Nothing About Us Without Us - Towards Genuine Inclusion of Disabled Scientists and Science Students Post Pandemic.

Scientists and students with disabilities have been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and this must be urgently addressed to avoid further entrenching existing inequalities. The need for rapid decision-making, often by senior colleagues without lived experience of disabilities, can lead to policies which discriminate against scientists with disabilities. This article reflects on disability declaration statistics and research in critical disability studies and social science to explore the challenges experienced by disabled scientists before and during the COVID-19 pandemic and highlights recommendations and examples of good practice to adopt in order to challenge ableism in STEM communities and workplaces. It is vital that disabled staff and students are fully involved in decision making. This is particularly important as we continue to respond to the challenges and opportunities associated with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and plan for a post-COVID-19 future. This time of great change can be used as an opportunity to listen, learn, and improve working conditions and access for scientists with disabilities, and by doing so, for everyone.

Synthesis, Mesomorphism, and Photophysics of 2,5-Bis(dodecyloxyphenyl)pyridine Complexes of Platinum(IV).

It has been shown for the first time that the PtIV complex cis-[Pt(N^C-tolpy)2 Cl2 ] (tolpy=2-(4-tolyl)pyridinyl) can be prepared in a one-pot reaction from K2 [PtCl4 ], although analogous complexes containing 2,5-bis(4-dodecyloxyphenyl)pyridine (=HL) could be prepared using existing routes. The resulting complexes cis-[Pt(N^C-L)2 Cl2 ] are liquid crystals and small-angle X-ray scattering suggests formation of a lamellar mesophase. Surprisingly, heating [Pt(κ2 -N^C-L)2 Cl(κ1 -N^C-LH)] also leads to a mesomorphic compound, which results from thermally induced oxidation to cis-[Pt(N^C-L)2 Cl2 ] and what is presumed to be another geometric isomer of the same formula. The PtIV complexes are quite strongly luminescent in deoxygenated solution, with φ≈10 % and show vibrationally structured emission spectra, λmax (0,0)=532 nm, strongly displaced to the red compared to cis-[Pt(N^C-tolpy)Cl2 ]. Long luminescence lifetimes of 230 µs are attributed to a lower degree of metal character in the excited state accompanying the extension of conjugation in the ligand. There is no significant difference between the emission properties of the bromo- and chloro-complexes, in contrast with the known complexes cis-[Pt(N^C-ppy)X2 ], where the quantum yield for X=Br is some 30 times lower than for X=Cl (ppyH=2-phenylpyridine). The lower energy of the excited state in the new complexes probably ensures that deactivating LLCT/LMCT states remain thermally inaccessible, even when X=Br.

The Dependency of Nematic and Twist-bend Mesophase Formation on Bend Angle.

We have prepared and studied a family of cyanobiphenyl dimers with varying linking groups with a view to exploring how molecular structure dictates the stability of the nematic and twist-bend nematic mesophases. Using molecular modelling and 1D 1H NOESY NMR spectroscopy, we determine the angle between the two aromatic core units for each dimer and find a strong dependency of the stability of both the nematic and twist-bend mesophases upon this angle, thereby satisfying earlier theoretical models.