Author Archive

Top 10 Communication articles from Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry

Below are the top 10 cited OBC Communications ever – take a look and let us know what your favourites are:

A donor–acceptor substituted molecular motor: unidirectional rotation driven by visible light
Richard A. van Delden, Nagatoshi Koumura, Annemarie Schoevaars, Auke Meetsma and Ben L. Feringa
DOI: 10.1039/B209378B

The small peptide-catalyzed direct asymmetric aldol reaction in water
Pawel Dziedzic, Weibiao Zou, Jonas Háfren and Armando Córdova
DOI: 10.1039/B515880J

Improving conversion and enantioselectivity in hydrogenation by combining different monodentate phosphoramidites; a new combinatorial approach in asymmetric catalysis
Diego Peña, Adriaan J. Minnaard, Jeroen A. F. Boogers, André H. M. de Vries, Johannes G. de Vries and Ben L. Feringa
DOI: 10.1039/B302097E

Accelerated asymmetric transfer hydrogenation of aromatic ketones in water
Xiaofeng Wu, Xiaoguang Li, William Hems, Frank King and Jianliang Xiao
DOI: 10.1039/B403627A

Direct asymmetric three-component organocatalytic anti-selective Mannich reactions in a purely aqueous system
Lili Cheng, Xiaoyu Wu and Yixin Lu
DOI: 10.1039/B701579H

A highly selective and sensitive fluorescent PET (photoinduced electron transfer) chemosensor for Zn(II)
Thorfinnur Gunnlaugsson, T. Clive Lee and Raman Parkesh
DOI: 10.1039/B309569J

Enantioselective construction of quaternary carbon centre catalysed by bifunctional organocatalyst
Tian-Yu Liu, Jun Long, Bang-Jing Li, Lin Jiang, Rui Li, Yong Wu, Li-Sheng Ding and Ying-Chun Chen
DOI: 10.1039/B605871J

A chiral molecular recognition approach to the formation of optically active quaternary centres in aza-Henry reactions
Kristian Rahbek Knudsen and Karl Anker Jørgensen
DOI: 10.1039/B500618J

Direct palladium-catalyzed alkenylation, benzylation and alkylation of ethyl oxazole-4-carboxylate with alkenyl-, benzyl- and alkyl halides
Cécile Verrier, Christophe Hoarau and Francis Marsais
DOI: 10.1039/B816374J

Organocatalytic asymmetric epoxidation reactions in water–alcohol solutions
Wei Zhuang, Mauro Marigo and Karl Anker Jørgensen
DOI: 10.1039/B512542A

If you have highly important work that would benefit from urgent publication in synthetic, biomolecular or physical organic chemistry why not consider submitting a Communication article to OBC? Find out more…

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Issue 6 online – including water-binding aquafoldamers, fluorinated probes and glycosylated 5-hydroxylysine

On the outside front cover of this week’s issue is a hot article from Huaiqing Zhao, National University of Singapore, et al. on a series of water-binding aquafoldamers with potential use in recognizing topologically diverse larger water clusters and as synthetic water channels. This article is part of our forthcoming themed issue on Foldamer Chemistry.

Synthesis, structural investigation and computational modelling of water-binding aquafoldamers
Huaiqing Zhao, Wei Qiang Ong, Xiao Fang, Feng Zhou, Meng Ni Hii, Sam Fong Yau Li, Haibin Su and Huaqiang Zeng
DOI: 10.1039/C1OB06609A

The inside front cover is work from Jonathan Guimond-Tremblay, Université Laval, et al. on the synthesis of three monofluorinated dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine derivatives for use as probes in 19F NMR studies to study the effects of drugs and peptides on model membranes.

Synthesis and properties of monofluorinated dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine derivatives: Potential fluorinated probes for the study of membrane topology
Jonathan Guimond-Tremblay, Marie-Claude Gagnon, Jozy-Ann Pineault-Maltais, Vanessa Turcotte, Michèle Auger and Jean-François Paquin
DOI: 10.1039/C2OB06570C

The issue also includes a review on the synthesis of glycosylated (2S,5R)-hydroxylysine from Margaret Brimble and coworkers and a hot article from Valentina Cerulli et al., on a highly diastereoselective Ugi multicomponent reaction

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OBC celebrates its 10th year of publication

Image ©Shutterstock

We can’t quite believe it but this year Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry is going to be 10 years old!

To celebrate this we will be publishing an issue later this year that features some of the best work by chemists from across the broad scope of the journal, many of whom have served on our Editorial or Advisory Boards over the years.

Leading up to the issue we’ll be bringing you some of our ‘Top 10s’ from the journal…watch this space!

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Hot Emerging Area article: olefin cross-metathesis for the synthesis of heteroaromatic compounds

Timothy Donohoe et al. from the University of Oxford review recent developments in the synthesis of furan, pyrrole and pyridine heterocycles via cross-metathesis methods in this Emerging Area article.

It’s free to access for 4 weeks, so take a look…

Olefin cross-metathesis for the synthesis of heteroaromatic compounds
Timothy J. Donohoe, John F. Bower and Louis K. M. Chan
DOI: 10.1039/C2OB06659A

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Issue 5 just published – gold-mediated modification of oligosaccharides and easy access to cinnamonitriles on the covers

On the outside front cover a communication from Chi-Ming Che and Man-Kin Wong et al. is highlighted, showing their method for gold-mediated bifunctional modification of oligosaccharides via a three-component coupling reaction.

Gold-mediated bifunctional modification of oligosaccharides via a three-component coupling reaction
Karen Ka-Yan Kung, Gai-Li Li, Lan Zou, Hiu-Chi Chong, Yun-Chung Leung, Ka-Hing Wong, Vanessa Kar-Yan Lo, Chi-Ming Che and Man-Kin Wong
DOI: 10.1039/C1OB06429K

On the inside front cover is an article from Brindaban C. Ranu et al. on copper catalysed cyanation of styrenyl bromides to give functionalized cinnamonitriles with preserved stereochemistry.

Hydroxyapatite-supported Cu(I)-catalysed cyanation of styrenyl bromides with K4[Fe(CN)6]: an easy access to cinnamonitriles
Debasree Saha, Laksmikanta Adak, M. Mukherjee and Brindaban C. Ranu
DOI: 10.1039/C1OB06467C

View the rest of the issue including a review on squaraine dyes in photodynamic therapy

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Hot article on intramolecular Prins cyclization of benzyl ethers to give novel dioxabicycles and oxatricycles

B. V. Subba Reddy et al. report the stereoselective synthesis of cis– and trans-fused bicyclic and tricyclic tetrahydropyran scaffolds.  Their method involves DDQ oxidation to activate the benzylic C-H of various benzyl ethers and subsequent intramolecular Prins cyclization to give the dioxa-bicycles and oxatricycles.

Read the details for free for the next 4 weeks…..

Oxidative Prins and Prins/Friedel–Crafts cyclizations for the stereoselective synthesis of dioxabicycles and hexahydro-1H-benzo[f]isochromenes via the benzylic C–H activation
B. V. Subba Reddy, Prashant Borkar, J. S. Yadav, P. Purushotham Reddy, A. C. Kunwar, B. Sridhar and René Grée
DOI: 10.1039/C1OB06489D

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Hot article on the synthesis of heparin oligosaccharides and the inhibition of eosinophil-derived neurotoxin binding

In this hot article Shang-Cheng Hung et al have devised a synthetic route to heparin oligosaccharides from cheap D-glucosamine and diacetone α-D-glucose starting materials.  Heparin is a widely used anticoagulant, but homogeneous heparin oligosaccharides are difficult to obtain naturally and synthetic access is required.  This article describes routes to tri-, penta- and heptasaccharides which are able to inhibit eosinophil-derived neurotoxin, a protein with ribonuclease activity that is released as part of the immune response to allergic inflammation e.g. in asthma.

Read more..

Synthesis of heparin oligosaccharides and their interaction with eosinophil-derived neurotoxin
Shang-Cheng Hung, Xin-An Lu, Jinq-Chyi Lee, Margaret Dah-Tsyr Chang, Shun-lung Fang, Tan-chi Fan, Medel Manuel L. Zulueta and Yong-Qing Zhong
DOI: 10.1039/C1OB06415K

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Hot article on the 3-way DNA junction as a scaffold for chromophore assemblies

The naturally occurring 3-way junction formed at the branch point of three DNA or RNA strands is a useful structure for organising functional molecules.  In this hot paper Markus Probst et al. have used the three-way junction to assemble non-nucleosidic alkynylpyrene and perylenediimide chromophores at the branch point area.  The spectroscopic properties of the chromophores can be modified depending on the composition of the DNA junction, ranging from monomer or excimer fluorescence to complete quenching, demonstrating the potential of such assemblies for use in diagnostic, electronic, optical and mechanical applications

Read more…..

The DNA three-way junction as a mould for tripartite chromophore assembly
Markus Probst, Daniel Wenger, Sarah M. Biner and Robert Häner
DOI: 10.1039/C1OB06400B

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Calixarene octopi on the cover of Issue 4

This rather tropical cover image illustrates work from Yan-Song Zheng and colleagues on amphiphilic calixarenes.  They have shown that when amphiphilic calix[4]arene and carboxylic acids such as naproxen and ibuprofen interact the direction of the branched substituents can be reversed, changing the shape and size of the calixarene micelles from solid to hollow or linear.  They liken this change in shape to an octopus engulfing fish!

Read the paper free for 6 weeks:

Effect of carboxylic acid on micelles of a neutral amphiphilic dendro-calix[4]arene
Hong Huang, Dong-Mi Li, Weizhou Wang, Yi-Chang Chen, Khalid Khan, Song Song and Yan-Song Zheng
DOI: 10.1039/C1OB06358H

View the rest of the issue here

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HOT: urea synthesis from titanium imido complexes using carbon dioxide as a reagent

CO2 is an attractive alternative feedstock to oil for the fine chemicals industry, due to its abundance and the fact that it is a waste product in many other industrial processes.  But carbon dioxide’s inertness makes it difficult to realistically use as a C-1 reagent.  In this hot paper Jim Anderson and Rafael Bou Moreno from UCL report advances towards the green dream by synthesising ureas from the reaction of CO2 with 12- and 14-electron titanium imido complexes.

Download the paper for all the details – it’s free to access for 4 weeks:

Synthesis of ureas from titanium imido complexes using CO2 as a C-1 reagent at ambient temperature and pressure
James C. Anderson and Rafael Bou Moreno
DOI: 10.1039/C1OB06576A

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