Themed collection New Talent: Americas

Welcome to the New Talent: Americas themed issue of Dalton Transactions, guest edited by Ana Maria Da Costa Ferreira, Neal Mankad and Georgii Nikonov.

Here, we outline some basic pitfalls in the electrochemical investigation of aqueous metal complexes, advocate for the use of bulk electrolysis in redox flow cells for electrolyte analysis, and demonstrate methods of operation and performance of a lab scale redox flow battery.

A ligand dangling arm, acting as an intramolecular proton acceptor, drastically increasing the catalytic activity of Ru-complexes for water oxidation.

Despite a significative classical literature, metallodrugs have struggled to reach clinical practice. In light of the COVID-19 outbreak, this review aims at further encouraging and promoting the development of metallodrugs as viable antiviral agents.

Bioinorganic approaches in developing metallodrugs for tuberculosis are discussed, along with our understanding of key metalloproteins with drug target opportunities.

The thermochemistry, descriptive chemistry, spectroscopy, and physical properties of the tetravalent lanthanides (Pr, Nd, Tb and Dy) in extended phases, gas phase, solution, and as isolable molecular complexes are presented.

Metallopolymerization of kinetically inert Ru₂ metallomonomers via construction of Ag–N bonds provides access to atomically precise single-crystalline Ru₂-based coordination polymers with varied network topology and primary coordination sphere.

Stable neutral and highly-reactive cationic Bi complexes featuring NNN and PNP pincer ligands are debuted.

Increasing the lipophilicity of rhenium-based anticancer agents increases the rate at which they induce their biological effects.

Strong C–O bonds in pyrone and coumarin esters can undergo oxidative addition to Pd(0), with the reaction conditions and substrate structure controlling the outcome.

The synthesis of alkali metal- and halide-free mixed valent dilanthanide complexes supported by a calix[4]pyrrole ligand is described. Bond activation using both a base and one-electron reductant is showcased.

A Lewis acidic aminoborane (1) was shown to catalytically dehydrocouple stannanes through an unexpected heterolytic frustrated Lewis pair mechanism rather than a homolytic process.

Exposure of 10π-electron benzazaphosphole 1 to HCl, followed by nucleophilic substitution with the Grignard reagent BrMgCCPh afforded alkynyl functionalized 3 featuring an exocyclic –CC–Ph group with an elongated P–C bond (1.7932(19) Å).

Electrochemical/chemical, cytotoxic and DNA interaction studies of P–N^R–P containing ruthenium–cymene complexes [RuCl(η⁶-p-cymene)(P–N^R–P)]X.

Water oxidation studies with Co-Prussian blue and Co₃O₄. Figure adapted from ‘Under the Wave off Kanagawa’ (Kanagawa oki nami ura), also known as ‘The Great Wave’, from the series ‘Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji’ (‘Fugaku sanjūrokkei’) by K. Hokusai.

Subtle stereoelectronic changes of the surface capping ligands have long-ranging consequences in the synthesis and chemistry of ternary transition metal selenide clusters.

Cytotoxic silver(I) complex triggers mitochondrial dysfunction and induces apoptosis in the MDA-MB-231 cells.

The origin in deshielding of ²⁹Si NMR chemical shifts in R₃Si–X, where X = H, OMe, Cl, OTf, [CH₆B₁₁X₆], toluene, and O_X (O_X = surface oxygen), as well as ⁱPr₃Si⁺ and Mes₃Si⁺ were studied using DFT methods.

Four metalo-intercalators ([Ru₃(μ₃-O)(μ₂-OAc)₅(L)(py)₂]PF₆, L = phenazines) present high DNA intercalation constants and high HSA affinity. They are active against melanoma cancer and T. Cruzi parasite.

Lanthanide(III)-oxamate complexes can switch into Light Conversion Molecular Devices (LCMDs) or field-induced Single-Molecule Magnets (SMMs) depending on the external stimulus.

A highly fluorinated Cu²⁺ complex for ¹⁹F MR sensing of cellular hypoxia as nanoemulsion formulations.

L-Phenylalanine (L-Phe) was used as a ligand model for the anticancer drug melphalan. Co^III–Phe complexes were successfully designed for hypoxia-selective release of L-Phe from Co^III–Phe upon Co³⁺/Co²⁺ reduction by ascorbic acid.

Simple neutral and cationic Mn porphyrins were immobilized on ordinary chromatographic silica or chloropropyl-functionalized silica supports to yield efficient and reusable biomimetic catalysts for C–H activation and oxyfunctionalization of alkanes.

Novel green photocatalysts based on ZnO in the presence of arabic gum (AGZ) or karaya gum (KGZ) were synthesized by a sol–gel method for photocatalytic performance.

EXAFS spectroscopy was used to study the temperature-dependent molecular structures of a series of cobalt-59 NMR thermometers.

Real-time transport analyses define transmembrane Cu(I)-pumps as electrogenic uniporters.

Rapidly prepared SrS:Eu²⁺,RE³⁺ exhibits long red persistent luminescence independent of the rare earth co-dopant due to a high Schottky defect concentration.

A novel Re(I) complex with a thiosemicarbazone derivative is described and fully characterized. Its was further explored as CO₂ reduction electrocatalyst, being the first complex with a thiosemicarbazone derivative applied to this goal.

Solvothermal reactions of M_IIFe²_III(μ₃-O)(μ₂-O₂CR)₆(H₂O)₃ (R = CF₃, M = Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn) clusters produce monodisperse, phase-pure MFe₂O₄ nanocrystals.

A benzyl-protecting strategy affords access to large quantities of carbazole-based ligands or molecular adsorbents with tunable inter-cage interactions.

A first-row metal phthalocyanine series is synthesized and the effects of axial metal-ligand substitution is investigated electrochemically and in the context of charge carriers for redox-flow batteries.

In situ X-ray absorbance spectroscopy measurements show that encapsulating cobalt phthalocyanine within coordinating polymers leads to axial ligation of Co and results in enhanced rates for electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction.

The sulfur transfer reactions of a zinc tetrasulfanido complex are explored and contrasted with those of metal polysulfidos.

The leaving group L in [(R₃P)AuL]ⁿ⁺ regulates the cytotoxic mechanism against CEM leukemia cells and the reactivity towards Sp1 ZnF3.

By tuning the copper(I)/copper(II) affinity of a novel N-acylhydrazone, a more soluble, hydrolysis resistant and less toxic improved Metal–Protein Attenuating Compound for the bioinorganic management of metal-enhanced aggregopathies was obtained.

Herein, we describe the preparation, characterization, and reactivity of two Pt^II bis-hydrocarbyl complexes containing the 1,2-bis(di(3-dicyclohexylboraneyl)propylphosphino)ethane (P₂B^Cy₄) ligand.

Exploring photophysical/ROS species of Pd(II)-porphyrins.

A Cu(II) heptanuclear complex, Cu₇atac, synthesized from an amino acid ligand showed to be an antiferromagnetic spin-frustrated bis-triangular system. Cu₇atac might be a promising qubit candidate for quantum information storage.

We show that arginine/phenylalanine based peptides can be used to control the aggregation of gold nanoparticles in different ways. The arrangement provides a colorimetric approach to detect Cu²⁺ ions in water.

We describe the mechanochemical, solvent-free synthesis of metal–organic frameworks using liquid organic base for the first time.

The time scale for interfacial photoinduced electron transfer (PeT) in plasmonic nanoparticles is not well established and the details are still under debate.

Synthesis and characterization of [(HPO)(PO)Mn(CO)₂ (^H1), a phenol bound first-row transition metal complex, is reported. Thermochemical analysis of ^H1 indicated the presence of coordination induced O–H bond weakening.

Crystalline phase and rare-earth (RE) ion choice were identified as key parameters for NaREF₄-to-REF₃ phase transformation versus water transfer during ligand removal from small NaREF₄ nanoparticles at low pH.

Cp*Ir(III) complexes have been shown to be effective for the halogenation of N,N-diisopropylbenzamides with N-halosuccinimide as a suitable halogen source.

Here, we expand on the synthesis and characterization of chloride-functionalized polyoxovanadate-alkoxide (POV-alkoxide) clusters, to include the halogenation of mixed-valent vanadium oxide assemblies.

Ru(II)/lapachol complex shows significant selectivity for triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) compared to the non-tumor human breast epithelial cell line.

Zn²⁺ templating enables synthesis of redox ‘non-innocent’ diimine pyridine ligands with strong electron-withdrawing groups, allowing construction of iron complexes with multiple ligand-based reductions for application in redox flow batteries.

Bromination of the luminescent borane, anti-B₁₈H₂₂, via electrophilic substitution using AlCl₃ and Br₂, yields the monosubstituted derivative 4-Br-anti-B₁₈H₂₁ as an air-stable crystalline solid.

The photophysical properties of fac-[Re(L)(Am₂phen)(CO)₃]^0/+ provided new insights into excited-state deactivation through an unusual inversion between two MLCT excited states.

We report the ability of Co^II and Co^III complexes of tri(2-pyridylmethyl)amine and N,N-di(2-pyridylmethyl)glycinate to disrupt zinc fingers.

Synthesis of carbenium-based ligands that are ambiphilic, redox active, and easily tunable along with their coordination to Co(II) and Ni(II).

The synthesis and polymerization of a chloroformed-functionalized six-membered cyclosilazane (Si5N) is reported.

The absorption, emission, and electrochemical properties of conjugates of boron difluoride formazanate dyes and Pt(II)-acetylides are systematically studied.

Sterically encumbered iridium-bound formazanate ligands undergo redox-neutral cyclization to form azo-triazolides, a new class of redox-active chelating ligand.