Chemical Science Blog

We are delighted to share with you the top 25 most downloaded articles in Chemical Science from April–June 2014.

Top 25 most downloaded Chemical Science articles for Q2 2014

Novel hole transporting materials based on triptycene core for high efficiency mesoscopic perovskite solar cells
Anurag Krishna, Dharani Sabba, Hairong Li, Jun Yin, Pablo P. Boix, Cesare Soci, Subodh G. Mhaisalkar and Andrew C. Grimsdale
DOI: 10.1039/C4SC00814F

Copper catalyzed Heck-like cyclizations of oxime esters
Adele Faulkner, Nicholas J. Race, James S. Scott and John F. Bower
DOI: 10.1039/C4SC00652F

Enantioselective direct α-alkylation of cyclic ketones by means of photo-organocatalysis
Elena Arceo, Ana Bahamonde, Giulia Bergonzini and Paolo Melchiorre
DOI: 10.1039/C4SC00315B

Oxygen nucleophiles as reaction partners in photoinduced, copper-catalyzed cross-couplings: O-arylations of phenols at room temperature
Yichen Tan, José María Muñoz-Molina, Gregory C. Fu and Jonas C. Peters
DOI: 10.1039/C4SC00368C

Efficient C–H bond activations via O2 cleavage by a dianionic cobalt(II) complex
Andy I. Nguyen, Ryan G. Hadt, Edward I. Solomon and T. Don Tilley
DOI: 10.1039/C4SC00108G

Sunlight photocatalyzed regioselective β-alkylation and acylation of cyclopentanones
Megumi Okada, Takahide Fukuyama, Keiichi Yamada, Ilhyong Ryu, Davide Ravelli and Maurizio Fagnoni
DOI: 10.1039/C4SC01072H

Copper catalyzed direct alkenylation of simple alkanes with styrenes
Yefeng Zhu and Yunyang Wei
DOI: 10.1039/C4SC00093E

Transition metal-catalyzed direct nucleophilic addition of C–H bonds to carbon–heteroatom double bonds
Xi-Sha Zhang, Kang Chen and Zhang-Jie Shi
DOI: 10.1039/C3SC53115E

Evaluating metal–organic frameworks for natural gas storage
Jarad A. Mason, Mike Veenstra and Jeffrey R. Long
DOI: 10.1039/C3SC52633J

Selective radical amination of aldehydic C(sp2)–H bonds with fluoroaryl azides via Co(II)-based metalloradical catalysis: synthesis of N-fluoroaryl amides from aldehydes under neutral and nonoxidative conditions
Li-Mei Jin, Hongjian Lu, Yuan Cui, Christopher L. Lizardi, Thiago N. Arzua, Lukasz Wojtas, Xin Cui and X. Peter Zhang
DOI: 10.1039/C4SC00697F

Catalytic enantioselective synthesis of 2-aryl-chromenes
Bi-Shun Zeng, Xinyi Yu, Paul W. Siu and Karl A. Scheidt
DOI: 10.1039/C4SC00423J

Dialkylbiaryl phosphines in Pd-catalyzed amination: a user’s guide
David S. Surry and Stephen L. Buchwald
DOI: 10.1039/C0SC00331J

Frustrated Lewis pair chemistry of carbon, nitrogen and sulfur oxides
Douglas W. Stephan and Gerhard Erker
DOI: 10.1039/C4SC00395K

Carbon–fluorine bond cleavage in fluoroarenes via a niobium(III) imido complex: from stoichiometric to catalytic hydrodefluorination
Thomas L. Gianetti, Robert G. Bergman and John Arnold
DOI: 10.1039/C4SC00006D
From themed collection Celebrating the 2014 RSC Prize and Award Winners

Rh(III)-catalyzed C–H functionalization/aromatization cascade with 1,3-dienes: a redox-neutral and regioselective access to isoquinolines
Dongbing Zhao, Fabian Lied and Frank Glorius
DOI: 10.1039/C4SC00628C

Iodoarene-catalyzed fluorination and aminofluorination by an Ar-I/HF·pyridine/mCPBA system
Satoru Suzuki, Tomohiro Kamo, Kazunobu Fukushi, Takaaki Hiramatsu, Etsuko Tokunaga, Toshifumi Dohi, Yasuyuki Kita and Norio Shibata
DOI: 10.1039/C3SC53107D

Complete stereodivergence in the synthesis of 2-amino-1,3-diols from allenes
Christopher S. Adams, R. David Grigg and Jennifer M. Schomaker
DOI: 10.1039/C4SC01214C

An ExBox [2]catenane
Michal Juríček, Jonathan C. Barnes, Nathan L. Strutt, Nicolaas A. Vermeulen, Kala C. Ghooray, Edward J. Dale, Paul R. McGonigal, Anthea K. Blackburn, Alyssa-Jennifer Avestro and J. Fraser Stoddart
DOI: 10.1039/C4SC00488D
From themed collection Celebrating the 2014 RSC Prize and Award Winners

Aluminium–ligand cooperation promotes selective dehydrogenation of formic acid to H2 and CO2
T. W. Myers and L. A. Berben
DOI: 10.1039/C4SC01035C

Synthesis, electronic structure and reactivity of bis(imino)pyridine iron carbene complexes: evidence for a carbene radical
Sarah K. Russell, Jordan M. Hoyt, Suzanne C. Bart, Carsten Milsmann, S. Chantal E. Stieber, Scott P. Semproni, Serena DeBeer and Paul J. Chirik
DOI: 10.1039/C3SC52450G

Non-directed allylic C–H acetoxylation in the presence of Lewis basic heterocycles
Hasnain A. Malik, Buck L. H. Taylor, John R. Kerrigan, Jonathan E. Grob, K. N. Houk, J. Du Bois, Lawrence G. Hamann and Andrew W. Patterson
DOI: 10.1039/C3SC53414F

Rethinking the term “pi-stacking”
Chelsea R. Martinez and Brent L. Iverson
DOI: 10.1039/C2SC20045G
From themed collection Physical Chemistry

Stereoselective allylboration of imines and indoles under mild conditions. An in situ E/Z isomerization of imines by allylboroxines
Rauful Alam, Arindam Das, Genping Huang, Lars Eriksson, Fahmi Himo and Kálmán J. Szabó
DOI: 10.1039/C4SC00415A

Cobaltate anion couples terminal dienes with trifluoroacetic anhydride: a direct fluoroacylation of 1,3-dienes
Benjamin L. Kohn and Tomislav Rovis
DOI: 10.1039/C4SC00743C

Phosphorescent nematic hydrogels and chromonic mesophases driven by intra- and intermolecular interactions of bridged dinuclear cyclometalated platinum(II) complexes
Xin-Shan Xiao, Wei Lu and Chi-Ming Che
DOI: 10.1039/C4SC00143E

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All of the referee-recommended articles below are free to access until 15th October 2014

Understanding nano-impacts: impact times and near-wall hindered diffusion
Enno Kätelhön and Richard G. Compton  
Chem. Sci., 2014, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C4SC02288B, Edge Article

Comprehensive study of carbon dioxide adsorption in the metal–organic frameworks M2(dobdc) (M = Mg, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn)
Wendy L. Queen, Matthew R. Hudson, Eric D. Bloch, Jarad A. Mason, Miguel I. Gonzalez, Jason S. Lee, David Gygi, Joshua D. Howe, Kyuho Lee, Tamim A. Darwish, Michael James, Vanessa K. Peterson, Simon J. Teat, Berend Smit, Jeffrey B. Neaton, Jeffrey R. Long and Craig M. Brown  
Chem. Sci., 2014, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C4SC02064B, Edge Article

Bifunctional nanoparticle–SILP catalysts (NPs@SILP) for the selective deoxygenation of biomass substrates
Kylie L. Luska, Jennifer Julis, Eli Stavitski, Dmitri N. Zakharov, Alina Adams and Walter Leitner  
Chem. Sci., 2014, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C4SC02033B, Edge Article

End functional ROMP polymers via degradation of a ruthenium Fischer type carbene
Amit A. Nagarkar and Andreas F. M. Kilbinger  
Chem. Sci., 2014, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C4SC02242D, Edge Article

If you have ever been stuck in a crowd, you may have noticed that your range of motion and the speed at which you can move is highly dependent not only on whether you are leaving a sports game or a pop concert, but also on where you are positioned in the mass of people. The same is true of a solution of molecules – the molecules that are located in the bulk of the solution would be expected to have different properties from those that are surface-immobilised. This is especially true if we consider the supramolecular association of a guest within a host, where thermodynamics and kinetics play an important role in whether a complex will form or not.

Pablo Ballester and his team from the Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ) set out to study this phenomenon and prove whether or not there was a difference in the binding of a guest, pyridine N-oxide derivatives, with a host molecule, α,α,α,α-calix[4]pyrrole, in bulk solution or tethered to a gold surface. To achieve this goal, the team employed a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) technique, a technique that is sensitive to the accumulation or release of mass, and has been used previously to study large biomolecular systems in real time.

It was found that thermodynamically, binding events between two molecules are similar in bulk solution and at an interface. This is perhaps not surprising, as the changes in enthalpy and entropy to a calix[4]pyrrole in bulk solution or tethered to a surface will be similar; therefore so too will be the binding event. Differences were observed, however, when considering the kinetic aspect of binding, such that binding was much slower when the molecule was on a surface than when it was in bulk solution. This was attributed to the presence of a matrix hindering the motion of the surface-bound calix[4]pyrrole, thereby providing a barrier to complexation.

This work presents an interesting method of studying the binding events that occur in the different regions of a solution. It also shows that the events that occur on the macroscale, such as in a crowd of people, can, in some cases, be analogous to those that occur on the molecular level.

Read this HOT ChemSci article in full!

Binding of calix[4]pyrroles to pyridine N-oxides probed with surface plasmon resonance
Louis Adriaenssens, Josep Lluís Acero Sánchez, Xavier Barril, Ciara K. O’Sullivan and Pablo Ballester
Chem. Sci., 2014, Edge Article
DOI: 10.1039/C4SC01745E

Biography

Anthea Blackburn is a guest web writer for Chemical Science. Anthea is a graduate student hailing from New Zealand, studying at Northwestern University in the US under the tutelage of Prof. Fraser Stoddart (a Scot), where she is exploiting supramolecular chemistry to develop multidimensional systems and study the emergent properties that arise in these superstructures. When time and money allow, she is ambitiously attempting to visit all 50 US states before graduation.

A fluorinated analogue of the naturally occurring aminoglycoside neomycin – well known as an over-the-counter ointment for minor skin abrasions – could lead to a range of much-needed antibiotics in the arms race against aminoglycoside resistant bacteria.

Aminoglycosides have proven indispensable in the treatment of hospital acquired bacterial infections that are particularly difficult to fight in patients suffering from cystic fibrosis and immunodeficiency related illnesses. By binding tightly to a bacterium’s ribosomal RNA (rRNA) in a position known as the A-site, the aminoglycosides disrupt the biosynthesis of proteins necessary for growth, resulting in the bacterium’s death.

Read the full article in Chemistry World»

Read the original journal article in ChemComm – it’s free to access until 16th September:
Synthesis, broad spectrum antibacterial activity, and X-ray co-crystal structure of the decoding bacterial ribosomal A-site with 4′-deoxy-4′-fluoro neomycin analogs
S. Hanessian, O. M. Saavedra, M. A. Vilchis-Reyes, J. P. Maianti, H. Kanazawa, P. Dozzo, R. D. Matias, A. Serio and J. Kondo
Chem. Sci., 2014, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C4SC01626B, Edge Article

All of the referee-recommended articles below are free to access until 19th September 2014

Enhancing-effect of gold nanoparticles on DNA strand displacement amplifications and their application to an isothermal telomerase assay
Leilei Tian, Timothy M. Cronin and Yossi Weizmann  
Chem. Sci., 2014, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C4SC01393J, Edge Article

Asymmetric synthesis of N,O-heterocycles via enantioselective iridium-catalysed intramolecular allylic amidation
Depeng Zhao, Martín Fañanás-Mastral, Mu-Chieh Chang, Edwin Otten and Ben L. Feringa 
Chem. Sci., 2014, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C4SC01940G, Edge Article

pH-dependent binding of guests in the cavity of a polyhedral coordination cage: reversible uptake and release of drug molecules
William Cullen, Simon Turega, Christopher A. Hunter and Michael D. Ward  
Chem. Sci., 2014, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C4SC02090A, Edge Article

Mass preparation of high-quality graphene from glucose and ferric chloride
Binbin Zhang, Jinliang Song, Guanying Yang and Prof. Buxing Han  
Chem. Sci., 2014, Accepted Manuscript
DOI: 10.1039/C4SC01950D, Edge Article

Researchers in the US have developed a new photocatalysed coupling reaction that could provide a pathway to a huge number of biologically active compounds.

The coupling mechanism uses chloroheteroarenes in the direct α-arylation of amines

Heterocycles and heteroaromatic compounds are of great interest to medicinal chemists, due to their widespread use in pharmaceuticals. They are able to increase the aqueous solubility and decrease the lipophilicity of drugs, as well as improving their potency and biocompatibility.

Read the full article in Chemistry World»

Read the original journal article in Chemical Science – it’s free to access until 24th September:
Amine α-Heteroarylation via Photoredox Catalysis: A Homolytic Aromatic Substitution Pathway
David W. C. MacMillan and Christopher K Prier  
Chem. Sci., 2014, Accepted Manuscript, DOI: 10.1039/C4SC02155J, Edge Article

European scientists have synthesised uranium complexes that take them a step closer to producing commodity chemicals from carbon dioxide.

Widespread fossil fuel depletion and concerns over levels of climatic carbon dioxide are motivating research to convert this small molecule into value-added chemicals. Organometallic uranium complexes have successfully activated various small molecules before. However, there were no reports of an actinide metal complex that could reductively couple with carbon dioxide to give a segment made from two carbon dioxide molecules – an oxalate dianion.

Read the full article in Chemistry World»

Read the original journal article in Chemical Science – it’s free to access until 3rd September:
Controlling selectivity in the reductive activation of CO2 by mixed sandwich uranium(III) complexes
Nikolaos Tsoureas, Ludovic Castro, Alexander F. R. Kilpatrick, F. Geoffey N. Cloke and Laurent Maron  
Chem. Sci., 2014, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C4SC01401D, Edge Article

Scientists in China, the UK and the Netherlands have engineered a polydiacetylene polymer that reversibly changes colour within 1 second of being heated or cooled. 

Thermochromic polymers have a wide range of potential uses, from biological sensors to smart windows. However, the irregular structure and weak molecular interactions in established thermochromic polymers results in long response times, slow reversibility and a narrow working temperature range. 

The peptide linkers are stable, while the conjugated bonds within the alkyl chain undergo a reversible conformational transition

Read the full article in Chemistry World» 

Read the original journal article in Chemical Science – it’s free to access until 28th August:
Ultrafast and Reversible Thermochromism of Conjugated Polymer Material Based on Assembling of Peptide Amphiphiles
Zhengzhong Shao, Hui Guo, Jinming Zhang, David Porter, Huisheng Peng, Dennis Lowik, Yu Wang, Zhidong Zhang and Xin Chen  
Chem. Sci., 2014, Accepted Manuscript
DOI: 10.1039/C4SC01696C, Edge Article