Author Archive

NJC Poster prize winners at E-WISPOC 2013

Two NJC poster prizes were awarded during the European-Winter School on Physical Organic Chemistry, which was held in Bressanone (Italy) from 27 January to 1 February 2013.

The two laureates received a one-year subscription to the journal and a RSC book. Our thanks go to the organizers of the conference for their help in organizing these awards, and our deep gratitude to all of the senior scientists who served on the jury to select the two following winners:

Giulia Iadevaia, who graduated in chemistry from the University La Sapienza in Rome and completed her Masters thesis under the supervision of Prof. Antonella Dalla Cort. During this time, she collaborated with Prof. Giulia Licini (University of Padova) and Prof. Kari Rissanen (University of Jyväskylä), where she carried out part of the work. Giulia is currently undertaking a PhD under the supervision of Prof. Christopher Hunter (University of Sheffield), studying cooperative hydrogen bonded systems. Her current research interest is in supramolecular chemistry, molecular recognition, and host-guest complexes.

Matea Vlatković was educated at the University of Zagreb. For her master research project, she moved to the University of Warsaw to work on constitutionally dynamic anion receptors with Dr. Michał Chmielewski. Matea is currently a PhD student under the supervision of Prof. Ben Feringa at the University of Groningen.  Her main research interests include organic synthesis, molecular switches, supramolecular chemistry, and catalysis. Besides her research activity, Matea enjoys dancing salsa, reading, traveling, and hiking.

NJC wishes them continuing success in their research!
A list of all previous NJC Poster Prize winners can be found here.
From left to right: Christiano Zonta, Laurent Vial, Giulia Iadevaia, Matea Vlatković, and Giulia Licini.
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Hot article: Highway to Gel

In this NJC letter, Christine Gérardin-Charbonnier and co-workers (Université de Lorraine, Vandoeuvre-Les-Nancy, France) report a supramolecular hydrogel resulting from the mixture of a cationic pseudopeptide (beta-AlaHisC8) and lauric acid in water at pH 8.5. The subsequent thermo-responsive aggregate displays a lamellar structure, which is stabilized by strong intermolecular hydrogen bonds and hydrophobic interactions.

This hydrogel could be a promising candidate for original biocompatible formulations in cosmetics or pharmaceuticals.

“A supramolecular hydrogel based on an original pseudopeptidic catanionic surfactant”

Firmin Obounou Akong,  Andreea Pasc,  Mélanie Emo and Christine Gérardin-Charbonnier

New J. Chem., 2013, Advance Article, DOI: 10.1039/C2NJ40960G.

Interested in reading further? These “Hot articles” will be FREE to access for a period of 4 weeks.

To stay up-to-date with the latest NJC developments, sign up to its table-of-contents email alert.

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Hot wheels: strapped porphyrin-based rotaxanes

Mechanically interlocked architectures such as rotaxanes and catenanes are prime candidates for the construction of molecular machines and the fabrication of molecular electronic devices. 

In this NJC paper, Kathleen Mullen and co-workers (Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia) report a “click” methodology towards bipyridinium porphyrin [2]rotaxanes. An X-ray study of the strapped zinc metalloporphyrin revealed that the wheel adopts a 1-dimensional coordination polymer arrangement in the solid state, in which an oxygen atom in the strap of one macrocycle is coordinated to the zinc metal center in an adjacent porphyrin ring. 

Future work will investigate the photo- and electro-chemical properties of these interlocked architectures.

“New approaches to the synthesis of strapped porphyrin containing bipyridinium [2]rotaxanes”
Victoria Raymont, Hannah Wilson, Michael Pfrunder, John C. McMurtrie and Kathleen M. Mullen
New J. Chem., 2013, Advance Article, DOI:10.1039/c2nj40762k.

Interested in reading further?  Why not read by accessing the full article now!  These “Hot articles” will be FREE to access for a period of 4 weeks. 

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Meet Our Authors – November 2012

This month again, we are delighted to introduce you to authors from NJC’s latest issue. Many thanks to them for sharing with us.

Our first author is Dr Kenta Adachi, who is Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental Science & Engineering at Yamaguchi University, Japan. His current research interests focus on the optical and spectroscopic properties of organic/inorganic hybrid nanoparticles and clusters, along with the design, assembly, and use of nanoparticle-tagged biomolecules as analytical tools for sensing, imaging, and diagnosis. In his NJC letter, an approach is presented for the first time to induce chirality in aggregates of achiral organic dyes by chiral amino acid molecules pre-adsorbed on the metal oxide colloid surface. The authors believe that these findings, together with the possibility of fine-tuning both amino acids and organic dyes on the metal oxide colloid surface, open new promising ways towards the design of efficient chiral supramolecular sensors and devices.

“NJC covers various areas of chemistry, and is a high quality multidisciplinary journal for all chemists. This study is focused on the interfacial phenomena of organic/inorganic hybrid materials, that is, is of broad interest to all organic, inorganic, and physical chemists”, commented Dr Adachi on choosing the NJC journal.

Besides his research activity, Kenta greatly enjoys travelling around the world with his wife, especially visiting world heritage sites. Together, they have already been to Machu Picchu, Nazca Lines (Peru), Chichen Itza, Calakmul, Palenque (Mexico), Hawaii Volcanoes, Statue of Liberty (USA), Uluru (Australia), Giza Pyramids (Egypt), Angkor (Cambodia), Sigiriya (Sri Lanka), Changdeokgung (South Korea), Suzhou (China), Himeji Castle (Japan), and Sri Lanka.  His most favorite world heritage site is Machu Picchu (see photo), and he is now planning to go to Indonesia to visit Borobudur Temple.

When asked for an alternative career path, Kenta replied: “In my childhood, I really wanted to become archaeologist. I’m still hanging in there. My dream will definitely come true if I don’t give up”.
“Chirality induction and amplification in methylene blue H-aggregates via D- and L-phenylalanine pre-adsorbed on the tungsten oxide nanocolloid surface” Kenta Adachi, Shohei Tanaka, Suzuko Yamazaki, Hideaki Takechi, Satoshi Tsukahara and Hitoshi Watarai, New J. Chem.2012, 36, 2167-2170. DOI: 10.1039/C2NJ40415J.

Dr Cyrille Monnereau is Assistant Professor at the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon (France). Dr Monnereau is interested in molecular engineering of chromophores and fluorophores, especially for biophotonics applications. In recent years, the authors have been trying to develop two-photon absorbing chromophores for fluorescence bio-imaging and photodynamic therapy, which could be easily and efficiently delivered into cells or target organs. The simple and adaptable ATRP methodology used in their NJC paper allowed the authors to progress significantly towards this aim, with minimal synthetic effort.

The ambitious and open-minded editorial line of NJC that promotes interdisciplinary and innovative works from all disciplines across chemistry, made NJC a logical choice in the authors’ eyes. In addition, they appreciate “The RSC not-for-profit motto, which ensures that science is the only criterion for papers’ acceptance or rejection”.

Outside of the lab, Cyrille’s favorite activity is listening to music and desperately trying to introduce his 4 and 2 years old kids to more or less obscure and experimental rock and jazz acts from the past 50 years. If he could not be a scientist, Cyrille would be a professional musician, although he admitted: “I have honestly never seriously thought about it”.

“Water-soluble chromophores with star-shaped oligomeric arms: synthesis, spectroscopic studies and first results in bio-imaging and cell death induction” Cyrille Monnereau, Sophie Marotte, Pierre-Henri Lanoë, Olivier Maury, Patrice L. Baldeck, David Kreher, Arnaud Favier, Marie-Thérèse Charreyre, Jacqueline Marvel, Yann Leverrier and Chantal Andraud, New J. Chem., 2012, 36, 2328-2333. DOI: 10.1039/C2NJ40407A.

Our last chemist for this month is Dr Marina Lezhnina, who is Research Fellow in the Institute for Optical Technologies at Münster University of Applied Sciences, Germany. Her research activity focuses on the synthesis of luminescent species in non-classical matrices, with applications in lighting technologies and analytics. Her NJC paper contributes to the search for efficient luminescing rare earth complexes with versatile potential for linkage to secondary substrates. The authors demonstrated that tris-ß-diketonate-Europium complexes could readily be co-ligated with epoxyphenanthroline, yet widely retaining the advantageous optical properties of higly efficient phenanthroline or bipyridyl analogues, while the epoxy group provides a fascinating prospect for coupling to polymer backbones, activated surfaces, and last but not least to biologically relevant substrates like proteins and peptides (see the glutathione model in the present publication).

Dr Lezhnina’s opinion of NJC is that:”The journal has published numerous articles on novel compounds with intriguing luminescent properties in the past. While claiming “a new direction in chemistry” based on our complexes would sound overstated, we yet believe that our work has some noteworthy implications, which may be acknowledged by the readership of the journal”.

In the non-lab world, Marina is fascinated by the true naturalness of Nature. At home, she likes to relax with Delta blues, to take an interest in social criticism and politics, and to see through crime stories. When asked for an alternative career path, Marina answered: “I would be getting on other people’s nerves with never-ending and obtrusive questioning”.

“Luminescence of a novel Eu(diketonato)–epoxiphenanthroline complex and covalent coupling to peptides via the epoxigroup” Marina M. Lezhnina, Diana Hofmann, Beatrix Santiago-Schübel, Peter Klauth and Ulrich H. Kynast, New J. Chem.2012, 36, 2322-2327. DOI: 10.1039/C2NJ40505A.

Check back next month for more profiles of NJC authors!

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NJC Poster prize winners at Suprachem 2012

Two NJC poster prizes were awarded during the 6th International Symposium “Supramolecular Systems in Chemistry and Biology”, which was held in Strasbourg from 5 to 8 September 2012.

Mr Sergey Tkachenko won for his poster entitled “Photoactive complexes on the basis of Crown-containing G styrylbenzothiazole and host molecules: components self-assembly and breakage”, presenting his diploma work at the Nesmeyanov Institute of Organoelement Compounds of Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow) in the group of Prof. Olga Fedorova. Sergey recently started his PhD at the Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology of Russia (Moscow) under the supervision of Prof. Leonid Kovalenko. His main research interests focus on supramolecular chemistry of host-guest complexes and photochemistry, and his non-scientific interests include classical music and literature as well as the art of decadence and modern art.

The award-winning poster of Dr Benjamin Gruber was entitled “Functionalized Synthetic Vesicles for Sensing & Catalysis”. Benjamin just finished his PhD at the University of Regensburg (Germany) in the group of Prof. Burkhard König and he will apply for a job in industry within a few months (Notice to potential employers!). Outside of the lab, Benjamin’s favorite activities are practising sports (running, swimming, volleyball), going out with friends, and cooking.

NJC wishes to congratulate the two laureates who received a one-year subscription to the journal and a RSC book. Our thanks go to the organizers of the conference for their help in organizing these awards, and our deep gratitude to all of the senior scientists who served on the jury to select the two winners.

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October issue of NJC out now!

We are pleased to introduce you to our latest issue. Whether you are a material, synthetic or biological chemist, you are guaranteed to find articles of relevance to your specialist interests.

The outside front cover highlights a paper by Katharina Fucke and co-workers (University of Durham, UK) and collaborators, reporting a comparative study of co-crystallisation methods for obtaining new co-crystal forms of a model drug compound with twenty different carboxylic acids. A total of 46 co-crystal forms of Piroxicam, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, were obtained. The authors offer several thoughts on how their results might usefully be applied to co-crystal screens in order to improve the solubility and/or dissolution rate of pharmaceutical drugs.

“How good are the crystallisation methods for co-crystals? A comparative study of piroxicam”, Katharina Fucke, Svetlana A. Myz, Tatyana P. Shakhtshneider, Elena V. Boldyreva and Ulrich J. Griesser New J. Chem., 2012, 36, 1969-1977, DOI: 10.1039/C2NJ40093F.


The inside front cover was produced by Marian R. Davolos and co-workers (Universidade Estadual Paulista, Araraquara, Brazil). In this paper, the authors describe the synthesis and characterization of the amphiphilic europium complex [(C12H25)2(CH3)2N][Eu(tta)4], along with the formation of stable Langmuir monolayers at the air/water interface. The molecular arrangement at the air/water interface and the preserved luminescence in the Langmuir–Blodgett films were consistent with theoretical predictions. This luminescent and amphiphilic complex could be used as a probe when incorporated in Langmuir monolayers of phospholipids or other surfactants that mimic cell membranes.

“Synthesis of a functionalized europium complex and deposition of luminescent Langmuir–Blodgett (LB) films”, Renata D. Adati, Felippe J. Pavinatto, Jorge H. S. K. Monteiro, Marian R. Davolos, Miguel Jafelicci and Osvaldo N. Oliveira New J. Chem., 2012, 36, 1978-1984, DOI: 10.1039/C2NJ40199A

You can access and read the whole issue 10 of NJC here. Leave us a comment and let us know what you think!

To be alerted to each new issue of the NJC journal, sign-up for FREE Contents list email alert.

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Water-soluble chromophores shining like a star

In this NJC article, Cyrille Monnereau and his colleagues (University of Lyon, France) report an Atom Transfer Radical Polymerisation (ATRP) approach towards star-shaped chromophores, which bear hydrophilic oligomeric arms that form an “insulating shell” around the nano-sized molecules, resulting in their solubility in water with good conservation of their fluorescence quantum yield. These new amphiphilic chromophores are promising candidates for cellular fluorescence and photodynamic therapy. The authors claim that this synthetic strategy for photoactive species is straightforward and adaptable.

“Water-soluble chromophores with star-shaped oligomeric arms: synthesis, spectroscopic studies and first results in bio-imaging and cell death induction” Cyrille Monnereau, Sophie Marotte, Pierre-Henri Lanoë, Olivier Maury, Patrice Baldeck, David Kreher, Arnaud Favier, Marie-Therese Charreyre, Jacqueline Marvel, Yann Leverrier and Chantal Andraud, New J. Chem., 2012, Accepted Manuscript, DOI: 10.1039/C2NJ40407A.

 

Interested to know more? Why not read the full article now and let us know your thoughts and comments below!
This Hot Article will be free to access for a period of 4 weeks.

 

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“Naked-eye” detection of chirality

Chiral analysis continues to receive considerable attention since enantiomers often differ in their pharmacological activity and pharmacokinetic profile.

In this NJC letter, Haibing Li and co-workers from Central China Normal University at Wuhan (P.R. China) report a colorimetric sensor that displays a selective and strong response to L-histidine resulting from the agglomeration of silver nanoparticles. The authors believe that the self-assembly of nanoparticles into clusters is an effective approach to improve the sensitivity of chiral detection.

colorimetric amino acid detection

“Chiral colorimetric recognition of amino acids based on silver nanoparticle clusters” Yao Sun, Liang Zhang and Haibing Li, New J. Chem., 2012, Advance Article. DOI: 10.1039/C2NJ40098G.

Interested to know more? Why not read by accessing the full article now! This “Hot article” will be FREE to access for a period of 4 weeks.
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Meet Our Authors – June Issue 2012

This month again, we are very happy to showcase a selection of our authors from the June issue of NJC. Scroll down to meet excellent and experienced scientists who have donated their time to answer a few questions for us.

 

Our first author is Matthias Tamm, who is Full Professor and Head of the Institute of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry at the Technische Universität Braunschweig, Germany. His current research interests are focused on Organometallic Chemistry, in particular homogeneous catalysis, alkyne metathesis, frustrated Lewis pairs and cycloheptatrienyl complexes. In a joint contribution to NJC, his group and the group of Prof. Yaofeng Chen (Shanghai) have brought together two comparatively uncommon aromatic p-systems, the formally (!) cationic tropylium ion and the boratabenzene anion, in 16-electron zirconium sandwich complexes. Addition of nucleophiles such as phosphines could have expected to occur either at the boron or at the zirconium atom, with the latter being exclusively observed.

 NJC is a high quality multidisciplinary journal, which continuously publishes excellent organometallic works from everywhere in the world.”, commented Prof. Tamm on choosing the NJC journal to publish this work.

 

Besides his research activity, Matthias enjoys playing with the kids (photo shows Friedrich, Ferdinand and Mathilde with little Edgar missing), and hiking. When asked: “If you could not be a scientist but could be anything else what would you be?”, Matthias facetiously answered: “Rich?”.

“Boratatrozircenes: cycloheptatrienyl zirconium boratabenzene sandwich complexes – evaluation of potential η6–η5 hapticity interconversions” Andreas Glöckner, Peng Cui, Yaofeng Chen, Constantin G. Daniliuc, Peter G. Jones and Matthias Tamm, New J. Chem., 2012, 36, 1392-1398. DOI: 10.1039/C2NJ40059F.

Our next author is Giancarlo Cravotto from the University of Torino (Italy), who is Full Professor of Organic Chemistry and Director of the Department of Drug Science and Technology. Prof. Cravatto’s research activity is documented by more than 200 scientific peer-reviewed papers, several book chapters and patents. His main research interests are the synthesis of fine chemicals, cyclodextrin derivatives and bioactive compounds. These studies have paved the road to innovative synthetic procedures and the preparation of new catalysts and ionic liquids, exploiting non conventional techniques such as high-intensity ultrasound, microwaves, flow chemistry and ball milling. Prof. Cravotto is Editor of two international journals: Ultrasonics Sonochemistry (Elsevier) and Green Processing and Synthesis (De Gruyter).

 

When asked why did he decide to submit this work to NJC, Giancarlo answered: “NJC covers new fields of research and innovative technologies in a wide scenario of chemical activities. Our paper is an eloquent example of innovative synthetic procedure under non-conventional technique (mechanochemistry).”

 

“Suzuki cross-couplings of (hetero)aryl chlorides in the solid-state” Giancarlo Cravotto, Davide Garella, Silvia Tagliapietra, Achim Stolle, Stefan Schüßler, Silke E. S. Leonhardt and Bernd Ondruschka, New J. Chem., 2012, 36, 1304-1307. DOI: 10.1039/C2NJ40064B.

 

Chaojing Lu is Professor of Physics and Materials Science at the faculty of the College of Physics Science of Qingdao University in Qingdao, Shandong province (P. R. China). His current research interests are focused on ferroelectric materials of perovskite structure, including the orientation growth of ferroelectric thin films on metal electrodes, in-situ TEM study of ferroelectric domains, and ferroelectric/multiferroic nanomaterials for applications in both photocatalysis and photoelectric conversion. In this NJC Letter, Chaojing and co-workers report the synthesis of Bi2Fe4O9 nanocrystals via a simple chemical co-precipitation method. The nanocrystals display a high photo-to-current conversion efficiency under visible irradiation, which is promising for applications in photoelectrode and solar energy conversion.

 

The interdisciplinary nature of the work, involving chemistry, physics, nanotechnology, and energy sciences made NJC a logical choice in the authors’ eyes. In addition, they appreciate that “the NJC review and publication processes are pretty fast.”

 

Outside of the lab, Chaojing’s favorite activity is friendship dancing and mountain climbing. He often climbs both Fushan and Laoshan mountains in Qingdao and enjoys the beautiful scenes of the two mountains very much. He is also easily inebriated in gentler dancing steps and classical dancing music. If he could not be a scientist, Chaojing would be a chef or a surgeon.

 

“Photo-to-current response of Bi2Fe4O9 nanocrystals synthesized through a chemical co-precipitation process” Yongping Li, Yongcheng Zhang, Wanneng Ye, Jianqiang Yu, Chaojing Lu and Linhua Xia, New J. Chem., 2012, 36, 1297-1300. DOI: 10.1039/C2NJ40039A.

 

Our last chemist for this month is Markus Albrecht, who is Professor of Organic Chemistry at the RWTH Aachen University, Germany. Prof. Albrecht’s research activity lies in the broad field of Supramolecular Chemistry. In collaboration with the group of Prof. Rissanen (University of Jyväskylä, Finland), this NJC article describes a systematic approach to position anions by directing effects above an electron deficient pi-system.

 

About NJC, Prof. Albrecht commented that: “NJC gives the opportunity to publish papers which are of interest to chemists in different research areas. In our case we published a physical organic study which is highly relevant to people working in the field of supramolecular chemistry or crystal engineering.”

 

Playing with his two boys or listening to music are Markus’ favorite activities outside the lab. When asked for an alternative career path, Markus unequivocally answered: “A scientist working somewhere else.”

 

“Controlling the position of anions relative to a pentafluorophenyl group” Michael Giese, Markus Albrecht, Katharina Wiemer, Arto Valkonen and Kari Rissanen, New J. Chem., 2012, 36, 1368-1372. DOI: 10.1039/C2NJ40089H.

 

Check back next month for more profiles of NJC authors!

 

Fancy submitting an article to NJC? Then why not submit to us today or alternatively email us your suggestions.
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NJC poster prize winners at the 12th Eurasia Conference on Chemical Sciences

We are pleased to announce the recent poster prizes awarded at the 12th Eurasia Conference on Chemical Sciences held in Corfu (Greece) last month.

Gentiana Qendro (University “Planetar” of Tirana, Albenia) was selected for her poster entitled “Investigation of the drug stability at the amorphous state for two aryl propionic acid derivatives using thermal analysis.” Gentiana hold two master degrees from the University of Tirana in both Pharmaceutical Sciences and Law. She’s currently in her last PhD year, working on the adaptation of the Albanian legislation according to the EU directives. Gentiana teaches both Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Legislation at the University “Planetar” of Tirana.

The other poster prize was awarded to Dr Mohammed Mohammed Ameen Abdullah (University of Mosul, Iraq) for his poster entitled “Voltametric  determination of modecate using square wave voltammetry (s.w.v) technique: application to blood serum and urine of schizophrenic patients.” Mohammed was educated at the University of Mosul, where he was promoted lecturer in Chemistry in 2006. He teaches kinetics and thermodynamics for undergraduate students and his research interests focus on the detection of drugs in biological fluids.

Many congratulations again from the NJC editorial team to Gentiana Qendro and Dr Mohammed Mohammed Ameen Abdullah on their awards, and to the organizers of this conference for their help in organizing these awards.

Want to meet us? The NJC editors at the 2012 conferences & events!

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