Frank Tambornino
Graphical Abstract
“My first experiment was trying to melt rock salt with a blowtorch when I was about 6 years old… I lose track of time when I play the piano. I firmly believe that a hole in time and space opens up and spits me out after hours and it feels like mere minutes have passed…”
Find out more about Frank Tambornino in his Introducing… Profile.
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Position, Location: | Emmy-Noether Group Leader, University of Marburg (Germany) |
| Homepage: | https://www.uni-marburg.de/en/fb15/researchgroups/ag-tambornino?set_language=en | |
| ORCID: | orcid.org/0000-0003-3538-6049 | |
| Education: | 2007–2010, BSc with Prof. T. M. Klapötke at LMU Munich (Germany) 2010–2013, MSc with PD C. Hoch at LMU Munich (Germany) 2013–2016, Dr. rer. nat. with PD C. Hoch at LMU Munich (Germany) 2017–2018, Postdoc with Prof. J. Goicoechea at the University of Oxford (UK) |
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| Research: | Inorganic molecular and solid-state chemistry of reactive species, pseudohalogens | |
| Hobbies: | Rock climbing, playing the piano and listening to music in general, reading |
My science “heroes” are Justus von Liebig and Friedrich Wöhler.
Chemistry/science is fun because there is always more to explore. The possibilities to follow your own interests are endless.
My first experiment was trying to melt rock salt with a blowtorch when I was about 6 years old. Of course it didn't work, and pouring water onto the hot stuff was also not my greatest idea either. The first “real” experiment was an ester synthesis in school.
A turning point in my career was to take the leap and try molecular inorganic chemistry in my postdoc as opposed to my training in solid-state chemistry during my doctoral studies.
To keep up with the latest research in my field, I rely on an RSS feed reader and my colleagues who always forward interesting research.
The most challenging aspect of refereeing is staying professional when you internally scream.
I advise my students to think for themselves and not hesitate to question my ideas. Be bold!
I'm always in a good mood when I can crack a problem that has been bothering me for a while.
My secret/not-so-secret passion is sports climbing.
I lose track of time when I play the piano. I firmly believe that a hole in time and space opens up and spits me out after hours and it feels like mere minutes have passed.
When I was a kid, I wanted to be an air traffic controller, which was both my parents’ job.
My favorite place on earth is next to my partner. Everything else is secondary.
My favorite drink is glass of water in the middle of the night when I wake up parched.
My favorite piece of music is (depending on the mood) either the full set of Mazurkas by Frédéric Chopin or Shadows of the Dying Sun by Insomnium.
The last non-scientific book I read was Proto: How One Ancient Language Went Global by Laura Spinney.
Behind the Science
Our research encompasses both molecular and solid-state chemistry of reactive species, and we focus particularly on pseudohalogens. The tellurocyanate anion is the heaviest chalcogen congener of the cyanate family, which are archetypical pseudohalogens. While tellurocyanate has been known for over 50 years, many key characteristics were unknown. To get a complete picture of the cyanates, we set out to take a close look! Especially challenging was the NMR characterization, which was only possible through a combination of isotope labeling (13C and 15N) and quantum chemical calculations. Thanks go out to the great collaborators who made this project possible.
The author presented on this page has published his first article as a submitting corresponding author in Angewandte Chemie:
“A Thorough Characterization of the Tellurocyanate Anion”: H. Günther, F. Weigend, X. Xie, W. Cao, X.-F. Gao, X.-B. Wang, F. Tambornino, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2025, 64, e202507543.
International edition: DOI: 10.1002/anie.202514406
German edition: DOI: 10.1002/ange.202514406
