NJC Blog

By Andre Cobb, NJC Advisory Board member

In an excellent review on the chemistry and applications of nanodiamonds (diamondoids), our first authors—Professors Peter Schreiner of the Justus-Liebig University, and Jean-Cyrille Hierso of the Institut Universitaire de France—explain how these fascinating structures are the next generation sp³-carbon materials supplied by nature (in gas and petroleum). These long overlooked “carbon gems” close the gap to the popular sp²-materials such as carbon nanotubes, fullerenes, and graphenes that have complementary properties.

Peter’s goals for 2014 are to establish two recently introduced concepts more firmly. The first is the tunneling control of chemical reactions, where he has shown in a series of papers that tunneling can override kinetic and thermodynamic considerations, and should therefore be considered as the third paradigm to rationalize chemical reactivity. His second goal is to decipher the role of London dispersion interactions for chemical structures and in chemical reactivity. At a personal level, he would like to become a better tennis player, although he believes he has already begun struggling with typical age limitations!

For his part, Jean-Cyrille plans to continue to promote science and to continue contributing to the “blossoming” of his co-workers.

Diamondoids: functionalization and subsequent applications of perfectly defined molecular cage hydrocarbons by Maria A. Gunawan, Jean-Cyrille Hierso,* Didier Poinsot, Andrey A. Fokin, Natalie A. Fokina, Boryslav A. Tkachenko and Peter R. Schreiner, New J. Chem., 2014, 38, 28-41. DOI: 10.1039/C3NJ00535F (Perspective)

Professor Masanari Kimura of the Nagasaki University in Japan is interested in the development of new reactions based on transition metals and heterocyclic chemistry, as is demonstrated by his January contribution on the formation of C—C bonds using allylzinc species and carbonyls.

Masanari says his inspiration for this work comes of course from Philippe Antoine Barbier and François Auguste Victor Grignard.

A major goal for Professor Kimura in 2014 is the development of novel and efficient organic syntheses of useful compounds from carbon dioxide.

C–C bond formation via 1,2-addition of a tert-butylzinc reagent and carbonyls across conjugated dienes by Yuki Ohira, Maya Hayashi, Takamichi Mori, Gen Onodera and Masanari Kimura, New J. Chem., 2014, 38, 330-337. DOI: 10.1039/C3NJ00992K (Paper)

Professor Katarzyna Ostrowska of Jagiellonian University in Poland and co-workers have published an investigation on the design and sensing abilities of a range of integrated azaheteroarene fluorophores designed to recognize a variety of different ions. Katarzyna says that, “As an organic chemist, I was fascinated to see how the minor modifications of structure affect the fluorescence emission and recognition of zinc and indium metal ions.”

As for goals for the coming year, Professor Ostrowska comments, “In a recent publication I described the two different mechanisms of ligand binding to zinc and indium ions. In 2014 I hope to find out why these receptors selectively recognize zinc and how resonance effects can influence the quantum yields of different substituted fluorophores”.

Ratiometric fluorescent Zn²⁺ and In³⁺ receptors of fused pyrazine with an aminopropanol chain in acetonitrile by Katarzyna Ostrowska,* Alicja Kaźmierska, Maria Rąpała-Kozik and Justyna Kalinowska-Tłuścik, New J. Chem., 2014, 38, 213-226. DOI: 10.1039/C3NJ00750B (Paper)

Many thanks to all our authors who contributed photos and comments for this article.

Our first author, Dr Santa Chawla, works at the CSIR National Physical Laboratory in New Delhi (India), where she is Associate Dean of Physical Sciences and also professor of the Academy of Scientific & Innovative Research. Her research centres on the development of phosphor nanoparticles for the enhancement of solar cell efficiency through solar full-spectrum conversion.

With several colleagues, Santa’s paper reports their latest efforts to develop materials for efficient energy harvesting. In this paper, a single phosphor with dual excitation and dual emission properties has been fabricated. Their material also shows plasmonic enhancement of the fluorescence. Such a material with intense red and green emission can be very useful for simultaneous conversion of solar UV and IR to visible radiation.

When not in the lab, Santa enjoys both reading and travelling.

Fabrication of dual excitation dual emission phosphor with plasmonic enhancement of fluorescence for simultaneous conversion of solar UV and IR to visible radiation
by Santa Chawla,   M. Parvaz,   Vineet Kumar and   Zubair Buch,
New J. Chem., 2013, 37, 3991–3997. DOI: 10.1039/C3NJ00889D (Paper)

Julia Bayne co-authored the Focus review on pigments with Prof. Ian Butler. While participating in the Inorganic Chemistry Exchange Program during the summer of 2013, Julia worked in Ian’s materials science laboratory at McGill University (Montreal, Canada), which specialises in variable-temperature and high-pressure micro-Raman spectroscopy of artists’ pigments. Temperature and pressure-dependent structural changes of artists’ pigments play an instrumental role in art conservation and the determination of forgeries. Additionally, the stability of the pigments noted in their paper reinforces their continued long-term use in artwork.

Julia is currently a 4th year undergraduate student at the University of Ottawa (Canada) in the chemistry honours programme. She is conducting research in an organometallic laboratory, exploring the synthesis and reactivity of transition metal catalysts with respect to perfluoroalkene polymerization.

When not in the lab or immersed in a chemistry textbook, Julia practices yoga or weight-lifting, aiming to improve her “physical” chemistry.

Effect of temperature and pressure on selected artists’ pigments
by Julia M. Bayne and Ian S. Butler,
New J. Chem., 2013, 37, 3833–3839. DOI: 10.1039/C3NJ00955F (Focus)

Our last author for this month is Dr Igor Sivaev, who is a senior researcher working in the area of boron chemistry at the A.N.Nesmeyanov Institute of Organoelement Compounds in Moscow (Russia).

Igor’s current research project is the synthesis of functional derivatives of carboranes for incorporation in various bio- and nano- molecules. Igor explains the significance of this work by quoting one of his countrymen:
“Chemistry has widely spread his hands in human affairs” said Mikhail Lomonosov, famous Russian scientist encyclopedist in the middle of the 18th century. Today these words are associated in the best way with the chemistry of polyhedral boron hydrides (boranes, carboranes, metallacarboranes, etc.) that find applications in such different fields as cancer diagnostics and treatment, liquid crystals, nonlinear optic materials, catalysts, molecular machines and many others. Therefore I chose NJC to publish this research work because the journal is addressed to a cross-disciplinary and wide readership.

In his free time (when he has some) Igor reads non-fiction works and enjoys travelling to different places with historical or cultural significance.

Synthesis of new ω-amino- and ω-azidoalkyl carboranes
by Marina Yu. Stogniy, Igor B. Sivaev, Ivan A. Godovikov, Zoya A. Starikova, Vladimir I. Bregadze and Shicheng Qi,
New J. Chem., 2013, 37, 3865–3868. DOI: 10.1039/C3NJ00677H (Letter)

A very warm thanks to our three authors who agreed to play the game and reply to a few questions.