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Meet Our Authors – November Issue 2013

21 Nov 2013

by Ling PENG, NJC Assistant Editor

Here is a selection of author profiles from the 2013 November issue of NJC. We thank them most warmly for accepting our invitation and having kindly taken their time to answer a few questions for us.

Our first author is Dr. Jean-Pierre Majoral, who is currently an emerita Research Director of exceptional grade in CNRS. He is interested in all aspects of dendrimer properties and applications from biology to medicinal chemistry, material sciences and catalysis. His contribution to this issue is a concise review which presents not only the “state of the art” concerning the use of dendrimers as tools to tackle different aggressive types of cancers (from colon to brain ) but also to point out what should be (or will be) done using dendrimers to face important remaining challenges encountered by medicinal chemists. “It is difficult for me to imagine a different career than the one I had and currently I have!” says Jean-Pierre with a total satisfaction working as a researcher during all a career.
Prof. Larry Que is a Regents Professor of Chemistry at University of Minnesota, and focuses mainly on bioinorganic chemistry. In this issue, he contributed a paper entitled “Cyclohexene as a versatile substrate probe for the nature of the high-valent iron-oxo oxidant in bio-inspired nonheme iron-catalyzed oxidations”. “I love discovering new, unusually reactive compounds and understanding how they work. I also enjoy training young scientists very much” claimed Prof Que.
Prof. Michio Yamada is an Assistant Professor at Tokyo Gakugei University. He is interested in the chemistry of carbon-rich architectures such as fullerenes, carbon nanotubes, and acetylene scaffolds. Currently, he is pursuing the structure-based design and synthesis of novel molecular receptors to explore the supramolecular chemistry of nanocarbons. In his contribution to this issue, he reported a new method for functionalization of fullerenes using photolabelling reagents. “If I couldn’t be a chemist, I’d be a curator in a museum of natural history. Actually I spent a lot of time in museums with my parents in my childhood and the experience was valuable and unforgettable”, says Prof. Yamada.
Prof. Clotilde Policar is specialized in bio-inorganic chemistry and cellular inorganic chemistry and working at Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris. She contributed an article entitled “An Intrinsically Fluorescent Glycoligand for Direct Imaging of Ligand Trafficking in Artificial and Living Cell Systems” in the October issue of NJC. For her, the most exciting moment is “when a difficulty vanishes, at any level; from a simple technical problem solved to a deeper understanding of a phenomenon. It can be after a long process or in a short moment of insight. It is always enlightening and produces a deep joy and emotion that is, to me, the quintessence of research.”

Read November’s issue now.

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Andre Cobb named to NJC Board

12 Nov 2013

We are delighted to announce the appointment of Dr Andre Cobb to New Journal of Chemistry‘s International Advisory Board.

Andre is an Associate Professor of Organic Chemistry in the School of Pharmacy at the University of Reading. He graduated from King’s College London in 1997 and moved to UCL to conduct his Ph.D. research with Professor Charles Marson on the design of new asymmetric catalytic processes. From there he moved to Cambridge to undertake postdoctoral research, first with Dr Florian Hollfelder in the Biochemistry Department, working on the development of synthetic enzymes, and then with Professor Steve Ley in the Chemistry Department in the areas of medicinal chemistry and asymmetric methodology.

In 2005, Andre moved to a faculty position at the University of Reading where he investigates new methods in the synthesis of biologically relevant molecules—particularly unnatural amino acids. He was awarded a university prize for Best Research Output in 2010, and a Thieme Chemistry Journals award in 2011. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2012.

As a member of the Editorial Board, Andre is interested in using social media to promote NJC. We welcome Andre and look forward to the first tweet!

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Meet our authors of the October issue of NJC

02 Oct 2013

We are pleased to present a selection of our authors of the October 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 Fatima C. Teixeira who is a Researcher at the Laboratorio Nacional de Energia e Geologia in Lisboa (Portugal). Her current research interests are in the field of organic chemistry, especially in the synthesis and characterization of heterocyclic compounds containing phosphonate groups. Currently, her research is focused on the preparation of precursors for new materials for proton exchange membranes with high conductivity for fuel cells. In her NJC paper, Fatima and co-workers report on a new strategy for the synthesis of new diphosphonated azaheterocyclic compounds to become precursors for novel membrane materials for fuel cells. Also, the NMR analysis shows, for a benzimidazole derivative, the presence of only one or both tautomeric forms on the NMR timescale, depending on the solvent and concentration of the solution.

When asked what led to the publication of this article at NJC, Fatima responds: “We choose NJC due to its multidisciplinarity, with a broad and diverse readership, fast publishing time and high quality”.

Out of the lab, Fatima likes to spend time with her family, going to cinema, swimming, reading or travelling.

If Fatima could not be a scientist, she will probably be an engineer.

New azaheterocyclic aromatic diphosphonates for hybrid materials for fuel cell applications by Fátima C. Teixeira, C. M. Rangel and António P. S. Teixeira, New J. Chem., 2013,37, 3084-309 DOI: 10.1039/C3NJ00585B.

Our next author is Ricardo Gargano, Professor at the Institute of Physics of the University of Brasilia (Brazil). Ricardo’s research interests focus on electronic structure calculation and kinetic and dynamic of molecular systems.

In this issue of NJC, Ricardo has authored the article An extensive investigation of reactions involved in the nitrogen trifluoride dissociation by Simone S. Ramalho, Wiliam F. da Cunha, Alessandra F. Albernaz, Pedro H. O. Neto, Geraldo Magela e Silva and Ricardo Gargano, New J. Chem., 2013, 37, 3244-3251 DOI: 10.1039/C3NJ00553D. “The results obtained in our work are of potential use for comparison in future theoretical and experimental works in the NF₃ decomposition mechanism”, explains Ricardo who chooses NJC for publication of this article as NJC publishes innovative, original and significant works in Chemistry.

In his free time, Ricardo loves playing soccer and if he was not a scientist, he would like to be a soccer player.

Closing this month’s author selection, Christophe Den Auwer is Professor at the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis in the Institut de Chimie de Nice (France).

His current research interest is radiochemistry – Actinide chemistry in interaction with biotope and human toxicology

He has authored in this NJC issue the paper Multi-edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy of thorium, neptunium and plutonium hexacyanoferrate compounds by Thomas Dumas, Marie Christine Charbonnel, Iraida A. Charushnikova, Steven D. Conradson, Clara Fillaux, Christoph Hennig, Philippe Moisy, Sébastien Petit, Andreas C. Scheinost, David K. Shuh, Tolek Tyliszczak and Christophe Den Auwer, New J. Chem., 2013,37, 3003-3016 DOI: 10.1039/C3NJ00318C3. “This paper which is part of the PhD thesis of Thomas Dumas describes some fundamental aspects of actinide chemistry. Few years ago when I was at Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique (CEA) we launched this work on actinide hexacynometallates because the cyanometallate chemistry is so rich.” says Christophe.

Out of the lab, Christophe favourite activities are Mountain hiking and back country skiing.

To the question, If you could not be a scientist but could be anything else, what would you be? Christophe answers “It is of course difficult to answer but I would have liked to work in another type of creating occupation because imagination in science or in artistic fields is the most enjoyable part of our work.”

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Profiles of the 18th ESOC Bursary Awardees

12 Sep 2013

NJC, committed to supporting the younger members of the chemistry community, underwrote student bursaries at this summer’s 18th European Symposium on Organic Chemistry, held in Marseille this past July. The 8 young awardees, from 8 European countries, are briefly profiled here.

Szilvia Deak is a second year Ph.D. student in the research group of Prof. Ferenc Faigl at Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Department of Organic Chemistry and Technology (Hungary). The group develops novel regio- and stereoselective metallation processes for the synthesis of atropisomeric functionalised biaryls (1-phenylpyrrole derivatives) and optically active heterocyclic compounds (oxiranes, oxetanes, pyrrolidines) as potential chiral ligands and organocatalysts. Szilvia’s poster was entitled “Atropisomeric amino alcohols as new chiral ligands in asymmetric synthesis”.
Paulina Hamankiewicz is currently finishing her Ph.D. thesis on molecular and chiral recognition of organic compounds using carbohydrate derivatives, decorated with urea moieties. She will be graduating from the University of Warsaw (Poland), where she is in the group of Prof. Janusz Jurczak (Laboratory of Stereocontrolled Organic Synthesis). Paulina’s poster: “Benzene, naphthalene, and anthracene urea derivatives as convenient tools for chiral recognition”.
Maria Riala is from the Department of Chemistry of the University of Cyprus in Nicosia (Cyprus). After her undergraduate degree she completed her Ph.D. studies in the Research Laboratory of Fullerene and Supramolecular Chemistry under the supervision of Asst. Prof. Nikos Chronakis and graduated in June 2013. Maria’s research is focused on the synthesis of bis- and trisadducts of C₆₀ with an inherently chiral addition pattern utilizing enantiomerically pure tethers. Maria’s poster: “Synthesis of chiral Th-symmetrical hexakis adducts of C₆₀“.
Ekrem Kaplan is a Masters chemistry student at Istanbul Technical University (Turkey). Under the supervisor of Prof. Esin Hamuryudan, Ekrem is preparing peripheral and non-peripheral substituted manganese(III) phthalocyanine bearing carboxylic side groups and investigating their electrochemical properties. Ekrem’s poster: “Synthesis and Electrochemical Studies of Carboxylic Acid Functionalized Phthalocyanines”.
Tatiana Dias is a Ph.D. student in the Chemistry Research Centre at the University of Minho (Portugal) in the group of Prof. Fernanda Proença. The research group’s work is focused on the synthesis of new drug candidates, mainly nitrogen and oxygen-containing heterocyclic structures. Tatiana’s research has been centred on the development of new synthetic methodologies to prepare chromene derivatives to be tested as anticancer agents. Tatiana’s poster at ESOC was “2-Hydroxychalcones and carbon acid derivatives: Reactivity studies in acid media”.
Kostas Voreakos is writing up his Master’s dissertation, after completing his research in the group of Dr. Dimitris Georgiadis of the Laboratory of Organic Chemistry, Department of Chemistry in the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (Greece). The research group focuses on the design and synthesis of metallopeptidase inhibitors and the development of synthetic methodologies for medicinal applications. Previously, Kostas earned first degrees in both chemistry and food technology. Kostas’s poster at ESOC was entitled “Conformationally Constrained Phosphinic Peptides: Synthesis of α,β-Disubstituted Phosphinyl Propanoates and Development of δ-lactam Phosphinic Surrogates”.	Phosphinic Peptides
Agnese Stikute is a 4th year undergraduate student in Chemical Engineering at the Faculty of Material Science and Applied Chemistry of Riga Technical University (Latvia). She works in the Institute of Technology of Organic Chemistry/Department of Chemical Technology of Biologically Active Compounds under the supervision of Prof. Mara Jure. Agnese’s research is devoted to the synthesis of analogues of natural antioxidants, focused on the discovery and optimization of the synthesis of cinnamoyl anilines and their derivatives. Agnese’s poster: “Cyclization of monoanilides of arylidene malonic acid”.
Kärt Reitel is a Ph.D. student in Tallinn University of Technology (Estonia). She works in the organic synthesis group under the supervision of Prof. Tõnis Kanger. Kärt’s main research topic is the synthesis of cyclopropane-containing compounds and their application in organocatalytic reactions. Kärt’s ESOC poster was entitled “Aminocatalytic Michael addition of cyclopropane-containing aldehydes to nitroolefins”.

Congratulations to all the awardees! (Check out “who is who” in the photo montage below.)

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Meet Our Authors – September 2013 issue of NJC

10 Sep 2013

Let’s meet the people behind the papers! This month, two authors kindly took some time to answer a few questions for us.

Our first author is Yasuhiro Shiraishi who is Associate Professor at the Research Center for Solar Energy Chemistry of Osaka University (Japan). Yasuhiro’s research interests are focused on the design of photocatalysts for selective organic transformations and fluorescent molecular devices driven by light.

The article by Yasuhiro and his co-authors reports the synthesis of a spiropyran-cholesterol that undergoes reversible color and phase transitions upon heat and light stimuli. These properties were successfully applied to the creation of a material for information storage, easily writable and erasable by simple light irradiation.

The interdisciplinary nature of the work, involving polymer chemistry and photochemistry made NJC a logical choice in the authors’ eyes.

Besides being a research scientist, Yasuhiro’s dream job would be professional footballer. And not surprisingly, his primary focus outside of the lab is to raise his two boys to be as good footballers as Leo Messi.

“Spiropyran–cholesterol conjugate as a photoresponsive organogelator” Shigehiro Sumiya, Yasuhiro Shiraishi and Takayuki Hirai New J. Chem., 2013, 37, 2642-2647. DOI: 10.1039/C3NJ00322A

Antonio Frontera is Full Professor of Organic Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry at the Universitat de les Illes Balears (Spain). His research is in the field of Theoretical Chemistry, with an emphasis on the study of non covalent interactions.

About his paper, Antonio commented: “Seventeen years ago, pi-facial interactions were described by John D. Woolins and coworkers in thiotrithiazylium salts. Their pioneering work can be considered as the birth of the nowadays well recognized anion–pi interaction and the research published in our manuscript on this topic is dedicated to them.”

The authors chose NJC to publish this research work because the journal is addressed to a cross-disciplinary and wide readership.

Playing basketball in wintertime and fishing in summertime are Antonio’s favorite activities besides chemistry (see the photo: nice catch!). If he could not be a scientific investigator, Antonio would be a private investigator.

“Anion–π interactions in [S4N3]+ rings” Antonio Bauzá, David Quiñonero, Pere M. Deyà and Antonio Frontera New J. Chem., 2013, 37, 2636-2641. DOI: 10.1039/C3NJ00424D

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Meet Our Authors – August Issue 2013

20 Aug 2013

Two authors of NJC’s August issue are interviewed for this month’s Meet our Authors feature.

Our first author is Dr. Faina Gelman, who is researcher at the Institute of Geological Survey of Israel, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Her current research interests are environmental chemistry and stable isotope analysis. She particularly focuses on development of new analytical tools for stable isotope analysis and their applications for understanding chemical and biochemical transformations of organic compounds.

In their NJC paper, Faina with her colleagues demonstrated determination of bromine kinetic isotope effect on Grignard reagent formation –one of the fundamental reactions of brominated organics. ” Since our work combines novel analytical, theoretical and organic chemistry approaches, we wanted to submit it to a more general-focused journal, such as NJC is, from our point of view” commented on choosing NJC.

And what contemporary scientific issue is she most concerned about: “I am very much concerned about environmental pollution and would like to find an efficient way to treat this problem “she replied. Besides her research activity, Faina likes to spend time with her family.

Bromine kinetic isotope effects: insight into Grignard reagent formation by Lukasz Szatkowski, Agnieszka Dybala-Defratyka, Charlie Batarseh, Jochanan Blum, Ludwik Halicz and Faina Gelman ; New J. Chem., 2013, 37, 2241-2244; DOI: 10.1039/C3NJ00197K.

The second author is Jürg Hulliger, who is a Professor of chemistry at the University of Berne, Switzerland. His research interest centers on Crystal growth, properties and solid state theory. His contribution to this month’s issue is Focus article that reviews on polar properties of solid molecular matter.”Here we review basic theoretical views on growth induced polarity in molecular crystals giving also all known experimental examples we have by today, which domonstrate polarity Formation. ”

If Jürg could solve any scientific problem, it would be: “Constructing equipment being able to say : a small Crystal of the size of a few 100 nm is (i) superconductive, (ii) is composed of these elements and (iii) shows this crystal structure. Such an Equipment may be used to analyze your combinatorial ceramic samples.”

In the non-lab world, Jürg is fascinated by interior decoration in the style of the 18th century, renovation of antics and art.

A stochastic principle behind polar properties of condensed molecular matter by Jürg Hulliger, Thomas Wüst, Khadidja Brahimi, Matthias Burgener and Hanane Aboulfadl New J. Chem., 2013, 37, 2229-2235 DOI: 10.1039/C3NJ40935J

We thanks to Faina and Jürg for accepting our invitation to talk about themselves and their work!

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Three young chemists honoured at the 8th International Dendrimer Symposium

13 Aug 2013

New Journal of Chemistry sponsored 3 poster prizes at the 8th International Dendrimer Symposium that took place this summer in Madrid, continuing its support of this series of symposia and the dendrimer community in general.

Guang Zhang is a 2nd year Ph.D. student in the group of Klaus Müllen at the MPI for Polymer Research in Mainz, Germany. He is conducting research on polyphenylene dendrimers and their applications for fluorescent blue light emitting diodes. Zhang’s poster reported G1 and G2 dendrimers having triphenylamine on the surface and pyrene in the core, which showed promising properties as blue OLED materials. Guang’s reaction to winning the NJC Poster Prize: “It is a great honor for me to receive the prize. It’s also a big surprise that I can have access to NJC for free for one year.”

“Surface Functionalized Polyphenylene Dendrimers for Deep Blue Light Emitting Diodes”
G. Zhang, M. Baumgarten, R. Trattnig, M. Auer, E. J. W. List, K. Müllen

The winner from Spain is Javier Sánchez, who currently is a postdoctoral fellow at the Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Gregorio Marañón, where he also carried out his Ph.D. research in the group of María Ángeles Muñoz Fernández. The focus of Javier’s research is anti-HIV activity, but always with an eye to the potential clinical applications. He explains: “I always try to elucidate the mechanisms by which the different dendrimers behave as they do on the HIV-1 cycle.” The research presented at the conference looked at the anti-HIV activity of different carbosilane dendrimers. After development of the dendrimers they were tested using toxicity assays, inflammatory cytokines induction, HIV infection and cell phenotyping by flow cytommetry. This has led to a dendrimer that as a microbicide has anti-HIV activity for different HIV viral strains.

“Anti-HIV Activity of Thiol-Ene Carbosilane Dendrimers and Potential Topical Microbicide”
J. Sánchez-Rodríguez, L. Díaz, M. Galán, M. Maly, R. Gómez, F. J. de la Mata, J. L. Jiménez, M. A. Muñoz- Fernández

The 3rd winner is from the group of Eric Simanek at Texas Christian University in the USA. Changsuk Lee is now a postdoctoral fellow, after having obtained his Ph.D. under the direction of Daniel Romo at Texas A&M University in 2010. Changsuk works towards the development of drug delivery vehicles by using various sizes and shapes of dendrimers; to date triazine dendrimers are the best delivery vehicles among others tested. The winning poster covered the synthesis of a prodrug platform with paclitaxel, its biodistribution, mice efficacy testing, and molecular dynamic simulations.

“Synthesis and Biological Assessment of a Triazine Dendrimer with 16 Paclitaxel Groups”
C. Lee, S.-T. Lo, J. Lim, V. C. P. da Costa, S. Ramezani, G. M. Pavan, O. Annuziata, X. Sun, E. E. Simanek

Congratulations to all 3 winners, who received a certificate, RSC book and a one-year NJC subscription.

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Meet Our Authors from the July 2013 issue of NJC

26 Jul 2013

Angelo enjoying a hearty meal.

Our first featured author is (retired) Professor Angelo Gavezzotti of the University of Milan (Italy), working in the broad area of the physical chemistry of solid state materials.

Angelo is no stranger to NJC; after publishing several articles in the first years of the journal, when it was still known as Nouveau Journal de Chimie, he has recently returned as an author. In his article published in the July issue, he goes from static crystallography to the evolution and dynamics in organic crystals studied by computer simulation. This 5-year project included force field development and the writing of a new Monte Carlo simulation code, both of which had to be calibrated to organic crystals. The application of an order parameter bias to the MC code allowed it to be used to study dynamics and crystallisation.

Angelo's favorite place in the Trentino

“Equilibrium structure and dynamics of organic crystals by Monte Carlo simulation: critical assessment of force fields and comparison with static packing analysis” by Angelo Gavezzotti, New J. Chem., 2013, 37, 2110-2119. DOI: 10.1039/C3NJ00181D

To show us his favourite place on earth, Angelo didn’t look far: it is the Rifugio Larcher al Cevedale in the Trentino region of Italy.

Mohsen Adeli

Our next guest is Professor Mohsen Adeli, who is in the chemistry department of Lorestan University in Khoramabad (Iran). His research deals with the organic chemistry and synthesis of nano materials applied to nanomedecine.

In his NJC Letter, short carbon nanotubes have been connected together using dendritic copolymers to produce very long and flexible CNTs. This process seems to be a promising strategy to avoid the fibrosis-like hazards of carbon nanotubes

“Preparation of long supramolecular carbon nanotubes” by Mohsen Adeli, Ebrahim Mehdipour and Siamak Beyranvand, New J. Chem., 2013, 37, 1871-1873. DOI: 10.1039/C3NJ41156G

Our last author is Verónica Paredes-Garcia, who is in the Chemical Sciences Department of the University Andres Bello in Santiago (Chile). Her research activities are focused on the synthesis, structural and magnetic characterization of polymetallic systems based on carboxylate ligands and transition metal ions, with a recent emphasis on polyfunctional 3d-4f inorganic materials.

The contribution from the research group in which Verónica works correlates the structural characteristics and magnetic properties of an iron 3D network compound, showing the contribution of basic science to the design of new metal-containing materials. The research was motivated by the fact that solvothermal synthesis allows materials with new and fascinating topologies and novel properties to be obtained.

Professor at the University Andres Bello

Véronica on a recent trip to Easter Island

“Structural and magnetic characterization of the tridimensional network [Fe(HCO₂ )₃]_n·nHCO₂H” by Verónica Paredes-García, Ignacio Rojas, Rosa Madrid, Andres Vega, Efrén Navarro-Moratalla, Walter Cañón-Mancisidor, Evgenia Spodine and Diego Venegas-Yazigi. New J. Chem., 2013, 37, 2120-2127. DOI: 10.1039/C3NJ00023K

Verónica likes to travel all over the world: she qualifies Isla de Pascua (Easter Island) as an amazing place that merits a visit.

Thanks to Véronica, Mohsen and Angelo for taking a few minutes to talk about themselves and their work!

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Meet Our Authors – June Issue 2013

24 Jun 2013

by Ling PENG

Here is a selection of young author profiles from the 2013 June special China issue of NJC. We thank them most warmly for accepting our invitation and having kindly taken their time to answer a few questions for us.

Our first author is Prof. Kenneth Kam-Wing Lo, who is currently a professor of chemistry at City University of Hong Kong. He is interested in developing luminescent inorganic and organometallic transition metal complexes as biomolecular and cellular probes, with a focus on intracellular sensors, photoactive labels and bioimaging reagents. His contribution to this issue is the exploration of the phosphorescence properties of rhenium(I) polypyridine complexes for conceiving new sensors for nitric oxide, which is an extremely important molecule involved in many biological processes. “The most exciting moment in my research is to discover unexpected results” says Lo. When asked for what the coolest thing about science is. He answered “To be able to explain what has happened, and predict (and control) what will happen.”

Rhenium(I) polypyridine complexes functionalized with a diaminoaromatic moiety as phosphorescent sensors for nitric oxide by Alex Wing-Tat Choi, Che-Shan Poon, Hua-Wei Liu, Heung-Kiu Cheng and Kenneth Kam-Wing Lo, New J. Chem., 2013, 37, 1711-1719, DOI: 10.1039/C3NJ00033H

Dr. Jinbo Hu is a research professor at Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry (SIOC), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). He is a specialist in organofluorine chemistry. “I like fundamental research in fluorine chemistry, and enjoy the process of discovery and re-discovery.” affirms Jinbo. He contributed a paper entitled “DIAD-mediated metal-free cross dehydrogenative coupling between tertiary amines and α-fluorinated sulfones” to this special issue. When asked what it would be if he could solve any scientific problem in any field, he answered “I would like to find an efficient way to cure any type of cancer”.

DIAD-mediated metal-free cross dehydrogenative coupling between tertiary amines and α-fluorinated sulfones by Weizhou Huang, Chuanfa Ni, Yanchuan Zhao and Jinbo Hu , New J. Chem., 2013, 37, 1684-1687 , DOI: 10.1039/C2NJ40842B

Prof. Zhen Li is a professor of chemistry at Wuhan University. His research focuses on the development of organic molecules and polymers with new structures and new functions for organic electronics and photonics. In this special issue, he and his colleagues contributed a paper on self-assembly effect in NLO polymers containing isolation chromophores: enhanced NLO coefficient and stability. “I would like to find something new, and create something new” claimed Zhen.

The self-assembly effect in NLO polymers containing isolation chromophores: enhanced NLO coefficient and stability by Wenbo Wu, Zhen Xu, Ying Xiong, Shaohui Xin, Hongding Tang, Cheng Ye, Guofu Qiu, Jingui Qin and Zhen Li , New J. Chem., 2013, 37, 1789-1796 , DOI: 10.1039/C3NJ00048F

Prof. Zhixiang Wei is a professor and the Head of Laboratory for Nanodevices at National Center for Nanoscience and Technology in Beijing. His research interest centers on the self-assembly and flexible devices. In his contribution to this speical issue, he presented a facile strategy to enhance the fill factor of ternary blend solar cells by increasing charge carrier mobility and optimizing the morphology of active layers. “I like creative work, and enjoy the new findings from my groups as well as from others.”, says Prof. Wei. For him, “Learn from nature, and do more than nature” is the coolest thing about science.

A facile strategy to enhance the fill factor of ternary blend solar cells by increasing charge carrier mobility by Kun Lu, Jin Fang, Xiangwei Zhu, Han Yan, Denghua Li, Chong’an Di, Yanlian Yang and Zhixiang Wei, New J. Chem., 2013, 37, 1728-1735, DOI: 10.1039/C2NJ41039G

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Meet Our Authors – May 2013

30 May 2013

Explore and find out a little bit more about the people behind the research article! We have profiled some of our authors so you can learn more about them, their work and check out their latest entries.

The first of author is Brigida BOCHICCHO who is the assistant professor at the Department of Science, Università del la Basilicata, Potenza, Italy. Brigida‘s research interests are in the area of Protein-inspired (bio)materials.

Her NJC paper deals with the self-assembly behavior of some elastin-derived polypeptides rich in proline and proline-modified residues in order to investigate the role of proline in the self- assembly of elastin. This work constitutes the basis for the proper design of elastin-inspired drugs with tailored conformational properties.

If she could solve any scientific problem in any field, it would be: “The early recognition of Alzheimer disease onset in humans through chemical tools.” says Brigida.

Effect of proline analogues on the conformation of elastin peptides by Antonietta Pepe, Maria Antonietta Crudele and Brigida Bochicchio; New J. Chem., 2013,37, 1326-1335, DOI: 10.1039/C3NJ41001C; From themed collection Prolines.

The next author who accepted to answer some questions for us was Samuel COUVE-BONNAIRE, assistant professor at the University of Rouen, France. His current research interests concern Organometallic chemistry, Fluorine chemistry, Asymmetric synthesis and Peptidomimetics. The article by Samuel and his co-authors looks into the new efficient asymmetric synthesis that has been developed to obtain the relevant fluorinated pseudodipeptide Ala-Ψ[(Z)CFCH]-Pro. Outside the laboratory, Samuel likes to spend time with his family and to play badminton (leisure and competition).

Straightforward asymmetric synthesis of Ala-Ψ[CFCH]-Pro, a proline-containing pseudodipeptide bearing a fluoroolefin as a peptide bond mimic by Guillaume Dutheuil, Camille Pierry, Emilie Villiers, Samuel Couve-Bonnaire and Xavier Pannecoucke , New J. Chem., 2013,37, 1320-1325; DOI: 10.1039/C2NJ40891K, From themed collection Prolines

Professor Roberto CAO from the University of Havana, Cuba is our last interviewed author. He research interests focus on Nanosciences, especially self-assembled monolayers on metal surfaces including supramolecular interactions.

“The NJC is a “fresh” journal, very dynamic, that includes all topics of Chemistry. The last few years it has been increased in papers devoted to Nanosciences” commented Roberto on choosing the NJC journal.

When asked which scientific problem he would like to solve, Robert replied: ”Cancer. We are now working on gold nanoparticles linked to monoclonal antibodies that can target different types of cancer.”

Besides his research activity, Roberto enjoys reading historic novels and swiming in the Caribbean sea, next to his house.

An unusual self-assembly of a deuteroporphyrin 4-aminothiophenol derivative on Au(111) surfaces by Rudy Martin, Roberto Cao, Franz-Peter Montforts and Paul-Ludwig M. Noeske , New J. Chem., 2013, 37, 1610-1615

DOI: 10.1039/C3NJ00118K

This month’s issue of NJC includes an online collection of articles on the exciting topic of prolines and derivatives, from synthesis to biological activities. Look out the online themed collection here.

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