RSC Advances Emerging Investigators Series 2022 – Author Spotlight

Welcome to our Emerging Investigators Series 2022! This series, led by Prof Shirley Nakagaki (Federal University of Paraná, Brazil) and Dr Fabienne Dumoulin (Acıbadem Mehmet Ali Aydınlar Universit, Türkiye), highlights the very best work from early-career researchers in all areas of chemistry. 10 papers were published as part of the collection spanning the breadth of chemistry on topics ranging from green and environmental chemistry, to biological and bioinorganic chemistry, as well as papers that propose theoretical calculations as solutions to chemistry problems. You can read all about the contributions in this accompanying Editorial prepared by Shirley.

We would like to take this opportunity to highlight an author from the series, Prof Dr Noémie Elgrishi. We interviewed Noémie to find out more about her area of research and her contribution to the series.

Impact of the choice of buffer on the electrochemical reduction of Cr(vi) in water on carbon electrodes
Callie M. Stern, Devin D. Meche and Noémie Elgrishi
RSC Adv., 2022,12, 32592-32599

Noémie Elgrishi is an assistant professor at Louisiana State University. A native of France, Noémie worked in the labs of Jonathan Nitschke (University of Cambridge) and Daniel Nocera (MIT, now Harvard University) during her Master’s degree (Sorbonne University, formerly University Pierre and Marie Curie – Paris 6). After obtaining a PhD from Sorbonne University working with Marc Fontecave (Collège de France), during which she was named a 2012 Scifinder Future Leader, she was a Postdoctoral Researcher under the mentorship of Jillian Dempsey (UNC-Chapel Hill) for 2 years. Since starting at LSU in 2017, Noémie’s group has developed a fundamental-science-first approach to interrogate environmentally relevant problems. Research centers on the intersection of electrochemistry and supramolecular chemistry to answer key questions related to water and energy challenges. Noémie Elgrishi received a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation in 2021 and will be an editorial broad member for the Journal of Coordination Chemistry starting in 2023.

Could you briefly explain the focus of your article to the non-specialist (in one or two sentences only) and why it is of current interest?

Electrochemical methods are well-suited to reduce toxic hexavalent chromium to purify drinking water, but the challenge is mitigating the energetic cost associated with the transfer of the large number of protons and electrons required all while using cheap carbon electrodes. Here we show how the choice of buffer, not simply the pH, influences the reaction and we also demonstrate a very simple way to recycle electrodes if they get fouled during use.

How big an impact could your results potentially have?

The work helps establish that in the conditions studied: 1) cheap carbon electrodes can be used instead of noble metals, 2) Cr(VI) reduction is gated by a similar proton-coupled electron transfer step in multiple buffers, 3) some buffers promote adsorption of the resulting Cr(III) on the electrode, and 4) it is possible to restore the electrode surface and regain activity with a simple rinse, without the need for re-polishing. Combined, these open the way to the development of water purification flow systems to reduce Cr(VI) in water.

Could you explain the motivation behind this study?

The motivation is to advance electrochemical water purification, specifically targeting toxic hexavalent chromium, by leveraging knowledge from the community working on Proton-Coupled Electron Transfers. At its core, the challenge of Cr(VI) reduction is the efficient transfer of multiple protons and electrons. This is thermodynamically easy but kinetically challenging. Before developing catalysts to mediate the transformation, it was important to identify the parameters influencing direct electroreduction of Cr(VI) at an electrode.

In your opinion, what are the key design considerations for your study?

Realizing that buffers are not inert innocent spectators! We are so used to thinking of buffers in water as a means to work at a fixed pH, without really considering the effect of the specific acid/bases added.

Which part of the work towards this paper proved to be most challenging?

Experimentally, the observation of Cr(III) plating on the electrode in certain conditions significantly increased the time required for data collection as freshly polished electrodes were required for every single scan. Scientifically, realizing that the buffer was the cause of these changes in behavior was the most challenging.

What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment?

I am excited about our progress on developing electrocatalysts to further mediate the Cr(VI) reduction transformation, as well as applying lessons learned to other problematic oxyanions contaminating water supplies.

How has your research evolved from your first article to this particular article?

Our fist paper on this project demonstrated that carbon electrodes are effective for the reduction of Cr(VI) in water across a wide range of pH. We were using a citrate buffer for that work as we were covering a large pH range. In this new paper we explore how that seemingly innocuous choice of buffer actually impacts many steps of the Cr(VI) reduction process.

What is the next step? What work is planned?

We would like to develop electrocatalysts to speed up the reaction and, critically, decrease the energy required (lowering the overpotential). We have made progress in that direction and hope to be able to share more soon.

Why did you want to publish in RSC Advances?

I value the RSC as a non-profit scientific society. I also love the ease of submitting papers to the RSC when using the template, with auto-populating fields which speeds up the submission process. I chose RSC Advances specifically as it is a general journal with a broad audience.

What are your thoughts on open access publishing?

It is fantastic to hear that the RSC, and others, are moving to open access. I just hope funding follows, since the current model is to let the researcher somehow cover the costs. This could create a model where only the top funded groups are even able to consider publishing in the top journals (given the large cost), and where decisions on which journal to consider to submit a paper are based on the cost first instead, of journal audience or fit.

 

RSC Advances Royal Society of Chemistry

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RSC Advances Emerging Investigators Series 2022 – Author Spotlight

Welcome to our Emerging Investigators Series 2022! This series, led by Prof Shirley Nakagaki (Federal University of Paraná, Brazil) and Dr Fabienne Dumoulin (Acıbadem Mehmet Ali Aydınlar Universit, Türkiye), highlights the very best work from early-career researchers in all areas of chemistry. 10 papers were published as part of the collection spanning the breadth of chemistry on topics ranging from green and environmental chemistry, to biological and bioinorganic chemistry, as well as papers that propose theoretical calculations as solutions to chemistry problems. You can read all about the contributions in this accompanying Editorial prepared by Shirley.

We would like to take this opportunity to highlight an author from the series, Dr Kelly M. Schultz. We interviewed Kelly to find out more about her area of research and her contribution to the series.

Gelation phase diagrams of colloidal rod systems measured over a large composition space
Shiqin He, Marco Caggioni, Seth Lindberg and Kelly M. Schultz
RSC Adv., 2022,12, 12902-12912

Dr. Kelly M. Schultz is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Lehigh University. She obtained her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Northeastern University in 2006 and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering with Professor Eric Furst from the University of Delaware in 2011 as a National Science Foundation graduate research fellow. While at Delaware, she was invited to speak in the American Chemical Society Excellence in Graduate Polymers Research Symposium and was selected as the Fraser and Shirley Russell Teaching Fellow. Following her PhD, she was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute postdoctoral research associate at the University of Colorado at Boulder working in the laboratory of Professor Kristi Anseth. As a postdoc, she was invited to participate in the Distinguished Young Scholars Summer Seminar Series at the University of Washington. She began her position as Assistant Professor at Lehigh University in 2013, was named a P.C. Rossin Assistant Professor from 2016 – 2018 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2019. Dr. Schultz was named one of TA Instruments Distinguished Young Rheologists (2014), awarded a NSF CAREER award (2018), the Lehigh University Libsch Early Career Research Award (2019), the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science Excellence in Research Scholarship & Leadership (2020), a National Institutes of Health – National Institute of General Medical Sciences Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA R35, 2022) and named the Pirkey Centennial Lecturer by the McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin (2022). Dr. Schultz and her research group study emerging gel materials developed for applications from consumer products to materials that can enhance and restart wound healing. Of particular interest is the development of bulk and microrheological techniques that measure how 3D encapsulated human mesenchymal stem cells degrade and remodel synthetic hydrogel scaffolds during motility.

Could you briefly explain the focus of your article to the non-specialist (in one or two sentences only) and why it is of current interest?

This work focuses on characterizing the material properties of different formulations of a colloidal fibrous gel. These materials are used in fabric and home care products and this work provides a table where the desired material properties can be looked up eliminating trial-and-error experiments during product development.

How big an impact could your results potentially have?

This work is in collaboration with engineers at Procter & Gamble. We are working with some of their materials but also exploring new materials with similar dimensions that they are interested in using in consumer products. So there is potential for our work to inform the design of new products. To the greater scientific community, this work provides a methodology for tackling material characterization over a large formulation space, which can also have an impact.

Could you explain the motivation behind this study?

As I mentioned in the previous question, this has been a long standing collaboration with Procter & Gamble. We started working with colloidal fibers that they currently use in their fabric and home care products. Since then we have expanded the work to investigate different Fibers to determine if they can also be used as rheological modifiers. Beyond enabling the use of these materials in new products, my group is interested in developing new characterization and analysis techniques. This work uses established characterization techniques to collect data but as you can see in the presentation of the data, we aim to maximize the information we can get from a measurement and that is always a motivation behind our work.

In your opinion, what are the key design considerations for your study?

The key design consideration for our study was to systematically traverse a large formulation space experimentally. Then we wanted to find a way to present this large set of data that would enable a researcher that is working in formulations to use this as a lookup table to inform the design of their product.

Which part of the work towards this paper proved to be most challenging?

The interpretation and presentation of the data was quite challenging. We had a large amount of data and at some point you realize that the more data you have the harder it is to interpret it. Being able to organize it in a way that we could show trends and draw conclusions was really a challenge.

What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment?

This work is evolving to use more sustainable colloidal fibers, something both my group and our collaborators are interested in. This is really exciting since it has the potential to use a waste product in new formulations.

How has your research evolved from your first article to this particular article?

Our first article on this work was developed analysis methods to interpret microrheological data to characterize a heterogeneous colloidal gel. All of the work since that time has built upon this to give us a toolbox of characterization and analysis techniques that allows us to effectively interpret our data, even in complex systems. We have also started characterizing new colloidal gel systems, which are very exciting. Using these techniques and previous knowledge to characterize the rheology of these materials, we hope to enable their use in products.

What is the next step? What work is planned?

As mentioned previously, we are moving on to a sustainable colloid, a waste product. We are characterizing this material to see if we can modify the colloid to enable it’s use as a rheological modifier in fabric and home care products. We are really excited about this work and the direction that the project is taking.

Why did you want to publish in RSC Advances?

We thought that this was not only an interesting study of these particular materials but also a really nice way to characterize, analyze and present this type of data. The reason we chose RSC Advances was because of the wide readership. We thought getting not only the results but the technique to a wider audience would have a bigger impact.

 

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RSC Advances Emerging Investigators Series 2022 – Author Spotlight

Welcome to our Emerging Investigators Series 2022! This series, led by Prof Shirley Nakagaki (Federal University of Paraná, Brazil) and Dr Fabienne Dumoulin (Acıbadem Mehmet Ali Aydınlar Universit, Türkiye), highlights the very best work from early-career researchers in all areas of chemistry. 10 papers were published as part of the collection spanning the breadth of chemistry on topics ranging from green and environmental chemistry, to biological and bioinorganic chemistry, as well as papers that propose theoretical calculations as solutions to chemistry problems. You can read all about the contributions in this accompanying Editorial prepared by Shirley.

We would like to take this opportunity to highlight an author from the series, Prof Dr Julio Cezar Pastre. We interviewed Julio to find out more about his area of research and his contribution to the series.

Continuous flow Meerwein–Ponndorf–Verley reduction of HMF and furfural using basic zirconium carbonate
Henrique Magri Marçon and Julio Cezar Pastre
RSC Adv., 2022,12, 7980-7989

Julio C. Pastre obtained his PhD in 2009 under the guidance of Professor Carlos Roque D. Correia at the University of Campinas – UNICAMP. He then worked as a research scientist at Rhodia-Solvay before moving back to UNICAMP for postdoctoral studies with Professor Ronaldo A. Pilli. In 2012, he joined the group of Professor Steven V. Ley at the University of Cambridge. Two years later, Julio established his independent research group at UNICAMP and recently became an Associate Professor. In 2019, he was recognized as an ‘Emerging Investigator’ by Reaction Chemistry & Engineering and as a ‘New Talent from the Americas’ by RSC Medicinal Chemistry. Julio was chosen by the editorial boards of Synthesis, Synlett, and Synfacts as one of their ‘Thieme Chemistry Journals Awardees’ for 2023. His research interest focuses on the development of new synthetic methods in batch under microwave irradiation and under continuous flow conditions for the synthesis of platform molecules, new chemicals and APIs.

Could you briefly explain the focus of your article to the non-specialist and why it is of current interest?

In this work, we explored the valorization of two biobased chemicals (HMF and furfural) that can, for example, be used in the synthesis of polymers and are important intermediates to reduce our fossil-dependency and mitigate environmental issues.

How big an impact could your results potentially have?

By designing new synthetic methods that take full advantage of the capabilities of new enabling technologies, one will inevitably end up with greener, cleaner processes.

Could you explain the motivation behind this study?

We are keen to develop new processes for the synthesis of high value-added compounds from biomass derivatives in continuous flow regime.

In your opinion, what are the key design considerations for your study?

Our group has already identified continuous flow processing as a fundamental technology for the valorization of biomass derivatives, so that any designed methods can be rapidly scaled to manufacture. Moreover, many of the principles of Green Chemistry can be met by embracing new technologies that are inherently cleaner when compared to the traditional approaches.

Which part of the work towards this paper proved to be most challenging?

Although the process concerns just a reduction of an aldehyde, the obtention of a selective process is quite challenging since several competitive reactions can take place leading, for example, to the formation of humins.

What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment?

We are excited about the impact that flow chemistry can have in the valorization of biomass considering its key advantages, such as better control of heat and mass transfer, improved mixing, and safety profile.

How has your research evolved from your first article to this particular article?

Most of our previous works were done under homogeneous conditions. The use of heterogeneous catalysts in a fixed-bed reactor represents a good evolution in view of catalyst recycling, product separation and throughput.

What is the next step? What work is planned?

We want to apply these findings to other biobased chemicals and develop an integrated approach for the valorization of these materials.

Why did you want to publish in RSC Advances?

I’m a reader of RSC Advances, which publishes high impact research. So, it is a great pleasure to have our work published in such a prestigious journal.

What are your thoughts on open access publishing?

I believe open access publishing is going to be dominant soon since it gives access to a broader community and “democratize” science.

 

RSC Advances Royal Society of Chemistry

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RSC Advances Emerging Investigators Series 2022 – Meet the Authors

We are delighted to present the 2022 edition of the RSC Advances Emerging Investigators Series! Following the success of our inaugural 2021 edition, we are excited to continue highlighting the chemistry research being conducted by some of the leading investigators in our community.

This year’s Series Editors were Professor Shirley Nakagaki (Federal University of Paraná, Brazil) and Dr Fabienne Dumoulin (Acıbadem Mehmet Ali Aydınlar Universit, Türkiye. The 10 articles featured come from various countries and continents, delving into molecular and solid-state chemistry with diverse applications, primarily in the areas of green and environmental chemistry, as well as biological and bioinorganic chemistry. Additionally, we have included papers that propose theoretical calculations as solutions to chemistry problems. You can read all about the contributions in this accompanying Editorial, prepared by Shirley.

Please see below the biographies of some of the brilliant authors who have been published in the 2022 collection:

Ashutosh Kumar Mishra

Modulating catalytic activity of a modified flavin analogue via judicially positioned metal ion toward aerobic sulphoxidation

Dr Ashutosh Kumar Mishra was born in Gorakhpur and obtained his master’s degree from Gorakhpur university. He later moved to IIT-Kanpur for his doctoral degree where he worked under the supervision of Prof Sandeep Verma on scalable structural complexities in metal-nucleobase interactions. Working as postdoctoral scholar with Prof Frederick D Lewis at Northwestern University, USA, he was involved in investigating the dynamics and mechanism of photoinduced charge transport in DNA. Ashutosh started his independent research career at IIT-Hyderabad India where he is currently working as assistant professor. His current research interest focuses on understanding and exploring bio-molecular systems through small chemical modifications, especially synthetic peptide motifs and flavin based dinucleotide systems with potential biomedical applications and for next generation biomimetic systems.

 

Noémie Elgrishi

Impact of the choice of buffer on the electrochemical reduction of Cr(vi) in water on carbon electrodes

Noémie Elgrishi is an assistant professor at Louisiana State University. A native of France, Noémie worked in the labs of Jonathan Nitschke (University of Cambridge) and Daniel Nocera (MIT, now Harvard University) during her Master’s degree (Sorbonne University, formerly University Pierre and Marie Curie – Paris 6). After obtaining a PhD from Sorbonne University working with Marc Fontecave (Collège de France), during which she was named a 2012 Scifinder Future Leader, she was a Postdoctoral Researcher under the mentorship of Jillian Dempsey (UNC-Chapel Hill) for 2 years. Since starting at LSU in 2017, Noémie’s group has developed a fundamental-science-first approach to interrogate environmentally relevant problems. Research centers on the intersection of electrochemistry and supramolecular chemistry to answer key questions related to water and energy challenges. Noémie Elgrishi received a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation in 2021 and will be an editorial broad member for the Journal of Coordination Chemistry starting in 2023.

Lars Goerigk

Noncovalently bound excited-state dimers: a perspective on current time-dependent density functional theory approaches applied to aromatic excimer models

Lars Goerigk is an Associate Professor at the School of Chemistry, The University of Melbourne, Australia. In 2011, he obtained his PhD in the group of Prof. Stefan Grimme, Münster in Germany, and then relocated to The University of Sydney to work with Prof. Jeffrey Reimers before joining his present institution in 2014. His area of expertise is Theoretical and Computational Quantum Chemistry with a focus on Density Functional Theory for ground and excited states. A/Prof. Goerigk is a former Discovery Early Career Researcher Award Fellow (Australian Research Council), a recipient of the 2017 Physical Chemistry Division Lectureship (Royal Australian Chemical Institute) and an awardee of the 2019 Le Fèvre (Australian Academy of Science) and 2020 Rennie Memorial medals (Royal Australian Chemical Institute). Recently, he won the 2022 Pople Medal (Asia-Pacific Association of Theoretical & Computational Chemists), the highest award for a theoretical and computational chemist under the age of 45 in the Asia Pacific.

Julio C. Pastre

Continuous flow Meerwein–Ponndorf–Verley reduction of HMF and furfural using basic zirconium carbonate

Julio C. Pastre obtained his PhD in 2009 under the guidance of Professor Carlos Roque D. Correia at the University of Campinas – UNICAMP. He then worked as a research scientist at Rhodia-Solvay before moving back to UNICAMP for postdoctoral studies with Professor Ronaldo A. Pilli. In 2012, he joined the group of Professor Steven V. Ley at the University of Cambridge. Two years later, Julio established his independent research group at UNICAMP and recently became an Associate Professor. In 2019, he was recognized as an ‘Emerging Investigator’ by Reaction Chemistry & Engineering and as a ‘New Talent from the Americas’ by RSC Medicinal Chemistry. Julio was chosen by the editorial boards of Synthesis, Synlett, and Synfacts as one of their ‘Thieme Chemistry Journals Awardees’ for 2023. His research interest focuses on the development of new synthetic methods in batch under microwave irradiation and under continuous flow conditions for the synthesis of platform molecules, new chemicals and APIs.

Sónia P.M. Ventura

Recovery of bacterioruberin and proteins using aqueous solutions of surface-active compounds

Sónia P.M. Ventura is an Associate Professor at the Chemistry Department of University of Aveiro and coordinator of group 4 (Biorefinery, Recycling and Bio-based Materials) of the Aveiro Institute of Materials (CICECO). In 2021, Prof Sónia Ventura was invited to be part of the coordination members of European Federation of Biotechnology (EFB) and since the end of 2022, Prof Ventura is member of the Steering Board of European Algae Biomass Association (EABA).

Prof Ventura is a well-recognized researcher working on the use of alternative solvents (e.g. ionic liquids, eutectic solvents and more recently bio-solvents) and engineering technologies aiming to develop the concepts of Biorefinery and Circular Economy by following the guidelines of Green Chemistry. In the last 10 years, Prof Ventura is deeply devoted to the study of strategies to valorize marine raw materials and residues derived from several industrial sectors, these including fishery and agri-food industries.

Susmita De

Cation–π and hydrophobic interaction controlled PET recognition in double mutated cutinase – identification of a novel binding subsite for better catalytic activity

Dr Susmita De obtained her Ph. D. in 2010 from University of Hyderabad under the guidance of Prof Eluvathingal D. Jemmis. She has gained research experience in various area of theoretical chemistry by working with Prof Gernot Frenking at the Department of Chemistry, Philipps-University Marburg, Germany, Prof. Keiji Morokuma at the Fukui Institute for Fundamental Chemistry, Kyoto University, Japan and Prof Martin Zacharias at the Department of Physics, Technical University Munich, Germany. She is the recipient of Fast Track early career research award, INSPIRE Faculty award, Core research grant from Government of India and EMBO visiting scientist fellowship. Her current research focus is on the detailed molecular-level understanding of structure and mechanism of complex molecular, biomolecular and materials systems by molecular dynamics simulations and quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical methods. She applies the knowledge of chemical bonding to predict the properties and reactivities of complex systems. Her foundation in chemistry had helped her to translate the molecular level knowledge to the areas of Biology and Material science, which can establish a synergy between theory and experiment to realise fruitful prediction of theory-driven experiments and synthesis.

Kelly M. Schultz

Gelation phase diagrams of colloidal rod systems measured over a large composition space

Dr Kelly M. Schultz is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Lehigh University. She obtained her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Northeastern University in 2006 and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering with Professor Eric Furst from the University of Delaware in 2011 as a National Science Foundation graduate research fellow. While at Delaware, she was invited to speak in the American Chemical Society Excellence in Graduate Polymers Research Symposium and was selected as the Fraser and Shirley Russell Teaching Fellow. Following her PhD, she was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute postdoctoral research associate at the University of Colorado at Boulder working in the laboratory of Professor Kristi Anseth. As a postdoc, she was invited to participate in the Distinguished Young Scholars Summer Seminar Series at the University of Washington. She began her position as Assistant Professor at Lehigh University in 2013, was named a P.C. Rossin Assistant Professor from 2016 – 2018 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2019. Dr. Schultz was named one of TA Instruments Distinguished Young Rheologists (2014), awarded a NSF CAREER award (2018), the Lehigh University Libsch Early Career Research Award (2019), the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science Excellence in Research Scholarship & Leadership (2020), a National Institutes of Health – National Institute of General Medical Sciences Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA R35, 2022) and named the Pirkey Centennial Lecturer by the McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin (2022). Dr Schultz and her research group study emerging gel materials developed for applications from consumer products to materials that can enhance and restart wound healing. Of particular interest is the development of bulk and microrheological techniques that measure how 3D encapsulated human mesenchymal stem cells degrade and remodel synthetic hydrogel scaffolds during motility.

Thank you so much to the Series Editors, Associate Editors and to all our reviewers at RSC Advances for their ongoing support and contribution, helping us to bring together such a fantastic collection of articles.

Looking forward: Emerging Investigator Series 2023!

We are pleased to announce that Shirley and Fabienne will continue on as the Series Editors for the 2023 Emerging Investigator series! We can’t wait to see what the next early career investigators have been working on in Chemistry.

Selection for the Emerging Investigators series comes in part from the recommendations of our Editorial Board, as well as our Associate Editors. Authors can also self-nominate for participation and review by our Associate Editors. Articles can be submitted to the series at any time and will be accepted and published throughout the year.

If you would like to be involved in our upcoming series, please look at our webpage here for more information or submit now!

For any questions do not hesitate to contact us at advances-rsc@rsc.org

 

RSC Advances Royal Society of ChemistrySubmit to RSC Advances today! Check out our author guidelines for information on our article types or find out more about the advantages of publishing in a Royal Society of Chemistry journal.

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May 2023 RSC Advances Review Articles

Welcome to May’s Review round up!

Every month we update our 2023 Reviews in RSC Advances collection to showcase all of the review articles published in RSC Advances in 2023. Don’t forget to come back next month to check out our latest reviews.

We hope you enjoy reading and as always, all of our articles are open access so you can easily share your favourites online and with your colleagues.

Explore the full collection!

 

Browse a selection of our May reviews below:

Aryl fluorosulfates: powerful and versatile partners in cross-coupling reactions
Shelesh Krishna Saraswat, Ramanjaneyulu Seemaladinne, Media Noori Abdullah, Halim Zaini, Nabeel Ahmad, Nafis Ahmad and Esmail Vessally
RSC Adv., 2023, 13, 13642-13654

Selectivity of reaction pathways for green diesel production towards biojet fuel applications
Zeni Rahmawati, Liangga Santoso, Alan McCue, Nor Laili Azua Jamari, Sri Yayu Ninglasari, Triyanda Gunawan and Hamzah Fansuri
RSC Adv., 2023, 13, 13698-13714

Stability of carbon quantum dots: a critical review
Shweta Dua, Pawan Kumar, Balaram Pani, Amarjeet Kaur, Manoj Khanna and Geeta Bhatt
RSC Adv., 2023, 13, 13845-13861

An overview of the synthetic strategies of C3-symmetric polymeric materials containing benzene and triazine cores and their biomedical applications
Maha A. Alshubramy, Khalid A. Alamry and Mahmoud A. Hussein
RSC Adv., 2023, 13, 14317-14339

Visible-light-driven reactions for the synthesis of sulfur dioxide-inserted compounds: generation of S–F, S–O, and S–N bonds
Truong Giang Luu and Hee-Kwon Kim
RSC Adv., 2023, 13, 14412-14434

Recent advances in synthesis of polymers based on palm oil and its fatty acids
Erythrina Stavila, Frita Yuliati, Azis Adharis, Joddy Arya Laksmono and Muhammad Iqbal
RSC Adv., 2023, 13, 14747-14775

Microwave-enhanced hydrogen production: a review
Jun Zhao, Duanda Wang, Lei Zhang, Minyi He, Wangjing Ma and Sui Zhao
RSC Adv., 2023, 13, 15261-15273

Functional impacts of polyaniline in composite matrix of photocatalysts: an instrumental overview
Joshua Akinropo Oyetade, Revocatus Lazaro Machunda and Askwar Hilonga
RSC Adv., 2023, 13, 15467-15489

Sources, distribution, and environmental effects of microplastics: a systematic review
Wang Li, Bo Zu, Qingwei Yang, Juncheng Guo and Jiawen Li
RSC Adv., 2023, 13, 15566-15574

Pseudo-multicomponent reactions
Julio C. Flores-Reyes, Vanesa del C. Cotlame-Salinas, Ilich A. Ibarra, Eduardo González-Zamora and Alejandro Islas-Jácome
RSC Adv., 2023, 13, 16091-16125

 

Submit to RSC Advances today! Check out our author guidelines for information on our article types or find out more about the advantages of publishing in a Royal Society of Chemistry journal.

Keep up to date with our latest Popular Advances, Reviews, Collections & more by following us on Twitter. You can also keep informed by signing up to our E-Alerts.

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May 2023 Popular Advances Articles

Welcome to May’s Popular Advances article round up!

Every month we update our 2023 RSC Advances Popular Advances Article Collection to showcase all of the articles selected by our reviewers and handling editors as Popular Advances in 2023. Don’t forget to come back next month to check out our latest Popular articles.

We hope you enjoy reading and as always, all of our articles are open access so you can easily share your favourites online and with your colleagues.

Explore the full collection!

 

Browse a selection of our May Popular Advances articles below:

Novel quinoline/thiazinan-4-one hybrids; design, synthesis, and molecular docking studies as potential anti-bacterial candidates against MRSA
Asmaa H. Mohamed, Sara M. Mostafa, Ashraf A. Aly, Alaa A. Hassan, Esraa M. Osman, AbdElAziz A. Nayl, Alan B. Brown and Elshimaa M. N. Abdelhafez
RSC Adv., 2023, 13, 14631-14640

New 1,3,4-thiadiazoles as potential anticancer agents: pro-apoptotic, cell cycle arrest, molecular modelling, and ADMET profile
Mohamed H. Hekal, Paula S. Farag, Magdy M. Hemdan, Amira A. El-Sayed, Aya I. Hassaballah and Wael M. El-Sayed
RSC Adv., 2023, 13, 15810-15825

Graphene oxide supported ionic liquid/Fe complex: a robust and highly stable nanocatalyst
Kimiya Taheri, Dawood Elhamifar, Shiva Kargar and Ali Zarnegaryan
RSC Adv., 2023, 13, 16067-16077

 

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Open Call for Papers: Cutting-Edge Research in Green Biomaterials

RSC Advances (Royal Society of Chemistry) is delighted to announce a new themed collection on Cutting-Edge Research in Green Biomaterials. This collection is Guest Edited by Prof. Yasser Vasseghian, Soongsil University, Prof. Tebogo Mashifana, University of Johannesburg and Prof. Elena-Niculina Dragoi, Gheorghe Asachi Technical University of Iasi.

This themed collection aims to showcase the latest advancements in the field of green biomaterials and their diverse applications in various domains, including environmental, energy, biomedical, agricultural, and biotechnological sectors. The collection will feature original research articles and reviews on the development and utilization of eco-friendly biomaterials for sustainable solutions. The collection encourages researchers, scientists, engineers, and professionals working in the field of biomaterials, environmental science, energy, biomedical, agriculture, and related disciplines to present their latest research results on below specific topics (but not limited to):

  • Green biomaterials for wide array of uses in sustainable environmental
  • Eco-friendly biomaterials for environmental remediation and pollution control
  • Green biomaterials for water purification and resource conservation
  • Harnessing green biomaterials for renewable energy generation and storage
  • Green biomaterials for bioenergy production
  • Green biomaterials for biological applications: From agriculture to biotechnology
  • Sustainable solutions with green biomaterials for agriculture and food industry
  • Biodegradable green biomaterials for sustainable packaging
  • Bio-based composites, nanomaterials, and electrochemical devices
  • Bioinspired green biomaterials for advanced therapeutics, diagnostics, and biosensors
  • Advances in green biomaterials for biomedical implants and tissue engineering
  • Sustainable nanocomposites with green biomaterials: synthesis, properties, and applications
  • Biodegradable polymers for wide-ranging uses

We welcome your submission to the series.

 

Submission deadline 29 December 2023

 

How to submit

Both Papers and Review articles will be considered for this collection. All submissions will be subject to an initial assessment by Associate Editors and, if suitable for the journal, they will be subject to rigorous peer review to meet the usual high standards of RSC Advances.

Our APC is among the lowest in the industry and there are no submission charges. Discounts and waivers are offered to authors from developing countries.

If you would like to submit to this issue the manuscript should be prepared according to our article guidelines and submitted via our online system anytime before the submission deadline of 29th of December 2023. During submission, authors will be asked if they are submitting for a themed collection and should include the name of the themed collection. If you would like to submit but require additional time to prepare your article, please do let us know by contacting the journal.

RSC Advances Royal Society of ChemistrySubmit to RSC Advances today! Check out our author guidelines for information on our article types or find out more about the advantages of publishing in a Royal Society of Chemistry journal.

Keep up to date with our latest Popular Advances, Reviews, Collections & more by following us on Twitter. You can also keep informed by signing up to our E-Alerts.

 

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2D Materials and their Applications – Call for Papers

RSC Advances is delighted to announce a new themed collection on 2D materials and their applications. This collection is Guest Edited by Associate Professor Andreas Rosenkranz, University of Chile, Associate Professor Massimiliano Papi, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Associate Professor Agnieszka Jastrzębska, Warsaw University of Technology, and Associate Professor Diana Berman, University of North Texas.

Scope

During the last decade, 2D materials have gained tremendous attention in the scientific community due to their structural and physiochemical properties, which make them applicable in various fields of fundamental and applied research. Inspired and boosted by the performance of graphene and its derivates as well as transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), with their most prominent members being MoS2 and WS2, significant progress has been made towards the development of new 2D nanomaterials.

In this regard, advanced synthesis routes, as well as an in-depth understanding of the structure-property-performance relationship, are currently being explored for silicenes, hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), 2D black phosphorus, halide structures, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), covalent-organic frameworks (COFs), MXenes and MBenes. Their high surface-to-volume ratios coupled with controllable electrical and thermal conductivity, and excellent mechanical properties have made 2D nanomaterials particularly interesting for energy storage/harvesting and supercapacitors, (photo)-catalysis, water purification/desalination, wearable electronics, biomedicine, tribology, and much more.

This multidisciplinary themed collection provides the opportunity to share latest findings related to applied research involving 2D materials with the research community.

Topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • New synthesis approaches for 2D materials,
  • Chemical functionalization of 2D materials,
  • Fabrication of nanocomposites and their functionalization,
  • Advanced, high-resolution materials characterization (chemical and structural),
  • Unique physical and chemical properties of 2D materials,
  • Experimental and computational studies related to the use of 2D materials in energy storage/harvesting, (photo)-catalysis, water purification/desalination, wearable electronics, tribology, among others,
  • Biomedical applications of 2D materials such as drug delivery, gene therapy, regenerative medicine, oncology, and
  • Innovative biosensors based on the 2D materials physical/chemical features.

We welcome your submission to the series.

Submission deadline: 31st October 2023

How to submit

Both papers and review articles will be considered for this themed collection. All submissions will be subject to an initial assessment by Associate Editors and, if suitable for the journal, they will be subject to rigorous peer review to meet the usual high standards of RSC Advances.

We are proud to be an affordable gold open access journal. Submissions to RSC Advances will be published open access and the appropriate article processing charge (APC) will apply. RSC Advances’ article processing charge (APC) is among the lowest in chemistry and waivers are also available for authors who meet the eligibility criteria outlined here.

If you would like to submit to this themed collection the manuscript should be prepared according to our article guidelines and submitted via our online system any time before the submission deadline of 31 10 2023. During submission, authors will be asked if they are submitting for a themed collection and should include the name of the themed collection. If you would like to submit but require additional time to prepare your article, please do let us know by contacting the journal.

Submit to RSC Advances today! Check out our author guidelines for information on our article types or find out more about the advantages of publishing in a Royal Society of Chemistry journal.

Keep up to date with our latest Popular Advances, Reviews, Collections & more by following us on Twitter. You can also keep informed by signing up to our E-Alerts.

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Welcome Beatriz Jurado Sánchez and Qian Li as Associate Editors!

The RSC Advances team are delighted to welcome Beatriz Jurado Sánchez and Qian Li as our newest Associate Editors!

Associate Professor Beatriz Jurado Sánchez, University of Alcalá, Spain

Research Areas: synthesis of tubular and Janus micromotors based on nanomaterials, the integration of micromotors into portable instrumentation, biosensing with micromotors integrating quantum dots, and the development of micromotor based environmental remediation approaches.

Beatriz Jurado Sánchez received her PhD in chemistry from the University of Cordoba in 2009. Then, in 2013, she was awarded the prestigious Marie Curie IOF fellowship to carry out research at the University of California, San Diego under the supervision of Prof Joseph Wang.

From 2017 to 2022, Beatriz was a Ramón y Cajal researcher at the the University of Alcalá. Since 2022, she has been an Associate Professor at the same university – she is currently supervising 9 PhD students, 5 Masters students and many undergraduate students!

Beatriz has co-authored over 82 scientific papers (H Index = 36), 5 book chapters and more than 20 communications in international conferences. Her research has been highlighted in the covers of top impact journals Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Chemical Science and Analytical Chemistry. She is currently an Assistant Editor at Microchimica Acta and has also served as reviewer for many international journals.

Check out Prof Juardo’s latest RSC publications!

Photoresponsive MoS2 and WS2 microflakes as mobile biocide agents
Víctor de la Asunción-Nadal, Javier Bujalance-Fernández, Beatriz Jurado-Sánchez and Alberto Escarpa
Nanoscale, 2023, Advance Article

Transition metal dichalcogenide micromotors with programmable photophoretic swarming motion
Víctor de la Asunción-Nadal, Daniel Rojas, Beatriz Jurado-Sánchez and Alberto Escarpa
J. Mater. Chem. A, 2023,11, 1239-1245

On-board smartphone micromotor-based fluorescence assays
Kaisong Yuan, Víctor de la Asunción-Nadal, Carmen Cuntín-Abal, Beatriz Jurado-Sánchez and Alberto Escarpa
Lab Chip, 2022,22, 928-935

Professor Qian Li, Shandong University, P. R. China

Research Areas: environmental functional materials, organic solid waste treatment and resource recovery, wastewater treatment and resource recovery, biomass conversion, catalytic oxidation, photothermal conversion, desalination, and green chemistry.

Qian Li is the Professor of School of Environmental Science and Engineering at Shandong University, P. R. China. Prof Li obtained her PhD in Environmental Science and Engineering from Shandong University in 2008 under the supervision of Prof Qinyan Yue and Prof Baoyu Gao. She was a postdoctoral researcher in the field of green chemistry at the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shandong University from 2008-2010, and a visiting scholar at Georgia Institute of Technology, USA from 2016-2017.

Her expertise and practical experience cover the areas of the development of environmental functional materials, low carbon and efficient management of environmental pollution and resource recovery, including but not limited to the resource of biomass solid waste, design of environmentally friendly materials and advanced oxidation processes (AOPs), photothermal conversion processes, industrial water treatment, water and wastewater reclamation, soil improvement and remediation, etc. Her research involves preparations and applications of catalysts, adsorbent, nanomaterial, hydrogel, etc. from biomass-derived materials; AOPs including Fenton-like reactions, photocatalysis, etc. for organic pollutants degradation and resource recovery; recycling and reusing of the biosorbent and hydrogel as the templates for the preparation of hydrogen storage materials; design of biomaterial-based solar evaporators and their application in water purification; the use of biomass-derived materials to control soil nitrogen/phosphorus loss or to remediate soils contaminated with organic pollutants.

Qian has published over 120 research papers in the fields of environmental pollution control, chemical engineering, biomass resource engineering and materials engineering in a broad scope of journals such as Environmental Science & Technology, Water Research, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, Chemical Engineering Journal, Bioresource Technology, RSC Advances, and so on.

Check out Prof Li’s latest RSC publications!

Adsorption behavior and mechanism of heavy metal ions by chicken feather protein-based semi-interpenetrating polymer networks super absorbent resin
Wenjia Kong, Qian Li, Jia Liu, Xiaodi Li, Liwei Zhao, Yuan Su, Qinyan Yue and Baoyu Gao
RSC Adv., 2016,6, 83234-83243

A wheat straw cellulose based semi-IPN hydrogel reactor for metal nanoparticles preparation and catalytic reduction of 4-nitrophenol
Jianzi Ding, Qian Li, Liwei Zhao, Xiaodi Li, Qinyan Yue and Baoyu Gao
RSC Adv., 2017,7, 17599-17611

Submit to RSC Advances today! Check out our author guidelines for information on our article types or find out more about the advantages of publishing in a Royal Society of Chemistry journal.

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RSC Advances Editors Collection: Greener synthetic approaches towards quinoline derivatives

RSC Advances are delighted to share our latest collection on Greener synthetic approaches towards quinoline derivatives, guest edited by Associate Editor Prof. Manojit Pal (Dr Reddy’s Institute of Life Sciences, India).

About the Collection

Quinoline, being a versatile and privileged framework in pharmaceutical sciences, drug discovery and development is part of building blocks for several marketed antimalarial drugs. Quinolines also display antimicrobial, analgesic, cardiovascular, anticancer and anti-inflammatory activities and are widespread in nature especially in alkaloids. It is therefore not surprising that over the years quinolines have attracted continued interest in the area of organic synthesis.

While enormous efforts have been devoted for the development of elegant synthetic routes to various quinoline derivatives several of them are not eco-friendly in nature. On the other hand, the green or environmentally friendly synthetic approaches are in great demand in organic synthesis because they decrease or eliminate the usage or formation of harmful substances thereby preventing the environmental pollution considerably. Thus, development of greener or eco-friendly approaches for useful compounds or agents including quinolines is an important goal. The current web collection is mainly a compilation of relevant important and interesting research papers (but no review articles) already published in RSC Advances during last 7 years.

The major focus of this compilation was on selection of the greener or environmentally friendly synthetic methods including single or multi-step approaches, multi-component reactions, catalysed reactions including C-H activation, metal-free methods, microwave or ultrasound-assisted reactions etc reported for quinoline derivatives. Papers describing the eco-friendly synthesis along with biological evaluation of quinoline derivatives are also included. RSC Advances now welcome research papers on new and latest developments in the area of eco-friendly synthesis of quinolines for further inclusion in the web collection.

We hope you enjoy reading these articles!

Featured articles:

Ultrasound assisted synthesis of hybrid quinoline-imidazole derivatives: a green synthetic approach

Gheorghita Zbancioc, Ionel I. Mangalagiu et al.

RSC Adv., 2021,11, 38297-38301, DOI: 10.1039/D1RA07484A

 Environmentally friendly domino multicomponent strategy for the synthesis of pyrroloquinolinone hybrid heterocycles

Rajesh Raju, Raghavacharry Raghunathan, et al.

RSC Adv., 2022,12, 15440-15446, DOI: 10.1039/D2RA02851D

 Microwave-assisted multicomponent synthesis of antiproliferative 2,4-dimethoxy-tetrahydropyrimido[4,5-b]quinolin-6(7H)-ones

Hitendra M. Patel, et al.

RSC Adv., 2022,12, 30404-30415, DOI: 10.1039/D2RA04669E

Read the full collection here!

If you would like to submit your research to this collection, and give your work the global visibility it deserves, you can do so now!

All submissions will be subject to an initial assessment by Associate Editors and, if suitable for the journal, they will be subject to rigorous peer review to meet the usual high standards of RSC Advances.

Submit your research here!

Meet the Editor:

Prof. Manojit Pal received his PhD degree from Jadavpur University, Kolkata (India) in 1995 under the guidance of Prof. Nitya G. Kundu and then worked in various industrial R & D centres including Alembic, Sun Pharma, Matrix Lab, and Dr Reddy’s Lab Ltd. In 2009, he joined the Dr. Reddy’s Institute of Life Science, Hyderabad and presently continuing as a Senior Professor of Organic and Medicinal Chemistry as well as Chief Scientist of CIMPS Department. He became Associate Editor of RSC Advances in 2015, FRSC in 2016, Adjunct Faculty-Manipal University in 2018 and member of Editorial Board-Bioorganic Chemistry in 2019. He also became invited member of ACS in 2019. His name is featured in Stanford’s list of top 2% scientists in the world 2020. In 2022, he received a certificate for publishing open access articles with Elsevier some of which were linked to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. His research interests include the development of new chemical entities under the new drug discovery programme in various therapeutic areas namely tuberculosis, inflammation, obesity, psoriasis and cancer. The other major areas of his focus include transition metal / non-metal catalysed reactions, sonochemical approaches, green chemistry, heterocycle synthesis etc. He has authored/co-authored nearly 290 research publications, as well as 18 review articles, a number of patents, a book chapter and a book. He has also edited a couple of web collections on specific topics in the area of organic synthesis. So far he has reviewed more than 1400 manuscripts, a number of PhD thesis from both national and international universities and grant proposals at national and international level.

 

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