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Not only do we have a team of world-leading scientists on our Editorial Board but one of our members also excels on the running track… |  |
Chem Soc Rev Editorial Chairman, Professor Dirk Guldi, has run an amazing 13 marathons with a personal best of 3 hours, 9 minutes!
Also of interest… Chem Soc Rev Fact numbers 1, 2, 3.
The top cited Chem Soc Rev review article for 2011 is Jagan Narayanam and Corey Stephenson‘s “Visible light photoredox catalysis: applications in organic synthesis” which has received 27 citations (Thomson Reuters®) so far.
In their Tutorial Review, Narayanam and Stephenson provide a historical overview of using visible light to initiate organic reactions by employing Ru(II)polypyridine catalysts.
Download the Chem Soc Rev article to read about the recent developments in photoredox catalysis.
Also of interest… Chem Soc Rev Facts number 1 and 2.
Chem Soc Rev‘s latest impact factor was 26.583 (Thomson Reuters®, 2010) making us the second highest impact journal in chemistry. This is a third higher than the 2009 value and marks the third year in a row that we have seen a rise.
With analysis already underway for the 2011 impact factor, we’re predicting that next year will also be a success!
Visit the RSC Publishing blog to find out the impact factors for the other RSC journals.
In anticipation of Chem Soc Rev moving to 24 issues per year, we will be posting 24 facts about the journal – some well known, some not so well known, and some a little peculiar. Keep up-to-date with the blog page as we approach 2012, to ensure you don’t miss out on any Chem Soc Rev trivia!
And starting with Fact Number One…
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Chem Soc Rev started life under two different names. In 1972, Quarterly Reviews, Chemical Society and Royal Institute of Chemistry, Reviews joined to become Chemical Society Reviews. To browse all of our review articles dating back to 1947, visit the journal archive. |
In recent years, there has been an explosion of research effort in developing optical probes for biological applications. It seems that the conventional organic fluorophore is under threat from highly luminescent, nano-sized metallic rivals.
The wide range of organic fluorophores and the ease at which they can be conjugated to biomolecules still makes these a first choice in standard labelling procedures; however, their drawbacks, in particular their propensity to photobleaching, can be frustrating when conducting lengthy imaging experiments.
Many researchers are now looking to nanodots (well defined, encapsulated clusters that are free in solution) for the answer. In their Critical Review, Junhua Yu and co-workers focus on the imaging and sensing applications of silver nanodots and the advantages they have to offer over other materials. Like quantum dots, nanodots exhibit remarkable optical properties but also provide additional benefits such as being smaller in size and presenting fewer toxicological concerns.
Although their exceptionally small size is a plus, this also means that nanodots suffer from oxidation and have a tendency to aggregate, which needs to be overcome by encapsulating the nanodots within a protective layer. Yu and colleagues discuss the different strategies that are employed to this effect, namely solid matrices, synthetic polymers, small molecule ligands, peptides and single-stranded DNA. With a helping hand from these surface passivators, silver nanodots can be used as imaging agents and to detect metal ions, cysteine, and specific DNA sequences.
To read more about the recent progress in this field, download Junhua Yu’s review today.
Mass spectrometry can provide valuable insight into the structure, function, kinetics and dynamics of biomolecules, as demonstrated in this selection of recent reviews published in Chem Soc Rev.
Enjoy!
Ion mobility mass spectrometry of proteins and protein assemblies
Charlotte Uetrecht, Rebecca J. Rose, Esther van Duijn, Kristina Lorenzen and Albert J. R. Heck
Chem. Soc. Rev., 2010, 39, 1633–1655
Nanoparticle-based mass spectrometry for the analysis of biomolecules
Cheng-Kang Chiang, Wen-Tsen Chen and Huan-Tsung Chang
Chem. Soc. Rev., 2011, 40, 1269–1281
Hydrogen exchange mass spectrometry for studying protein structure and dynamics
Lars Konermann, Jingxi Pan and Yu-Hong Liu
Chem. Soc. Rev., 2011, 40, 1224–1234
Capturing protein structural kinetics by mass spectrometry
Gili Ben-Nissan and Michal Sharon
Chem. Soc. Rev., 2011, 40, 3627–3637
Systems level studies of mammalian metabolomes: the roles of mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy
Warwick B. Dunn, David I. Broadhurst, Helen J. Atherton, Royston Goodacre and Julian L. Griffin
Chem. Soc. Rev., 2011, 40, 387–426
Did you know…..?
Hubert Girault is the Associate Editor for Analytical Science for Chem Soc Rev’s sister journal, Chemical Science. He is welcoming the most exceptional analytical research articles. Visit the Chemical Science website for more information or submit your best work today.
The issue, guest edited by Professor Matthias Beller (Rostock University, Germany), includes 18 reviews highlighting recent key developments in cross-coupling reactions in organic synthesis. Authors include Stephen Buchwald, Lukas Goossen and Steven Nolan.
Also of interest: OBC Perspective: Tandem reactions initiated by copper-catalyzed cross-coupling: A new strategy towards heterocycle synthesis
The term ‘synthetic biology’ is used to describe the combination of engineering and biology. By rationally designing systems using biological building blocks, we can gain a better understanding of existing biological life, enabling new therapeutic solutions to be found.
Professor Wilfried Weber and colleagues from the University of Freiburg discuss in their Chem Soc Rev article recent synthetic biology technologies that have been developed for the treatment of disease, such as cancer and gouty arthritis, and also for creating functional materials.
Synthetic biological systems can be thought of as molecular circuits in which an external signal is received and processed, providing an output response. Many of the systems Weber describes involve ways to control the expression of certain genes. In one such example, protein molecules bind to a specific DNA sequence and interrupt the action of the RNA polymerase enzyme, stopping the gene from being expressed. By introducing a small ligand molecule that can bind to the protein, the protein changes its shape and no longer binds to the DNA, providing an on/off switch.
Upon binding of tetracycline, the regulator protein is released from the DNA sequence allowing transcription of the gene.
Weber also summarises how DNA, RNA and protein building blocks can be used to produce stimulus-responsive hydrogels which can also be applied for therapeutic use.
To find out more, download the Chem Soc Rev review article.
Synthesising compounds asymmetrically has obvious advantages – scientists don’t have to go through the laborious and wasteful process of separating then discarding the ‘wrong’ enantiomer. Huge libraries of compounds can be tested for their ability to catalyse a reaction of interest but determining the enantiomeric excess (ee) of the products is a bottleneck in the process.
So researchers have been developing high-throughput ee screening methods that can analyse samples as quickly as they are generated, ideally at a rate of a thousand or more per day.
Eric Anslyn and colleagues explore this topic in their Chem Soc Rev critical review, specifically focusing on optical methods. Download the review to find out about the advantages and drawbacks of a variety of techniques.
Also of interest:
Discrimination of flavonoids and red wine varietals by arrays of differential peptidic sensors
Alona P. Umali, Sarah E. LeBoeuf, Robert W. Newberry, Siwon Kim, Lee Tran, Whitney A. Rome, Tian Tian, David Taing, Jane Hong, Melissa Kwan, Hildegarde Heymann and Eric V. Anslyn, Chem. Sci., 2011, 2, 439-445
The eagle-eyed among you may have noticed a subtle change to the Chem Soc Rev homepage. Can you spot it?
Well, Chem Soc Rev will be doubly good next year as we’ll be moving to 24 issues.
So if you are subscribed to our e-alert, you’ll get two notifications per month about the latest topical reviews we’ve published. And if you read the print issues, you’ll find it a bit easier on the biceps when lifting them – there shouldn’t be any with more than 1000 pages like issue 5 this year.
If you have any suggestions for the journal, such as review topics or themed issue ideas, we’d love to hear them. Please contact us or leave your comments below.
