NJC Blog

In this NJC paper, Jean-Marie Herrmann (Institute of Researches on Catalysis and Environment of Lyon, France) investigated the chromium-doping of titania to tentatively photo-sensitize titania in the visible region and demonstrated why this strategy has proven to be a disaster in terms of photocatalytic activity.

In this study, the author explained the photo-electrical behavior of a Cr3+-doped titania catalyst in comparison with pristine titania, the related strong inhibition of titania’s catalytic performances and generalized this detrimental effect to all kinds of cationic dopings, either of n-type and/or p-type.

Detrimental cationic doping of titania in photocatalysis: why chromium Cr3+-doping is a catastrophe for photocatalysis, both under UV- and visible irradiations Jean-Marie Herrmann New J. Chem., 2012, Advance Article DOI: 10.1039/c2nj20914d

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Check out NJC’s latest Hot Articles now available as Advance Articles on the web:

Dithiolene complexes as metallo-ligands

In this NJC Hot article Formigué and co-workers (research collaboration within France, Italy and Poland) describe the synthesis and behaviour of complexes between Ni(II) ion and crown ethers incorporating a dithiolene coordination motif. A nickel dithiolene complex substituted with crown ether cyclic moieties incorporating four O atoms, abbreviated as [Ni(S2O4)2]1,0, is isolated in its radical anionic (as Na+ salt) and neutral forms.

The results presented in this paper show that dithiolene complexes substituted with crown ether moieties, can be used as metallo-ligands toward 3d magnetic metal cations for the elaboration of more complex magnetic systems. This work opens new perspectives to the preparation of more complex magnetic structures applying a trivalent metal cations such as rare-earth cations as well as smaller crown-ether moieties.

Dithiolene complexes as metallo-ligands: a crown-ether approach by Alessia Famengo, Dalice Pinero, Olivier Jeannin, Thierry Guizouarn, Lidia Piekara-Sady and Marc Fourmigué; New J. Chem., 2012, Advance Article; DOI: 10.1039/C1NJ20870E, Paper

Purification of double-walled carbon nanotube macro-films

The authors of the next NJC Hot article, J. N. Wang and co-workers (China) present a new, interesting concept for macroscopic carbon nanotube films purification. They use thermal reduction using NH4Cl as reducing agent and gas-phase sublimation instead of liquid-phase purification with acids.

The most important advantage of this method over previous oxidation in acid is that nanotubes do not come into contact with potentially damaging acids, and thus the morphology and integrity of the macroscopic film are maintained.

Purification of double-walled carbon nanotube macro-films by Yun Chen, Shi Qing Xu and Jian Nong Wang; New J. Chem., 2012, Advance Article, DOI: 10.1039/C1NJ20866G, Letter

Glycodendrimers as functional antigens and antitumor vaccines

In this NJC Perspective article, Roy and Shiao (University of Montreal, Quebec, Canada) give an excellent and timely overview of the application of glycodendrimers in the field of actively pursued vaccine candidates against tumor associated carbohydrate antigens.

This perspective is composed of two parts, one describing the present state of the art of glycodendrimers, and another one presented all recent advances in glycoderived cancer vaccine. This article is part of the themed issue Dendrimers II, guest-edited by Jean-Pierre Majoral, to be out in the February issue of NJC.

Glycodendrimers as functional antigens and antitumor vaccines by Tze Chieh Shiao and René Roy; New J. Chem., 2012, Advance Article; DOI: 10.1039/C2NJ20873C; Perspective.

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Y. Canac, R. Chauvin & co-workers (LCC, France) give an overview on the discovery, recent developments and prospects on carbeniophosphanes, and in particular of imidazoliophosphanes.

In this review is discussed the carbeniophosphanes preparation, their electronic vs. coordinative properties, their intrinsic reactivity but also the catalytic properties of carbeniophosphine complexes.

The versatile and unique characteristics of carbeniophosphanes addressed as part of this review make them potentially a novel class of phosphorus ligands for transition metals.

Carbeniophosphanes and their carbon → phosphorus → metal ternary complexes Yves Canac, Carine Maaliki, Ibrahim Abdellah and Remi Chauvin New J. Chem., 2012, Advance Article DOI: 10.1039/C1NJ20808J, Perspective.

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Oxidized phthalocyanines are widely used in the design of optical, magnetic and conducting materials.

In this NJC Letter, Dmitri V. Konarev and co-workers (Institutes of Problems of Chemical Physics and Solid State Physics, Russia) demonstrated that the reduction of phthalocyanines with strong metallocene donors like decamethylchromocene can also lead to the preparation of molecular magnets. In particular, the negatively charged iron phthalocyanine (Cp*₂Cr⁺)(Fe^IPc^–)(C₆H₄Cl₂)₄ is a soft ferrimagnet showing hysteresis with a small coercive field and a bifurcation temperature of about 5 K.

This original strategy should allow the extension of the molecular-based magnet family by exploiting metal-containing and metal-free phthalocyanines.

“Structure and magnetic properties of ionic compound (Cp*2Cr+)·(FeIPc−)·(C6H4Cl2)4 containing negatively charged iron phthalocyanine”, Dmitri V. Konarev, Leokadia V. Zorina, Salavat S. Khasanov, El’za U. Hakimova and Rimma N. Lyubovskaya, New J. Chem., 2012, Advance Article, DOI: 10.1039/C1NJ20858F.

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In this NJC paper, Aharon Gedanken and co-workers (Institute of Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials, Israel) have prepared stabilized liquid-filled microspheres of graphene oxide, by applying ultra-sonic power to a biphasic system.

By using two dyes, the authors were able to show that the microsphere’s core has mostly a hydrophobic environment due to organic solvents though a  polar environment was also measured at the microsphere’s core, which increased close to the microsphere edge that was attributed to the presence of graphene oxide sheets and water molecules.

Graphene oxide microspheres prepared by a simple, one-step ultrasonication method Matias Sametband, Ulyana Shimanovich and Aharon Gedanken New J. Chem., 2011, Advance Article DOI: 10.1039/C1NJ20738E

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Because of their distinctive properties, in particular their negligible vapor pressure, ionic liquids have attracted increasing attention in many fields, including organic chemistry, electrochemistry, catalysis, physical chemistry. However, the toxicity including ecotoxicity of these so-called a “green solvent” has recently received broad attention.

In this NJC paper C. S. Pereira and co-workers (collaborative research work between the Universities in the UK and Portugal) have investigated the toxicity of quaternary phosphonium ionic liquids towards fungal conidia Aspergillus nidulans.

This interesting work reveals the mechanism of toxicity of the tetraalkylphosphonium chlorides, demonstrating that systematic elongation of the alkyl substituents result in generally higher toxicity. In this study, fluorescence microscopy is proposed as a direct method for assessing the impact of ionic liquids on the plasma membrane integrity.

Unravelling the mechanism of toxicity of alkyltributylphosphonium chlorides in Aspergillus nidulans conidia; Marija Petkovic, Diego O. Hartmann, Gabriela Adamová, Kenneth R. Seddon, Luís Paulo N. Rebelo and Cristina Silva Pereira; New J. Chem., 2011, Advance Article; DOI: 10.1039/C1NJ20470J, Paper

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In this NJC “Hot article” scientists in Japan have reported that homogeneous single-layer graphene can be obtained by simply annealing the carbon contaminated Cu films deposited on c-plane Al2O3 at 900 and 1000 ˚C without additional carbon supply.

The nucleation mechanism of graphene on the Cu surface has been prepared via Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD). Furthermore, the authors show that graphitization of amorphous carbon during CVD is effected not only by carbon supersaturation, but it is also affected by CVD temperature and crystallographic plane of the underlying metal. Their results provide direct experimental evidence to elucidate the influencing factors of graphitization of amorphous carbon into graphene.

Exploring the nucleation and mechanism of graphene growth provide important contribution to the graphene research with respect to their further application.

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On the nucleation of graphene by chemical vapor deposition Baoshan Hu, Hiroki Ago, Carlo M. Orofeo, Yui Ogawa and Masaharu Tsuji; New J. Chem., 2011, Advance Article; DOI: 10.1039/C1NJ20695H, Paper

Highly rated by the reviewers and the editorial office alike, this ‘Hot Article’ will be FREE to access for a period of 4 weeks.

In this NJC paper, Sophie Tingry and co-workers (Institut Européen des Membranes at Montpellier, France) prepared a carbon nanofibers (CNFs) electrode through electrospinning of a polyacrylonitrile solution and subsequent thermal carbonization treatment.

The CNFs-based electrode was successfully used as support for enzyme (laccase) immobilization and applied to bioelectrocatalytic O₂ reduction. Besides its easy handling, the excellent structural stability and surface properties of the CNFs electrode improved the electron transfer rate at the electrode surface and increased the accessible surface area of the electrode, therefore allowing a higher loading of active enzyme.

These nanomaterials are promising candidates as enzymatic cathodes in biofuel cell devices.

“Fabrication of free-standing electrospun carbon nanofibers as efficient electrode materials for bioelectrocatalysis”, Ai-Fu Che, Vincent Germain, Marc Cretin, David Cornu, Christophe Innocent and Sophie Tingry, New J. Chem., 2011, Advance Article, DOI: 10.1039/C1NJ20651F.

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