We are delighted to announce our themed collection in Chemical Science on Emerging Frontiers in Aromaticity. Guest edited by Prof. Gabriel Merino, Cinvestav Mérida (Mexico), Prof. Miquel Solà, Universitat de Girona (Spain), and Prof. Israel Fernández, Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain), this collection highlights the most recent methodological developments and unique aspects of aromaticity.
Read the guest editor’s insights and summary of the collection in the accompanying editorial.
![](https://blogs.rsc.org/sc/files/2023/09/Picture1-300x114.jpg)
The collection features a combination of Review, Perspective, Focus and Edge articles covering a variety of topics within the field of aromaticity, including metalla-aromaticity, macrocyclic aromaticity, 3D-aromaticity, Möbius aromaticity, and the aromaticity of polycyclic conjugated hydrocarbons and nanographenes.
Browse the collection, including:
Aromaticity: Quo Vadis
Gabriel Merino, Miquel Solà, Israel Fernández, Cina Foroutan-Nejad, Paolo Lazzeretti, Gernot Frenking, Harry L. Anderson, Dage Sundholm, Fernando P. Cossío, Marina A. Petrukhina, Jishan Wu, Judy I. Wu and Albeiro Restrepo
Chem. Sci., 2023, 14, 5569-5576, DOI: 10.1039/D2SC04998H
In this Perspective article, the authors aim to reflect where the aromaticity community is currently, and where it is going.
Synthesis of octagon-containing molecular nanocarbons
Greco González Miera, Satoshi Matsubara, Hideya Kono, Kei Murakami and Kenichiro Itami
Chem. Sci., 2022,13, 1848-1868, DOI: 10.1039/D1SC05586K
This Review describes the synthetic achievements that the scientific community has performed to obtain curved polycyclic nanocarbons with 8-membered rings, building blocks that could potentially give access as templates to larger nanographenes, and eventually to Mackay-Terrones crystals.
A focus on aromaticity: fuzzier than ever before?
Henrik Ottosson
Chem. Sci., 2023,14, 5542-5544, DOI: 10.1039/D3SC90075D
In this Focus article, the author poses the question: Who utilises the aromaticity concept, and who benefits from it? Especially, who benefits from it being overly fuzzy, and who goes the opposite?
The smallest 4f-metalla-aromatic molecule of cyclo-PrB2− with Pr–B multiple bonds
Zhen-Ling Wang, Teng-Teng Chen, Wei-Jia Chen, Wan-Lu Li, Jing Zhao, Xue-Lian Jiang, Jun Li, Lai-Sheng Wang and Han-Shi Hu
Chem. Sci., 2022,13, 10082-10094, DOI: 10.1039/D2SC02852B
The authors report the discovery of a doubly aromatic triatomic lanthanide-boron molecule PrB2− based on a joint photoelectron spectroscopy and quantum chemical investigation in this Edge article.
Aromatic heterobicycle-fused porphyrins: impact on aromaticity and excited state electron transfer leading to long-lived charge separation
Austen Moss, Youngwoo Jang, Jacob Arvidson, Vladimir N. Nesterov, Francis D’Souza and Hong Wang
Chem. Sci., 2022,13, 9880-9890, DOI: 10.1039/D2SC03238D
This Edge article reports a new synthetic method to fuse benzo[4,5]imidazo[2,1-a]isoindole to the porphyrin periphery at the β,β-positions, and its impact on the aromaticity and electronic structures is investigated.
Substituent effects on aromatic interactions in water
Gloria Tobajas-Curiel, Qingqing Sun, Jeremy K. M. Sanders, Pablo Ballester and Christopher A. Hunter
Chem. Sci., 2023,14, 6226-6236, DOI: 10.1039/D3SC01027A
In this Edge article, the authors describe a supramolecular system for measuring aromatic interactions in water and show that substituents have a remarkable effect on interaction strength, with an increase of three orders of magnitude in the stability of a complex when a single nitro group is added to one of the aromatic rings.
Mining anion–aromatic interactions in the Protein Data Bank
Emilia Kuzniak-Glanowska, Michał Glanowski, Rafał Kurczab, Andrzej J. Bojarski and Robert Podgajny
Chem. Sci., 2022,13, 3984-3998, DOI: 10.1039/D2SC00763K
The authors of this Edge article introduce the first comprehensive analysis of non-redundant Protein Data Bank (PDB) macromolecular structures investigating anion distributions around all aromatic molecules in available biosystems, including ligands.
We hope you enjoy reading this themed collection in Chemical Science!
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