7th UK Solar Fuels Network Symposium

The 7th UK Solar Fuels Network Symposium was held at the University of Cambridge, UK on 28th – 29th February 2019. The meeting was chaired by Professor Erwin Reisner, director of the Solar Fuels Network. Chemical Science were proud to sponsor the meeting, alongside Energy & Environmental Science and Sustainable Energy & Fuels, which are other Royal Society of Chemistry journals.

The meeting was an opportunity to bring together members of the Solar Fuels Network to meet up and discuss the latest advances in the field of solar-driven fuels research and provided an excellent opportunity for interaction with the rapidly expanding network of Solar Fuels researchers in the UK and beyond. The main meeting was followed by a half day post-graduate symposium at which PhD students and early career researchers had the opportunity to present their work. This meeting made up part of a larger ‘Solar Fuels Week’, taking place after the Artificial Photosynthesis Faraday Discussion and the Doppler Symposium.

Chemical Science Assistant Editor Carri Cotton was in attendance to meet with the delegates and represent the Royal Society of Chemistry. She also helped present a talk prize on behalf of Chemical Science and some poster prizes on behalf of Energy & Environmental Science and Sustainable Energy & Fuels:

  • Chemical Science talk prize winner: Katarzyna Sokol
  • Energy & Environmental Science poster prize winner: Hui Luo
  • Sustainable Energy & Fuels poster prize winner: Alexander Kibler

Chemical Science talk prize winner, Katarzyna Sokol (left) awarded by Carri Cotton

Energy & Environmental Science and Sustainable Energy & Fuels poster prize winners Hui Luo (left) and Alexander Kibler (right)

Congratulations to all of the prize winners from everyone at Chemical Science!

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19th Annual R. Bryan Miller Symposium 2019

The 19th Annual R. Bryan Miller Symposium was held at UC Davis, California on 28th February – 1st March 2019. The meeting was led by Professor Sheila David, Chair of the Miller Symposium Committee. Chemical Science was happy to support and sponsor the meeting, alongside Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry, another Royal Society of Chemistry journal.

The Miller Symposium celebrates Professor Bryan Miller’s pioneering research, which laid the groundwork for the current thriving research programs in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Chemical Biology in the Department of Chemistry at UC Davis. Top speakers from the world of chemical biology shared cutting edge research results and perspectives on the future of biologically relevant chemistry research.

  • Chemical Science poster prize winner: Jayashri Viswanathan (Olson Laboratory, UC Davis) for “Potential of Psychedelic Analogs for Treating Neuropsychiatric Disorders”
  • Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry poster prize winner: Lee Dunlap (Olson Laboratory, UC Davis) for “Structure Activity Relationship Studies of Tryptamine and Phenethylamine Based Psychoplastogens”

 

Jayashri Viswanathan Miller Symposium UC Davis

Jayashri Viswanathan

Lee Dunalp Miller Symposium UC Davis

Lee Dunlap

Congratulations to both prize winners from everyone at Chemical Science!

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SupraChem 2019

SupraChem 2019 was recently held at the Julius-Maximilians-Universität in Würzburg, Germany and organised by Florian Beuerle and Organic Chemistry Frontiers Associate Editor Frank WürthnerChemical Science was proud to support and sponsor the meeting, alongside other Royal Society of Chemistry journals Organic Chemistry Frontiers and Materials Chemistry Frontiers.

This free-to-attend meeting brought together supramolecular chemists from Germany and neighbouring countries and covered a range of topics from supramolecular machinery to materials and analytical techniques to host-guest chemistry and sensing. Keynote lectures were given by world-renowned supramolecular chemists Vivian W. W. Yang, J. Fraser Stoddart and, new Chemical Science Editor-in-Chief, Andrew I. Cooper. These speakers helped generate some great discussion alongside the additional 27 presentations and led to a very successful meeting.

Chemical Science Deputy Editor Jeremy Allen was in attendance to meet with the delegates and represent the Royal Society of Chemistry. He also helped present some poster prizes on behalf of Chemical Science and Organic Chemistry Frontiers:

  • Chemical Science poster prize winner: Jonas Matern (Universität Münster) for “Insights into the complex self-assembly pathways of a chiral, oligophenyleneethynylene (OPE) based Pd(II) complex”
  • Organic Chemistry Frontiers poster prize winner: Julia Bartl (TU Kaiserslautern) for “A cyclopeptide-derived molecular cage for anion encapsulation”

Jeremy Allen presenting poster prizes to Jonas Matern (Left) and Julia Bartl (Right)

There were a further 5 poster prizes awarded from other journals and publishing houses, these went to:

  • Meike Sapotta (Universität Würzburg) for “A water-soluble perylene bisimide cyclophane as a molecular probe for the recognition of aromatic alkaloids”
  • Irene Regeni (TU Dortmund) for “Self-assembled [Pd2L4] coordination cages based on well-known organic dyes”
  • Oleksandr Shyshov (Universität Ulm) for “Supramolecular chemistry of all-cis hexafluorocyclohexane and its derivatives”
  • Hendrik V. Schröder (FU Berlin) for “Accordion-like motion in electrochemically switchable crown ether/ammonium oligorotaxanes”
  • Sebastian M. Kopp (Universität Würzburg) for “Toward singlet fission: chromophore multiplication in pentacene derivatives with adamantyl bridges”

(Left to right) Markus Albrecht, Jeremy Allen, Irene Regeni, Oleksandr Shyshov, Julia Bartl, Meike Sapotta, Jonas Matern, Diane Smith, Sebastian Kopp, Hendrik Schröder, Frank Würthner, Florian Beuerle

Congratulations to all the poster prize winners!

SupraChem 2019 delegates

The next SupraChem meeting will be held in 2021 in Mainz, Germany

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HOT Chemical Science articles for January

We are happy to present a selection of our HOT articles for January. To see all of our HOT referee-recommended articles from 2019, please find the collection here.

As always, Chemical Science articles are free to access.

Enantioselective [1,3] O-to-C rearrangement: dearomatization of alkyl 2-allyloxy/benzyloxy-1/3-naphthoates catalyzed by a chiral π–Cu(II) complex

Lu Yao, Kazuaki Ishihara*

Chem. Sci., 2019, 10, 2259-2263

DOI
: 10.1039/C8SC05601C, Edge Article

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Through-space charge transfer hexaarylbenzene dendrimers with thermally activated delayed fluorescence and aggregation-induced emission for efficient solution-processed OLEDs

Xingdong Wang, Shumeng Wang, Jianhong Lv, Shiyang Shao,* Lixiang Wang,* Xiabin Jing and Fosong Wang

Chem. Sci., 2019, Advance Article

DOI
: 10.1039/C8SC04991B, Edge Article

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Heterolytic bond activation at gold: evidence for gold(III) H–B, H–Si complexes, H–H and H–C cleavage

Luca Rocchigiani,* Peter H. M. Budzelaar* and Manfred Bochmann*

Chem. Sci., 2019, 10, 2633-2642

DOI
: 10.1039/C8SC05229H, Edge Article

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Insights into mechanochemical reactions at the molecular level: simulated indentations of aspirin and meloxicam crystals

Michael Ferguson, M. Silvina Moyano, Gareth A. Tribello, Deborah E. Crawford, Eduardo M. Bringa, Stuart L. James,* Jorge Kohanoff* and Mario G. Del Pópolo*

Chem. Sci., 2019, Advance Article

DOI
: 10.1039/C8SC04971H, Edge Article

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Structure revision of cryptosporioptides and determination of the genetic basis for dimeric xanthone biosynthesis in fungi

Claudio Greco, Kate de Mattos-Shipley, Andrew M. Bailey, Nicholas P. Mulholland, Jason L. Vincent, Christine L. Willis, Russell J. Cox* and Thomas J. Simpson*

Chem. Sci., 2019, Advance Article

DOI
: 10.1039/C8SC05126G, Edge Article

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From nano-balls to nano-bowls

Helena Brake, Eugenia Peresypkina, Claudia Heindl, Alexander V. Virovets, Werner Kremer and Manfred Scheer*

Chem. Sci., 2019, Advance Article

DOI
: 10.1039/C8SC05471A, Edge Article

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Learning from Nature: A Cu(II)-Porphyrin Complex Produces Oxygen Gas from Water at Ultra-Small Overpotential

Sunlight-assisted water splitting represents a sustainable way to convert solar energy into chemical energy in hydrogen and oxygen gases. Due to its high activation energy, the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) requires large overpotential for initiation. Developing suitable OER catalysts to reduce the overpotential thus becomes instrumental for the feasibility of solar energy harvesting.

Recently, a group of scientists led by Rui Cao from Renmin University of China, and Shaanxi Normal University, China, has developed a water-soluble Cu(II)-porphyrin complex as a high-performance OER catalyst. This breakthrough has been published in Chemical Science (DOI: 10.1039/C8SC04529A).

Inspired by the molecular structure of a natural OER catalyst in the photosynthesis system – photosystem II (PSII), the researchers designed a Cu2+-coordination compound with a porphyrin ligand, tetrakis(4-N-methylpyridyl)porphyrin (Figure 1a), which mimics the structure of PSII. This biomimetic Cu2+-complex exhibits outstanding catalytic OER activity in a phosphate buffer solution at pH=7.0. The current of the cyclic voltammogram of the Cu2+-complex increases sharply (due to O2 evolution) at an onset potential of 1.13 V vs. normal hydrogen electrode (Figure 1b), corresponding to an OER overpotential of 310 mV. For comparison, the cyclic voltammograms of a blank buffer solution and a CuSO4-containing buffer solution show no pronounced current enhancement (Figure 1b), indicating the electrolyte itself and the un-coordinated Cu2+ cannot generate O2 within the tested potential range. The 310 mV overpotential is approximately two times smaller than the typical values exhibited by previously reported Cu complexes.

Figure 1. (a) The molecular structure of Cu2+-tetrakis(4-N-methylpyridyl)porphyrin complex. (b) Cyclic voltammograms of 1 mM Cu2+-tetrakis(4-N-methylpyridyl)porphyrin (red), bare buffer solution (black) and buffer solution containing 1 mM CuSO4 (green). The electrode is a piece of fluorine-doped tin oxide glass slide.

The authors ascribed the ultra-small OER overpotential to the formation of an oxidized form of the Cu2+-porphyrin complex. This oxidized species is generated after the complex loses one electron, and is active for O-O bond formation and subsequent O2 evolution. The energy barrier of this one-electron-oxidation pathway is expected to be much lower than those of conventional processes involving higher-valent Cu species (e.g., Cu4+-oxo), which facilitates OER at small overpotential.

With the complete catalytic cycle of water oxidation by the Cu2+-porphyrin complex being fully revealed, OER will become more efficient and energy-saving.

To find out more please read:

Low Overpotential Water Oxidation at Neutral pH Catalyzed by A Copper(II) Porphyrin

Yanju Liu, Yongzhen Han, Zongyao Zhang, Wei Zhang, Wenzhen Lai, Yong Wang and Rui Cao

Chem. Sci., 2019, DOI: 10.1039/C8SC04529A

About the blogger:

Tianyu Liu obtained his Ph.D. (2017) in Chemistry from University of California, Santa Cruz in the United States. He is passionate about scientific communication to introduce cutting-edge research to both the general public and scientists with diverse research expertise. He is a blog writer for Chem. Commun. and Chem. Sci. More information about him can be found at http://liutianyuresearch.weebly.com/.

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ChemSci Pick of the Week video abstracts

We’ve produced video abstracts for our latest two ChemSci Pick of the Week articles! Check them out below – we hope you enjoy watching them!

 

Catalytic asymmetric allylation of aldehydes with alkenes through allylic C(sp3)–H functionalization mediated by organophotoredox and chiral chromium hybrid catalysis

Harunobu Mitsunuma, Shun Tanabe, Hiromu Fuse, Kei Ohkubo and Motomu Kanai

DOI:10.1039/C8SC05677C

 

An Al-doped SrTiO3 photocatalyst maintaining sunlight-driven overall water splitting activity for over 1000 h of constant illumination

Hao Lyu, Takashi Hisatomi, Yosuke Goto, Masaaki Yoshida, Tomohiro Higashi, Masao Katayama, Tsuyoshi Takata, Tsutomu Minegishi, Hiroshi Nishiyama, Taro Yamada, Yoshihisa Sakata, Kiyotaka Asakura and Kazunari Domen

DOI:10.1039/C8SC05757E

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Chemical Science prize winner at IPEROP19

Chemical ScienceSustainable Energy & Fuels, and Energy & Environmental Science were delighted to recently support the Perovskite, Organic Photovoltaics and Optoelectronics  (IPEROP19) conference that took place in Kyoto, Japan from 28-29th January 2019. On behalf of the Royal Society of Chemistry, we would like to congratulate the following prize winners who won a £200 book voucher each. A particular mention to the Chemical Science winner, Chieh-Ting Lin of Professor James Durrant’s group at Imperial College London:

Chemical Science winner: Lin, Chieh-Ting (Imperial College London)
“Probing the Enhanced Stability Against Oxygen Induced Photodegradation by Selection of Transport Layer and Defect Passivation”

Energy & Environmental Science winner: Yamaguchi, Mayu (Waseda University)
“Perovskite Precursor Solution Tuned with Polymer Addition for Effective Formation of the Photovoltaic Layer”

James Durrant (Sustainable Energy & Fuels Editor-in-Chief), Mayu Yamaguchi, Juan Bisquert (Energy & Environmental Science and Sustainable Energy & Fuels Advisory Board member)

Sustainable Energy & Fuels winner Mantulnikovs, Konstantins (EPFL)
“Differential Response of the Photoluminescence and Photocurrent of Polycrystalline CH3NH3PbI3 and CH3NH3PbBr3 to the Exposure to Oxygen and Nitrogen”

Juan Bisquert (Energy & Environmental Science and Sustainable Energy & Fuels Advisory Board member), James Durrant (Sustainable Energy & Fuels Editor-in-Chief), Konstantins Mantulnikovs, Hideo Ohkita and Atsushi Wakamiya

 

Awards presented by James Durrant, Editor-in-Chief of Sustainable Energy & Fuels

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Toshiharu Teranishi joins Chemical Science as an Associate Editor

We are delighted to announce that Professor Toshiharu Teranishi has joined Chemical Science as our newest Associate Editor.

Professor Teranishi is a Professor at the Institute for Chemical Research at Kyoto University. He received his PhD from The University of Tokyo under the direction of Prof. Naoki Toshima in 1994, and spent seven and a half years at Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology as an Assistant Professor and an Associate Professor. In 2004, he moved to University of Tsukuba as a Full Professor, and moved to Kyoto University in 2011. He is a vice president of the Society of Nano Science and Technology, Japan, and an associate member of Science Council of Japan.

His current research interests include the precise structural control of inorganic nanomaterials and structure-specific functions for high-performance devices and photo-energy conversion and welcomes submissions in these areas.

Toshiharu has selected 5 fantastic Chemical Science articles that he would like to share with you. We hope you enjoy reading them!

Perspective 

Plasmon-induced charge separation: chemistry and wide applications
Tetsu Tatsuma, Hiroyasu Nishi and Takuya Ishida
Chem. Sci., 2017, 8, 3325-3337
DOI: 10.1039/C7SC00031F

Edge Articles

Bio-inspired design: bulk iron–nickel sulfide allows for efficient solvent-dependent CO2 reduction
Stefan Piontek, Kai junge Puring, Daniel Siegmund, Mathias Smialkowski, Ilya Sinev, David Tetzlaff, Beatriz Roldan Cuenya and Ulf-Peter Apfel
Chem. Sci., 2019, 10, 1075-1081
DOI: 10.1039/C8SC03555E

Understanding the visible-light photocatalytic activity of GaN:ZnO solid solution: the role of Rh2−yCryO3 cocatalyst and charge carrier lifetimes over tens of seconds
Robert Godin, Takashi Hisatomi, Kazunari Domen and James R. Durrant
Chem. Sci., 2018, 9, 7546-7555
DOI: 10.1039/C8SC02348D

Efficient cleavage of aryl ether C–O linkages by Rh–Ni and Ru–Ni nanoscale catalysts operating in water
Safak Bulut, Sviatlana Siankevich, Antoine P. van Muyden, Duncan T. L. Alexander, Georgios Savoglidis, Jiaguang Zhang, Vassily Hatzimanikatis, Ning Yan and Paul J. Dyson
Chem. Sci., 2018, 9, 5530-5535
DOI: 10.1039/C8SC00742J

Visualizing the bidirectional electron transfer in a Schottky junction consisting of single CdS nanoparticles and a planar gold film
Zhimin Li, Yimin Fang, Yongjie Wang, Yingyan Jiang, Tao Liu and Wei Wang
Chem. Sci., 2017, 8, 5019-5023
DOI: 10.1039/C7SC00990A

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Infographics – ChemSci Pick of the Week

As part of our ChemSci Pick of the Week scheme, two of our newest Picks now come with handy infographics! Check them out below:

Hollow nanoreactors for Pd-catalyzed Suzuki–Miyaura coupling and O-propargyl cleavage reactions in bio-relevant aqueous media

Paolo Destito, Ana Sousa-Castillo, José R. Couceiro, Fernando López, Miguel A. Correa-Duarte and José L. Mascareñas

10.1039/C8SC04390F

 

Hollow nanoreactors for Pd-catalyzed Suzuki–Miyaura coupling and O-propargyl cleavage reactions in bio-relevant aqueous media

 

A Molecular Picture of Surface Interactions of Organic Compounds on Prevalent Indoor Surfaces: Limonene Adsorption on SiO2

Yuan Fang, Pascale Lakey, Saleh Riahi, Andrew McDonald, Mona Shrestha, Douglas J Tobias, Manabu Shiraiwa and Vicki Grassian

10.1039/C8SC05560B


A Molecular Picture of Surface Interactions of Organic Compounds on Prevalent Indoor Surfaces: Limonene Adsorption on SiO2

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Yi-Tao Long joins Chemical Science as an Associate Editor

We are delighted to announce that Professor Yi-Tao Long has joined Chemical Science as an Associate Editor.

Yi-Tao is a Professor of Analytical Chemistry at Nanjing University in China. He received his B.S. in Chemistry at Shandong University in 1989 and his Ph.D. under the supervision of Professor Hongyuan Chen from Nanjing University in 1998. After undertaking two-year postdoctoral studies at Heidelberg University, Yi-Tao worked at the University of Saskatchewan and the University of Alberta in Canada for over five years. Following one more year of research at UC Berkeley, he started his independent career at the East China University of Science and Technology in 2007.

Yi-Tao’s research interests focus on the development of new electrochemical measurement methods to reveal the characteristics and dynamics of single entities. This involves nanopore single molecule electroanalysis, biointerface spectroelectrochemistry and integrated biosensors.

Yi-Tao looks forward to receiving cutting-edge submissions that lead to the frontiers of analytical science and electrochemistry.

Below is a selection of articles published in Chemical Science which Yi-Tao would like to highlight – all free to read! We hope you enjoy them.

 

A lithium-ion-active aerolysin nanopore for effectively trapping long single-stranded DNA
Zheng-Li Hu, Meng-Yin Li, Shao-Chuang Liu, Yi-Lun Ying and Yi-Tao Long
Chem. Sci., 2019, 10, 354-358
DOI: 10.1039/C8SC03927E, Edge Article

Impact and oxidation of single silver nanoparticles at electrode surfaces: one shot versus multiple events
Jon Ustarroz, Minkyung Kang, Erin Bullions and Patrick R. Unwin
Chem. Sci., 2017, 8, 1841-1853
DOI: 10.1039/C6SC04483B, Edge Article

Electrochemical imaging of cells and tissues
Tzu-En Lin, Stefania Rapino, Hubert H. Girault and Andreas Lesch
Chem. Sci., 2018, 9, 4546-4554
DOI: 10.1039/C8SC01035H, Minireview

Selective single molecule nanopore sensing of proteins using DNA aptamer-functionalised gold nanoparticles
Xiaoyan Lin, Aleksandar P. Ivanov and Joshua B. Edel
Chem. Sci., 2017, 8, 3905-3912
DOI: 10.1039/C7SC00415J, Edge Article

Enhanced annihilation electrochemiluminescence by nanofluidic confinement
Hanan Al-Kutubi, Silvia Voci, Liza Rassaei, Neso Sojic and Klaus Mathwig
Chem. Sci., 2018, 9, 8946-8950
DOI: 10.1039/C8SC03209B, Edge Article

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