Chemical Society Reviews Blog

I am delighted to announce that Dr Rachel O’Reilly from the University of Warwick, UK, has been appointed as a new Chem Soc Rev Editorial Board member.

Rachel is an expert in the design, synthesis and application of polymeric materials. She is a strong supporter of RSC journals, including recently contributing to the ChemComm Emerging Investigators issue and guest editing the Polymer Chemistry Emerging Investigator issue.

She brings a wealth of knowledge and enthusiasm to the Chem Soc Rev Editorial Board and we look forward to working with her.

If you have an idea for a review or themed issue, let us know. Sign up for the Chem Soc Rev e-alert to be notified when the latest issue is online.

Also of interest:
Cylindrical micelles from the living crystallization-driven self-assembly of poly(lactide)-containing block copolymers
Nikos Petzetakis, Andrew P. Dove and Rachel K. O’Reilly, Chem. Sci., 2011, DOI: 10.1039/C0SC00596G

Reversible morphological switching of nanostructures in solution
Adam O. Moughton, Joseph P. Patterson and Rachel K. O’Reilly, Chem. Commun., 2011, 47, 355-357

Radical reactions play a large role in organic synthesis; however, chemists are often disappointed when they obtain poor yields. But, say Keith Ingold and colleagues, a judicious choice of solvent could be the solution, if you’ll pardon the pun.

In their Chem Soc Rev review, rated as ‘hot’ by the referees, the team focus on kinetic solvent effects that often have a dramatic effect on the yield of many radical-based organic syntheses.

Distinguishing the folklore from the facts, this review is essential reading for all students contemplating a career in synthetic organic chemistry (and no doubt many of their supervisors, who may have been perpetuating the myth).

Love is in the air and also, it would seem, in our journals too. Here’s the general chemistry team’s tips for creating the right chemistry for your Valentine’s Day:

1. All you need is love? Not quite, but it’s a good start Gabriele Froböse, Rolf Froböse, Lust and Love Is it more than chemistry?, Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge, 2006

2.  Say it with flowers Flowerlike supramolecular architectures assembled from C-60 equipped with a pyridine substituent Xuan Zhang, Takashi Nakanishi, Tetsuya Ogawa, Akinori Saeki, Shu Seki, Yanfei Shen, Yusuke Yamauchi and Masayuki Takeuchi, Chem. Commun., 2010, 46, 8752-8754

3.  Put some fizz into your relationship Recent advances in the science of champagne bubbles Gérard Liger-Belair, Guillaume Polidori and Philippe Jeandet, Chem. Soc. Rev., 2008, 37, 2490-2511

4.  If you’re really serious, a ring wouldn’t hurt Design synthesis and photocatalytic activity of a novel lilac-like silver-vanadate hybrid solid based on dicyclic rings of [V4O12](4-) with {Ag7}(7+) cluster Yan Hu, Fang Luo and Fangfang Dong, Chem. Commun., 2011, 47, 761-763

5.  And remember: diamonds are a girl’s best friend Playing the surface game-Diels-Alder reactions on diamond nanoparticles Gerald Jarre, Yuejiang Liang, Patrick Betz, Daniel Lang and Anke Krueger, Chem. Commun., 2011, 47, 544-546

6. First comes love then comes….? Marriage of porphyrin chemistry with metal-catalysed reactions Hiroshi Shinokubo and Atsuhiro Osuka, Chem. Commun., 2009, 1011-1021

Do you have any more suggestions for forming bonds with your loved one? Post them below to share the love.

Have a happy Valentine’s Day!

Joanne

Our referees found these Chem Soc Rev articles particularly interesting. Download them and let us know if you agree. And if you like them, cite them.

Multifunctionality in hybrid magnetic materials based on bimetallic oxalate complexes
Miguel Clemente-León, Eugenio Coronado, Carlos Martí-Gastaldo and Francisco M. Romero
Chem. Soc. Rev., 2011, 40, 473-497

Titanium oxo-clusters: precursors for a Lego-like construction of nanostructured hybrid materials
Laurence Rozes and Clément Sanchez 
Chem. Soc. Rev., 2011, 40, 1006-1030

Kinetic subtleties of nitroxide mediated polymerization
Denis Bertin, Didier Gigmes, Sylvain R. A. Marque and Paul Tordo 
Chem. Soc. Rev., 2011, DOI: 10.1039/C0CS00110D

Catalytic C–H amination: the stereoselectivity issue
Florence Collet, Camille Lescot and Philippe Dauban 
Chem. Soc. Rev., 2011, DOI: 10.1039/C0CS00095G

 Zebrafish as a good vertebrate model for molecular imaging using fluorescent probes
Sung-Kyun Ko, Xiaoqiang Chen, Juyoung Yoon and Injae Shin
Chem. Soc. Rev., 2011, DOI: 10.1039/C0CS00118J

Linking heterometallic rings for quantum information processing and amusement
Grigore A. Timco, Thomas B. Faust, Floriana Tuna and Richard E. P. Winpenny 
Chem. Soc. Rev., 2011, DOI: 10.1039/C0CS00151A

Framework-structured weak ferromagnets
Dan-Feng Weng, Zhe-Ming Wang and Song Gao
Chem. Soc. Rev., 2011, DOI: 10.1039/C0CS00093K

Transition-metal catalyzed oxidative cross-coupling reactions to form C–C bonds involving organometallic reagents as nucleophiles
Wei Shi, Chao Liu and Aiwen Lei 
Chem. Soc. Rev., 2011, DOI: 10.1039/C0CS00125B

Chemomechanics: chemical kinetics for multiscale phenomena  
Zhen Huang and Roman Boulatov 
Chem. Soc. Rev., 2011, DOI: 10.1039/C0CS00148A