Hot articles – Page 29 – Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry Blog

Archive for the ‘Hot articles’ Category

HOT: Rate of radical clocks by Martin Newcomb

17 Nov 2010

Martin Newcomb and co-workers at University of Illinois in Chicago talk about absolute kinetic studies of cyclizations of two α-hydroxy substituted radicals that can serve as radical clocks.

Read more about this ‘excellent piece of work’ as highlighted by the referees in this HOT article that will be free to access until the 14th December.

This paper is part of a collection of papers on radical chemistry that will be published shortly in OBC. Watch out for this web themed issue coming soon.

Rate constants for cyclizations of α-hydroxy radical clocks
Christopher B. DeZutter, John H. Horner and Martin Newcomb
Org. Biomol. Chem., 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C0OB00588F

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HOT: How reliable are DFT transition structures?

29 Oct 2010

Luis Simón and Jonathan Goodman calculate the geometries of covalent-bond forming transition states by using computational methods.

The manuscript reports an analysis of the performance of different density functionals in computational organic chemistry. The paper is based on a very large number of calculations and provides significant conclusions that have immediate application. The referees said that the manuscript stands out and that is why it is a HOT article.

Find out more on the original paper which is free to access until 25th November.

How reliable are DFT transition structures? Comparison of GGA, hybrid-meta-GGA and meta-GGA functionals
Luis Simón and Jonathan M. Goodman
Org. Biomol. Chem., 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C0OB00477D, Paper

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HOT: Understanding the mechanism of non polar Diels Alder reactions

29 Oct 2010

Luis Domingo and colleagues at Universidad de Valencia study the electronic reorganization associated with the non-polar Diels-Alder reaction between cyclopentadiene and ethylene.

To know more about their findings read this HOT (as recommended by the referees) article which is free to access until the 25th November.

Understanding the mechanism of non-polar Diels–Alder reactions. A comparative ELF analysis of concerted and stepwise diradical mechanisms
Luis R. Domingo, Eduardo Chamorro and Patricia Pérez
Org. Biomol. Chem., 2010, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C0OB00563K, Paper

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HOT: New methodology to screen thousands of drug-like molecules

14 Oct 2010

David Spring and colleagues at University of Cambridge have developed a new methodology to rapidly screen large arrays of drug-like small molecules.

By using this new 3D microarray platform, they discover small molecules (novel pharmacores) that bind to quorum sensing receptors.
The platform has the potential to display and examine 10000 different small molecules in a miniaturised, low-cost format.

The authors say that ‘this new methodology is likely to find important application within the fields of medicinal chemistry, chemical biology, molecular recognition and chemical genetics, where the aim is to discover small molecules that bind to macromolecular complexes’

As a HOT article, it will be free to access until the 10th November.

Read more and tell us about it.

Discovery of a quorum sensing modulator pharmacophore by 3D small-molecule microarray screening
David M. Marsden, Rebecca L. Nicholson, Mette E. Skindersoe, Warren R. J. D. Galloway, Hannah F. Sore, Michael Givskov, George P. C. Salmond, Mark Ladlow, Martin Welch and David R. Spring
Org. Biomol. Chem., 2010, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C0OB00300J, Paper

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Efficient Biodiesel Conversion

11 Oct 2010

Aaron Socha and Jason Sello at Brown University, USA, describe an efficient method to convert both virgin and waste vegetable oils into biodiesel in a single reaction vessel by using scandium and bismuth triflates as catalysts.

Some of the advantages of this new environmentally friendly method are:

The lack of corrosive chemicals
The high efficiency: conversion in 6 times faster
The simplicity: one step reaction in one vessel
The use of environmentally friendly and recoverable catalysts

Not surprisingly, this paper has been highlighted in many different outlets. These are just some of them:

Science Magazine: http://www.sciencemagnews.com/chemists-simplify-biodiesel-conversion.html
R&D Magazine: http://www.rdmag.com/News/Feeds/2010/10/manufacturing-brown-university-chemists-simplify-biodiesel-conve/
Laboratory Equipment: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/News-chemists-streamline-biodiesel-conversion-100810.aspx?xmlmenuid=51
NetIndia123: http://www.netindia123.com/showdetails.asp?id=1604567&cat=India&head=Conversion+of+waste+vegetable+oil+into+biodiesel+simplified
Green Car Congress: http://www.greencarcongress.com/2010/10/brown-20101008.html
Insider.com: http://www.examiner.com/moreover/organic-chemistry
Brown University: http://news.brown.edu/pressreleases/2010/10/biodiesel
The Brown Daily Herald: https://blogs.rsc.org/ob/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=333
Go Green Save the Earth: http://www.public88.com/gogreen/alternative-energy/biodiesel-chemists-improve-synthesis-of-biodiesel/

You can now read this article for free until the 4th November:

Efficient conversion of triacylglycerols and fatty acids to biodiesel in a microwave reactor using metal triflate catalysts
Aaron M. Socha and Jason K. Sello
Org. Biomol. Chem., 2010, 8, 4753-4756
DOI: 10.1039/C0OB00014K, Paper

From the Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry editorial office we wanted to congratulate the authors of this paper and encourage them to carry on developing their meaningful research.

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HOT: 4 steps to (+)-pestalazine B

01 Oct 2010

Carlos Perez-Balado and Angel R. de Lera at University of Vigo have designed a convergent and versatile synthetic route to the preparation on this heterodimeric diketopiperazine alkaloid in just 4 steps.

This versatile methodology allows the synthesis of several diastereomers.

The paper is a nice trip through the unexpected paths of organic chemistry that lead you to the right compound. Discover all of this and much more in this HOT paper. We loved it, the referees loved it and I’m sure you will love it too!

Free to access until the end of October

Concise total synthesis and structural revision of (+)-pestalazine B
Carlos Pérez-Balado and Ángel R. de Lera
Org. Biomol. Chem., 2010, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C0OB00531B , Paper

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HOT Mycolactone core: Two synthetic approaches

01 Oct 2010

Kwang-Seuk Ko, Matthew D. Alexander, Michael D. Burkart and colleagues at University of California at San Diego, give us two different synthetic routes to make one product: the macrolide core of the mycolactone polyketides.

As you can see, organic synthesis is a matter of choice!

Read about the story of these new synthetic methods, the authors’ different approaches to their findings and how they succeded with the synthesis of their targeted molecule.

Free to access until the end of October

Synthetic studies on the mycolactone core
Kwang-Seuk Ko, Matthew D. Alexander, Shaun D. Fontaine, James E. Biggs-Houck, James J. La Clair and Michael D. Burkart
Org. Biomol. Chem., 2010, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C0OB00540A, Paper

Read Michael Burkart’s story of this paper on the comments!

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HOT: Proctolin structure revealed

01 Oct 2010

Judith Howard, Olga Chetina and colleagues at University of Durham ellucidate the crystal structure of Proctolin [Arg-Tyr-Leu-Pro-Thr], a much studied insect neuropeptide.

This is a very important step towards the design of the ideal insecticide, highly selective, environmentally friendly, safe and of course effective. It becomes even more relevant when we think about malaria and mosquitoes resistance to insecticides as one of the main problems to control the spread of the disease.

‘We have revealed the structure of Proctolin [Arg-Tyr-Leu-Pro-Thr]. The molecular association is very unusual for small peptides and it is hoped that the structure elucidation will enable the design of new insecticides towards the effective control of malaria’ say the authors of the paper.

I certainly hope so and I also think research like this one takes us a step closer!

Read the full paper that will be free to access until the end of October.

Crystal structure of the insect neuropeptide proctolin.
Judith A. K. Howard, Dmitry S. Yufit, Olga V. Chetina, Simon J. Teat, Silvia C. Capelli and Philip Pattison
Org. Biomol. Chem., 2010, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C0OB00345J, Paper

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HOT: Can carbohydrates and liposomes deliver hepatocytes?

09 Sep 2010

Seeberger and colleagues design carbohydrate-functionalized β-cyclodextrins (βCDs) and liposomes for hepatocyte-specific delivery.

Find out about the detection of hepatocyte binding and uptake in this free to access until October 8th OBC HOT article.

Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of carbohydrate-functionalized cyclodextrins and liposomes for hepatocyte-specific targeting
Gonçalo J. L. Bernardes, Raghavendra Kikkeri, Maha Maglinao, Paola Laurino, Mayeul Collot, Sung You Hong, Bernd Lepenies and Peter H. Seeberger
Org. Biomol. Chem., 2010, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C0OB00372G , Paper

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HOT: Deuterium as a protecting group

27 Aug 2010

Can Deuterium act as a protecting group to prevent unwanted hydrogen atom transfers?

Mark Wood and colleagues have the answer here.

Reviewers were very impressed with it and we made it a HOT article.

Curious? Find out more! Free to access until the end of September.

Synthetic use of the primary kinetic isotope effect in hydrogen atom transfer: generation of α-aminoalkyl radicals
Mark E. Wood, Sabine Bissiriou, Christopher Lowe, Andrew M. Norrish, Katell Sénéchal, Kim M. Windeatt, Simon J. Coles and Michael B. Hursthouse
Org. Biomol. Chem., 2010, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C0OB00205D , Paper

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Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry Blog

Archive for the ‘Hot articles’ Category

HOT: Rate of radical clocks by Martin Newcomb

HOT: How reliable are DFT transition structures?

HOT: Understanding the mechanism of non polar Diels Alder reactions

HOT: New methodology to screen thousands of drug-like molecules

Efficient Biodiesel Conversion

HOT: 4 steps to (+)-pestalazine B

HOT Mycolactone core: Two synthetic approaches

HOT: Proctolin structure revealed

HOT: Can carbohydrates and liposomes deliver hepatocytes?

HOT: Deuterium as a protecting group

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