Chemical Science Blog

RSC Publishing hosts dinner in Japan

24 May 2011

Chemical Science Associate Editor Hubert Girault and leading physical and analytical chemists enjoy Japanese dining

Hubert Girault, Chemical Science Associate Editor for analytical science, met up with RSC Publisher Niamh O’Connor and Hirofumi Seike (RSC Representative, Japan) in Kyoto on Sunday to host a dinner for leading physical and analytical chemists.

Clockwise from left: Hubert Girault, Richard van Duyne, Steven Soper, Richard Zare, Susan Zare, Niamh O'Connor, Hirofumi Seike

The group are in Japan for the IUPAC International Congress on Analytical Sciences 2011, which is on until 26th May.

Obviously there will be lots of discussion at the meeting about the best and latest advances in the analytical sciences. Here’s my pick of some of the most exciting recent Chemical Science articles in this area:

Heavy water hydration of mannose: the anomeric effect in solvation, laid bare
Nitzan Mayorkas, Svemir Rudić, Benjamin G. Davis and John P. Simons, Chem. Sci., 2011, 2, 1128-1134

Accelerated bimolecular reactions in microdroplets studied by desorption electrospray ionization mass spectrometry
Marion Girod, Encarnacion Moyano, Dahlia I. Campbell and R. Graham Cooks, Chem. Sci., 2011, 2, 501-510

Rapid prototyping of poly(dimethoxysiloxane) dot arrays by dip-pen nanolithography
Aaron Hernandez-Santana, Eleanore Irvine, Karen Faulds and Duncan Graham, Chem. Sci., 2011, 2, 211-215

These articles, like all Chemical Science content, are free to access until the end of this year. Sign up for the Chemical Science e-alert to get details of the exceptional content delivered straight to your inbox.

Hubert Girault is welcoming Chemical Science submissions in the areas of analytical science and electrochemistry. Submit to his editorial office today to be seen with the best.

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Challenges in Chemical Biology – one week until abstract submission deadline!

20 May 2011

By Joanne Thomson.

Don’t miss out on your chance to showcase your work to world leading experts, including 2 Nobel Laureates

This exciting event will review current research developments and highlight future challenges in chemical biology.

The recently released ISACS5 programme details a full schedule over the entire four days – take a look and discover those all important lecture titles from a series of outstanding plenary speakers, including Nobel Laureates Thomas Steitz and Venki Ramakrishnan.

Submit your poster abstract now – deadline 27 May 2011

Abstracts are invited for poster presentation within the themes of the conference:
• The ribosome
• The origins of life
• Synthetic biology
• Engineered enzymes
• DNA nanotechnology
• Chemistry of surfaces
• Next generation pharmacology

This is a fantastic opportunity to showcase your work – submit a poster before it’s too late!

Registration – early bird deadline 27 May 2011

Make sure you are part of this unique conference experience! To guarantee your place whilst making a great saving through our early bird discount, register online today.

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Studying reaction mechanisms in the solid state

19 May 2011

By Joanne Thomson.

Photochemical reactions in crystals can show excellent selectivity, thanks to the rigid environment. But the development and applications of reactions in crystals has suffered due to a lack of mechanistic insight.

Now Miguel Garcia-Garibay, at the University of California, Los Angeles, US, and colleagues have published the first report addressing the absolute reaction kinetics of a reaction taking place in the crystalline solid state, using conventional pump-probe methods with excitation in the nanosecond and femtosecond time domains.

Graphical abstract: Steady state and transient kinetics in crystalline solids: the photochemistry of nanocrystalline 1,1,3-triphenyl-3-hydroxy-2-indanone

They studied the Norrish type I decarbonylation of a 2-indanone in solution and as a nanocrystalline suspension and, for the first time, detected the radical intermediates involved in the reaction.

To find out more, download the group’s Chemical Science Edge article for free.

Thinking of submitting an article yourself? No colour charges, no page charges or limits, and free access* providing wide visibility – make Chemical Science your number one choice for your very best research.

* until the end of 2011

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Enantioselective synthesis of cyclic carbamimidates

17 May 2011

By Joanne Thomson.

A racemic Au(I)-catalysed three-component reaction has been developed by US scientists to prepare cyclic carbamimidates from imines, terminal alkynes and sulfonylisocyanates. This reaction exploits the carbophilic π-acidity of gold catalysts to first activate an alkyne toward deprotonation and then to activate the internal alkyne generated toward intramolecular O-cyclisation.

Unlike similar previously reported multicomponent gold-catalysed reactions, the stereocentre generated during the alkynylation is preserved in the product. This trait was exploited by developing an enantioselective variant, using an unusual trans-1-diphenylphosphino-2-arylsulfamidocyclohexane ligand.

Graphical abstract: Enantioselective synthesis of cyclic carbamimidates via a three-component reaction of imines, terminal alkynes, and p-toluenesulfonylisocyanate using a monophosphine gold(i) catalyst

Moderate to excellent levels of enantioselectivity were obtained using a variety of N-arylbenzylidene anilines.

Find out more:
M J Campbell and F D Toste, Chem. Sci., 2011, DOI: 10.1039/c1sc00160d

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Recognising the best organic chemistry

12 May 2011

By Joanne Thomson.

a trophy On Monday I attended the RSC Organic Division Awards Symposium at the University of Cambridge. Organised by Chemical Science Associate Editor Matthew Gaunt, the symposium recognised three 2010 RSC award winners for their impressive contributions to organic chemistry

First up was Bader Award winner Professor Kevin Booker-Milburn (University of Bristol, UK) who stressed the ongoing importance of curiosity in organic synthesis. He discussed his research on organic photochemistry, in particular how his group had managed to scale up organic photochemistry reactions using continuous flow reactors.

Next Hickinbottom Award winner Dr Matthew Clarke (The University of St Andrews, UK) split his approaches to controlling enantioselectivity in asymmetric synthesis into the sensible (asymmetric hydroformylation); the silly (using supramolecular synthesis to make libraries of catalysts); the scientific (rational design of hydrogenation catalysts); and the serendipitous (palladium-catalysed hydroxycarbonylations).

Last, but by no means least, Professor Dieter Enders (RWTH-Aachen, Germany), winner of the Robert Robertson award, discussed his work on asymmetric organocatalysis and revealed he has been an RSC member since before I was born.

Many thanks to Martin Swarbrick from the Organic Division for presenting the prizes, Matthew Gaunt for the organisation and, of course, the three speakers for delivering excellent and enjoyable lectures.

Also of interest:
N-heterocyclic carbene catalysed asymmetric cross-benzoin reactions of heteroaromatic aldehydes with trifluoromethyl ketones
Dieter Enders, André Grossmann, Jeanne Fronert and Gerhard Raabe, Chem. Commun., 2010, 46, 6282-6284

On the rate-determining step and the ligand electronic effects in rhodium catalysed hydrogenation of enamines and the hydroaminomethylation of alkenes
José A. Fuentes, Piotr Wawrzyniak, Geoffrey J. Roff, Michael Bühl and Matthew L. Clarke, Catal. Sci. Technol., 2011, DOI: 10.1039/C1CY00026H

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Putting chemical biology in the spotlight

03 May 2011

By Emma Shiells, Development Editor.

Spanning a vast field of chemistry and biology, it is hard not to notice the flurry of activity and excitement surrounding chemical biology research at the moment. We are seeing chemistry being cleverly applied to biology, in an attempt to understand and answer important biological questions, by directly probing living systems at the chemical level. Areas such as proteomics, glycobiology, combinatorial chemistry, RNA/DNA, microarrays, proteins, peptides (and many, many more!) are becoming prominent topics in the general chemistry literature.

Here at Chemical Science, we have two fantastic Associate Editors, who handle all submissions in the chemical biology and bioorganic fields; Professor Thomas Carell (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universtät München, Germany) and Professor Benjamin F Cravatt (Scripps, USA). We also have the full support from our dynamic team of chemical biology experts on the Chemical Science Advisory Board; Ben Davis, Linda Hsieh-Wilson, Scott Miller, Paul Reider, Oliver Seitz, Weihong Tan and Jason Chin.

Chemical Science Associate Editor, Professor Benjamin Cravatt

Why not submit your own exciting chemical biology research to Chemical Science today? Our Associate Editors, Professors Thomas Carell and Benjamin Cravatt, handle all submissions within the chemical biology field and eagerly await your next exciting, high impact submission!

Chemical Science Associate Editor, Professor Thomas Carell

We’ve already published some excellent articles in the field of chemical biology and below we’ve given you a little taster. As a reminder, all articles published in Chemical Science are free to access until the end of 2011, so go ahead and enjoy the free content!

Comparative bioinformatics analysis of the mammalian and bacterial glycomes
Alexander Adibekian, Pierre Stallforth, Marie-Lyn Hecht, Daniel B. Werz, Pascal Gagneux and Peter H. Seeberger
Chem. Sci., 2011, 2, 337-344

The programming role of trans-acting enoyl reductases during the biosynthesis of highly reduced fungal polyketides
Mary N. Heneghan, Ahmed A. Yakasai, Katherine Williams, Khomaizon A. Kadir, Zahida Wasil, Walid Bakeer, Katja M. Fisch, Andrew M. Bailey, Thomas J. Simpson, Russell J. Cox and Colin M. Lazarus
Chem. Sci., 2011, 2, 972-979

Development and evaluation of new cyclooctynes for cell surface glycan imaging in cancer cells
Henning Stöckmann, André A. Neves, Shaun Stairs, Heather Ireland-Zecchini, Kevin M. Brindle and Finian J. Leeper
Chem. Sci., 2011, 2, 932-936

Fragment screening against the thiamine pyrophosphate riboswitch thiM
Elena Cressina, Liuhong Chen, Chris Abell, Finian J. Leeper and Alison G. Smith
Chem. Sci., 2011, 2, 157-165

DNA-programmed spatial screening of carbohydrate–lectin interactions
Christian Scheibe, Alexander Bujotzek, Jens Dernedde, Marcus Weber and Oliver Seitz
Chem. Sci., 2011, 2, 770-775

Dissecting tunicamycin biosynthesis by genome mining: cloning and heterologous expression of a minimal gene cluster
Filip J. Wyszynski, Andrew R. Hesketh, Mervyn J. Bibb and Benjamin G. Davis
Chem. Sci., 2010, 1, 581-589

End-functionalized glycopolymers as mimetics of chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans
Song-Gil Lee, Joshua M. Brown, Claude J. Rogers, John B. Matson, Chithra Krishnamurthy, Manish Rawat and Linda C. Hsieh-Wilson
Chem. Sci., 2010, 1, 322-325

Discovery of an orexin receptor positive potentiator
Jiyong Lee, M. Muralidhar Reddy and Thomas Kodadek
Chem. Sci., 2010, 1, 48-54

One last thing, you may also be interested to know that the following ISACS5 conference is coming up soon too:-

– Call for posters – deadline 27 May 2011
– Early bird registration – deadline 27 May 2011
– Registration – deadline 24 June 2011

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Hardy MOFs endure extreme conditions

03 May 2011

By Joanne Thomson.

The most chemically and thermally stable metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) yet have been made by a team in the US. The MOFs could surpass zeolites as industrial catalysts.

Natural zeolites are porous alumina-silicate rocks used as catalysts in industrial processes. However, their pore sizes and surface functionalisations are difficult to alter, which limits their performance. MOFs – made by joining up metal oxide clusters with linking organic molecules – have similar structures to zeolites and are therefore of interest as alternatives. Until now, they have not been robust enough to withstand the conditions that zeolites undergo during industrial processes. Traditionally, MOFs have only been stable in temperatures up to 500 degrees Celsius, have low chemical stability and some even fall apart in water.

Jeffrey Long from the University of California, Berkeley, and colleagues have made MOFs that can withstand temperatures of 510 degrees Celsius and a pH range of 2 to 14. They made the MOFs by reacting a metal salt, such as nickel chloride or nickel nitrate, with trispyrazolylbenzene. The organic molecules were deprotonated and the functional groups were bound to the metal to create a three-dimensional network.

Scheme of formation of MOFs

Find out more by reading the full news story in Chemistry World and downloading Professor Long’s Chemical Science Edge article.

Also of interest:
Modifying MOFs: new chemistry, new materials
Seth M. Cohen, Chem. Sci., 2010, 1, 32-36

Hydrogen storage and carbon dioxide capture in an iron-based sodalite-type metal–organic framework (Fe-BTT) discovered via high-throughput methods
Kenji Sumida, Satoshi Horike, Steven S. Kaye, Zoey R. Herm, Wendy L. Queen, Craig M. Brown, Fernande Grandjean, Gary J. Long, Anne Dailly and Jeffrey R. Long, Chem. Sci., 2010, 1, 184-191

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Register now for ISACS meetings to receive early bird discount

15 Apr 2011

By Joanne Thomson.

– Call for posters – deadline 6 May 2011
– Early bird registration – deadline 6 May 2011
– Registration – deadline 3 June 2011
www.rsc.org/isacs4

– Call for posters – deadline 27 May 2011
– Early bird registration – deadline 27 May 2011
– Registration – deadline 24 June 2011
www.rsc.org/isacs5

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Molybdenum sulfide hydrogen evolution catalysts

14 Apr 2011

By Joanne Thomson.

Amorphous molybdenum sulfide films are highly active hydrogen evolution catalysts, say researchers from Switzerland.

Xile Hu and colleagues made the catalysts from relatively cheap and abundant elements. The catalysts offer significant advantages over noble metal catalysts, they say. The catalysts can be easily prepared in a procedure that is amenable to large scale manufacture, they work in water and are compatible with a wide range of pHs.

‘Our results provide new opportunities for the development of renewable and economic hydrogen production technologies,’ says the team.

Read more for free in Chemical Science or check out the news story on the EPFL website.

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Chemical Science Blog

RSC Publishing hosts dinner in Japan

Challenges in Chemical Biology – one week until abstract submission deadline!

Studying reaction mechanisms in the solid state

Enantioselective synthesis of cyclic carbamimidates

Recognising the best organic chemistry

Putting chemical biology in the spotlight

Hardy MOFs endure extreme conditions

Top ten most accessed articles in March

Register now for ISACS meetings to receive early bird discount

Molybdenum sulfide hydrogen evolution catalysts

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