Ruth Doherty, Deputy Editor – Dalton Transactions Blog

Author Archive

Gold(III) and porphyrins – magic together

24 Jan 2012

The authors of this Dalton Transactions Hot Article show that gold(III) has two roles in reactions between gold(III) and porphyrins. The gold coordinates with porphyrins to make new complexes and can act as an effective catalyst in C-H activation which can be tuned through changing the anions, ligands and oxidants. Why not download the article now for free until the end of Feb to find out more……

Dual facet of gold(III) in the reactions of gold(III) and porphyrins
Hongbin Lv, Boyan Yang, Jing Jing, Yi Yu, Jing Zhang and Jun-Long Zhang
Dalton Trans., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/C2DT12280D

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Porous coordination polymers by grinding

23 Jan 2012

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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Metal complexes as biomolecular probes

19 Jan 2012

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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Hot Article: Coordinatively unsaturated iridium clusters

05 Jan 2012

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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POMs away! Investigating rotational isomerism in POMs

05 Jan 2012

Polyoxometalates (POMs) are an outstanding family of compounds, well known for their huge structural diversity, interesting catalytic activities and rich electrochemistry. POMs are comprised of metal oxide building blocks with a general formula {MOx}n.

Lee Cronin and his team have a long association with the study of these exciting structures and in their recent Hot Article in Dalton Transactions this team takes a look at the rotational isomerism of the non-classical Wells–Dawson POMs. The group combine their theoretical investigation with ESI-MS to connect theory to experimental results. In doing so they determine the general stability trend of these types of POMs. Find out more by reading the article itself which is free to access until the 31st January 2012.

Exploring the rotational isomerism in non-classical Wells–Dawson anions {W18X}: a combined theoretical and mass spectrometry study
Laia Vilà-Nadal, Scott G. Mitchell, De-Liang Long, Antonio Rodríguez-Fortea, Xavier López, Josep M. Poblet and Leroy Cronin
Dalton Trans., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/C2DT11919F

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New palladium selenoether nanoparticles

20 Dec 2011

Ajai Singh and his team have grown Pd₄Se and Pd₇Se₄nanoparticles for the first time. Why is this interesting? Well, because palladium and platinum chalcogenides have many uses – from catalysis, to electronic devices and light image receiving materials. But these compounds can be difficult to make safely as the current precursors are toxic and/or volatile. Singh and colleagues have made these new nanoparticles as a possible safe precursor to these valuable chalcogenide compounds. Find out more in this recent Hot Communication FREE for you to access until the 15th January:

Palladium(II)–selenoether complexes as new single source precursors: First synthesis of Pd4Se and Pd7Se4 nanoparticles
Ved Vati Singh, Gyandshwar Kumar Rao, Arun Kumar and Ajai K. Singh
Dalton Trans., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/C2DT12113A

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After-effects of Aluminium AMMM

20 Dec 2011

Alkali-Metal Mediated Metallation (AMMM) is a recent advance in C–H to C–metal exchange and it could be very useful synthetic chemistry community. AMMM involves the mixing of a typically powerful metallating reagent (e.g. an alkali-metal compound) with a weaker metallating reagent to make a single ligand-shared molecular compound which seemingly displays the reactivity of the alkali-metal coupled with the selectivity and functional group tolerance of the subordinate metal. Hey Presto – a great metallation!

AMMM can be carried out in relatively cheap, non-polar solvents without the need for high temperatures. Usually Mg and Zn reagents are used in AMMM but recently +3 oxidation state aluminium reagents have proved effective. In this Hot Article, Robert Mulvey, Stuart Robertson and their team from Strathclyde have examined AMMM reactions with Al and studied the after effects of lithium-mediated alumination of 3-iodoanisole. To find out what they discovered read the article itself:

After-effects of lithium-mediated alumination of 3-iodoanisole: isolation of molecular salt elimination and trapped-benzyne products
Elaine Crosbie, Alan R. Kennedy, Robert E. Mulvey and Stuart D. Robertson
Dalton Trans., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/C2DT11893A

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How to use amidate ligands in dinitrogen chemistry

13 Dec 2011

In this paper, the authors investigate Cp*Ta(amidate) complexes as potential precursors for the synthesis of valuable dinitrogen complexes. The results indicate that the Cp*, amidate ligand environment can be useulf in support‌ing dinitrogen complexation by low valent tantalum species.

Oxygen extrusion from amidate ligands to generate terminal TaO units under reducing conditions. How to successfully use amidate ligands in dinitrogen coordination chemistry
Patricia Horrillo-Martinez, Brian O. Patrick, Laurel L. Schafer and Michael D. Fryzuk
Dalton Trans., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/C1DT11595B

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Call for papers: Frustrated Lewis Pairs

28 Nov 2011

We are pleased to announce an upcoming themed issue on Frustrated Lewis Pairs, guest edited by Doug Stephan. It is our pleasure to invite you to contribute to this themed issue.

The concept of Frustrated Lewis Pairs (FLPs) was formulated in 2006/2007. Since then, an explosive array of creative applications in stoichiometric and catalytic reactivity have been developed based on this simple concept. Activation of a variety of small molecules has garnered much interest and utility in fields including metal-free hydrogenations, green-house gas chemistry, hydrogen storage and organic synthesis have also emerged. A number of these systems have prompted insightful computational studies targeting a deeper understanding of this novel reactivity. Moreover the notion of FLPs has broadened well beyond the initial phosphine/borane systems, with extensions to a variety of main group and transition metal systems as well as organic reagents. This themed issue aims to grasp the current momentum in FLP chemistry and hopes to bring together contributions from experts across the field.

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 summer 2012 and therefore would like to receive manuscripts by 16th 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 subjected to the normal refereeing procedure.

Deadline for Submission: 16th February 2012.

Please indicate on submission that your manuscript is intended for this themed issue and direct any questions to the Dalton Transactions Editorial Office.

You might also be interested to read some recent research on FLPs:

Perspective: Organometallic frustrated Lewis pair chemistry
Gerhard Erker
Dalton Trans., 2011, 40, 7475-7483 DOI: 10.1039/C1DT10152H

Hot Article: Chloro- and phenoxy-phosphines in frustrated Lewis pair additions to alkynes
Christopher B. Caputo, Stephen J. Geier, Eva Y. Ouyang, Christoph Kreitner and Douglas W. Stephan
Dalton Trans., 2011, DOI: 10.1039/C1DT11196E

Reactivity of Lewis pairs (R2PCH2AlMe2)2 with carbon dioxide
Josée Boudreau, Marc-André Courtemanche and Frédéric-Georges Fontaine
Chem. Commun., 2011, 47, 11131-11133 DOI: 10.1039/C1CC14641F

Perspective: Frustrated Lewis pairs: a new strategy to small molecule activation and hydrogenation catalysis
Douglas W. Stephan
Dalton Trans., 2009, 3129-3136 DOI: 10.1039/B819621D

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Traffic light signals for biolabelling

11 Nov 2011

Luminescent iridium complex surfactants form spherical aggregates in water, changing from red to green on aggregation, scientists from Germany and Italy have discovered.
The team, led by Luisa De Cola, say that the aggregates have different properties to the single components, and that the change between them could enable this system to be used as a probe for bio-imaging and bio-labelling. Read more in their Hot Article – free to access until the 29th November 2011.

Aggregation induced colour change for phosphorescent iridium(III) complex-based anionic surfactants
Matteo Mauro, Gabriele De Paoli, Matthias Otter, Daniela Donghi, Giuseppe D’Alfonso and Luisa De Cola
Dalton Trans., 2011, DOI: 10.1039/C1DT11251A

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