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Choose to publish on accept

12 Jan 2012

Authors can now choose to publish their manuscripts as soon as it is accepted after peer review, prior to editing and proof-reading.

It means your research is readily available, in a citable form, even more rapidly. Once the finishing touches are done during the editing and proof-reading stage, the “Accepted” version is replaced with the latest version called “Advance Article”.

When submitting your manuscript to RSC Advances, authors can opt for their manuscript to be published as soon as it is accepted after the peer review process. You may want to join the other authors who have already selected this option.

RSC Advances “Accepted Manuscripts” are:

Biotemplated Synthesis of Catalytic Au-Pd Nanoparticles
Simon Hall, Andrew Collins, Natalie J Wood, Wataru Ogasawara, Moataz Morad, Peter Miedziak, Meenakshisundaram Sankar, D W Knight and Graham Hutchings
RSC Adv., 2012, Accepted Manuscript, DOI: 10.1039/C2RA01336C

Columnar mesophases of luminescent polycatenar liquid crystals incorporating a 1,3-substituted benzene ring interconnecting two 1,3,4-oxadiazoles
Jianchuan Tang, Rong Huang, Hongfei Gao, Xiaohong Cheng, Marko Prehm,and Carsten Tschierske
RSC Adv., 2012, Accepted Manuscript, DOI: 10.1039/C2RA01362B

Additional bioactive guanidine alkaloids from the Mediterranean sponge Crambe crambe
Stéphanie Bondu, Grégory Genta-Jouve, Marta Leirόs, Carmen Vale, Jean-Marie Guigonis, Luis M. Botana, and Olivier P. Thomas
RSC Adv., 2012, Accepted Manuscript, DOI: 10.1039/C2RA00045H

Efficient Small Molecule Organic Semiconductor containing Bis-dimethylfluorenyl Amino Benzo[b]thiophene for High Open Circuit Voltage in High Efficiency Solution Processed Organic Solar Cell
Jooyoung Kim, Haye Min Ko, Nara Cho, Sanghyun Paek, Jae Kwan Lee and Jaejung Ko
RSC Adv., 2012, Accepted Manuscript, DOI: 10.1039/C2RA01271E

Decoupling of CVD Graphene by controlled Oxidation of Recrystallized
Cu Ang-Yu Lu, Sung-Yen Wei, Chih-Yu Wu, Yenny Hernandez, Tzu-Yin Chen, Te-Huan Liu, Chun-Wei Pao, Fu-Rong Chen, Lain-Jong Li and Zhen-Yu Juang
RSC Adv., 2012, Accepted Manuscript, DOI: 10.1039/C2RA01281B

Phase selective carbohydrate gelator
Somnath Mukherjee and Balaram Mukhopadhyay
RSC Adv., 2012, Accepted Manuscript, DOI: 10.1039/C2RA00036A

Synthesis, Structural Characterization, Solvatochromism, and Ion-binding Studies of a Ditopic Receptor Based on 2-(4-[2,2′: 6′,2′′]Terpyridin-4′-yl-phenyl)-1H-phenanthro[9,10-d] imidazole (tpy-HImzphen) Unit
Chanchal Bhaumik, Dinesh Maity, Shyamal Das, and Sujoy Baitalik
RSC Adv., 2012, Accepted Manuscript, DOI: 10.1039/C2RA00023G

Different types of phase separation in binary monolayers of long chain alkyltrichlorosilanes on silicon oxide
Simon Desbief, Lionel Patrone, Didier Goguenheim, Dominique Vuillaume
RSC Adv., 2012, Accepted Manuscript, DOI: 10.1039/C2RA01327D

Collision-Induced Dissociation of Singly and Doubly Charged CuII-Cytidine Complexes in the Gas Phase: an Experimental and Computational Study
Shuqin Zhang, Li Xu, Junguo Dong, Ping Cheng, Zhen Zhou
RSC Adv., 2012, Accepted Manuscript, DOI: 10.1039/C2RA01293F

Stabilization of poly-iodides: structural influences of the cationic disulfides of 2-mercapto-3,4,5,6-tetrahydro-pyrimidine and 2-mercatpo-pyrimidine.
Anita M. Owczarzak, Maciej Kubicki, Nikolaos Kourkoumelis, Sotiris K. Hadjikakou
RSC Adv., 2012, Accepted Manuscript, DOI: 10.1039/C2RA00013J

Synthetic 5′-phosphorylated oligodeoxynucleotide purification through catching full-length sequences by polymerization
Yinan Yuan, Fueangfung Suntara, Xi Lin, Durga Pokharel and Shiyue Fang
RSC Adv., 2012, Accepted Manuscript, DOI: 10.1039/C2RA01357F

ß-Lactam-host defence peptide conjugates as antibiotic prodrug candidates targeting resistant bacteria
Stephane Desgranges, Carol Ruddle, Liam Burke, Tara Mary Mc Fadden, John E O’Brien, Deirdre Fitzgerald -Hughes, Hilary Humphreys, Timothy P Smyth and Marc Devocelle
RSC Adv., 2012, Accepted Manuscript, DOI: 10.1039/C2RA01351G

Indirect Hydrodesulfurization of Gasoline via Sodium Borohydride Reduction with Nickel Catalysis under Ambient Conditions
Yafei Shen, Tonghua Sun and Jinping Jia
RSC Adv., 2012, Accepted Manuscript, DOI: 10.1039/C2RA01313D

Diffusion-diffraction using singlet spin states and various NMR coherences in a J-coupled AX spin system
Allan M. Torres, Bahman Ghadirian and William S. Price
RSC Adv., 2012, Accepted Manuscript, DOI: 10.1039/C2RA20063E

All 2011 and 2012 articles published in RSC Advances are free to download upon a simple registration process.

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Some of the most accessed articles in 2011 are…

09 Jan 2012

Below is a list containing some of the most downloaded RSC Advances articles in 2011:

A novel bath lily-like graphene sheet-wrapped nano-Si composite as a high performance anode material for Li-ion batteries
Yu-Shi He, Pengfei Gao, Jun Chen, Xiaowei Yang, Xiao-Zhen Liao, Jun Yang and Zi-Feng Ma
RSC Adv., 2011, 1, 958-960

Electrochemistry of graphene: not such a beneficial electrode material?
Dale A. C. Brownson, Lindsey J. Munro, Dimitrios K. Kampouris and Craig E. Banks
RSC Adv., 2011, 1, 978-988

CO2 chemistry: task-specific ionic liquids for CO2 capture/activation and subsequent conversion
Zhen-Zhen Yang, Ya-Nan Zhao and Liang-Nian He
RSC Adv., 2011, 1, 545-567

Incorporation of pyridazine rings in the structure of functionalized π-conjugated materials
Sylvain Achelle, Nelly Plé and Alain Turck
RSC Adv., 2011, 1, 364-388

Fe₃O₄@SiO₂@Pd-Au : a highly efficient and magnetically separable catalyst for liquid-phase hydrodechlorination of 4-chlorophenol
Zhijie Wu, Chongxia Sun, Yan Chai and Minghui Zhang
RSC Adv., 2011, 1, 1179-1182

Modulation of the photophysical properties of BODIPY dyes by substitution at their meso position
Jorge Bañuelos, Ismael J. Arroyo-Córdoba, Ismael Valois-Escamilla, Alejandro Alvarez-Hernández, Eduardo Peña-Cabrera, Rongrong Hu, Ben Zhong Tang, Ixone Esnal, Virginia Martínez and Iñigo López Arbeloa
RSC Adv., 2011, 1, 677-684

All the articles are free to download upon a simple registration process.

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Eastern Promise

15 Dec 2011

Yongyuth Yuthavong is interested in the development of novel antimalarial agents. He currently leads a research group at the National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (BIOTEC) in Thailand. Professor Yuthavong was the first president of the National Science and Technology Development Agency (1992-1998) and served as the minister of science and technology (2006-2008), both in Thailand.

When did you become interested in malaria?

During my studies at the University of Oxford, UK, I was investigating the chemical kinetics of enzymatic reactions. When I went back to Thailand, I realised that no one understood, or cared, about enzymes. To make people understand that studying enzymes is important, I decided to tackle a significant problem in the country using my expertise. I studied red blood cell membranes and saw that malaria was a significant problem, and that both chemistry and biochemistry could be used to understand the parasite’s life and processes. The available drugs – such as chloroquine and pyrimethamine – were becoming ineffective so we needed new drugs. Together with other biochemists, I formed a malaria research group. We were lucky that we were mostly in the same department so we could meet on a daily basis, because it was very difficult to do research in Thailand.

Is the cure for malaria drug-based or vaccine-based?

It is still drug based. Some vaccines are being developed by GlaxoSmithKline, but they are not as effective. I think that there is still a long way to go on the vaccination side. The ideal drugs have to be cheap, orally administered and preferably cause no resistance, which is almost impossible. You will find that almost all anti-infection drugs, including antibiotics, will last at most 5-10 years before resistance is developed. I think that we need a new paradigm where the drug hits a more fundamental mechanism so that no mutation or resistance is possible.

What have you discovered?

We found the structure of the enzyme (Plasmodium falciparum) dihydrofolate reductase-thymidylate synthase [a target for antimalarials] (published in Nature Structural Biology in 2003). From there, we understood the basis of resistance owing to mutation in the active site so that we could design compounds that would avert the effect of mutation. Now we have many candidates, but we have not published the details yet. One in particular is P218, which is a flexible diamino pyrimidine with good efficacy. P218 is effective orally and does not cause much resistance (although this part needs to be investigated), and it is relatively cheap to manufacture.

How can developed countries help developing countries to eradicate the disease?

Thailand is good in certain areas of research but poor in others. For example, in malaria research, we are very strong in the clinical sciences. International researchers come from outside Thailand to study the disease clinically. Thailand is a good base for them to go to neighbouring countries where the disease is still prevalent. We also have very good basic early applied research, such as fundamental research in the discovery and development of new drugs. But, we severely lack scale-up capabilities, and an understanding of toxicology, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. We don’t have the facilities to study the preclinical phase and mutational studies.

So, we have to collaborate with external groups, for example that of Livia Vivas at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK. We have an ongoing collaboration with the Medicines for Malaria Venture, based in Switzerland, to help us validate the structure of the target and support us in developing good drug candidates based on those targets.

However, we can do some things on our own and lead our own researchers. I think that this is really important for scientists from developing countries. Most scientists in developing countries have participated in international research projects but until now, they have played very small parts, doing some screening or cell culture work. Very few rise to the level of planning and executing and developing that strategic thinking to lead a project. We do need that.

Is it difficult to find funding in Thailand?

We have to go out and tell people that our work is really important to get support. I decided to approach people who have important positions in national research councils and universities to persuade them that we do need a new kind of granting organisation. I found some very good people who listened to us and we founded the BIOTEC research centre and later on the National Science and Technology Development Agency. These are agencies that give grants as well as do their own research. Also, I helped to draft a law that started the Thailand Research Fund, which gives grants to researchers of £30,000-50,000. This would go a long way in Thailand.

Read the full interview published in Chemistry World here.

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Welcome to the first issue of 2012!

12 Dec 2011

RSC Advances has published 9 issues in 2011 containing 234 articles and our first issue of 2012 is also online now. In this issue, you can read the following review articles:

Homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts for multicomponent reactions
Maria José Climent, Avelino Corma and Sara Iborra
RSC Adv., 2012, 2, 16-58

Recent advances in the development of dental composite resins
Christine Lavigueur and X. X. Zhu
RSC Adv., 2012, 2, 59-63

Graphene–inorganic nanocomposites
Song Bai and Xiaoping Shen
RSC Adv., 2012, 2, 64-98

Other articles in the first issue of 2012 include: carbon nanocages for Li ion batteries, an inorganic biocatalyst, self-repairable polymer that changes to red when damaged. You can also learn about phonon-mode Raman spectra or how to purify drugs from bacteria.

Our content is free to download until December 2012. Please also note that RSC Advances authors can now choose to publish their articles immediately after acceptance. Click here for more details.

Thank you to all our authors, referees and editors for your dedicated support to RSC Advances. We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New year 2012!

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200th RSC Advances Article published online: A biochip for detecting ocean microbes

14 Nov 2011

Fujii and co-workers have fabricated a microfluidic device capable of analyzing microbial genes in deep sea environments. The genetic analyzer consists of a PDMS–glass microfluidic device that is capable of cell lysis, DNA purification, PCR, and optical detection. The Integrated In Situ Analyzer was named “IISA-Gene’’. It was developed and evaluated in Tokyo as a result of a fruitful collabotation between the University of Tokyo and the Tokyo Institute of Technology.

“We were able to use IISA-Gene to achieve spatiotemporally resolved profiling of microbial ecosystems in ocean environments”, claims Fujii. The technique which incorporates microfluidic technology minimises the risks of contamination through sample collections and manipulations.

By employing a simple flow-through PCR method, complicated genetic analyses can be automatically performed in extreme oceanic conditions. The performance of the system has been examined through at-sea experiments, taking it down to the deep sea using a remotely-operated vehicle. “Field evaluations at deep sea have shown that the amplification of the eubacterial universal 16S rRNA gene and the recovery of the PCR product to the surface”, says Fujii. The technology could provide a significant step to aid the discovery of further microbial life-forms in our oceans.

This is the 200^th article published online by RSC Advances, a newly launched Journal by the Royal Society of Chemistry. You can download the full article for free by simply registering here.

Integrated in situ genetic analyzer for microbiology in extreme environments
Tatsuhiro Fukuba, Akimitsu Miyaji, Takuji Okamoto, Takatoki Yamamoto, Shohei Kaneda and Teruo Fujii
RSC Adv., 2011, 1, 1567-1573

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Announcement: RSC Advances is now indexed in SCI

10 Nov 2011

We are pleased to announce that RSC Advances is now fully indexed in Thomson Reuters SCI-expanded databases including ISI Web of Science. This will enhance the visibility and discoverability of all the articles published. Issues 1-6 of RSC Advances are already listed on ISI. Congratulations to the authors who have their articles cited already!

Below is a list of RSC Advances articles that have already received citations:

The role of the intermolecular potential on the dynamics of ethylene confined in cylindrical nanopores
Fernando J. A. L. Cruz, Erich A. Müller and José P. B. Mota
RSC Adv., 2011, 1, 270-281

Fabrication of cuprous oxide nanoparticles by laser ablation in PVP aqueous solution
Peisheng Liu, Zhigang Li, Weiping Cai, Ming Fang and Xiangdong Luo
RSC Adv., 2011, 1, 847-851

A novel application of porphyrin nanoparticles as an effective fluorescent assay platform for nucleic acid detection
Junfeng Zhai, Hailong Li and Xuping Sun
RSC Adv., 2011, 1, 36-39
DOI: 10.1039/C1RA00026H

Please remember that all our articles are free to download until December 2012!

RSC Advances publishes high quality articles covering emerging areas and multidiciplinary fields. The subject coverage includes: Analytical, Biological, Catalysis, Environmental, Inorganic, Materials, Physical, Organic, Nanoscience, Energy, Food, Chemical Biology and Medicinal. More information on our scope can be read here.

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Latest advances in fluorinated contrast agents for MRI

04 Nov 2011

There are an increasing number of articles reporting novel fluorinated responsive (smart) agents, micelles, dendrimers and hyperbranched polymers being investigated as targets for ¹⁹F-magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

James Knight (University of Alberta, Canada) and co-workers based at Cardiff University, UK, give a pertinent account of the latest developments in the field. Their review article also covers multimodal contrast agents containing ¹⁹F nuclei.

Read the review article for free upon a simple registration process:

Fluorinated contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging; a review of recent developments
James C. Knight, Peter G. Edwards and Stephen J. Paisey
RSC Adv., 2011, Advance Article, DOI: 10.1039/C1RA00627D, Review

A simplified representation of a micelle containing a hydrophobic core with a large population of fluorine nuclei. The incorporation of n-butyl acrylate (purple spheres) into the hydrophobic block via statistical copolymerisation has been shown by Peng et al. (Biomacromolecules, 2009, 374) to enable longer T2 relaxation times by lowering the glass transition temperature.

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Radioactive iodine remediation using chalcogels

27 Oct 2011

Picture of Cg-7C chalcogels in a glass vial. This is the typical appearance of C-cast gels following supercritical drying.

“Chalcogen-based aerogels could be used to capture and immobilize radioactive iodine”, say scientists in the US.

In order to maximize the efficiency of nuclear power production, fuel reprocessing will be required. Although the most efficient and final methods of reprocessing have not yet been identified, the current proposed methods will involve measureable quantities of long-lived radioactive species such as ¹²⁹I and ⁹⁹Tc. These radioisotopes have long half-lives (hundreds-of-thousands to millions of years) and are usually immobilised in glass and safely disposed of in geological repositories. Here, the authors investigate the option of using chalcogen-based aerogels (a.k.a. chalcogels) as sorbents to capture radioactive iodine gas from the off-gas at a future reprocessing facility.

The chalcogels discussed in this work are aerogels assembled with Ge-S structural units and an additional interlinking metal. The team led by Brian Riley at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, USA, provides some understanding of the chemical and thermal stability of the chalcogel-sorbed iodine phases. “High affinity was obtained with the Pt-Ge-S chalcogels, both under a saturated iodine environment and gas containing low I₂(g) concentrations,” says Riley and co-workers. The maximum iodine loading was shown to be about 240 mass% and over 99% of the available iodine gas was removed from flowing dry air containing I₂(g) at 4.2 ppm.

They conclude that “improvements to the chalcogels are needed to lower cost, provide a strong iodine chemisorption, and prevent desorption during consolidation”. The authors also give a brief overview of the application of chalcogels as a waste form for radioisotopes. This article provides some insight into how these materials could be consolidated into a chalcogenide glass as a final waste form product. Chalcogenide glasses have a well-known high-iodine solubility.

“This work is on-going and involves collaboration with Mercouri Kanatzidis at Northwestern University,” adds Riley.

Read the full article for free until December 2012:

Chalcogen-based aerogels as a multifunctional platform for remediation of radioactive iodine
Brian J. Riley, Jaehun Chun, Joseph V. Ryan, Josef Matyáš, Xiaohong S. Li, Dean W. Matson, Shanmugavelayutham K. Sundaram, Denis M. Strachan and John D. Vienna
RSC Adv., 2011, Advance Article, DOI: 10.1039/C1RA00351H, Paper

Change in the appearance of P-cast Pt-Ge-S gel (Cg-3P) during the gelation process over the course of 144 h (in the hydrogel state)

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Festival of Lights in RSC Advances

26 Oct 2011

Happy Diwali!

Diwali is also known as the “festival of lights”and RSC Advances joins in the celebration by highlighting the latest articles published that involve light. Please note that all our content are free to download upon a simple registration process.

A lot of reactions need light to happen and other molecules emit light. These chemical reactions have applications in organoelectronics such as organic light-emitting diodes, photovoltaics or in bio-labelling techniques and photocatalytic reactions such as light-induced water splitting, etc…

Below is a selection of RSC Advances articles that may be of interests to you:

Blue phosphorescent iridium(III) complexes containing carbazole-functionalized phenylpyridine for organic light-emitting di odes: energy transfer from carbazolyl moieties to iridium(III) cores
Hoe-Joo Seo, Myungkwan Song, Sung-Ho Jin, Jung Hei Choi, Seong-Jae Yun and Young-Inn Kim
RSC Adv., 2011, 1, 755-757, DOI: 10.1039/C1RA00140J, Communication

The electrogenerated chemiluminescence detection of IS6110 of Mycobacterium tuberculosis based on a luminol functionalized gold nanoprobe
Jie Jiang, Ying Chai and Hua Cui
RSC Adv., 2011, 1, 247-254, DOI: 10.1039/C1RA00206F, Paper

Monodisperse CeO2/CdS heterostructured spheres: one-pot synthesis and enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen activity
Xi-Hong Lu, Shi-Lei Xie, Teng Zhai, Yu-Feng Zhao, Peng Zhang, Yue-Li Zhang and Ye-Xiang Tong
RSC Adv., 2011, Advance Article, DOI: 10.1039/C1RA00252J, Communication

Hierarchical Bi7O9I3 micro/nano-architecture: facile synthesis, growth mechanism, and high visible light photocatalytic performance
Xin Xiao and Wei-De Zhang
RSC Adv., 2011, 1, 1099-1105, DOI: 10.1039/C1RA00323B, Paper

Chemical reactions under autogenic pressure at elevated temperature to fabricate photo-luminescent Ga2O3 nanocrystals and their coatings
Pani P. George, Vilas G. Pol, Yuri Koltypin, Makluf Shirly Ben-David, I. Genish and Aharon Gedanken
RSC Adv., 2011, 1, 619-624, DOI: 10.1039/C1RA00277E, Paper

Synthesis of FeS2 and Co-doped FeS2 films with the aid of supercritical carbon dioxide and their photoelectrochemical properties
Jiqing Jiao, Liuping Chen, Daibin Kuang, Wei Gao, Huajie Feng and Jian Xia
RSC Adv., 2011, 1, 255-261, DOI: 10.1039/C1RA00066G, Paper

Well-crystallized square-like 2D BiOCl nanoplates: mannitol-assisted hydrothermal synthesis and improved visible-light-driven photocatalytic performance
Jinyan Xiong, Gang Cheng, Guangfang Li, Fan Qin and Rong Chen
RSC Adv., 2011, Advance Article, DOI: 10.1039/C1RA00335F, Paper

Length control of Ag nanorods in mesoporous SiO2–TiO2 by light irradiation
Go Kawamura, Mai Murakami, Teruhisa Okuno, Hiroyuki Muto and Atsunori Matsuda
RSC Adv., 2011, 1, 584-587, DOI: 10.1039/C1RA00317H, Communication

A dithienyl benzotriazole-based poly(2,7-carbazole) for field-effect transistors and efficient light-emitting diodes
Bo Liu, Yingping Zou, Shanghui Ye, Yuehui He and Kechao Zhou
RSC Adv., 2011, 1, 424-428, DOI: 10.1039/C1RA00134E, Paper

One-pot synthesis and characterization of well defined core–shell structure of FePt@CdSe nanoparticles
Thuy T. Trinh, Derrick Mott, Nguyen T. K. Thanh and Shinya Maenosono
RSC Adv., 2011, 1, 100-108, DOI: 10.1039/C1RA00012H, Paper

RSC Advances wishes a Happy Diwali to all our hindu authors, referees, readers and editors!

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RSC Advances: Asian Coordination Chemistry

24 Oct 2011

RSC Advances was proud to sponsor a poster prize at the 3rd Asian Coordination Chemistry conference in New Delhi, India.

Congratulations to Dr Sandeep Kumar Dey, from the group of Prof Gopal Das of the Indian Institute of Technology in Gauhati, for his poster on anion binding and host-guest chemistry with tripodal ligands. Unfortunately, Dr Dey could not stay for the closing ceremony so the prize was accepted on his behalf by Professor M. Yamashita. See picture below.

Professor M. Yamashita (left) accepting the poster prize on behalf of Sandeep Dey. The prize was awarded by Professor Mike Ward (right), Editorial Board Chair of RSC Advances

In addition to the certificate Dr Dey was awarded a copy of the book ‘Organometallic Chemistry’ by Ian J S Fairlamb, Jason M Lynam, M G Humphrey, and published by the Royal Society of Chemistry.

The latest inorganic chemistry articles published in RSC Advances can be freely downloaded here.

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