NJC Blog

Professor Alberto Marra (Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Montpellier, France) designed the outside cover of this month’s issue, based on the van Gogh painting The Mulberry Tree. In the accompanying Perspective article, Professor Marra and his co-workers review the different strategies developed to synthesize multivalent architectures, from the total synthesis of divalent iminosugars to the preparation of complex systems bearing twenty-five iminosugar units. They also compare the enzyme inhibitory properties of the various multivalent iminosugars prepared to date in order to infer the valence and the three-dimensional arrangement required for the most efficient inhibition activity.

Synthesis and biological properties of multivalent iminosugars
Renaud Zelli, Jean-François Longevial, Pascal Dumy and Alberto Marra
New J. Chem., 2015, 39, 5050-5074. DOI: 10.1039/C5NJ00462D.

Access the full table of contents of this issue here

Dr Christer Aakeröy (Kansas State University, USA) designed the outside cover this month. In their article, Dr Aakeroy and his colleagues describe how a simple electrostatic view of hydrogen bonds can lead to predictable and highly site-specific molecular recognition events.

The deceptively simple act of molecular recognition is achieved by balancing a range of non-covalent forces, and the synthesis of more complex architectures requires a systematic and targeted application of hierarchical self-assembly. By addressing specific questions about how small molecules prefer to bind to each other, it may be possible to devise reproducible and reliable links between molecular structure and practical methodologies for directed non-covalent synthesis.

Molecular electrostatic potential dependent selectivity of hydrogen bonding, Christer B. Aakeröy, Tharanga K. Wijethunga and John Desper, New J. Chem., 2015, 39, 822-828. DOI: 10.1039/C4NJ01324G

The inside cover is proposed by Dr Gilles Gauthier (Universidad Industrial de Santander, Colombia) and co-workers to illustrate their study on the influence of the Mn precursor on the formation of polytypes.

The authors studied in detail the phenomenon and also prepared a new polytype using a specific chemical route. The results show that even small changes in the mean oxidation state of the transition metals can guide a synthesis route in different ways and lead to different polytypes.

Their work contributes to the understanding of the solid state reactivity, giving new insights in the synthesis of new compounds,  destined for magnetic materials and other applications.

Influence of the synthesis route on the formation of 12R/10H-polytypes and their magnetic properties within the Ba(Ce,Mn)O₃ family, Mario A. Macías, Olivier Mentré, Caroline Pirovano, Pascal Roussel, Silviu Colis and Gilles H. Gauthier, New J. Chem., 2015, 39, 829-835. DOI: 10.1039/C4NJ00798K

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This month’s issue also contains a Perspective review article on the structural development of simple molecular gelators from n-alkanes and the properties of the complex gels that they can form.

Systematic modifications of alkane-based molecular gelators and the consequences to the structures and properties of their gels, Michael A. Rogers and Richard G. Weiss, New J. Chem., 2015, 39, 785-79. DOI: 10.1039/C4NJ01439A

Also read the two Comments in which Professor Perrin and Professor Halevi debate the origin of secondary deuterium isotope effects.

Comment on “The role of electrostatic induction in secondary isotope effects on acidity” by E. A. Halevi, New J. Chem., 2014, 38, 3840, Charles L. Perrin, New J. Chem., 2015, 39, 1517-1521. DOI: 10.1039/C4NJ01887G

Reply to the ‘Comment on “The role of electrostatic induction in secondary isotope effects on acidity”’ by C. L. Perrin, New J. Chem., 2015, 39, DOI: 10.1039/C4NJ01887G, E. Amitai Halevi, New J. Chem., 2015, 39, 1522-1524. DOI: 10.1039/C4NJ02267J

The first outside cover of the year was designed by Dr Lakshi Saikia (CSIR-North East Institute of Science and Technology, India) to illustrate a Letter in which the authors report a facile route for synthesizing Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles on MIL-101(Cr) support to obtain Fe₃O₄@MIL-101(Cr) nanocomposite and study its efficiency for the solvent-free oxidation of benzyl alcohol with tert-butyl hydroperoxide (TBHP) as oxidant.
The results show that the catalyst can be easily recycled and could be reused for three times without significant loss in activity. This simple and rapid process can be extended to other metal organic frameworks that are chemically potent and thermally robust.

Facile synthesis of Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles on metal organic framework MIL-101(Cr): characterization and its catalytic activity.
Mrinal Saikia, Diganta Bhuyan and Lakshi Saikia.
New J. Chem., 2015, 39, 64-67. DOI: 10.1039/C4NJ01312C.

Dr Xiangcheng Sun (University of Waterloo, Canada) has designed the inside cover. In their Perspective review, Dr Sun and his colleagues expose their interest to develop rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles and large stationary power supplies. According to them, LTO anodes could replace the graphite anodes in current lithium-ion batteries because of their high safety, long life, low cost and environmentally benign properties.

In their work, the team introduces recent studies on electronic structure and performance, synthesis methods and strategies for further improvements, including carbon-coating, ion-doping, surface modification, nano-structuring and optimization of the particle morphology of the LTO anode. Furthermore, the authors highlight the practical applications of  commercial spinel LTO lithium-ion batteries and also deal with the future research directions and key developments of this spinel LTO anode.

Advances in spinel Li₄Ti₅O₁₂ anode material for lithium-ion batteries.
Xiangcheng Sun, Pavle V. Radovanovic and Bo Cui.
New J. Chem., 2015, 39, 38-63. DOI: 10.1039/C4NJ01390E.

To read more, access the full January issue here.