Jessica Cocker, Development Editor – Page 2

Author Archive

Poster prizes at UKTC2014

08 Sep 2014

PCCP was delighted to award poster prizes at the National Training School in Theoretical Chemistry which recently took place at Oxford University, UK. The School is for graduate students from across the UK and aims to provide a broad-based introduction to key concepts and techniques that underpin research in theoretical and computational chemistry.

The posters were judged by Prof. Knowles, University of Cardiff and Prof. Doye, University of Oxford and each student received a PCCP prize certificate, as well as a financial award from the journal. The winners were:

Jack Davis, from Birmingham University, with a poster entitled Characterisation of Chemical Ordering in Palladium-Iridium Nanoalloys
Robert Pennifold, from Bristol, whose poster was entitled Understanding Reaction Mechanisms in Metal Catalysts using Ab Initio Methods
Julien Sindt, from Edinburgh University, with his poster Effective many-body interactions in polar fluids and their effects on structure and phase behaviour

PCCP will be awarding more Poster Prizes next year, so please do let us know of any suitable conferences which PCCP could sponsor in 2015.

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Perception, Inspiration, Application: The Effects of Butterflies’ Wings

11 Aug 2014

I like picking out Perspective articles to focus on in these blog posts. They give me a chance to read about a field that I know less about, phrased in language that is accessible to those of us who aren’t specialists in that particular area. This then allows me to easily pick out the major themes and hopefully inspire others to follow me in reading a welcoming overview of a different research field. However, even in the spirit of broadening my horizons I wasn’t expecting butterfly wings in PCCP! It stuck out so obviously that I immediately knew I had found the next article I wanted to feature.

How many physical chemists or chemical physicists have extensive lepidopteral knowledge? I’m willing to bet it’s only a handful. In this perspective article, Zhang and co-authors tell the story of how we’re making use of the structural secrets of butterfly wings that have been revealed by previous research.

The study of the structure of butterfly wings is nothing new, its been going on for centuries. Yet it’s only recently that we’ve been able to apply that knowledge and develop new concepts and technologies as structural characterisation has reached the nanoscale. You might be surprised by the diversity of the research areas and applications that are mentioned, I certainly was!

Read the full article online here:

Butterfly effects: novel functional materials inspired from the wings scales

W. Zhang et al., Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys, 2014, DOI: 10.1039/C4CP01513D

Graphical abstract

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PCCP Impact Factor rises to 4.19

30 Jul 2014

We are delighted to announce that PCCP’s Impact Factor* has increased to 4.19. pccp cover

PCCP has a large and truly international readership, which spans many communities in the broad fields of physical chemistry, chemical physics and biophysical chemistry.

With fast publication times and great author service, PCCP remains the ideal home for high-quality research.

We thank all of our authors, referees and Board members for their continued support of the journal.

We invite you to submit your next high-quality paper to PCCP.

Read more about the 2013 Impact Factors from across RSC Publishing on the RSC Publishing Blog.

*The Impact Factor provides an indication of the average number of citations per paper. Produced annually, Impact Factors are calculated by dividing the number of citations in a year by the number of citeable articles published in the preceding two years. Data based on 2013 Journal Citation Reports^®, (Thomson Reuters, 2014).

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Density Functional Theory and its applications – themed collection online now!

09 Jul 2014

PCCP is delighted to present its latest themed collection covering recent developments in Density Functional Theory with a balance between theory and applications. The issue was guest edited by David Tozer (Durham University, UK) and Michael Peach (Lancaster University, UK) and was published in conjunction with the 15th International Conference on Density Functional Theory and its Applications (DFT2013) that took place at Durham University, UK, from 9–13 September 2013.

The outside front cover features Dye Chemistry with time-dependent density functional theory, a perspective article from Adèle Laurent, Carlo Adamo and Denis Jacquemin.

Check out the themed issue online which contains an excellent range of Papers and Communications in addition to the following Perspective articles:

One-electron self-interaction and the asymptotics of the Kohn–Sham potential: an impaired relation
Tobias Schmidt, Eli Kraisler, Leeor Kronik and Stephan Kümmel
Perspective, DOI: 10.1039/C3CP55433C

Density functional tight binding: values of semi-empirical methods in an ab initio era
Qiang Cui and Marcus Elstner
Perspective, DOI: 10.1039/C4CP00908H

The derivative discontinuity of the exchange–correlation functional
Paula Mori-Sánchez and Aron J. Cohen
Perspective, DOI: 10.1039/C4CP01170H

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What’s really going on in the C60 anion? The answer will probably surprise you.

25 Jun 2014

I know I’ve highlighted articles on fullerenes before in this blog, and although I try not to repeat myself too often, the ever evolving story of C₆₀ is a topic too interesting to stay away from. This time around I’ve been learning about the extra special properties of anionic C₆₀, as recently described by Klaimen and co-authors.

One of the most exciting things about the C₆₀ anion is that it has electronically bound excited states, a property not shared by less exciting molecules of similar electron affinity. In this paper, the authors delve into the all-important, but hitherto unanswered, question of why it is that these excited states are able to exist. In order to do so, they turn to high level theory, which allows them to consider the full electron densities of both the anion and the neutral molecule in order to gain their new insight.

The conclusion the authors reach is simultaneously important, neat and potentially liable to cause controversy. If that prospect piques your interest, then I suggest you go and read the article to find out all the details, as they’re best read in the authors’ own words.

By Victoria Parkes, Guest web writer based at the University of Nottingham

Read the full article in PCCP here: All for one and one for all: accommodating an extra electron in C₆₀

Shachar Klaiman, Evgeniy V. Gromov and Lorenz S. Cederbaum

Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2014, 16, 13287–13293

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Poster Prizes at Bunsentagung 2014

19 Jun 2014

PCCP was delighted to award poster prizes at the Bunsentagung 2014, which took place on 29–31 May at the University of Hamburg.

A total of eight poster prizes were awarded to the following recipients:

Alexander Riss (University of California Berkeley)
Marina Schenk (Bielefeld University)
Mona Calik (University of Munich)
Maria Wuithschick (Humboldt University of Berlin)
Christian Heine (Fritz Haber Institute of the MPG)
Denis Czurlok (University of Bonn)
Sascha Schäfer (University of Göttingen)
Johannes Lang (University of Kaiserslautern)

A further 10 winners were also awarded with the PCCP ‘Hot Topics’ Prize: Janika Lauth (University of Hamburg), Wei Liu (Dresden University of Technology), Michael Senske (Ruhr University Bochum), Benjamin Sperlich (Dortmund University), Uta Stange (University of Kiel), Helen Preiß (University of Göttingen), Jan Goritzka (University of Bremen), Simon Merz (Radboud University Nijmegen), Manuel Tsotsalas (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology) and Roland Frach (TU Dortmund).

Congratulations to the recipients of all the prizes!

Keep up to date with the latest PCCP articles and news: sign up to receive our free table of contents e-alerts and follow us on twitter.

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Measuring single-molecules in the living cell mini-collection online now!

06 Jun 2014

A mini-collection of articles covering the newest developments in in vivo single-molecule methods has recently been published online as part of issue 25 of PCCP. The mini-collection highlights the great progress that has been made in tracking individual fluorescent proteins in living cells or bacteria and to this end the novel microscopy and labelling strategies that have been developed. Also covered are techniques like optical tweezers that are being applied more and more to living cells, using particles that are smaller and can be trapped with specificity.

Journal cover: Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics

The following articles are featured in the collection:

A review by Lene Oddershede and co-workers detailing the recent and exciting results achieved through the optical force manipulation of individual molecules in vivo. The review describes the capabilities of optical tweezers, the only nano tool able to manipulate individual molecules and organelles within living cells without disturbing the cell wall. Read more about this extremely useful technique online.

A perspective article by Erwin Peterman et al. reviews methods for investigating membrane–protein diffusion in bacteria, a challenging task due to the extremely small size of bactiera. This article has also been featured on the rather striking front cover of the issue!

Mark Leake has contributed a perspective article detailing the development and application of a variety analytical methods used to localize and track single fluorescently-labelled molecules. He carefully evaluates known methods using case studies and identifies the challenges still facing the field in developing further robust analytical protocols to single-cell single molecule data.

Anne Plochowietz and co-workers offer a new approach to study intramolecular charges or complex formation using FRET at the single-cell level in live bacteria. Read more online about how their method shows improved cell viability and loading over previous studies.

So read more about this fascinating area of research in issue 25 of PCCP online now!

Graphical abstract: Characterization of organic fluorophores for in vivo FRET studies based on electroporated molecules

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Applications open for the 2015 Gordon F. Kirkbright Bursary Award

04 Jun 2014

The Gordon F. Kirkbright bursary award is a prestigious annual award that enables a promising student/non-tenured young scientist of any nation to attend a recognised scientific meeting or visit a place of learning.

The fund for this bursary was established in 1985 as a memorial to Professor Gordon Kirkbright in recognition of his contributions to analytical spectroscopy and to science in general. Although the fund is administered by the Association of British Spectroscopists (ABS) Trust, the award is not restricted to spectroscopists.

Applications are invited for the 2015 Gordon Kirkbright Bursary.

For further information contact John Chalmers by email: vibspecconsult@aol.com

The closing date for entries is 31 December 2014.

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Porous materials with FEZA 2014 – extended deadline

03 Jun 2014

The deadline for submission to a cross journal web collection on porous materials in conjunction with the FEZA 2014 conference has been extended to 9^th June 2014.

The conference will cover all aspects of science and technology associated with ordered porous materials – zeolites, zeotypes, mesostructured materials and porous coordination polymers. Submissions are welcome to the relevant journals across the themes of the conference and the collection will also receive promotion at the meeting in September.

For more information on the collection and participating journals, please see the original post.

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PCCP at Bunsentagung 2014

28 May 2014

Bunsentagung 2014 is taking place later this week in Hamburg, Germany (29–31 May). PCCP Deputy Editor Jeanne Andres will be there so if you are also attending please do visit our stand – we’d love to meet you and hear any feedback that you may have about our journal.

PCCP activities with Bunsentagung:

15^th anniversary issue: A special issue to mark 15 years since the very first issue of Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics was published recently. The issue contains work from many of the people who have contributed to the success of the journal over the last 15 years and Jeanne will have free copies to give away – so make sure to get yours!

PCCP prizes: For the 8^th year running PCCP is proud to sponsor Poster Prizes and “hot topic” awards at the Bunsentagung rewarding outstanding research.

Co-Owner of PCCP: PCCP is co-owned by 18 national chemical societies including the Deutsche Bunsen-Gesellschaft (DBG) für Physikalische Chemie. Every time a paper by a German author is published in PCCP, the DBG receives a financial royalty from the journal. We are proud of PCCP’s strong and historic links with German research.

Board Members: Germany is well represented on the board of PCCP – Martina Havenith, Ruhr-University Bochum and Frank Neese, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion are both Associate Editors for the journal handling papers on THz and IR spectroscopy and Theoretical and Computational Chemistry respectively. We are also privileged to have Stefan Grimme, Wolfgang Lubitz, Manfred Martin, Gerard Meijer, Joachim Sauer, Ferdi Schüth, Martin Suhm, Jürgen Troe and Hans-Joachim Werner on our Editorial and Advisory Boards.

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