with these kind of compounds in solution. Due to concerns regarding speciation, unveiling the magnetic behaviour displayed by my various heteroleptic compounds was not trivial. Thus, UV-vis measurements and mathematical approaches were performed to interpret the whole magnetic response.  Furthermore, thanks to the pleasant environment among kiwi researchers, I also had the opportunity to perform some NMR measurements at Canterbury University in Christchurch.

I really enjoyed being part of the international atmosphere of Brooker’s Bunch. I learned so much from Luca, Sriram, Sandhya, Sjoerd, Abdullah, Fola, Matt and Michael. Each of them helped me in a way or another, such as finding accommodation, discussing results, and giving professional and personal advice. We shared a friendly working time and several social meetings outside the lab.

Finally, I would like to thank Sally for her kind hospitality into her lab. Her professional and personal support was precious during my visit. She is a highly motivated researcher and encouraging mentor.