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NJC poster prize winners at chemistry for life sciences conference

24 Oct 2011

Graduate students from Romania and Greece won the poster prizes sponsored by NJC at the recent European Conference on Chemistry for Life Sciences, the 4th in the series, held in Budapest.

Árpád Csog (Univ. Babes Bolyai, Kolozsvár, Romania) was selected for his poster entitled “Heavy Metal Phytoaccumulation by Aquatic Plants (Cabomba Aquatica, Vallisneria Spiralis, Echinodorus Cordifolius)“. Common aquarium plants like fanwort, tape grass and marble queen were shown to remove copper, zinc and cadmium from water. As these plants are easily cultivated and controlled, they show potential for the phytoremediation of contaminated waters. In this project, carried out in the group of Professor Kornelia Majdik, the defense response of the plants to the toxic effect of the heavy metals will also be studied.

(Left: Winner Árpád Csog with conference organiser Prof. Tamás Kiss.)

Dionysios Vourtsis (Univ. Patras, Greece) was selected for his poster entitled “A Solution NMR Study of Native and Mutated Forms of the Anthrax Lethal Factor Catalytic Site Polypeptide“. The group of Dr. Georgias A. Spyroulias is interested in elucidating the structural basis of ALF–substrate interactions. The biophysical characterization and backbone assignments of the enzyme’s core protease domain revealed a stable, well-folded structure even in the absence of Zn(II). The NMR structure of the metal-free catalytic core polypeptide exhibits great similarities with the crystal structures of the corresponding polypeptide. An NMR study of the metallated polypeptide is the next objective of this project.

(Right: Winner Dionysios Vourtsis.)

Congratulations to the deserving winners, and many thanks to the conference organisers and the volunteer jury members for their hard work!

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Meet Our Authors: October 2011 (Part 1: Collaborators)

11 Oct 2011

Since the October issue of NJC is dedicated to Didier Astruc, we asked some of the contributors to share their souvenirs of Didier with us.

The first group of authors, highlighted in this article, are former collaborators of Didier. In a companion article, we’ll talk with some of his scientific friends.

Marie-Hélène Delville, a CNRS researcher at the ICMCB in Bordeaux, first met Didier Astruc in Rennes, in June 1981. He proposed that she spend one month in his group. This “short” visit ended with a thesis and a CNRS position in 1985 when the group moved to Bordeaux. Marie-Hélène stayed 11 more years with Didier and then moved on to develop her own research activity on hybrid multifunctional nanoparticles and their applications in biology and energy efficiency.

Building on a solid chemistry background from her university studies, Marie-Hélène says that Didier “gave me the opportunity to enter this fabulous world of organometallic chemistry—a hybrid chemistry mixing up organic chemistry and metals at the Angstrom level.”

Her best souvenir of Didier dates from 1989, when both received awards: the German-French Humboldt Award for him and the French CNRS bronze medal for her.

Stéphane Rigaut, currently professor of chemistry at the University of Rennes 1, obtained his Ph.D. thesis under the joint direction of Didier and Marie-Hélène. With them, Stéphane discovered organometallic and physical chemistry, and the perfect association of both. His research activity is now concentrated on multifunctional molecular wires and switches including redox active carbon-rich organometallics.

Stéphane’s most vivid memory of Didier sheds light on the latter’s insight: “During my Ph.D., we observed an unexpected and strange reaction that he immediately connected to a complicated succession of steps including electron transfers and oxygen activations. Further studies showed that he was totally right!”

Beatriz Alonso Garrido is an Associate Professor in the Inorganic Chemistry Department of the Autonoma University of Madrid. She spent the year 1999 as a postdoctoral fellow in Didier’s laboratory and they have remained in contact since then, united by their common interest in organometallic redox-active macromolecules (dendrimers and polymers). In particular, Beatriz works on the development of their applications as sensors and biosensors.

Of her experience in Bordeaux, Beatriz notes that she had the opportunity to get a deeper insight into organic and organometallic synthesis as well as in the field of dendrimers. In addition, Beatriz says that “Didier allowed me to grow in two spaces: research and academic interests giving me valuable knowledge in both worlds. I am really grateful to him for placing his trust in me to co-translate his textbook “Chimie Organométallique” from French to Spanish.”

French gastronomy mixes well with chemistry in Beatriz’s interactions with Didier: long talks on chemistry around a table with a good French meal and a nice bottle of Bordeaux.

Our authors briefly comment their contributions to the dedicated issue:

Electrochromic devices based on in situ polymerised EDOT and Prussian Blue: influence of transparent conducting oxide and electrolyte composition—towards up-scaling by Sandrine Duluard, Ayse Celik-Cochet, Iyad Saadeddin, Anne Labouret, Guy Campet, Gerhard Schottner, Uwe Posset and Marie-Helene Delville, New J. Chem., 2011, 35, 2314-2321. DOI: 10.1039/C1NJ20231F

This paper is significant in the sense that it explicitly shows how the combination of polymer chemistry (flexible substrate and conducting layer), inorganic chemistry (indium tin oxide transparent conducting layer) and coordination chemistry (Prussian blue layer) can synergistically work to provide flexible electrochromic devices that can be darkened or lightened electronically. Automatic control of the amount of light and heat that passes through windows is achieved, such that these windows can be used as energy-saving devices.

Redox-active ruthenium(II) σ-arylacetylide wires for molecular electronics incorporating insulating chains by Ahmed Benameur, Pierre Brignou, Emmanuel Di Piazza, Yves-Marie Hervault, Lucie Norel and Stéphane Rigaut, New J. Chem., 2011, 35, 2105-2113. DOI: 10.1039/C1NJ20235A

Because molecular wires display properties strongly connected to their structure, carbon-rich metal complexes allowing intramolecular electron transfer with easily accessible redox states are of special interest to understand charge transport through molecular wires on the molecular length in metal—molecule—metal junctions.

Carbosilane based dendritic cores functionalized with interacting ferrocenyl units: synthesis and electrocatalytical properties by José Losada, Pilar García-Armada, Víctor Robles, Ángel M. Martínez, Carmen M. Casado and Beatriz Alonso, New J. Chem., 2011, 35, 2187-2195. DOI: 10.1039/C1NJ20190E

This contribution describes the synthesis of two carbosilane dendritic cores functionalized with eight electronically communicating ferrocenyl moieties. Platinum electrodes modified with electrodeposited films of these two dendrimers exhibit electrocatalytic activity towards the reduction of oxygen and both oxidation and reduction of hydrogen peroxide.

For the full list of articles comprising this dedicated issue, click here!

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Meet Our Authors: October 2011 (Part 2: Friends)

11 Oct 2011

Since the October issue of NJC is dedicated to Didier Astruc, we asked some of the contributors to share their souvenirs of Didier with us.

The authors highlighted in this article are some of Didier’s scientific friends. In a companion article, we talked with three former collaborators.

Holger Butenschön is a Professor at Leibniz University in Hannover, working in the fields of organic and organometallic chemistry.

Holger first met Didier at an organometallic chemistry conference in Gera, Germany, in the summer of 1990. He recalls that “We had a good time together with Peter Vollhardt and others.” They met on several other occasions, including during the summer holidays that Holger spent with his family near Bordeaux. The last time their paths crossed was in Düsseldorf at a ferrocene conference: “this gave us the chance to share a bottle of good red wine in the hotel.”

“Didier’s work was always a valuable source of new ideas. Myself coming from organic chemistry, his way of thinking broadened my mind.” Holger clearly remembers a small detail: Didier whistles when he finds something is interesting or remarkable.

Paola Ceroni, currently Associate Professor of chemistry at the University of Bologna, studies the photochemistry of supramolecular systems and nano-objects, with particular attention devoted to photoactive dendrimers.

Paola has no direct connection with Didier, but has followed his pioneering work on dendrimers since her student days. She explains that “his research on electroactive dendrimers has been very stimulating for my research, particularly with reference to molecular batteries and electrochemical sensors with signal amplification.” Didier’s visit to Bologna in 2009, on the occasion of the joint prize of the Italian and French Chemical Societies, was the occasion for them to enjoy a walking tour of the city.

Hiroshi Nishihara is Professor of chemistry and Vice Dean of the School of Science of the University of Tokyo. His research centers on the creation of new electro-, photo-, and magneto-functional materials based on transition metal complexes, donor-acceptor conjugated systems, and/or metal nanoparticles.

Hiroshi and Didier have a very close relationship, dating back to their meeting in 1998 at the first Chianti Meeting on Inorganic Electrochemistry (ChiMIE). Hiroshi was from the start much impressed by Didier’s intellectual knowledge and wonderful personality, and has appreciated the valuable advice given by Didier. “Discussion with him is always encouraging and gives me new ideas.”

The two friends have met many times since on various occasions. Hiroshi in particular recalls trips together to beautiful and historical places, such as Maui. Hiroshi has visited Didier in Bordeaux four times, and Didier has reciprocated with stays in Tokyo on two occasions. In addition, each has welcomed a student from his colleague’s group: Marie-Christine Daniel went to Tokyo while Tetsuro Kusamoto spent time in Bordeaux.

Our authors briefly comment their contributions to the dedicated issue:

New cyclopentadienylethylphosphane chelate complexes with unsymmetrical phosphane substitution by Karin Janssen (née Kirleis) and Holger Butenschön, New J. Chem., 2011, 35, 2287-2298. DOI: 10.1039/C1NJ20292H

While cyclopentadienylalkylphosphane chelate complexes with two identical substituents at phosphorus have been widely investigated, our contribution presents the first cobalt chelates with different substituents at phosphorus. This causes some asymmetry and gives an insight into the through-space interactions of the substituents with the other ligands present in the complex.

Designing light harvesting antennas by luminescent dendrimers by Vincenzo Balzani, Giacomo Bergamini, Paola Ceroni and Enrico Marchi, New J. Chem., 2011, 35, 1944-1954. DOI: 10.1039/C1NJ20142E

Dendrimers are macromolecules with extraordinary properties: their aesthetically pleasing structures enable a controlled organization of different functional units. This is a prerequisite to build up an efficient molecular antenna, in which the light absorbed by the peripheral units is funneled to a common acceptor by a sequence of energy transfer steps. Applications of these systems to the conversion of solar energy into electricity or fuels as well as sensors with signal amplification are envisaged.

Synthesis of photo-switchable 3-FcAB-modified polymer particles by Kosuke Namiki, Masaki Murata, Shoko Kume and Hiroshi Nishihara, New J. Chem., 2011, 35, 2146-2152. DOI: 10.1039/C1NJ20189A

We introduced 3-ferrocenylazobenze to the polymer particles and succeeded in reversible trans-cis isomerization of the azobenzene moiety by green light irradiation combined with redox reaction of the ferrocene moiety. This result can lead to developing a photo-switching system using spectroscopic detection of the isomerization behaviors of nano-dots.

For the full list of articles comprising this dedicated issue, click here!

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NJC article on HCLPs selected as Noteworthy Chemistry

28 Sep 2011

Once again, an article from the New Journal of Chemistry has been selected by the American Chemical Society as Noteworthy Chemistry (September 26, 2011). The groups of Thierry Muller and Stefan Bräse (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany) and of Piero Sozzani (University of Milan-Bicocca, Italy) developed new hyper-cross-linked polymers (HCLPs) using click chemistry via an unconventional route.

The adamantane-based compound shows remarkable efficiency for CO₂ capture under the mild conditions of low pressure or at room temperature.

“Click chemistry produces hyper-cross-linked polymers with tetrahedral cores” by O. Plietzsch, C. I. Schilling, T. Grab, S. L. Grage, A. S. Ulrich, A. Comotti, P. Sozzani, T. Muller and S. Bräse in New J. Chem., 2011, 35, 1577–1581. If you are a subscriber, you can read the original article here: DOI: 10.1039/C1NJ20370C.

To read more high quality chemistry, check out our other articles!

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NJC Poster Prize winner at the Nitrogen Ligands conference

12 Sep 2011

A 2nd year graduate student in the group of Luciano Marchio at the University of Parma, Italy, was awarded the NJC Poster Prize at the 5th EuCheMS Conference on Nitrogen Ligands held in Granada, Spain, last week.

Irene Bassenetti‘s winning poster dealt with silver(I) complexes used as lubricants. Pure silver has long been known to be a good lubricant. The trick is to obtain these pure silver layers, without organic contaminants from the ligands. The new bimetallic complexes gave high purity layers that showed excellent results on stainless steel.

The synthesis and characterization of the compounds was carried out in Parma. The analysis of the silver layers formed upon decomposition of the complex and the tribological properties when the complex was added to an oil were studied at Northwestern University in a collaboration with the group of Tobin Marks and the US Army.

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Tales of Granada: Day 4

12 Sep 2011

Another long day on Thursday, but the end was in sight. Amongst the 19 talks of the day a few themes stood out.

Three talks dealt with the interaction of metal ions with DNA: Jens Müller (University of Münster) spoke about metal-mediated (artificial) base pairs; Andrew Houlton (University of Newcastle) uses DNA to make metal nanowires, while Miguel Galindo (also at the University of Newcastle) studies the binding of metal complexes in the minor groove.
A related topic is that of metal ions and nucleobases, discussed by Angel Terrón-Homar (University of the Balearic Islands) and Pablo Sanz Miguel (University of Zaragoza).
Materials also occupied a large place during the day: Juan Herrera (University of Granada) showed bifunctional silica nanoparticles; Françoise Quignard (ENSC Montpellier) demonstrated the potential of hybrid catalysts based on polysaccharides; Christoph Janiak (University of Düsseldorf) presented MOFs for “useful cold” (using a cycle of water adsorption and desorption).

At the end of the afternoon, conference chair Jorge Navarro closed the meeting with a brief history of this series of conferences.

This 5th edition follows ones in Alghero (1992), Como (1996), Camerino (2004) and Garmisch (2008). The 6th is tentatively scheduled for 2015 somewhere in France.
There were about 260 participants from all over the world in this 5th edition; 65 talks over three and a half days and well over 100 posters in 2 sessions.

Three poster prizes were awarded: I presented the NJC Poster Prize to Irene Bassanetti (University of Parma) while the organizers recognized the work of Núria Aliaga-Alcalde (University of Barcelona) and Fawzia M.S. Al-Sogair (College of Basic Education, Kuwait).

Santiago Alvarez, speaking as the last session chair, listed the 3 ingredients necessary for a successful conference—good science, active participants, efficient organization—and judged that all three had been present in Granada. (I might add a 4th ingredient: an attractive location and venue.)

Congratulations to organizers Elisa Barea and Jorge Navarro! They were rewarded during that evening’s banquet with gifts presented by the organizing committee.

What’s this picture doing here you might ask?
Hint: what is the name of this fruit in Spanish?

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Tales of Granada: Day 3

09 Sep 2011

Wednesday, as a half day, had a lighter schedule of “only” 10 talks. Some highlights included the following presentations.

Enzo Alessio (University of Trieste), in his plenary lecture, reviewed his group’s work on porphyrins in supramolecular chemistry (a variety of geometries can be obtained, including some very large constructs) and in medicinal chemistry (ruthenium anticancer complexes).
Multimetallic systems were a recurring theme this morning, as Marius Andruh (University of Bucarest), James Wilton-Ely (Imperial College London) and Enrique Colacio (University of Granada) all presented their results in this area.
In a good complement to a previous day’s lecture, Joan Aguiló Carreras (Autonomous University of Barcelona) addressed the production of hydrogen as the energy of the future, using Ru catalysts (electropolymerized or covalently anchored for the water splitting reaction).

After the morning’s session, a delicious buffet lunch awaited the delegates. And wait we did, if we were slow to get in line…providing a good occasion for further discussions with fellow delegates.

The 2nd poster session followed lunch—with the poster prizes in play—check back here soon to find out who the winners are!

In the afternoon came the eagerly awaited visit to the Alhambra. Busloads of chemists invaded the grounds, surely looking for inspiration in the intricate structures to be found everywhere one looked!

The Nasrid Palace itself was not as impressive as in my memories of my previous visit 35 years ago, in 1976. Perhaps because back then we were free to wander around more of the palace (or so I recall) and the famous Court of the Lions had its 12-lion fountain in place. (It is currently being restored and so we can only hope to see it in place once again in the near future.)
For me, the highlight of the Alhambra complex is its gardens—vast formal ones and small intimate ones—with water and fountains filling the air with their music. These gardens are a real oasis in the desert and a treat for the senses.

Don’t forget to visit us soon for the last day’s update and close of the 5th EuCheMS Conference on Nitrogen Ligands!

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Tales of Granada: Day 2

08 Sep 2011

Tuesday was a marathon—20 talks—starting at 8:30 in the morning and ending 11 hours later at 19:30 that evening.

Amongst these many lectures, I particularly liked the following talks.

Ramon Vilar (Imperial College London) gave a very clear presentation on metallic terpyridine complexes that bind quadruplex DNA for potential medical applications.
Jeff Long (University of California, Berkeley) related his work on promising metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) to capture the CO₂ produced in power plants.
Mike Scott (University of Florida) also addressed a real problem, that of the destruction of highly radioactive nuclear waste, with the design of actinide selective ligands.
Cameron Kepert (University of Sydney) looked at selective guest binding in metal-organic host materials.
Guillem Aromí (University of Barcelona) presented his work on cluster nanomagnets, containing up to 14 paramagnetic metal ions, which are of interest for applications that include qubit carriers.
V. Chandrasekhar (IIT Kanpur) also talked about multinuclear magnetic clusters, based on phosphorus-nitrogen ligands.

After this long day, dinner and sleep! See you tomorrow!

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Tales of Granada*: Day 1

06 Sep 2011

Greetings from sunny Granada! Having arrived a day early, I walked around (and up and down) the downtown and old quarters of the Albayzin Arab neighborhood. Surprises and treasures abounded, to be discovered around each bend in my path.

Sunday evening the conference kicked off with a cocktail mixer held on the rooftop terrace of the Palacio des Congresos. Sipping a dry sherry and sampling Spanish “tortilla”, Iberico ham and manchego cheese, I and the other guests enjoyed compelling views of the surrounding city and magnificent Alhambra, lit up in the clear evening sky.

We got an early start (at the very un-Spanish hour of 8:30 am) on Monday with a plenary lecture by Makoto Fujita (of Tokyo University). Makoto reviewed about 10 years of his work on cage compounds. A recent interest is “starting and stopping” reactions in these cages, which allows them to view the reaction intermediates.

In another plenary lecture, Ged Parkin of Columbia University showed how tripodal nitrogen ligands can be used as models for zinc enzymes and in relation to organometallic toxicity. Ged finished his presentation with a card trick and the help of two volunteers from the audience, which impressed us until he revealed part of the secret. (Only a part though, or else I would conclude that human behavior is 100% predictable.)

This was just two of the talks amongst a very full program. I can’t possibly discuss all of them but my editor’s choice for the day would include the lectures by:

Joost Reek on using supramolecular chemistry to develop encapsulated catalysts;
Sandeep Verma on metal-adenine complexes, of use for catalysis when attached to carbon nanotubes;
Roland Sigel who looks at metal ion binding to DNA;
Hideki Masuda presenting ways to activate oxygen species by di-iron compounds on electrodes.

The first poster session ended a long day of science, which continued in a typical Moroccan restaurant. With NJC Associate Editor Mike Scott and our four guests we were transported to Marrakech, to experience another facet of the local culture. In enjoyable company, we compared research funding, football (soccer) and housing prices in our 5 countries.

Two of my guests at dinner have recent papers in NJC:

MOFs, MILs and more: concepts, properties and applications for porous coordination networks (PCNs) by Christoph Janiak and Jana K. Vieth, New J. Chem., 2010, 34, 2366-2388. DOI: 10.1039/C0NJ00275E
Facile synthesis of an ultramicroporous MOF tubular membrane with selectivity towards CO₂ by Sonia Aguado, Charles-Henri Nicolas, Virginie Moizan-Baslé, Carlos Nieto, Hedi Amrouche, Nicolas Bats, Nathalie Audebrand and David Farrusseng, New J. Chem., 2011, 35, 41-44. DOI: 10.1039/C0NJ00667J
Guest-induced gate-opening of a zeolite imidazolate framework by Sonia Aguado, Gérard Bergeret, Marc Pera Titus, Virginie Moizan, Carlos Nieto-Draghi, Nicolas Bats and David Farrusseng, New J. Chem., 2011, 35, 546-550. DOI: 10.1039/C0NJ00836B
Combinatorial synthesis of metal–organic frameworks libraries by click-chemistry by Marie Savonnet, Emanuel Kockrick, Aurélie Camarata, Delphine Bazer-Bachi, Nicolas Bats, Vincent Lecocq, Catherine Pinel and David Farrusseng, New J. Chem., 2011, 35, 1892-1897. DOI: 10.1039/C1NJ20350A

Check back on the NJC blog for my reports on the rest of this conference, including a visit to the Alhambra.

* With apologies to Washington Irving. His Tales of the Alhambra is, at 6 euros, the best bargain in Granada. It is a wonderful companion for a visit to this beautiful city.

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New faces in the Montpellier editorial office

01 Sep 2011

This summer has seen the arrival of three new members on the NJC editorial team:
• Eva Balentova (Deputy Editor)
• Cynthia Challencin (Publishing Assistant)
• Ling Peng (Assistant Editor)
Read short profiles of each below, and more details on the NJC CNRS website.

Dr Eva Balentova was recently recruited as the Deputy Editor of NJC, replacing Dr Marie Cote (now with RSC Publishing in Cambridge).

Eva carried out her Ph.D. research in organic chemistry at the University of Pavol Jozef Šafárik in Košice, a city in eastern Slovakia. These studies involved long-term stays at both Turku University (Finland) and Universidad del País Vasco (EHU) in Spain. Postdoctoral positions at EHU and in France (Nancy and Montpellier) followed.

Eva’s research background in organic and natural product synthesis, as well as medicinal, peptide and carbohydrate chemistry, will beautifully complement the scientific expertise already covered by the other NJC editors.

(more…)

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