Dalton Transactions Blog

We are delighted to announce our new spotlight collection on Photoinduced redox chemistry. Spotlight Collections are ongoing themed collections highlighting the best past and present work in Dalton Transactions.

This collection demonstrates the incredible breadth of ground-breaking research being undertaken in the area of photoinduced redox chemistry all over the world.

Many classes of inorganic complexes and materials can participate in photoinduced redox chemistry, in which absorption of a photon generates an excited state that then undergoes an electron-transfer event with a redox partner. Many classes of inorganic compounds spanning a large portion of the periodic table, including transition metal and f-element coordination compounds, organometallic complexes, MOFs, nanomaterials, and extended inorganic solids, can undergo photoinduced redox chemistry. Fundamental studies of the thermodynamics and kinetics of these excited-state redox processes remain important, as they continue to reveal key insights into how ligand design, electron configuration, molecular structure, crystal structure, environment and composition affect the excited-state redox chemistry of these many categories of inorganic compounds. Moreover, photoinduced charge transport processes involving inorganic compounds are important elementary steps in several applications, including but not limited to solar fuels, organic photoredox catalysis, dye-sensitized solar cells, and photodynamic therapy.

This Spotlight Collection covers various aspects of photoinduced redox chemistry in inorganic compounds including excited-state redox processes involving new inorganic materials, the development of novel systems for studying and optimizing these processes, and studies using known compounds for applications related to photoinduced charge transport, highlighting the important roles that existing inorganic compounds can play in these areas. This collection will showcase the combined roles that synthetic and physical inorganic chemistry, including time-resolved spectroscopy and computational studies, play in driving fundamental and applied research in this continually evolving field of research.

This collection is guest edited by Dalton Transactions Advisory Board member Prof. Thomas Teets (University of Houston), Prof. Dr. Katja Heinze (Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz) and Prof. Paul Elliott (University of Huddersfield).

Prof Paul Elliott

Prof Dr Katja Heinze

Prof Thomas Teets

See the full collection as it grows on our collection webpage, and check out a selection of articles below:

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The role of photoinduced charge transfer for photocatalysis, photoelectrocatalysis and luminescence sensing in metal–organic frameworks Xinlin Li, Sreehari Surendran Rajasree, Jierui Yu and Pravas Deria* Dalton Trans., 2020, 49, 12892-12917
	Mapping the influence of ligand electronics on the spectroscopic and 1O2 sensitization characteristics of Pd(ii) biladiene complexes bearing phenyl–alkynyl groups at the 2- and 18-positions Maxwell I. Martin, Trong-Nhan Pham, Kaytlin N. Ward, Anthony T. Rice, Phoebe R. Hertler, Glenn P. A. Yap, Philip H. Gilmartina and Joel Rosenthal* Dalton Trans., 2023, 52, 7512-7523
Evaluating the photophysical and photochemical characteristics of green-emitting cerium(iii) mono-cyclooctatetraenide complexes Pragati Pandey, Qiaomu Yang, Michael R. Gau and Eric J. Schelter* Dalton Trans., 2023, 52, 5909-5917
	Mechanistic insights into template-driven polyoxovanadate self-assembly: the role of internal and external templates Stefan Repp, Kim Lara Junginger, Dieter Sorsche, Theresa Zorn, Ann-Christin Pöppler,* Yuji Kikukawa,* Yoshihito Hayashi* and Carsten Streb* Dalton Trans., 2023, 52, 4002-4007
Visible light induced formation of a tungsten hydride complex Diane P. Isaacs, Cole T. Gruninger, Tao Huang, Aldo M. Jordan, Genique Nicholas, Chun-Hsing Chen, Marc A. ter Horst and Jillian L. Dempsey* Dalton Trans., 2023, 52, 3210-3218
	Photoinduced electron transfer in non-covalent complexes of C60 and phosphangulene oxide derivatives A. J. Stasyuk,* O. A. Stasyuk, M. Solà* and A. A. Voityuk* Dalton Trans., 2021, 50, 16214-16222

We are delighted to announce our new spotlight collection on Metallocycles and Metallocages. Spotlight Collections are ongoing themed collections highlighting the best past and present work in Dalton Transactions.

This collection demonstrates the amazing breadth of ground-breaking research being undertaken in the area of metallocycles and metallocages all over the world.

Metallocycles and metallocages are discrete, 2D and 3D metal-organic architectures. These beautiful and often complex structures can be formed from relatively simple building blocks through self-assembly processes centred around transition metal and lanthanide coordination chemistry. The diversity of accessible topologies and sizes, combined with their well-defined cavities, make them fascinating synthetic targets and attractive hosts in supramolecular chemistry. This Spotlight Collection aims to celebrate recent developments in the field, highlighting both fundamental and applied research.

Fundamental research into the construction and structural interconversion of new cages and metallocycles remains a valuable and popular research topic, while new and varied applications of these structures continue to develop and expand. Examples found within this collection include studies of spin and magnetism, hierarchical self-assembly into gels and applications in catalysis, separations, cancer therapeutics and optical detection.

This collection is guest edited by Dalton Transactions Advisory Board member Professor Lin Xu (East China Normal University), alongside Dr Cally Haynes (University College London) and Dr James Lewis (Imperial College London).

See the full collection as it grows on our collection webpage, and check out a selection of articles below:

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Ruthenium-based assemblies incorporating tetrapyridylporphyrin panels: a photosensitizer delivery strategy for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis by photodynamic therapy Manuel Gallardo-Villagrán, Lucie Paulus, Jean-Louis Charissoux, David Yannick Leger, Pascale Vergne-Salle, Bruno Therrien*and Bertrand Liagre* Dalton Trans., 2022, 51, 9673-9680
	The rigidity of self-assembled cofacial porphyrins influences selectivity and kinetics of oxygen reduction electrocatalysis Daoyang Zhang, Matthew R. Crawley, Ming Fang, Lea J. Kyle and Timothy R. Cook* Dalton Trans., 2022, 51, 18373-18377
Hydrazone- and imine-containing [PdPtL4]4+ cages: a comparative study of the stability and host–guest chemistry Lynn S. Lisboa*, Mie Riisom, Henry J. Dunne, Dan Preston, Stephen M. F. Jamieson, L. James Wright, Christian G. Hartinger and James D. Crowley* Dalton Trans., 2022, 51, 18438-18445
	Diastereoselectively self-sorted low-symmetry binuclear metallomacrocycle and trinuclear metallocage Srabani Srotoswini Mishra and Dillip Kumar Chand* Dalton Trans., 2022, 51, 11650-11657
Inside or outside the box? Effect of substrate location on coordination-cage based catalysis (Open Access) Atena B. Solea, Burin Sudittapong, Christopher G. P. Taylor and Michael D. Ward* Dalton Trans., 2022, 51, 11277-11285
	Substrate and product binding inside a stimuli-responsive coordination cage acting as a singlet oxygen photosensitizer (Open Access) Sonja Pullen, Susanne Löffler, André Platzek, Julian J. Holstein and Guido H. Clever* Dalton Trans., 2020, 49, 9404-9410

We are delighted to announce our new spotlight collection on Fluorinated ligands. Spotlight Collections are ongoing themed collections highlighting the best past and present work in Dalton Transactions.

This collection focuses on fluorinated ligands and their effects on physical properties and chemical reactivity.

Fluorine embodies reactivity and inertness, both of which are exploited by inorganic chemists. It is the most electronegative element in the periodic table (3.98 on the Pauling scale) and has a remarkably high reduction potential (2.87 V).  The van der Waals and covalent radii of fluorine are quite short (ranked third, only after the first-row elements hydrogen and helium), making it unusually small for its atomic number. The homonuclear bond in F₂ is particularly reactive while some heteronuclear bonds involving fluorine are remarkably stable. The combined effects of these features on fluorine-containing molecules are often unmatched by any other element, for example with carbon, where it forms very robust, chemically inert single bonds; the BDE of C-F compared to C-H bonds in CF₄ and CH₄ are 546.8 and 439.3 kJ/mol, respectively.

Metal complexes of fluorinated ligands in comparison to their non-fluorinated, hydrocarbon counterparts, usually display different properties such as relatively high thermal and oxidative stability, volatility, diminished vibrational modes and shifted spectroscopic features (absorption and emission), as well as unique reactivity profiles. They are also ideal for applications in fluorous-biphase media and supercritical CO₂. Additionally, fluorine containing anions such as [BF₄]^–, [SbF₆]^–, [B(C₆F₅)₄]⁻, and [B{3,5-(CF₃)₂C₆H₃}₄]⁻ are among the weakest donors known. This Spotlight collection brings together contributions by leading researchers on this topic to highlight some of the fascinating developments in fluorinated supporting ligands, C-F inertness, electron-withdrawing effects of fluoro-substituents, the weakly-coordinating nature of fluorinated anions, efforts to functionalize C-F bonds, and species that selectively deliver F, F^· and F^–.

This collection is guest edited by Dalton Transactions Advisory Board member Professor Rasika Dias, The University of Texas at Arlington, USA, and Professor Linda Doerrer, Boston University, USA.

See the full collection as it grows on our collection webpage, and check out a selection of articles below:

Oxidation of europium with ammonium perfluorocarboxylates in liquid ammonia: pathways to europium(ii) carboxylates and hexanuclear europium(iii) fluoridocarboxylate complexes (Open Access) Florian Morsbach, Steffen Klenner, Rainer Pöttgen and Walter Frank* Dalton Trans., 2022, 51, 4814-4828
	Facile preparation of a cobalt diamine diketonate adduct as a potential vapor phase precursor for Co3O4films Max Klotzsche, Davide Barreca*, Lorenzo Bigiani, Roberta Seraglia,  Alberto Gasparotto, Laura Vanin, Christian Jandl, Alexander Pöthig,  Marco Roverso, Sara Bogialli, Gloria Tabacchi*, Ettore Fois,  Emanuela Callone, Sandra Dirè and Chiara Maccato Dalton Trans., 2021, 50, 10374-10385
Investigation of the biological and photophysicochemical properties of new non-peripheral fluorinated phthalocyanines Çetin Çelik, Nazli Farajzadeh, MustafaAkın, Göknur Yaşa Atmaca,  Özgül Sağlam, Neslihan Şaki*, Ali Erdoğmuş* and Makbule Burkut Koçak* Dalton Trans., 2021, 50, 2736-2745
	Iridium complexes of an ortho-trifluoromethylphenyl  substituted PONOP pincer ligand (Open Access) Ethan W. Poole, Itxaso Bustos, Thomas M. Hood, Jennifer E. Smart and Adrian B. Chaplin* Dalton Trans., 2023, 52, 1096-1104
From ferrocene to 1,2,3,4,5-pentafluoroferrocene: halogen effect on the properties of metallocene William Erb*, Nicolas Richy, Jean-Pierre Hurvois*, Paul J. Low* and  Florence Mongin Dalton Trans., 2021, 50, 16933-16938
	Anionic N-heterocyclic carbenes featuring weakly coordinating perfluoroalkylphosphorane moieties Ludwig Zapf, Udo Radius* and Maik Finze* Dalton Trans., 2023, Advance Article

We are delighted to share with you our Spotlight Collection on MOF Sensors.

This Spotlight Collection is guest edited by Dalton Transactions Associate Editor Takashi Uemura (University of Tokyo).

Does your research fit into this subject area? If so, we would welcome your contribution.

Submit your research now

About the Spotlight Collection

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), comprised of metal ions and bridging organic ligands, have emerged as an important family of porous materials. Owing to their highly porous structures with functional properties, MOFs are considered as one of the most ideal materials for chemical sensors as the sensing properties are strongly influenced by surface interaction between analyte molecules and pore walls of MOFs. The application of MOFs covers the fields of sensing toward a variety of target compounds, including gases, solvents, explosives, ions, pollutions, and biological molecules. This spotlight collection focuses on the latest studies on MOF-based sensors published in Dalton Transactions, showing highly sensitive detections and the future research directions using MOFs with respect to general sensing principles and analytical performance.

Articles will be added to this open and on-going spotlight collection as soon as possible after they are published. You can find a selection of the articles below and check out the growing collection online here:

First Ln-MOF as a trifunctional luminescent probe for the efficient sensing of aspartic acid, Fe³⁺ and DMSO
Dongdong Yang, Liping Lu,* Sisi Feng and Miaoli Zhu*
Dalton Trans., 2020, 49, 7514-7524

Engineering design toward exploring the functional group substitution in 1D channels of Zn–organic frameworks upon nitro explosives and antibiotics detection
Zhan Zhou, Min-Le Han, Hong-Ru Fu, Lu-Fang Ma,* Feng Luo and Dong-Sheng Li*
Dalton Trans., 2018, 47, 5359-5365

The effect of functional groups in the aqueous-phase selective sensing of Fe(III) ions by thienothiophene-based zirconium metal–organic frameworks and the design of molecular logic gates
Rana Dalapati, Ülkü Kökçam-Demir, Christoph Janiak and Shyam Biswas*
Dalton Trans., 2018, 47, 1159-1170

How to submit:

All types of manuscript – communications, full papers, perspective, frontiers and comments – will be considered for publication. The manuscript should be prepared according to our article guidelines and submitted via our online system.

All manuscripts will be subject to the usual initial assessment and peer review processes as necessary, and inclusion in the Spotlight Collection will be at the discretion of the Guest Editors. Please indicate in your submission that you are submitting to the Spotlight Collection.

Interested in submitting a paper? Please contact us for more information.

We are delighted to share with you our Spotlight Collection on 2D Materials Chemistry.

This Spotlight Collection is guest edited by Dalton Transactions Associate Editor Li-Min Zheng (Nanjing University) alongside Eugenio Coronado (University of Valencia) and Hua Zhang (City University of Hong Kong).

Does your research fit into this subject area? If so, we would welcome your contribution.

Submit your research now

About the Spotlight Collection

Two-dimensional (2D) materials have fascinated scientists for more than a decade. While most work has been devoted to inorganic systems, there has been a distinct increase in metal-organic 2D materials. This themed collection will provide a brief overview of the latest developments of the inorganic and metal-organic 2D materials. It covers everything from synthetic strategies, chemical design, the variety of electronic, chemical and optical properties to applications in catalysis, sensors, energy storage and conversion, electronics and other related areas.

Articles will be added to this open and on-going spotlight collection as soon as possible after they are published. You can find a selection of the articles below and check out the growing collection online here:

Two-dimensional MAX-derived titanate nanostructures for efficient removal of Pb(II)
Pengcheng Gu, Sai Zhang, Chenlu Zhang, Xiangxue Wang, Ayub Khan,  Tao Wen,* Baowei Hu,* Ahmed Alsaedi, Tasawar Hayat and Xiangke Wang*
Dalton Trans., 2019, 48, 2100-2107

Few-layered MoSe₂ nanosheets as an advanced electrode material for supercapacitors
Suresh Kannan Balasingam, Jae Sung Lee and Yongseok Jun*
Dalton Trans., 2015, 44, 15491-15498

Neutral ligand TIPA-based two 2D metal–organic frameworks: ultrahigh selectivity of C₂H₂/CH₄ and efficient sensing and sorption of Cr(VI)
Hong-Ru Fu, Ying Zhao, Zhan Zhou, Xiao-Gang Yang and Lu-Fang Ma*
Dalton Trans., 2018, 47, 3725-3732

How to submit:

All types of manuscript – communications, full papers, perspective, frontiers and comments – will be considered for publication. The manuscript should be prepared according to our article guidelines and submitted via our online system.

All manuscripts will be subject to the usual initial assessment and peer review processes as necessary, and inclusion in the Spotlight Collection will be at the discretion of the Guest Editors. Please indicate in your submission that you are submitting to the Spotlight Collection.

Interested in submitting a paper? Please contact us for more information.

We are delighted to share with you our Spotlight Collection on Lanthanide and transition metal complexes as molecular magnets.

This Spotlight Collection is guest edited by Dalton Transactions Associate Editor Vadapalli Chandrasekhar (Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur).

Does your research fit into this subject area? If so, we would welcome your contribution.

Submit your research now

About the Spotlight Collection

The research area of molecule-based magnets encompassing single-molecule magnets (SMMs), single-ion magnets (SIMs) and single-chain magnets (SCMs) has been extremely active in recent years. This field is truly interdisciplinary and the advances in this field have been possible only due to a concerted effort from synthetic coordination- and organometallic chemists, physicists, materials scientists, and theoreticians. Research in this field is driven by both academic curiosity as well as the possibility of finding exotic applications such as high-density information to quantum computation. While many challenges remain to be overcome before the potential of these new materials can be realized, there has been substantial progress both in the design and assembly of these new systems as well as in understanding of their properties. This appears to be an appropriate time to bring out a special edition of Dalton Transactions on this multi-disciplinary subject.

Articles will be added to this open and on-going spotlight collection as soon as possible after they are published. You can find a selection of the articles below and check out the growing collection online here:

Conducting single-molecule magnet materials
Goulven Cosquer, Yongbing Shen, Manuel Almeida and Masahiro Yamashita*
Dalton Trans., 2018, 47, 7616-7627

Slow magnetic relaxation in penta-coordinate cobalt(ii) field-induced single-ion magnets (SIMs) with easy-axis magnetic anisotropy
Salah S. Massoud,* Zoe E. Perez, Jessica R. Courson, Roland C. Fischer, Franz A. Mautner, Ján Vančo, Michal Čajan and Zdeněk Trávníček*
Dalton Trans., 2020, 49, 11715-11726

A new class of Dy^III-SIMs associated with a guanidine-based ligand
Basharat Ali, Xiao-Lei Li, Frédéric Gendron, Boris Le Guennic* and Jinkui Tang*
Dalton Trans., 2021, 50, 5146-5143

How to submit:

All types of manuscript – communications, full papers, perspective, frontiers and comments – will be considered for publication. The manuscript should be prepared according to our article guidelines and submitted via our online system.

All manuscripts will be subject to the usual initial assessment and peer review processes as necessary, and inclusion in the Spotlight Collection will be at the discretion of the Guest Editors. Please indicate in your submission that you are submitting to the Spotlight Collection.

Interested in submitting a paper? Please contact us for more information.

We are delighted to share with you our Spotlight Collection on Atomic and Molecular Layer Deposition. 

This Spotlight Collection is guest edited by Dalton Transactions Associate Editor Prof. Maarit Karppinen (Aalto University), Prof. Anjana Devi (Ruhr-University) and Prof. Jolien Dendooven (Ghent University).

Does your research fit into this subject area? If so, we would welcome your contribution.

Submit your research now

About the Spotlight Collection

Atomic layer deposition (ALD) has been the fastest growing thin-film technology in the semiconductor industry for the last few decades, and is applied in photovoltaics systems and displays. The industrial applications naturally concern only few prototype materials (Al₂O₃, HfO₂, ZnO, TiO₂, etc.). However, in recent years the technique has been increasingly exploited towards new application domains and new materials, driving a continued demand for new precursors.

Molecular layer deposition (MLD) is a much less exploited counterpart of ALD for purely organic thin films. Particularly interesting though is the combination of ALD and MLD for hybrid inorganic-organic materials. This combined ALD/MLD technique was introduced in 2008 and it is now strongly emerging for various new MOF-like metal-organic materials and inorganic-organic multilayer structures which are believed to open up novel application possibilities.

Articles will be added to this open and on-going spotlight collection as soon as possible after they are published. You can find a selection of the articles below and check out the growing collection online here:

Atomic/molecular layer deposition and electrochemical performance of dilithium 2-aminoterephthalate
Juho Heiska, Mikko Nisula, Eeva-Leena Rautama, Antti J. Karttune and Maarit Karppinen*
Dalton Trans., 2020, 49, 1591-1599

A new metalorganic chemical vapor deposition process for MoS2 with a 1,4-diazabutadienyl stabilized molybdenum precursor and elemental sulfur
Jan-Lucas Wree, Engin Ciftyurek, David Zanders, Nils Boysen, Aleksander Kostka, Detlef Rogalla, Maren Kasischke, Andreas Ostendorf, Klaus Schierbaum and Anjana Devi*
Dalton Trans., 2020, 49, 13462-13474

Liquid atomic layer deposition as emergent technology for the fabrication of thin films
Octavio Graniel,* Josep Puigmartí-Luis* and David Muñoz-Rojas*
Dalton Trans., 2021, Advance Article

How to submit:

All types of manuscript – communications, full papers, perspective, frontiers and comments – will be considered for publication. The manuscript should be prepared according to our article guidelines and submitted via our online system.

All manuscripts will be subject to the usual initial assessment and peer review processes as necessary, and inclusion in the Spotlight Collection will be at the discretion of the Guest Editors. Please indicate in your submission that you are submitting to the Spotlight Collection.

Interested in submitting a paper? Please contact us for more information.