Dalton Transactions Blog

N-heterocyclic carbenes themed issue – submissions open

25 Jun 2012

Dalton Transactions is now welcoming submissions for a themed issue in N-heterocyclic carbenes, guest edited by Dr Catherine Cazin from the University of St Andrews.

Submission deadline: 28^th November 2012

N-Heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) have become ubiquitous in coordination and organometallic chemistry and have had profound impact in homogeneous catalysis. This class of ligands has attracted significant attention during the last fifteen years, with hundreds of papers published every year, and four books dedicated to the topic. This Dalton Transactions themed issue will seek to highlight to the inorganic research community the latest and very best research in the field ranging from synthetic to applications-oriented contributions.

All article types will be considered – Communications, Full Papers, Frontiers and Perspectives. See our author guidelines for more information.

Click here to submit

Please note that inclusion in the themed issue will be subject to the guest editor’s discretion. All manuscripts will undergo peer-review in accordance with the Dalton Transactions mandate.

For enquiries, please contact the Editorial Office.

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Upcoming Conference: Eurobic 2012

21 Jun 2012

By Matthew Cude, Development Editor.

The 11th European Biological Inorganic Chemistry Conference (Eurobic 11) will be in Granada, Spain, from September 12-16, 2012.

The sessions will take place in the Conference Centre of Granada, in a beautiful part of the city within a few minutes walking distance to local hotels. The event is being hosted by the Inorganic Chemistry Department at the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Granada, under the auspices of the University of Granada (UGR).

The conference will cover all topics of biological inorganic chemistry and includes lectures from the following plenary speakers

John H. Dawson, University of South Carolina, USA
Henryk Kozlowski, University of Wroclaw, Poland
Luis Liz Marzan, University of Vigo, Spain
Claudio Luchinat, University of Florence
Juan Manuel García Ruiz, Granada, Spain
Roland K.O. Sigel, University of Zurich, Switzerland
Montserrat Filella, University of Geneva, Switzerland
Thomas Hamelryck, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Michael John Hannon, University of Birmingham, UK

Registration to the conference is still open and you can find out more details by visiting the Eurobic11 website.

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Fast Synthesis of C-dots

18 Jun 2012

By Leah Morris, Web Writer.

Quantum dots are nanoparticles of semiconductor material which, because of their very small size, display different optical and electrical properties to that of the corresponding material in the bulk phase. Traditional semiconductor quantum dots are used in optical applications such as cell imaging, LEDs and photodetectors due to their high extinction coefficient.

Due to their cheaper cost and intrinsic low toxicity, carbon nanodots (C-dots) have the potential to replace traditional semiconductor quantum dots. To overcome some of the drawbacks with previous methods of fabricating C-dots, Zhenui Kang and his team at Soochow University, China have developed a facile one step electrochemical synthesis. This exciting new method produces c-dots of high purity and uses only pure water as an electrolyte, which is attractive because it is low cost and more environmentally friendly .

The team also synthesized nanohybrid TiO₂/C-dots which possess good photocatalytic activity.

To find out more about the photoluminescence and photocatalytic properties of C-dots, read the full Dalton Transactions article…

Large Scale Electrochemical Synthesis of High Quality Carbon Nanodots and Their Photocatalytic Property
Zhenhui Kang, Hai Ming, Zheng Ma, Yang Liu, Keming Pan, Hang Yu and Fang Wang

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Lewis Pair polymerization

18 Jun 2012

By Helen Lunn, Publishing Editor.

This article is HOT as recommended by the referees. And we’ve made it free to access for 4 weeks.

In this HOT article, Chen et al. extend their previous work to present a combined experimental and computational investigation of Lewis Pair polymerization incorporating 11 Lewis acids and 10 achiral and chiral Lewis bases, for the polymerization of 12 different types of monomers.

Read more about the polymerization mechanism for FREE for 4 weeks at:

Lewis pair polymerization by classical and frustrated Lewis pairs: acid, base and monomer scope and polymerization mechanism
Yuetao Zhang, Garret M. Miyake, Mallory G. John, Laura Falivene, Lucia Caporaso, Luigi Cavallo and Eugene Y.-X. Chen
Dalton Trans., 2012, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C2DT30427A

This article will form part of a themed issue on Frustrated Lewis Pairs guest edited by Douglas W. Stephan. Other papers in this issue include:

Exchange chemistry of ^tBu₃P(CO₂)B(C₆F₅)₂Cl
Rebecca C. Neu, Gabriel Ménard and Douglas W. Stephan

Fixation of carbon dioxide and related small molecules by a bifunctional frustrated pyrazolylborane Lewis pair
Eileen Theuergarten, Janin Schlösser, Danny Schlüns, Matthias Freytag, Constantin G. Daniliuc, Peter G. Jones and Matthias Tamm

[2.2]Paracyclophane derived bisphosphines for the activation of hydrogen by FLPs: application in domino hydrosilylation/hydrogenation of enones
Lutz Greb, Pascual Oña-Burgos, Adam Kubas, Florian C. Falk, Frank Breher, Karin Fink and Jan Paradies

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95th Canadian Chemistry Conference and Exhibition

06 Jun 2012

By Jamie Humphrey, Editor.

Jamie Humphrey reports from the 95th Canadian Chemistry Conference and Exhibition, Calgary, Canada

May 25th 2012, and Calgary welcomed chemists from Canada and further afield to the 95th Canadian Chemistry Conference and Exhibition (CSC2012). With the Canadian Rockies providing a stunning backdrop, and with blue skies and glorious sunshine, the city was the perfect venue for this gathering.

About 2000 chemists arrived in Calgary to share research, catch up with old acquaintances and make new friends. This was my third CSC meeting, and the conference is a highlight of my year. I therefore was not expecting the question I was asked at immigration; ‘Why would you travel all the way to Calgary from the UK to attend a conference?’ ‘He’s clearly not been to a CSC meeting’, I thought to myself as I collected my passport back and entered Canada, looking forward to my next few days at the conference.

Calgary Tower

The CSC meeting covers all branches of chemistry however, I attended mainly for the inorganic sessions. The meeting programme provided an excellent range of inorganic themes, including hydrogen activation, physical methods for coordination chemistry, main group chemistry, solar fuels, metals in biology, ligand design, inorganic molecular modelling, optical and electronic materials, solid state chemistry, and catalysis. Reflecting the impact that inorganic chemistry has on many different areas of chemical research, 9 of these symposia were arranged jointly with other Canadian Society for Chemistry divisions. Two chemists were honoured at CSC2012 by Symposia in their name: Barry Lever and Howard Alper.

Of course, the conference was not all hard work and there was some hard partying as well! Highlights included the Bruker event on Sunday night and, my favourite, the inorganic mixer on Tuesday night (which Dalton Transactions sponsored). I even found time during my stay in Calgary to have dinner in the revolving restaurant at the top of the Calgary Tower!

Keeping up with the conference was helped by a number of people using Twitter to spread the excitement of the event (#CSC2012 if you want to take a look on Twitter), and Twitter was used to good effect. Anyone not able to attend could get the flavour of the meeting from the tweets, and those at the meeting could make sure they did not miss out on anything that had just been announced (free frisbees available in the Exhibition!). The organisers also posted photos from the conference on Flickr.

The Canadian Chemistry Conference is an excellent showcase for the best inorganic chemical research taking place in Canada and this year’s meeting provided an enjoyable and stimulating five days. Credit and thanks are due to the conference chair, Warren Piers (University of Calgary) and the other members of the organising committee for all their hard work and efforts in putting together an excellent programme of scientific and social events. I am looking forward to seeing what next year’s meeting in Quebec City brings!

Don’t miss these two inorganic conferences in Canada in July

6th International Symposium on Bioorganometallic Chemistry

Challenges in Inorganic and Materials Chemistry (ISACS8)

To get a flavour of CSC meeting, take a look at these recent articles from some of the delegates at the conference.

Cycloruthenated sensitizers: improving the dye-sensitized solar cell with classical inorganic chemistry principles
Kiyoshi C. D. Robson, Paolo G. Bomben and Curtis P. Berlinguette
Dalton Trans., 2012, Advance Article
DOI=10.1039/C2DT30825H

Synthesis and reactivity of 2-azametallacyclobutanes
Alexander Dauth and Jennifer A. Love
Dalton Trans., 2012, Advance Article
DOI=10.1039/C2DT30639E

Non-innocent ligand behaviour of a bimetallic Cu complex employing a bridging catecholate
Tim J. Dunn, Linus Chiang, Caterina F. Ramogida, Michael I. Webb, Didier Savard, Miyuki Sakaguchi, Takashi Ogura, Yuichi Shimazaki and Tim Storr
Dalton Trans., 2012, Advance Article
DOI=10.1039/C2DT30444A

Rigid NON- and NSN-ligand complexes of tetravalent and trivalent uranium: comparison of U–OAr2 and U–SAr2 bonding
Balamurugan Vidjayacoumar, Sougandi Ilango, Matthew J. Ray, Terry Chu, Kristopher B. Kolpin, Nicholas R. Andreychuk, Carlos A. Cruz, David J. H. Emslie, Hilary A. Jenkins and James F. Britten
Dalton Trans., 2012, Advance Article
DOI=10.1039/C2DT30247K

Heterobimetallic lanthanide–gold coordination polymers: structure and emissive properties of isomorphous [nBu4N]2[Ln(NO3)4Au(CN)2] 1-D chains
Ryan J. Roberts, Xiaobo Li, Tye F. Lacey, Zhong Pan, Howard H. Patterson and Daniel B. Leznoff
Dalton Trans., 2012,41, 6992-6997
DOI=10.1039/C2DT30156C

Ni(II), Pd(II) and Pt(II) complexes of PNP and PSP tridentate amino–phosphine ligands
Michael J. Sgro and Douglas W. Stephan
Dalton Trans., 2012,41, 6791-6802
DOI=10.1039/C2DT30373F

Were you at the CSC meeting? Share your stories of the conference with us in the comments below.

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Theoretical study on proton relay at active site of nitogenase

31 May 2012

By Jennifer Newton, Publishing Editor.

This article is HOT as recommended by the referees. And we’ve made it free to access for 4 weeks.

This HOT paper by Ian Dance, from the University of New South Wales, reports on the mechanism of proton relay in nitrogenase enzymes. The proton relay from the protein surface to a key sulfur atom of the FeMo-cofactor plays a core role in many of nitrogenase’s chemical mechanisms.

The water chain in nitrogenase is comparable with the purported proton pumping pathway of cytochrome c oxidase.

To read more about the detailed analysis of this mechanism you can download the full paper below…

The controlled relay of multiple protons required at the active site of nitrogenase
Ian Dance
Dalton Trans., 2012
DOI: 10.1039/C2DT30518F

Here are some of Ian Dance’s other recent Dalton Transactions publications:

Ramifications of C-centering rather than N-centering of the active site FeMo-co of the enzyme nitrogenase
Ian Dance
Dalton Trans., 2012,41, 4859-4865
DOI: 10.1039/C2DT00049K, Paper

Calculated vibrational frequencies for FeMo-co, the active site of nitrogenase, bearing hydrogen atoms and carbon monoxide
Ian Dance
Dalton Trans., 2011,40, 6480-6489
DOI: 10.1039/C1DT10505A, Paper

How does vanadium nitrogenase reduce CO to hydrocarbons?
Ian Dance
Dalton Trans., 2011,40, 5516-5527
DOI: 10.1039/C1DT10240K, Paper

Mimicking nitrogenase
Ian Dance
Dalton Trans., 2010,39, 2972-2983
DOI: 10.1039/B922606K, Perspective
From themed issue Bioinspired catalysis

Are you following us on Twitter? @DaltonTrans

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Announcing new Dalton Transactions Associate Editor

30 May 2012

By Fiona McKenzie, Executive Editor.

We are delighted to announce Professor Masahiro Yamashita has joined the Dalton Transactions Editorial Board as Associate Editor.

Professor Yamashita is based at Tohoku University, Japan, where his research is focused on single molecule and single chain magnets; non-linear optics in nanowire coordination compounds; and organic-inorganic hybrid superconductors.

Professor Yamashita was guest editor for last year’s New Talent: Asia themed issue and is also guest editing an upcoming Dalton Transactions themed issue in molecular magnets so watch this space…

Masahiro Yamashita

See some of Masahiro Yamashita’s recently published articles below:

A three-dimensional network of two-electron-transferred [Ru2]2TCNQ exhibiting anomalous conductance due to charge fluctuations
Hitoshi Miyasaka, Takaumi Morita and Masahiro Yamashita
Chem. Commun., 2011, 47, 271-273

Tuning of the ionization potential of paddlewheel diruthenium(II, II) complexes with fluorine atoms on the benzoate ligands
Hitoshi Miyasaka, Natsuko Motokawa, Ryo Atsuumi, Hiromichi Kamo, Yuichiro Asai and Masahiro Yamashita
Dalton Trans., 2011, 40, 673-682

Surface morphologies, electronic structures, and Kondo effect of lanthanide(III)-phthalocyanine molecules on Au(111) by using STM, STS and FET properties for next generation devices
Keiichi Katoh, Tadahiro Komeda and Masahiro Yamashita
Dalton Trans., 2010, 39, 4708-4723

Professor Yamashita is one of three new additions to the Dalton Transactions Editorial Board this year – we’ve also welcomed our new Chair, Professor Philip Mountford (University of Oxford), and Professor Jennifer Love (University of British Columbia).

There are also a number of new faces on our Advisory Board too. See here for the complete list of our Board members.

We are delighted to have such an excellent Board and thank them for all their hard work in making Dalton Transactions a world-leading journal in its field.

Jennifer Love

Philip Mountford

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Hydrogenase Hydrogel

24 May 2012

By Leah Morris, Web Writer.

This article is HOT as recommended by the referees. And we’ve made it free to access for 4 weeks.

The ability of hydrogenase enzymes to reversibly catalyse the reduction of protons to form molecular hydrogen (H₂) has attracted a great deal of research interest. Synthetic mimics of the hydrogenase active site could potentially replace expensive platinum catalysts in hydrogen fuel cells. Currently these mimics are significantly less efficient than the natural enzyme and they are oxygen sensitive. It is thought that by creating a stable peptide based enviroment around the mimic, the stability and efficiency could be improved.

Encapsulating a hydrogenase mimic into a hydrogel causes a restriction in isomerisation after photolysis

Researchers from the Hunt and Ulijn groups at the University of Strathclyde and the Pickett group from the University of East Anglia have successfully encapsulated a [FeFe]-hydrogenase active site mimic into a dipeptide based hydrogelator. Their research has shown that there is a stark difference in the behaviour of the active site mimic in the gel phase compared to the solution phase. Experiments show that the mimic is significantly more stable in the gel phase and is less senstive to water and UV light which could potentially help to improve catalytic activity.

To find out more, read the full Daltons Transactions article…

Encapsulating [FeFe]-hydrogenase model compounds in peptide hydrogels dramatically modifies stability and photochemistry
Pim Wilhelmus, Johannes Maria Frederix, Rafal Kania, Joseph A Wright , Dimitrios A Lamprou, Rein Ulijn, C J Pickett and Neil T Hunt.

This article is part of the upcoming Dalton Discussion themed issue on Inorganic Photophysics and Photochemistry – Fundamentals and Applications

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Helicate or catenate?

22 May 2012

By Matthew Cude, Development Editor.

This article is HOT as recommended by the referees. And we’ve made it free to access for 4 weeks

The team expected the assembly to form a helicate rather than catenate structure

Predicting the structure of large self-assembled units can become very complicated very quickly. Yet it is important for the rational design of new structures to understand how they assemble so new arrangements can be designed, with functional and valuable properties.

This Hot Article from the Piguet group investigates whether a pyridyl-benzimidazole ligand forms a double stranded helicate or a catenated architecture. The thermodynamic approach used to investigate the structures throws up some interesting results.

Looking for the origin of the switch between coordination-captured helicates and catenates
Lilit Aboshyan-Sorgho, Martine Cantuel, Gérald Bernardinelli and Claude Piguet
DOI: 10.1039/C2DT30414G

Love inorganic chemistry? Follow us @DaltonTrans

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Dalton Transactions Blog

N-heterocyclic carbenes themed issue – submissions open

Upcoming Conference: Eurobic 2012

Fast Synthesis of C-dots

Lewis Pair polymerization

95th Canadian Chemistry Conference and Exhibition

Theoretical study on proton relay at active site of nitogenase

Announcing new Dalton Transactions Associate Editor

Hydrogenase Hydrogel

Top ten most accessed articles in April

Helicate or catenate?

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