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Upcoming Conference: Eurobic 2012

21 Jun 2012

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

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

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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Theoretical study on proton relay at active site of nitogenase

31 May 2012

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

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

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

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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Thorium nanochemistry

15 May 2012

Although it has been known for some time that highly charged cations such as Th(IV) are susceptible to hydrolysis and subsequent polymerization, very little has been know about the exact nature of such polymeric species until now. Rothe et al. shed new light on this using a combination of X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) spectroscopy, high energy X-ray scattering (HEXS) measurements, and quantum chemical calculations to yield the most favourable structure as two Th(IV) dimers linked by a central Th(IV) cation through hydroxide bridges. This should have important implications in geology and waste reprocessing amongst others.

The solution structure of the Th(IV)-hydroxo pentamer

Read more for FREE for 4 weeks at:
Thorium nanochemistry: the solution structure of the Th(IV)–hydroxo pentamer
Clemens Walther, Jörg Rothe, Bernd Schimmelpfennig and Markus Fuss
Dalton Trans., 2012, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C2DT30243H

Also of interest may be:
Infrared spectra and structures of the Th(OH)₂ and Th(OH)₄ molecules
Xuefeng Wang and Lester Andrews
Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2005,7, 3834-3838
DOI: 10.1039/B509401A

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New hard/soft donor ligand and its effect on the structure and redox behaviour of uranium complexes

15 May 2012

David Emslie and colleagues from McMaster University describe the synthesis of a new rigid NSN-donor ligand as well as the preparation of uranium(IV) and uranium(III) complexes using this ligand and a previously prepared NON-donor ligand. A combination of cyclic voltammetry, DFT calculations and Atoms In Molecules calculations were used to compare U–SAR₂ and U–OAr₂ bonding and the results indicated increased covalency in U-SAR₂ bonds that is probably due to the short U-S distances and tight C-S-U angles in the complexes. This work will aid the advancement of approaches for lanthanide/actinide separation in nuclear fuel reprocessing as well as analytical actinide detection.

Rigid NON- and NSN-ligand complexes of tetravalent and trivalent uranium.

Download the full paper below which is being published as part of an upcoming Dalton Transactions special issue, New Talent: the Americas…

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
DOI: 10.1039/C2DT30247K

You may also find this 2010 Dalton Transactions themed issue on New horizons in organo-f-block chemistry interesting.

Remember you can keep up to date with all the latest news in inorganic chemistry by following us on twitter and signing up to our e-alert service.

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Themed issue: Application of inorganic chemistry for non-cancer therapeutics

11 May 2012

Application of inorganic chemistry for non-cancer therapeutics

Issue 21 of Dalton Transactions is a special issue focusing on therapeutic agents being developed in inorganic chemistry. The collection of articles showcases the variety of techniques and strategies employed by inorganic chemists to target a range of diseases and illnesses.

The Perspective by Pascale Delangle and Elizabeth Mintz overviews the use of copper chelation therapy in the treatment of Wilson’s disease (C2DT12188C), while Christophe Biot et al. discuss the therapeutic potential of metal-based antimalarial agents (C2DT12247B). Targeting is a prevailing theme in the issue and the paper from Chris Orvig et al. is no exception (C2DT12050J), while the contribution from Edward Tiekink (C2DT12225A) investigates the potential of selenium and tellurium compounds.

You can read the editorial from the issue’s Guest Editor Professor Katherine J. Franz, who succinctly runs through the contributions from all the issue authors. You can also browse the issue here and read the truly remarkable progress that the application of inorganic chemistry is having for non-cancer therapeutics.

Previous themed issues which cover emerging topics in inorganic chemistry can be found listed under the themed issue tab on the journal homepage.

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