Archive for January, 2012

Porous coordination polymers by grinding

In their recent Dalton Transactions Hot Article, Susumu Kitagawa and colleagues show that mechanochemical synthesis is a promising alternative method for the systematic and large-scale production of porous coordination polymers (PCPs).

Mechanochemistry involves the grinding of solids together to force them to react – no solvent needed. This is good news as mechanochemical methods can be cheaper, faster, greener and simpler than more conventional reaction process.

Read Kitagawa’s study for free until the 20th February:

Systematic mechanochemical preparation of a series of coordination pillared layer frameworks
Hirotoshi Sakamoto, Ryotaro Matsuda and Susumu Kitagawa
Dalton Trans., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/C2DT12012G

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Single Molecule Magnets in 2D

Single Molecule Magnets (SMMs) are transition metal clusters that show superparamagnetic behavior below the blocking temperature. The advantage of SMMs over other traditional magnets is that they can be soluble in organic solvents, can form crystalline structures and have a uniform size. It is also possible to modify their magnetic properties by altering the organic ligands surrounding the transition metal clusters. SMMs have potential applications in quantum computing and information storage.

Giannis Papaefstathiou et al have synthesized two new coordination polymers. They are both built from [Mn6] clusters and trimesate anions. However beacuase the base reaction blend is sensitive to reaction conditions, two different complexes were formed. The first coordination polymer is a 2D non-regular net which is held together by dative and hydrogen bonds. The second coordination polymer has a 2D regular structure and is held together only by dative bonds. Although different in structure, both polymers contain [Mn6] SMMs with S=4 ground states. Experiments have shown that there are both antiferromagentic and ferromagnetic interactions between the manganese ions.


To find out more read the
Daltons Transactions full paper
Two-dimensional frameworks built from Single-Molecule Magnets
Athanassios D. Katsenis, Ross Inglis, Alessandro Prescimone, Euan K. Brechin and Giannis S. Papaefstathiou
CrystEngComm, 2012, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C2CE06536C

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Metal complexes as biomolecular probes

Kenneth Kam-Wing Lo

The rich photophysical properties of luminescent inorganic and organometallic transition metal complexes, such as their intense, long-lived, and environment-sensitive emission, make them excellent candidates for biological and cellular probes. In this Dalton Transactions Perspective, Ken Lo and colleagues review examples of biological probes derived from luminescent transition metal complexes with a d6, d8, or d10 metal center.  Also discussed is the possible use of luminescent transition metal complexes as photodynamic therapeutics for various diseases or even light-activated drug release moelcules.

Applications of luminescent inorganic and organometallic transition metal complexes as biomolecular and cellular probes
Kenneth Kam-Wing Lo, Alex Wing-Tat Choi and Wendell Ho-Tin Law
Dalton Trans., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/C2DT11892

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Catalytic MOFs in a Click!

Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs) have received a great deal of attention over the past fifteen years and have proved applicable in a variety of areas including gas storage, catalysis, gas purification and drug delivery. For catalysis, MOFs have been reported that can catalyze a range of organic transformations. By modifying the internal structure of  MOFs that allow them to interact with guest species, their chemical reactivity can be fine tuned.

In this article Marie Savonnet et al. have post synthetically modified MOFs by using “click chemistry” for application in base catalysis. Basic catalyltic amino centres and lipophillic phenyl groups were successfully introduced into the  DMOF parent structure. These new functionalized MOFs are able to catalyse the transesterification of ethyldecanoate in methanol with good performance. The substrates were co-adsorbed into the MOF structure and from the presence of basic amino groups in the internal MOF structure, methanol can be activated for nucleophillic attack of the ethyldecanoate carbonyl group. This paper demonstrates that through rational design, MOF catalysts can be engineered with appropriate pore size and functionalities for a particular application.

To find out more about this Dalton Transactions Hot Article read the full paper

Tailoring metal-organic framework catalysts by click chemistry
Marie Savonnet, Aurélie Camarata, Jerome Canivet, Delphine Bazer-Bachi, Nicolas Bats, Vincent Lecocq, Catherine Pinel and David Farrusseng
Dalton Trans., 2012, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C2DT11994C

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HOT Article: Shedding new light on Zn and Cu metallothionein clusters

This HOT Article describes a computational study on Zn- and Cu-clusters with relevance for metallothioneins. It  shows promising results that may have important consequences for our understanding of the interaction between metal ions and metallothionein proteins.

Read more for FREE until 31st January 2012 at:

Metallothionein Zn2+– and Cu2+-clusters from first-principles calculations
Per Greisen, Jakob B. Jespersen and Kasper P. Kepp
Dalton Trans., 2012, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C1DT11785H

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Going Quaternary

Multinary chalcogenides have been synthesised for decades, some of these structures have interesting magnetic, thermoelectric and optical properties. Many contain at least one alkali metal while there are relatively few containing alkaline earths, examples of the latter variety include BaM4Se7 (M = Al, Ga) and Ba5Ga4Se10.

Jiyong Yao et al. describe in their HOT article the synthesis of the first two members of the alkaline-earth/group XI/group XIII/chalcogen system, which is not only an interesting alkaline earth chalcogenide but also the first reported quaternary arrangement. The analogue Ba4LiGa5Se12 was also synthesised and the three new types of structure were fully characterized and the optical properties determined.

To find out more about this Dalton Transactions Hot Article read the full paper which is free to access for 4 weeks.

Ba2AgInS4 and Ba4MGa5Se12 (M = Ag, Li): syntheses, structures, and optical properties
Wenlong Yin, Kai Feng, Dajiang Mei, Jiyong Yao, Peizhen Fu and Yicheng Wu
Dalton Trans., 2012, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C2DT11895E

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Top ten most accessed articles in November

This month sees the following articles in Dalton Transactions that are in the top ten most accessed:-

Water oxidation catalysed by manganese compounds: from complexes to ‘biomimetic rocks’ 
Mathias Wiechen, Hans-Martin Berends and Philipp Kurz 
Dalton Trans., 2012, 41, 21-31 DOI:10.1039/c1dt11537e 

Self-assembly in inorganic chemistry 
Paul E. Kruger and Thorfinnur Gunnlaugsson 
Dalton Trans., 2011, 40, 12003-12004 DOI:10.1039/c1dt90162a 

Paramagnetic metal complexes of diamido donor ligands 
Cassandra E. Hayes and Daniel B. Leznoff 
Dalton Trans., 2012, Advance Article DOI:10.1039/c1dt11559f 

A series of pillar-layer metal?organic frameworks based on 5-aminoisophthalic acid and 4,4′-bipyridine 
Hai-Ning Wang, Xing Meng, Chao Qin, Xin-Long Wang, Guang-Sheng Yang and Zhong-Min Su 
Dalton Trans., 2012, 41, 1047-1053 DOI:10.1039/c1dt11304f 

The future of metal-organic frameworks 
Neil R. Champness 
Dalton Trans., 2011, 40, 10311-10315 DOI:10.1039/c1dt11184a 

A cationic iridium(iii) complex showing aggregation-induced phosphorescent emission (AIPE) in the solid state: synthesis, characterization and properties 
Guo-Gang Shan, Ling-Yu Zhang, Hai-Bin Li, Shuang Wang, Dong-Xia Zhu, Peng Li, Chun-Gang Wang, Zhong-Min Su and Yi Liao 
Dalton Trans., 2012, 523-530 DOI:10.1039/c1dt11215e 

The structure and reactivity of iron nitride complexes 
Jeremy M. Smith and Deepak Subedi 
Dalton Trans., 2012, Advance Article DOI:10.1039/c1dt11674f 

A novel Zn4O-based triazolyl benzoate MOF: synthesis, crystal structure, adsorption properties and solid state 13C NMR investigations 
Jörg Lincke, Daniel Lässig, Karolin Stein, Jens Moellmer, Anusree Viswanath Kuttatheyil, Christian Reichenbach, Andreas Moeller, Reiner Staudt, Grit Kalies, Marko Bertmer and Harald Krautscheid 
Dalton Trans., 2012, 817-824 DOI:10.1039/c1dt11431j 

Stepwise synthesis of a hydrido, N-heterocyclic dicarbene iridium(iii) pincer complex featuring mixed NHC/abnormal NHC ligands 
Weiwei Zuo and Pierre Braunstein 
Dalton Trans., 2012, 41, 636-643 DOI:10.1039/c1dt11511a 

Luminescent Ir(iii) complexes containing benzothiazole-based tridentate ligands: synthesis, characterization, and application to organic light-emitting diodes 
Junpei Kuwabara, Tomomi Namekawa, Masa-aki Haga and Takaki Kanbara 
Dalton Trans., 2012, 41, 44-46 DOI:10.1039/c1dt11560j 

Why not take a look at the articles today and blog your thoughts and comments below.

Fancy submitting an article to Dalton Transactions? Then why not submit to us today or alternatively email us  your suggestions.

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Hot Article: Coordinatively unsaturated iridium clusters

Enzymes are able to stabilize metal clusters in an accessible and coordinatively unsaturated state, which allows them to control of adsorption and catalysis at the metal cluster site using an organic–ligand approach. However, the structural features that allow enzymes to achieve such high degrees of coordinative unsaturation remain unknown.

Alexander Katz and his group from UC Berkeley make steps towards determining this by making new stable coordinatively unsaturated iridium clusters in solution and finding out the factors that control their stability. The team use calix[4]arene phosphine ligands to stabilize decarbonylated Ir4 clusters and prevent their aggregation. You can find out whether the groups have solved the enzyme metal cluster puzzle by reading their Hot Article in Dalton Transactions.

The Hot Article is free to access until 31st January 2012:

Stabilization of coordinatively unsaturated Ir4 clusters with bulky ligands: a comparative study of chemical and mechanical effects
Alexander Okrut, Oz Gazit, Namal de Silva, Rita Nichiporuk, Andrew Solovyov and Alexander Katz
Dalton Trans., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/C1DT11734C

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Probing the invisible

Cytochrome P450 are an enzyme superfamily with a diverse range of functions and are particularly interesting in pharmaceutical, bioanalytical and environmental applications. They are able to metabolise drugs, degrade toxins and catalyse reactions for valuable products. Looking for new substrates which are active with P450 is a very active area of research however determining if a new substrate has reacted isn’t always easy.

There are known substrates for Cytochrome P450 BM3 which do not induce a spin shift on the heme iron, making the reaction undetectable by UV-vis. Expensive and time consuming assays with cofactors and LC-MS studies is one option but Gianfranco Gilardi et al. have developed a fluorescence probe which indicates binding for both physiological and non-physiological substrates and can be used to determine dissociation constants.

To find out more read the full Hot Article which is free to access for 4 weeks.

Fluorescence detection of ligand binding to labeled cytochrome P450 BM3
Valentina E. V. Ferrero, Giovanna Di Nardo, Gianluca Catucci, Sheila J. Sadeghi and Gianfranco Gilardi
Dalton Trans., 2012, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C1DT11437A

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Call for Papers: Polyoxometalates

We are pleased to announce an upcoming themed issue on Polyoxometalates, guest edited by Leroy Cronin and Deliang Long. It is our pleasure to invite you to contribute to this themed issue.
 
During the last few years, poloyoxometalate (POM) chemistry has growth significantly. Thanks to its versatile nature in terms of structure, size, redox chemistry, photochemistry, and charge distribution, POM chemistry is one of the areas in inorganic chemistry that is developing most rapidly. Today, developments in POM research continue at a great pace, and new areas are emerging that are multidisciplinary, and exploit the great structural and electronic diversity of POM-based systems. The future of POM chemistry has many exciting new dimensions, interacting with materials, nanotechnology, biology, surfaces, catalysis, supramolecular materials, colloid science, and electronic materials. This Dalton Transactions themed issue will highlight to the inorganic research community the latest and very best research in POM chemistry.
 
 
 
 
 
How to submit?
All types of manuscript, Communications, Full Papers and Perspectives, will be considered for publication. We aim to publish this themed issue in the second half of 2012 and therefore would like to receive manuscripts by 28th February 2012. The manuscript should be prepared according to the format for regular articles and should be submitted via our online system. All invited manuscripts will be subject to the normal refereeing procedure.
 
Read some recently published polyoxometalate articles:
 
 
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