NJC Blog

We are pleased to present a selection of our authors of the May issue of NJC. We thank each of them for accepting our invitation and having kindly taken some of their time to answer a few questions for us.

Our first author is Dr. Cecilia Devi Wilfred who is Associate Professor at the Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (Perak, Malaysia). Her current research interests are mainly focused on Ionic Liquids and their applications. In her NJC paper, Cecilia and co-workers report on the synthesis of low densities phosphonate-based nitrile ionic liquids.

The high reputation of the journal which is peer-reviewed to the highest standards was Cecilia’s motivation behind her submission to the journal.

Outside of the lab, Cecilia enjoys reading.

Effect of sulfonate-based anions on the physicochemical properties of 1-alkyl-3-propanenitrile imidazolium ionic liquids by Abobakr Khidir Ziyada, Mohamad Azmi Bustam, Thanapalan Murugesan and Cecilia Devi Wilfred, New J. Chem., 2011, 35, 1111-1116; DOI: 10.1039/C0NJ00950D.

Our next author is George E. Kostakis, Researcher at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Karlsruhe, Germany). George’s research interests focus on coordination polymers, coordination cluster topology and water structures.

In this issue of NJC, George has authored the article Structural variation from 1D chains to 3D networks: A systematic study of coordination number effect on the construction of coordination polymers using the terepthaloylbisglycinate ligand by George E. Kostakis, Luigi Casella, Athanassios K. Boudalis, Enrico Monzani and John C. Plakatouras, New J. Chem., 2011, 35, 1060-1071; DOI: 10.1039/C0NJ01009J. “A systematic investigation of the coordination chemistry of terepthaloylbisglycinate with different metal centres which shows that apart from the coordination number of the metal centre, there are several factors affecting the network dimensionality for the room temperature reactions”, explains George who chooses NJC for the publication of this article due to the journal’s high quality and wide readership.

In his free time, George loves spending time reading, biking, listening to music and cooking.

Hongchen Gu is Professor at the Nano Biomedical Research Center, Med-X Research Institute School of Biomedical Engineering from the Shangai Jiao Tong University (Shangai, China).

His current research interests are the synthesis of nanoparticles for biomedical applications, the magnetic properties studies of nanoparticles and drug and gene delivery nanoparticles-based systems.

In this NJC issue paper, Hongchen and co-workers describes the synthesis of a series of magnetite nanoparticle clusters and single nanoparticles by using polyols with different reductive abilities. “This study indicates that growth kinetics has great impact on the secondary structure of magnetite nanoparticles and determines the morphology evolution of the nanoparticles” says Hongchen.

Facile synthesis and morphology evolution of magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles in different polyol processes by Changming Cheng, Fangjie Xu and Hongchen Gu, New J. Chem., 2011, 35, 1072-1079;  DOI : 10.1039/C0NJ00986E.

“NJC was chosen as it is a high impact and fast editing journal in chemistry”

Reading and playing table tennis are Hongchen’s favorite activities.

Closing this month’s authors selection, Neerish Revaprasadu is Professor of Inorganic Chemistry and Chair of Nanotechnology at the University of Zululand (Kwadlangezwa, South Africa).

His current research interest is inorganic materials chemistry and he has authored in this NJC issue the paper Heterocyclic dithiocarbamates: precursors for shape controlled growth of CdS nanoparticles by Linda Dyorisse Nyamen, Viswanadha Srirama Rajasekhar Pullabhotla, Adeola Ayodeji Nejo, Peter Ndifon and Neerish Revaprasadu, New J. Chem., 2011, 35, 1133-1139; DOI: 10.1039/C1NJ20069K.

“The journal has a good readership and is multidisciplinary. The feedback from the editors is always helpful and constructive and also very quick. I have always had a good experience with NJC.”

Out of the lab, Neerish’s favorite activities are reading and travelling.

We welcome you to NJC’s May issue, out now. This month again NJC publishes high-quality, original and significant research works that cover an impressive range of topics including: electrochemistry, soft matter, nanoparticles, polymers, sensing, synthetic chemistry, crystallographic engineering, supramolecular chemistry, homogenous catalysis, computational chemistry and photochemistry.

The outside front cover highlights our latest Focus article by Jiannian Yao (Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences) on composite nanomaterials fabricated from organic luminescent molecules, which provide opportunities for both theoretical studies on the inter-molecular energy transfer process and practical applications in light-emitting materials, optical waveguides, optical memory media and chemical sensors.

Organic composite nanomaterials: energy transfers and tunable luminescent behaviors, Chuang Zhang, Yong Sheng Zhao and Jiannian Yao, New J. Chem., 2011, 35, 973-978, DOI: 10.1039/C1NJ20012G.

NJC issue 5, 2011 inside front cover was produced by Odile Eisenstein and Elsje Alessandra Quadrelli from the University of Montpellier and the University of Lyon, respectively. In this research article, the authors describe a joint experimental and computational study of the reaction of NH3 with a silica supported amido–imido Ta complex.

Here is a selection of author profiles from the April issue of NJC. The editorial team would like to warmly thank them for accepting the invitation, giving us the opportunity to know some of our fellow chemists a little better.

Our first author is Professor Helena Grennberg, who is based at the faculty of Uppsala University (Sweden). Her current research interests are mainly focused on the chemistry of carbon allotropes (C60, nanotubes, graphene).

In her NJC paper, Helena and coworkers report on the stirring-induced aggregation of graphene in suspension that leads to folding/scrolling and reversible agglomeration (capture) of thin flakes. Such a solution-based process could be useful for the preparation of graphene-containing thin films and composites.

The broad scope of NJC, yet with the correct topical focus for carbon allotrope chemistry, was Helena’s motivation behind her submission to the journal.

Outside of the lab, Helena enjoys skiing and orienteering. “But my family is top priority, including ‘mom’s taxi’ to all the activities my children take part in”. When asked for an alternative career path if not a scientist, “Designer? Chef?”, said Helena, immediately adding, “being a scientist, in particular an experimental organic chemist comprises both and much more, it is the best I can think of!”

Stirring-induced aggregation of graphene in suspension by Wenzhi Yang, Erika Widenkvist, Ulf Jansson and Helena Grennberg, New J. Chem., 2011, 35, 780–783; DOI: 10.1039/c0nj00968.

Sebastiano Campagna is Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Messina, Italy. He is currently working in the fields of photochemistry and photophysics of supramolecular systems, photoinduced electron and energy transfer, artificial photosynthesis, and molecular logics. His paper is the fruit of a collaboration with Raymond Ziessel, working in the University of Strasbourg, a well-known specialist in fluorescent Bodipy dyes. They report on a hybrid bodipy-bipyridine dye that features part of the properties of D-latch circuits by integrating two logic gates, a NOR and an INHIBIT gate, with both gates sharing the same inputs.

“We submitted this work to NJC because of the high quality of the articles published in the journal, its large diffusion and multidisciplinary nature which guarantees for a broad an diverse readership.”

Playing guitar and travelling with his daughter are Sebastiano’s favorite activities. If he could not be a scientist, he would be a musician or a novel writer.

Molecular logics: a mixed bodipy–bipyridine dye behaving as a concealable molecular switch by Fausto Puntoriero, Francesco Nastasi, Thomas Bura, Raymond Ziessel, Sebastiano Campagna, and Antonino Giannetto, New J. Chem., 2011, 35, 948-952; DOI: 10.1039/c0nj00770

The next author is Gui Yin, Associate Professor at the Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Life Science, Ministry of Education of China, School of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University. His research group is currently working on photoelectric materials, carbon materials chemistry and synthesis of various chemosensors for heavy transition metal ions. In collaboration with research groups from the School of Electronic Science and Engineering and the School of Physics in the same University, this NJC paper describes a new organic molecule based on pyrene, which shows remarkable fluorescence turn-on behavior towards Ag+. The very low detection limit obtained with this system complies with the standards of US EPA and World Health Organization (WHO) for drinking water.

“NJC is our preferred journal because of its high quality and wide readership. During the submission process, the fast publishing time and high efficiency gave me a deep impression.”

Outside the lab, Gui appreciates reading Chinese ancient poetry. He also spends plenty of time staying with his family and they often go on a trip together. Because Gui enjoys very much the delight of the peaceful country life, if he had another choice, he would like to be a writer or farmer.

Fancy submitting an article to NJC? Then why not submit to us today or alternatively  email us your suggestions.