Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry Blog

Forget the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, this week it’s all about getting you hands on issue 34 of Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry and its technicoloured covers.

On the front cover Hidemitsu Uno, Ehime University, and colleagues have prepared potential selective near-infrared (NIR) dyes by the fusion of boron-dipyrromethene (BODIPY) chromophores. Uno et al. designed these π-fused bis-BODIPY chromophores to show intensive absorption and strong fluorescence in the near-infrared region and not to have any strong absorption in the visible region.

π-Fused bis-BODIPY as a candidate for NIR dyes
Mitsunori Nakamura, Hiroyuki Tahara, Kohtaro Takahashi, Toshi Nagata, Hiroki Uoyama, Daiki Kuzuhara, Shigeki Mori, Tetsuo Okujima, Hiroko Yamada and Hidemitsu Uno

The inside cover from Xin-Dong Jiang, Henan University, and co-workers demonstrates the synthesis of a novel BODIPY from a 3,4,4a-trihydroxanthene-fused pyrrole, that is non-cytotoxic and so is suited to the labeling of living cells in the NIR region.

A NIR BODIPY dye bearing 3,4,4a-trihydroxanthene moieties
Xin-Dong Jiang, Ruina Gao, Yi Yue, Guo-Tao Sun and Weili Zhao

Also in this issue is a review by Liqun Jin and Aiwen Lei which presents insights into the elementary steps in Negishi coupling through kinetic investigations.

Read the complete issue here…. and as always the cover articles will be free to access for the next 6 weeks!

Issue 32 is now published, read it here today!

The front cover of this issue (right) highlights the work of E. Peter Kündig et al. who present the total syntheses of the Lythracea alkaloids (+)-vertine and (+)-lythrine, which is the first reported total synthesis of (+)-lythrine.

Asymmetric synthesis of (+)-vertine and (+)-lythrine
Laëtitia Chausset-Boissarie, Roman Àrvai, Graham R. Cumming, Laure Guénée and E. Peter Kündig
DOI: 10.1039/C2OB25880C

The inside cover (left) is courtesy of Sheshanath V. Bhosale et al. whose Emerging area review provides an update on the progress in the field of core-substituted naphthalenediimides from 2010, covering supramolecular chemistry, sensors, photo-induced electron transport in artificial photosystems, and solar cell applications.

Recent progress of core-substituted naphthalenediimides: highlights from 2010
Sheshanath V. Bhosale,  Sidhanath V. Bhosale and Suresh K. Bhargava
DOI: 10.1039/C2OB25798J

Both of these articles will free to access for the next 6 weeks so take a look and let us know your thoughts by commenting below.

Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry issue 31, it’s here and waiting to be read!

Secondary alcohols having bulky substituents on both sides of the hydroxy group are inherently poor substrates for most lipases. In a paper by Tadashi Ema et al., highlighted on this week’s front cover of OBC (right), the detailed rational design and creation of mutant lipases that display remarkably enhanced catalytic activity and enantioselectivity for poor substrates bearing bulky substituents on both sides of the hydroxy group is presented.

Redesign of enzyme for improving catalytic activity and enantioselectivity toward poor substrates: manipulation of the transition state
Tadashi Ema, Yasuko Nakano, Daiki Yoshida, Shusuke Kamata and Takashi Sakai
DOI: 10.1039/C2OB25614B

The inside front cover (left) highlights the Communication of Wen-Xiong Zhang and Zhenfeng Xi et al., presenting the first metal-free one-pot sequential coupling of various amines, carbodiimides and acyl dichlorides, providing a simple and straightforward path to cyclic di-oxoguanidines via an unexpected 2,2-dichloroimidazolidindione intermediate.

Metal-free synthesis of cyclic di-oxoguanidines via one-pot sequential transformation of amines, carbodiimides and acyl dichlorides
Fei Zhao, Yang Wang, Wen-Xiong Zhang and Zhenfeng Xi
DOI: 10.1039/C2OB25799H

Both of these featured articles are FREE to access for the next 6 weeks, why not have a read and let us know your thoughts by commenting below.

View the complete issue online now……