Archive for the ‘Hot Articles’ Category

Chemical Science HOT Articles: Janaury 2023

We are pleased to share a selection of our referee-recommended HOT articles for January 2023. We hope you enjoy reading these articles, congratulations to all the authors whose articles are featured! As always, Chemical Science is free for authors and readers.

You can explore our full 2023 Chemical Science HOT Article Collection here!

 

Browse a selection of our January HOT articles below:

The spatial distribution of cobalt phthalocyanine and copper nanocubes controls the selectivity towards C2 products in tandem electrocatalytic CO2 reduction
Min Wang, Anna Loiudice, Valery Okatenko, Ian D. Sharp and Raffaella Buonsanti
Chem. Sci., 2023, Advance Article

Compact hydrophilic electrophiles enable highly efficacious high DAR ADCs with excellent in vivo PK profile
Philipp Ochtrop, Jahaziel Jahzerah, Paul Machui, Isabelle Mai, Dominik Schumacher, Jonas Helma, Marc-André Kasper and Christian P. R. Hackenberger
Chem. Sci., 2023, Advance Article

Germanium hydrides as an efficient hydrogen-storage material operated by an iron catalyst
Yoshinao Kobayashi and Yusuke Sunada
Chem. Sci., 2023, Advance Article

In vivo singlet state filtered nuclear magnetic resonance: towards monitoring toxic responses inside living organisms
Daniel H. Lysak, Flavio V. C. Kock, Salvatore Mamone, Ronald Soong, Stefan Glöggler and Andre J. Simpson
Chem. Sci., 2023, Advance Article

BOINPYs: facile synthesis and photothermal properties triggered by photoinduced nonadiabatic decay
Lizhi Gai, Ruijing Zhang, Xiuguang Shi, Zhigang Ni, Sisi Wang, Jun-Long Zhang, Hua Lu and Zijian Guo
Chem. Sci., 2023, Advance Article

Low-cost machine learning prediction of excited state properties of iridium-centered phosphors
Gianmarco G. Terrones, Chenru Duan, Aditya Nandy and Heather J. Kulik
Chem. Sci., 2023, Advance Article

From symmetry breaking to symmetry swapping: is Kasha’s rule violated in multibranched phenyleneethynylenes?
K. Swathi, Meleppatt Sujith, P. S. Divya, Merin Varghese P, Andrea Delledonne, D. K. Andrea Phan Huu, Francesco Di Maiolo, Francesca Terenziani, Andrea Lapini, Anna Painelli, Cristina Sissa and K. George Thomas
Chem. Sci., 2023, Advance Article

 

Chemical Science, Royal Society of Chemistry

Submit to Chemical Science 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 articles, reviews, collections & more by following us on Twitter. You can also keep informed by signing up to our E-Alerts.

Digg This
Reddit This
Stumble Now!
Share on Facebook
Bookmark this on Delicious
Share on LinkedIn
Bookmark this on Technorati
Post on Twitter
Google Buzz (aka. Google Reader)

Chemical Science HOT Articles: December 2022

We are pleased to share a selection of our referee-recommended HOT articles for December 2022. We hope you enjoy reading these articles, congratulations to all the authors whose articles are featured! As always, Chemical Science is free for authors and readers.

You can explore our full 2022 Chemical Science HOT Article Collection here!

 

Browse a selection of our December HOT articles below:

Multiple C–C bond formation upon electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 by an iron-based molecular macrocycle
Si-Thanh Dong, Chen Xu and Benedikt Lassalle-Kaiser
Chem. Sci., 2023, Advance Article

The anti-breast cancer stem cell properties of gold(i)-non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug complexes
Alice Johnson, Chibuzor Olelewe, Jong Hyun Kim, Joshua Northcote-Smith, R. Tyler Mertens, Ginevra Passeri, Kuldip Singh, Samuel G. Awuah and Kogularamanan Suntharalingam
Chem. Sci., 2023, Advance Article

Vacancy-cluster-mediated surface activation for boosting CO2 chemical fixation
Wenxiu Liu, Lei Li, Wei Shao, Hui Wang, Yun Dong, Ming Zuo, Jiandang Liu, Hongjun Zhang, Bangjiao Ye, Xiaodong Zhang and Yi Xie
Chem. Sci., 2023, Advance Article

Streptocyanine as an activation mode of amine catalysis for the conversion of pyridine rings to benzene rings
Tatsuya Morofuji, Shota Nagai, Airi Watanabe, Kota Inagawa and Naokazu Kano
Chem. Sci., 2023, Advance Article

Thermally activated delayed fluorescence with dual-emission and pressure-induced bidirectional shifting: cooperative effects of intramolecular and intermolecular energy transfer
Chenyue Zhao, Zhipeng Ding, Yibin Zhang, Zhigang Ni, Shijun Li, Shaolong Gong, Bo Zou, Kai Wang and Ling Yu
Chem. Sci., 2023, Advance Article

On-surface synthesis of non-benzenoid conjugated polymers by selective atomic rearrangement of ethynylarenes
Alejandro Jiménez-Martín, Federico Villalobos, Benjamin Mallada, Shayan Edalatmanesh, Adam Matěj, Juan M. Cuerva, Pavel Jelínek, Araceli G. Campaña and Bruno de la Torre
Chem. Sci., 2023, Advance Article
 

Chemical Science, Royal Society of Chemistry

Submit to Chemical Science 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 articles, reviews, collections & more by following us on Twitter. You can also keep informed by signing up to our E-Alerts.

Digg This
Reddit This
Stumble Now!
Share on Facebook
Bookmark this on Delicious
Share on LinkedIn
Bookmark this on Technorati
Post on Twitter
Google Buzz (aka. Google Reader)

Chemical Science HOT Articles: November 2022

We are pleased to share a selection of our referee-recommended HOT articles for November 2022. We hope you enjoy reading these articles, congratulations to all the authors whose articles are featured! As always, Chemical Science is free for authors and readers.

You can explore our full 2022 Chemical Science HOT Article Collection here!

 

Browse a selection of our November HOT articles below:

Synthesis and characterization of bi(metallacycloprop-1-ene) complexes
Wei Bai, Long Yiu Tsang, Yilun Wang, Yang Li, Herman H. Y. Sung, Ian D. Williams and Guochen Jia
Chem. Sci., 2022, Advance Article

Native mass spectrometric studies of IscSU reveal a concerted, sulfur-initiated mechanism of iron–sulfur cluster assembly
Sophie P. Bennett, Jason C. Crack, Rita Puglisi, Annalisa Pastore and Nick E. Le Brun
Chem. Sci., 2022, Advance Article

Endofungal bacteria boost anthelminthic host protection with the biosurfactant symbiosin
Hannah Büttner, Sacha J. Pidot, Kirstin Scherlach and Christian Hertweck
Chem. Sci., 2022, Advance Article

Experimental assignment of long-range magnetic communication through Pd & Pt metallophilic contacts
Emil M. H. Larsen, Niels A. Bonde, Høgni Weihe, Jacques Ollivier, Tom Vosch, Thomas Lohmiller, Karsten Holldack, Alexander Schnegg, Mauro Perfetti and Jesper Bendix
Chem. Sci., 2022, Advance Article

Placing gold on a π+-surface: ligand design and impact on reactivity
Wei-Chun Liu and François P. Gabbaï
Chem. Sci., 2022, Advance Article

 

Chemical Science, Royal Society of Chemistry

Submit to Chemical Science 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 articles, reviews, collections & more by following us on Twitter. You can also keep informed by signing up to our E-Alerts.

Digg This
Reddit This
Stumble Now!
Share on Facebook
Bookmark this on Delicious
Share on LinkedIn
Bookmark this on Technorati
Post on Twitter
Google Buzz (aka. Google Reader)

Chemical Science HOT Articles: October 2022

We are pleased to share a selection of our referee-recommended HOT articles for October 2022. We hope you enjoy reading these articles, congratulations to all the authors whose articles are featured! As always, Chemical Science is free for authors and readers.

You can explore our full 2022 Chemical Science HOT Article Collection here!

 

Browse a selection of our October HOT articles below:

Discovery of a monomeric green fluorescent protein sensor for chloride by structure-guided bioinformatics
Weicheng Peng, Caden C. Maydew, Hiu Kam, Jacob K. Lynd, Jasmine N. Tutol, Shelby M. Phelps, Sameera Abeyrathna, Gabriele Meloni and Sheel C. Dodani
Chem. Sci., 2022, Advance Article

Impact of a polymer modifier on directing the non-classical crystallization pathway of TS-1 zeolite: accelerating nucleation and enriching active sites
Jiani Zhang, Risheng Bai, Yida Zhou, Ziyi Chen, Peng Zhang, Jiyang Li and Jihong Yu
Chem. Sci., 2022, Advance Article

A broadly applicable quantitative relative reactivity model for nucleophilic aromatic substitution (SNAr) using simple descriptors
Jingru Lu, Irina Paci and David C. Leitch
Chem. Sci., 2022, Advance Article

Tandem electrocatalytic CO2 reduction with Fe-porphyrins and Cu nanocubes enhances ethylene production
Min Wang, Vasilis Nikolaou, Anna Loiudice, Ian D. Sharp, Antoni Llobet and Raffaella Buonsanti
Chem. Sci., 2022, Advance Article

Anthranilamide-protected vinylboronic acid: rational monomer design for improved polymerization/transformation ability providing access to conventionally inaccessible copolymers
Hiroshi Suzuki, Tsuyoshi Nishikawa, Hiroshi Makino and Makoto Ouchi
Chem. Sci., 2022, Advance Article

Controlling the fluorescence quantum yields of benzothiazole-difluoroborates by optimal substitution
Patryk Rybczyński, Manon H. E. Bousquet, Anna Kaczmarek-Kędziera, Beata Jędrzejewska, Denis Jacquemin and Borys Ośmiałowski
Chem. Sci., 2022, Advance Article

 

Chemical Science, Royal Society of Chemistry

Submit to Chemical Science 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 articles, reviews, collections & more by following us on Twitter. You can also keep informed by signing up to our E-Alerts.

Digg This
Reddit This
Stumble Now!
Share on Facebook
Bookmark this on Delicious
Share on LinkedIn
Bookmark this on Technorati
Post on Twitter
Google Buzz (aka. Google Reader)

Multifunctional materials from tuneable nanoparticles

Metal-organic framework (MOF) nanoparticles combine with carbon microfibres to make large-scale materials with many possible applications

Assembling very small-scale nanoparticles into larger structures, commonly known as macroarchitectures, offers opportunities to exploit the nanoparticles’ unique chemical and physical properties while they are embodied within much larger components. Researchers in China, Australia and Japan developed a method that readily combines nanoparticles called metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and micron-sized carbon fibres into versatile macroarchitecture materials.

The team, at Nanjing University of Science and Technology, China, the University of Queensland, Australia and the JST-ERATO Yamauchi Materials Space Tectonics Project, Japan, report their innovation in an article in the open access journal Chemical Science.

“While retaining the characteristics of the nanomaterial they are built from, our macroarchitectures also add in many new kinds of features such as high surface areas, high mechanical strength and low density,” says Professor Yusuke Yamauchi of the University of Queensland group.

From nano to macro in a simpler process

The manufacturing procedure begins with the MOF nanoparticles, which consist of metal ions or metallic clusters connected by organic (carbon-based) linker groups. Varying the metallic and organic components can generate a wide variety of MOFs with different chemical and physical properties.

The MOFs are then combined with hollow carbon-based fibres to form much larger centimetre-scale aerogels, which are highly porous and have extremely low densities. These unique materials can be generated in a variety of desired shapes, and possess great elasticity and compressibility, combined with chemical stability and physical strength.

Existing methods for making similar materials are problematic as their assembly usually yields products with relatively poor mechanical properties, and requires the use of adhesives or templates which have to be removed in additional steps. In contrast, the new method causes ‘zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF-8)-polyacrylonitrile nanofibers’ to directly assemble into centimetre-sized aerogels with controllable shapes and tuneable properties.

“The materials integrate the properties of one-dimensional nanofibers and three-dimensional carbon aerogels,” says Yamauchi.

Many possible uses

The macroarchitectures composed of three-dimensional porous interconnected networks could have commercial applications in many fields. The initial key to unlocking a wide range of practical uses is to design MOF structures that will achieve specific functions in each resulting aerogel. These could involve adsorbing specific chemicals into the pores of the final structure, catalysing chemical processes, or converting and storing energy, including electrical energy within capacitors.

Laboratory-scale trials have already demonstrated that some of the porous structures – which the researchers describe as “somewhat resembling that of a loofah sponge” – have impressive oil-retaining properties when exposed to mixtures of oil and water. This effect could be exploited to clean oil from polluted water. One version of the materials also has catalytic properties that could be useful for chemically degrading a variety of other pollutants.

The aerogels also have an impressive ability to absorb light and convert it into heat at high efficiency, which could be used to prepare drinkable water by desalinating seawater. “We believe that in the future our materials could be used for several large-scale and cost-effective water purification applications,” says Yamauchi.

The researchers now aim to develop the potential for moving from laboratory scale proof-of-concept demonstrations to commercially useful applications.

Chemical Science is open and free for both readers and authors.

Article details:

Zhang, Z. et al: “Modular assembly of MOF-derived carbon nanofibers into macroarchitectures for water treatment.” Chem. Sci., 2022, 13, 9159-9164

nano particles to new multifunctional macroarchitectures infographic

 

Digg This
Reddit This
Stumble Now!
Share on Facebook
Bookmark this on Delicious
Share on LinkedIn
Bookmark this on Technorati
Post on Twitter
Google Buzz (aka. Google Reader)

A big shift for understanding molecular structure

A single molecule magnet could help us understand the biochemistry of health and disease

 

A single molecule that behaves like a powerful magnet could help chemists determine the structure of many other molecules. Researchers based in Italy and Brazil describe the development and potential of their unusually powerful Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) shift agent in the open access journal Chemical Science.

NMR uses a strong magnetic field to split the spin levels of the nuclei at the centre of some atoms. Monitoring the splitting can reveal the chemical environment surrounding individual atoms, allowing the structure of entire molecules, including large biological macromolecules to be determined.

NMR is based on the same physical principles as medical MRI imaging, but instead of generating images of bodies it creates graphical read-outs of atomic interactions that can be readily deciphered by experts. It has been a fundamental tool of chemistry research since long before the widespread application of MRI imaging.

One problem, however, is that the signals from atoms in large molecules can overlap and interfere in ways that blur the data. This can be resolved by introducing a tiny magnetic tag into a region of interest within a large molecule. The magnetism of the tag shifts the signals from nearby atoms in a predictable way, separating them out from signals from other regions that are not of immediate interest.

The tags are called shift agents and many are available, but researchers are seeking more powerful and effective shift agents to make NMR signals ever clearer and allow them to reveal new details of molecular structure within larger molecules.

The researchers in Italy and Brazil found inspiration for their new shift agent in an unusual place – chemicals used in research towards quantum technologies.

“By searching molecular materials designed for the miniaturisation of information storage and quantum technologies, we have identified and re-designed a molecule that shifts the NMR signals of the neighbouring atoms twice as much as the currently used molecules,” says researcher Roberta Sessoli at the University of Florence. Sessoli and her colleagues in Italy collaborated with researchers at the Federal University of Parana, Brazil.

The molecule they devised has a cage-like arrangement of organic (carbon-based) chemical groups holding an atom of the rare-earth element dysprosium at its centre. It was produced by a relatively simple chemical modification that hugely increased the desirable magnetic properties of the molecule the team began with. Experiments and computational modelling showed that this design modification ensures the new shift agent has a very high and directional magnetic field while being sufficiently stable to be used in solution at room temperature.

The researchers hope that their shift agent can contribute to the worldwide effort to understand the structure of the very complex biomolecules that control the chemistry of life.

“The more we can learn about the structure and functions of proteins, for example, the better and faster we will be able to design new therapies for old and new diseases,” Sessoli says.

Chemical Science is open and free for both readers and authors.

 

Article details:

Santana, F. S. “A dysprosium single molecule magnet outperforming current pseudocontact shift agents.” Chemical Science, 2022, 13, 5680-5871

 

 

Digg This
Reddit This
Stumble Now!
Share on Facebook
Bookmark this on Delicious
Share on LinkedIn
Bookmark this on Technorati
Post on Twitter
Google Buzz (aka. Google Reader)

Growing opportunities for semiconductors

Thin films of novel semiconductors could open a new window for optoelectronics

An international research team describe how to make thin films of semiconductor materials composed of calcium copper and phosphorus (CaCuP) in the open access journal Chemical Science.

“We have synthesised CaCuP thin films for the first time, and found them to be semiconductors with very high p-type electrical conductivity,” says Andrea Crovetto at the Technical University of Denmark. He worked on the research with colleagues in the UK, USA and Germany.

Crovetto explains that p-type conductivity (p for positive) is a form of semi-conduction in which electric current is carried by the movement of positively charged “holes” rather than by the mobile electrons of n-type (n for negative) conductivity. “The holes can be thought of as bubbles of missing electrons moving around a sea of inactive electrons,” he says.

High performance and transparent p-type conducting materials are keenly sought by researchers as they are expected to offer improved efficiency and new design opportunities for optoelectronic devices that work by inter-converting light and electrical energy in either direction. Applications could include solar cells generating electrical power, sensors driven by or responding to light, and also transparent electronics.

The challenge to find efficient p-type conducting films inspired Crovetto to write a research proposal and to visit the group led by Andriy Zakutayev at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in the USA. He knew that Zakutayev’s team had a unique growth chamber that could create a wide range of phosphide films. He also sought guidance and assistance from David Scanlon at University College, London, UK, who was an expert on the theoretical aspects CaCuP phosphide films. His is the type of work that had predicted such films could have novel and very useful characteristics.

The researchers and other colleagues then collaborated to predict in more detail the properties of specific CaCuP films and then eventually to make and test them. PhD student Joe Willis from Scanlon’s group led this new round of theoretical predictions.

“CaCuP had never been made before as a thin film and I was afraid it might not be stable in air, so it was exciting to finally see it synthesised and find that it was not degrading when taking it out of the growth chamber,” says Crovetto.

The electrical properties proved to be close to what was expected. One challenge for the future, however, is to make the films more transparent than was initially achieved. Crovetto says he was disappointed to see that the first films made were not as transparent as the team had hoped. They believe that this might be resolved by future developments in the chemistry of growing the films, which will be a priority task for their ongoing investigations.

Crovetto says that combining transparency with good p-type electrical conduction is not easily achieved using conventional materials like oxides or binary semiconductors. Successful incorporation of good transparency into the new CaCuP could therefore be a very significant step forwards. “Our work could open up a new field of phosphide materials discovery,” he concludes.

Chemical Science is open and free for both readers and authors.

Article details:

Willis, J. et al:  Prediction and realisation of high mobility and degenerate p-type conductivity in CaCuP thin films Chemical Science (2022).

Digg This
Reddit This
Stumble Now!
Share on Facebook
Bookmark this on Delicious
Share on LinkedIn
Bookmark this on Technorati
Post on Twitter
Google Buzz (aka. Google Reader)

Chemical Science HOT Articles: January – June 2022

We are pleased to share a selection of our referee-recommended HOT articles for January to June 2022. We hope you enjoy reading these articles, congratulations to all the authors whose articles are featured! As always, Chemical Science is free for authors and readers.

You can explore our full 2022 Chemical Science HOT Article Collection here!

Browse a selection of our January to June HOT articles below:

January: 

Universal encoding of next generation DNA-encoded chemical libraries
Louise Plais, Alice Lessing, Michelle Keller, Adriano Martinelli, Sebastian Oehler, Gabriele Bassi, Dario Neri, and
Chem. Sci., 2022,13, 967-974

Solid-state 17O NMR study of α-d-glucose: exploring new frontiers in isotopic labeling, sensitivity enhancement, and NMR crystallography
Jiahui Shen, Victor Terskikh, Jochem Struppe, Alia Hassan, Martine Monette, Ivan Hung,  Zhehong Gan, Andreas Brinkmann, and Gang Wu
Chem. Sci., 2022,13, 2591-2603

February: 

Fluorescent supramolecular polymers of barbiturate dyes with thiophene-cored twisted π-system
Maika Kawaura, Takumi Aizawa, Sho Takahashi, Hiroshi Miyasaka, Hikaru Sotome, and Shiki Yagai
Chem. Sci., 2022,13, 1281-1287

Diboramacrocycles: reversible borole dimerisation–dissociation systems
Sonja Fuchs, Arumugam Jayaraman, Ivo Krummenacher, Laura Haley, Marta Baštovanović, Maximilian Fest, Krzysztof Radacki, Holger Helten and, Holger Braunschweig
Chem. Sci., 2022,13, 2932-2938

Stepwise assembly and reversible structural transformation of ligated titanium coated bismuth-oxo cores: shell morphology engineering for enhanced chemical fixation of CO2
Qing-Rong Ding, Yinghua Yu, Changsheng Cao, Jian Zhang, and Lei Zhang
Chem. Sci., 2022,13, 3395-3401

Photocytotoxicity and photoinduced phosphine ligand exchange in a Ru(ii) polypyridyl complex
Sean J. Steinke, Sayak Gupta, Eric J. Piechota, Curtis E. Moore, Jeremy K. Kondanko, and Claudia Turro
Chem. Sci., 2022,13, 1933-1945

March:

Catalytic asymmetric synthesis of enantioenriched α-deuterated pyrrolidine derivatives
Xin Chang, Xiang Cheng, and Chun-Jiang Wang
Chem. Sci., 2022,13, 4041-4049

Catalytic alkene skeletal modification for the construction of fluorinated tertiary stereocenters
Liyin Jiang, Pau Sarró, Wei Jie Teo, Jordi Llop, and Marcos G. Suero
Chem. Sci., 2022,13, 4327-4333

Chiral molecular nanosilicas
Zhaohui Zong, Aiyou Hao, Pengyao Xing, and Yanli Zhao
Chem. Sci., 2022,13, 4029-4040

Bioinspired superwettable electrodes towards electrochemical biosensing
Qinglin Zhu, Yuemeng Yang, Hongxiao Gao, Li-Ping Xu, and Shutao Wang
Chem. Sci., 2022,13, 5069-5084

Stronger together for in-cell translation: natural and unnatural base modified mRNA
Lisa Bornewasser, Christof Domnick, and Stephanie Kath-Schorr
Chem. Sci., 2022,13, 4753-4761

April: 

Multi-component self-assembled molecular-electronic films: towards new high-performance thermoelectric systems
Troy L. R. Bennett, Majed Alshammari, Sophie Au-Yong, Ahmad Almutlg, Xintai Wang, Luke A. Wilkinson, Tim Albrecht, Samuel P. Jarvis, Lesley F. Cohen, Ali Ismael, Colin J. Lambert, Benjamin J. Robinson, and Nicholas J. Long
Chem. Sci., 2022,13, 5176-5185

Harnessing natural-product-inspired combinatorial chemistry and computation-guided synthesis to develop N-glycan modulators as anticancer agents
Wei-An Chen, Yu-Hsin Chen, Chiao-Yun Hsieh, Pi-Fang Hung, Chiao-Wen Chen, Chien-Hung Chen, Jung-Lee Lin, Ting-Jen R. Cheng, Tsui-Ling Hsu, Ying-Ta Wu, Chia-Ning Shen, and Wei-Chieh Cheng
Chem. Sci., 2022,13, 6233-6243

May:

Insights into electrochemiluminescence dynamics by synchronizing real-time electrical, luminescence, and mass spectrometric measurements
Xuemeng Zhang, Weifeng Lu, Cheng Ma, Tao Wang, Jun-Jie Zhu, Richard N. Zare, and Qianhao Min
Chem. Sci., 2022,13, 6244-6253

Cagearenes: synthesis, characterization, and application for programmed vapour release
Shuai Fang, Mengbin Wang, Yating Wu, Qing-Hui Guo, Errui Li, Hao Li, and Feihe Huang
Chem. Sci., 2022,13, 6254-6261

 

Chemical Science, Royal Society of Chemistry

Submit to Chemical Science 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 articles, reviews, collections & more by following us on Twitter. You can also keep informed by signing up to our E-Alerts.

Digg This
Reddit This
Stumble Now!
Share on Facebook
Bookmark this on Delicious
Share on LinkedIn
Bookmark this on Technorati
Post on Twitter
Google Buzz (aka. Google Reader)

How can cooling rate define the nature of nano-structures formed using block copolymers?

Block copolymers (BCPs) consist of amphiphilic molecules that can self-assemble in selective solvents and generate various types of nano- and micro-dimensional structures. The unique self-assembly process is low-cost and relatively straight forward in solution phase.  The final structures have morphological diversity and complexity.  These self-assembled structures have been widely used in various applications such as drug delivery, catalysis, and water purification. The self-assembly process follows a heating step for dissolution of all the components and a subsequent cooling step. Both the steps and the parameters are vital for final structural characteristics of the assembled structures. A group of scientists from two esteemed universities in Canada recently studied the effects of rate of cooling in the self-assembly process.

Schematic representation of how cooling rate can change the morphology of formed micellar structures using PFS BCP and homopolymers

The authors used a systematic approach to explain the influence of cooling rate on micelle morphologies for a series of PFS based BCPs. The cooling rate greatly influences the size and the shape of colloidal structures. Rapid cooling increases branching and opens a new avenue to manipulate micelle morphologies. The study finds that rapid cooling reduces crystallinity, as polymer chains do not have enough time to pack in ordered structures.

The authors standardized sample preparation protocol and then varied the cooling times, with quick cooling of 2.5 min producing flower like structures and median cooling time of 50 mins leading to the same structural features with larger size. Co-self-assembly of homopolymer BCP mixtures with variable cooling rate also shows that quick cooling generates uniform sized branched micellar structures with elongated central platelets whereas slow cooling led to a long single fiber with a dark circle platelet in the centre.

With several examples and optimization conditions, the effect of cooling in the formation of self-assembled micellar structures has been evaluated. The main outcome of this study is that the cooling rate is another parameter to manipulate crystallization-driven self-assembly and to control micelle morphologies. There exists a lot of possibilities to use the findings and apply them to generate BCPs with a crystallizable block with important optical or electronic properties.

For details, please visit the entire article at https://doi.org/10.1039/D1SC05937H

About the author:

Dr Damayanti Bagchi is a postdoctoral researcher in Irene Chen’s lab at University of California, Los Angeles, United States. She obtained her PhD in Physical Chemistry from Satyendra Nath Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences, India. Her research is focused on spectroscopic studies of nano-biomaterials. She is interested in exploring light enabled therapeutics. She enjoys food and experimenting with various cuisines, which she found resembles products/ side products of chemical reactions!

Digg This
Reddit This
Stumble Now!
Share on Facebook
Bookmark this on Delicious
Share on LinkedIn
Bookmark this on Technorati
Post on Twitter
Google Buzz (aka. Google Reader)

Chemical Science HOT Articles: October 2021

New month, new HOT articles!

We are pleased to share a selection of our referee-recommended HOT articles for October 2021. We hope you enjoy reading these articles, congratulations to all the authors whose articles are featured! As always, Chemical Science is free to read & download.

You can explore our full 2021 Chemical Science HOT Article Collection here!

Browse a selection of our October HOT articles below:

Quantification of the charge transport processes inside carbon nanopipettes
Rujia Liu, Yingfei Ma, Xiaoyue Shena and Dengchao Wang
Chem. Sci., 2021,12, 14752-14757

Artificial transmembrane signal transduction mediated by dynamic covalent chemistry
Carlo Bravin, Nol Duindama and Christopher A. Hunter
Chem. Sci., 2021,12, 14059-14064

Pair distribution function and 71Ga NMR study of aqueous Ga3+ complexes
Ida Gjerlevsen Nielsen, Sanna Sommer, Ann-Christin Dippel, Jørgen Skibsted and Bo Brummerstedt Iversen
Chem. Sci., 2021,12, 14420-14431

General stereoretentive preparation of chiral secondary mixed alkylmagnesium reagents and their use for enantioselective electrophilic aminations
Alexander Kremsmair, Henrik R. Wilke, Matthias M. Simon, Quirin Schmidt, Konstantin Karaghiosoff and Paul Knochel
Chem. Sci., 2022, Advance Article

Inhibition of (dppf)nickel-catalysed Suzuki–Miyaura cross-coupling reactions by α-halo-N-heterocycles
Alasdair K. Cooper, Megan E. Greaves, William Donohoe, Paul M. Burton, Thomas O. Ronson, Alan R. Kennedy and David J. Nelson
Chem. Sci., 2021,12, 14074-14082

Impact of symmetry-breaking of non-fullerene acceptors for efficient and stable organic solar cells
Peddaboodi Gopikrishna, Huijeong Choi, Do Hui Kim, Jun Ho Hwang, Youngwan Lee, Hyeonwoo Jung, Gyeonghwa Yu, Telugu Bhim Raju, Eunji Lee, Youngu Lee, Shinuk Cho and BongSoo Kim
Chem. Sci., 2021,12, 14083-14097

 

Chemical Science, Royal Society of Chemistry

Submit to Chemical Science 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 articles, reviews, collections & more by following us on Twitter. You can also keep informed by signing up to our E-Alerts.

Digg This
Reddit This
Stumble Now!
Share on Facebook
Bookmark this on Delicious
Share on LinkedIn
Bookmark this on Technorati
Post on Twitter
Google Buzz (aka. Google Reader)