Journal of Materials Chemistry Blog

 Did you read the recent themed issue in Journal of Materials Chemistry on the topic of hybrid materials? This issue was guest edited by Pierre Rabu and Andreas Taubert and contained a broad range of high quality articles.  

You may also be interested in the current issue of Chem Soc Rev, a themed issue on this topic, with guest editors Clément Sanchez, Kenneth Shea and Susumu Kitagawa. The issue contains 33 tutorial and critical reviews, highlighting exciting new achievements in hybrid materials research.

Joanne Thomson, Deputy Editor of Chem Soc Rev will be attending the Hybrid Materials conference in Strasbourg in March. Let her know if you would like to meet up to discuss RSC Publishing!

We are delighted to announce a themed issue on Materials Chemistry in the Emerging Field of Synthetic Biology that will be published in Journal of Materials Chemistry. The guest editors for this themed issue are Professor Cameron Alexander (University of Nottingham, UK) and Dr Rachel O’Reilly (Warwick University, UK). Please contact the Editorial Office if you are interested in contributing to the themed issue.

The deadline for the receipt of manuscripts for this themed issue is 21st May 2011.

Synthetic biology is a rapidly developing area of science with potentially far-reaching consequences.  While much publicity has centred on what constitutes this scientific field and what possible ethical issues might be invoked, before there can be any real practical progress there needs to be a fundamental shift in the synthesis aspects of synthetic biology. Biological processes utilise highly evolved self-assembly mechanisms and a plethora of error-correction strategies in order to generate functional materials, which in combination form the working machinery of the cell. For synthetic counterparts, new chemistries will be needed to generate the precise structures that give rise to function, or to modify existing machineries in order to create wholly new behaviours.

Materials chemistry is central to this endeavour. In particular, the long-standing focus on supramolecular structure and order, function at multiple lengthscales, and emergent properties, in materials chemistry equips scientists in this area with an advantageous ‘mindset’ for synthetic biology. The ‘top-down’ approach involves re-engineering existing tools from biology to generate novel functions (IGEM etc), or even organisms (Venter). Modifications of gene circuits to do different tasks than those evolved in nature require an understanding of the biological materials that perform these functions – this is materials chemistry but applied to biological molecules and assemblies (Seeman, Turberfield). The ‘bottom-up’ approach involves completely new structures and functions that can be completely abiotic in origin, but biomimetic (or possibly ‘biosuperior’) in function. Chemistries for forming artificial cell walls (van Hest, others) and artificial actuators (Ryan, others) show how sophisticated properties can arise from relatively simple building blocks, if designed and put together in ingenious ways. The work by Cronin et al shows the extreme abiotic end of emergent synthetic biology, while that of Szostak and Mansy exemplifies a hybrid approach wherein natural components are incorporated into novel frameworks to perform synthetic biology functions. Computational materials chemistry is another important component, as not only can life-like behaviour be programmed in silico, but increasingly, insights from complex computational algorithms can be used to design synthetic biology processes such as vesicle assembly, budding and replication that can be tested in the ‘wet’ laboratory (Krasnogor).

Overall, this themed issue covers the key materials chemistries that will help to define the exciting field of synthetic biology to come. There are many opportunities in this field, and materials chemistry is at its heart.

All manuscripts will be refereed in accordance to the standard procedures of Journal of Materials Chemistry, and in this respect invited articles will be treated in the same way as regular submissions to the journal.

We look forward to hearing from you if you’re interested in contributing to this themed issue.

The themed issue celebrating the 70th birthday of Professor Fred Wudl is now online.

Featured on the outside front cover is ‘Carbon nanotubes from short hydrocarbon templates. Energy analysis of the Diels–Alder cycloaddition/rearomatization growth strategy’ by Eric H. Fort and Lawrence T. Scott.

The Feature Article highlighted on the inside front cover is ‘Exotic materials for bio-organic electronics’ written by Mihai Irimia-Vladu, Niyazi Serdar Sariciftci and Siegfried Bauer.

The back cover showcases ‘The thiophene/phenylene co-oligomers: exotic molecular semiconductors integrating high-performance electronic and optical functionalities’ by Shu Hotta and Takeshi Yamao.

The Editorial Fred Wudl. Discovering new science through making new molecules can be read for free here.

Or you can read the full themed issue here:

Journal of Materials Chemistry is publishing a themed issue on the Self-Organization of Nanoparticles with Professor Nicholas A. Kotov (University of Michigan, USA) as the Guest Editor. The themed issue will collect a selection of the best papers in this area in a high profile and high impact themed issue which will be published in 2011. Please contact the Editorial Office if you are interested in contributing.

The deadline for the receipt of manuscripts for this themed issue is 17^th April 2011.

Many scientists over the period of the last decade greatly contributed to the development and understanding of the self-organization phenomena involving inorganic nanoparticles.  Many of them result in truly amazing supramolecular systems transcending different scales of organization.  It is important to analyze now the progress and establish the most exciting directions of future research.

The issue will cover the most exciting directions in self-organized systems of nanoparticles. New examples of nanoparticle superstructures, experimental techniques to reach levels of complexity, electronic phenomena involving energy transfer and plasmonic effects in multiparticle systems, computational and theoretical methods of description of self-organization processes, technological prospects for self-organized systems, biological implications of nanoparticle ability to self-organize, new nanostructured materials utilizing self-assemble phenomena, collective behaviour in NP systems, and other topics related to the self-organization of nanoparticles constitute the intellectual framework of this issue.

The issue will contain communications, full papers and review-type articles (Feature, Highlights or Applications).  All manuscripts will be refereed in accordance to the standard procedures of Journal of Materials Chemistry, and in this respect invited articles will be treated in the same way as regular submissions to the journal.        

Manuscripts can be submitted using the RSC’s on-line submissions service. Please clearly mark that the manuscript is “submitted in response to the call for papers for the Self-Organization of Nanoparticles themed issue”.

Journal of Materials Chemistry is publishing a themed issue in celebration of the 70th birthday of Professor Fred Wudl later this year; however as there’s a symposium in honor of Fred Wudl’s 70th birthday starting on the 7th January I thought I’d give you a sneak preview of the articles.

• Fred Wudl. Discovering new science through making new molecules
• The thiophene/phenylene co-oligomers: exotic molecular semiconductors integrating high-performance electronic and optical functionalities
• Materials chemistry of fullerene C₆₀ derivatives 
• A review of powder modifications in conventional glass-ionomer dental cements
• Chalcogenoarene semiconductors: new ideas from old materials
• Alkoxy-substituted poly(arylene-ethynylene)-alt-poly(arylene-vinylene)s: synthesis, electroluminescence and photovoltaic applications
• Exotic materials for bio-organic electronics
• Unexpected and selective formation of an (e,e,e,e)-tetrakis-[60]fullerene derivative via electrolytic retro-cyclopropanation of a D_2h-hexakis-[60]fullerene adduct
• Polymer bulk heterojunction solar cells: function and utility of inserting a hole transport and electron blocking layer into the device structure
• Tuning of electronic properties and rigidity in PEDOT analogs
• Carbon nanotubes from short hydrocarbon templates. Energy analysis of the Diels–Alder cycloaddition/rearomatization growth strategy
• Polymer solar cells based on diphenylmethanofullerenes with reduced sidechain length
• Efficient oxide phosphors for light upconversion; green emission from Yb³⁺ and Ho³⁺ co-doped Ln₂BaZnO₅ (Ln = Y, Gd)
• Charge and energy transfer processes in ruthenium(II) phthalocyanine based electron donor–acceptor materials—implications for solar cell performance
• Synthesis and properties of a triphenylene–butadiynylene macrocycle
• Probing magnetic interactions in columnar phases of a paramagnetic gold dithiolene complex
• Preparation, characterization, and photoswitching/light-emitting behaviors of coronene nanowires
• Varied nanostructures from a single multifunctional molecular material
• The return of photoelastic stress measurements: utilizing birefringence to monitor damage and repair in healable materials
• Diffusion of Al, O, Pt, Hf, and Y atoms on α-Al₂O₃(0001): implications for the role of alloying elements in thermal barrier coatings
• Glutathione S-transferase as a general and reversible tag for surface immobilization of proteins
• Electronic, redox and charge transport properties of an unusual hybrid structure: a bis(septithiophene) bridged by a fused tetrathiafulvalene (TTF)
• New stable donor–acceptor dyads for molecular electronics
• A comparative theoretical study of exciton-dissociation and charge-recombination processes in oligothiophene/fullerene and oligothiophene/perylenediimide complexes for organic solar cells
• A solid-state switch containing an electrochemically switchable bistable poly[n]rotaxane
• Preparation, magnetism and electronic structures of cadmium technetates
• Computational assessment of 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions to graphene
• C₆₀ dimers connected through pleiadene bridges: fullerenes talking to each other
• Dual [proton]/[hole] mixed valence in a molecular metal: balancing chemical activity in the solid state by tapping into a molecular hole reservoir
• Magnetostructural studies of palladium(II) and platinum(II) complexes of verdazyl radicals
• Liquid crystalline phthalocyanine–fullerene dyads
• Side chain engineering of fused aromatic thienopyrazine based low band-gap polymers for enhanced charge carrier mobility
• Optimizing reaction conditions for synthesis of electron donor-[60]fullerene interlocked multiring systems
• Mixed selenium-sulfur fused ring systems as building blocks for novel polymers used in field effect transistors
• Photoinduced electron transfer in a clicked fullerene–porphyrin conjugate
• Synthesis, crystallization, electrochemistry and single crystal X-ray analysis of a methoxy-substituted-tris-phenalenyl based neutral radical
• Using bis(pinacolato)diboron to improve the quality of regioregular conjugated co-polymers
• Protection of lithium metal surfaces using tetraethoxysilane
• Small band gap copolymers based on furan and diketopyrrolopyrrole for field-effect transistors and photovoltaic cells

Don’t forget Journal of Materials Chemistry is publishing a themed issue on Chemical Transformations of Nanoparticles with Professor Dmitri Talapin (University of Chicago, USA) and Professor Yadong Yin (University of California, Riverside, USA) as the Guest Editors.

The deadline for the receipt of manuscripts for this themed issue is 25^th January 2011.

Manuscripts can be submitted using our online submission service. Please indicate on you submission letter that your manuscript is submitted in response to the call for papers for the Chemical Transformations of Nanoparticles themed issue.

Journal of Materials Chemistry issue 46 is a themed issue on Modelling of Materials with guest editors Julian D. Gale and Mark Wilson.  They indroduce the topic in thier editorial which you can read here. 

The paper featured on the front cover is ‘Titania-water interactions: a review of theoretical studies’ by Chenghua Sun, Li-Min Liu, Annabella Selloni, Gao Qing (Max) Lu and Sean C. Smith which reviews major theoretical outcomes regarding the interaction of water with TiO₂ surfaces.

The paper featured on the inside cover is ‘Linear aggregation and liquid-crystalline order: comparison of Monte Carlo simulation and analytic theory’ by Tatiana Kuriabova, M. D. Betterton and Matthew A. Glaser in which the team studies coupled linear aggregation and liquid crystal ordering with a new coarse-grained sticky cylinder model.

Journal of Materials Chemistry issue 42 is now online.  This themed issue showcases some of the latest research in the field of hybrid materials. Articles in this issue discuss the exciting new developments around the synthesis and applications of these materials. Guest editors Pierre Rabu and Andreas Taubert introduce the issue in their editorial which you can read here.

The paper featured on the front cover is ‘Algae–silica systems as functional hybrid materials’ by Eduardo Ruiz-Hitzky and colleagues in Spain from the Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid and the Instituto de Microelectrónica de Barcelona.