Themed collection Celebrating the ChemComm Emerging Investigator Lectureship Winners

This Feature Article reviews the structural motifs and catalytic applications of crown ether-containing catalysts and details the development of “pincer-crown ether” ligands for applications in controlled catalysis.

This feature article summarizes the recent progress in the study of ion-pairing assemblies based on π-electronic ion pairs, including anion complexes of π-electronic molecules.

This review covers recent research on design strategies for the cooperative self-assembly of porphyrins with polymers and its implementation as bioactive assembly.

Analytical chemistry has much to offer to an improved understanding of biological systems.

Organic active nanophotonics: excited-state coupled photonic behaviours strongly determine the optical performances of organic nanomaterials. The photonic actions and related material properties can be well controlled by tailoring the intra/inter-molecular excited-state processes.

Development of mechanochemistry for API synthesis and pharmaceutical solid form screening signals the emergence of medicinal mechanochemistry – a discipline at the interface of medicinal chemistry and sustainable synthesis.

This article reviews the progress in the reduction of CO₂ to formate using molecular inorganic electrocatalysts, with an emphasis on recent insights and successes in selective C–H bond formation with CO₂ to favor formate production in aqueous solutions.

Octahedral Cu nanocrystals in the size range of 75–310 nm are synthesized and investigated for electrochemical CO₂ reduction.

Pattern recognition of RNA with small molecules (PRRSM) reveals the impact of environmental conditions on the differentiation of RNA structures.

Pyrrole-4-aryl-substituted dipyrrolyldiketone BF₂ complexes showed fan-shaped and rod-shaped geometries for anion-free states and receptor–anion complexes, respectively, as building units of dimension-controlled assemblies.

Organic whispering-gallery-mode lasers, assembled from π-conjugated polymers, can be used for highly sensitive detection of trace amounts of chemical gases by monitoring the shift of the lasing mode, paving a new way to design novel photonic sensing devices.

A pyrene derivative was designed to form, through a hierarchical process, well-defined supramolecular nanorods.

A new synergistic system combining KLVFF peptide and self-assembly chaperone can synchronize disaggregating amyloid fibrils and reducing consequent toxicity.

A novel carbodiimide insertion reaction enables a one-step, two-atom expansion of cyclic and linear sulfonimides, including the first direct expansion of saccharin into thiadiazepines.

Stoichiometric control allows for remarkable expansion of the cores of two known bis-calix[4]arene-supported clusters, with concomitant changes to the magnetic properties.

A thiophene-based molecular rotor was used to probe ordering and viscosity within artificial lipid bilayers and live cell plasma membranes.

A 3-dimensional networked molecular cage, NMC-1, has been synthesized that acts like a ‘molecular ship’ in a ‘breakable bottle’.

A pyrrole derivative possessing two perfluorohexyl (C₆F₁₃) chains at the β-positions was synthesized. The significant electron-withdrawing properties of the β-perfluoroalkyl chains induced fascinating anion-binding behaviour.

Benzoyl-substituted bipyrroles possessing aliphatic chains were synthesized and formed a variety of dimension-controlled assembled structures as mesophases using various intermolecular interactions.

A new effect was discovered which allows changes of selectivity by variation of the mobile phase flow rate.

We describe a simple setup for in situ continuous monitoring of vapour-induced transformations of organic solids using a benchtop powder X-ray diffractometer.

Mechanochemistry permits rapid solvent-free exchange of surface ligands on superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs), enabling control of surface properties.

Mechanochemistry and accelerated aging are new routes to zirconium metal–organic frameworks, yielding UiO-66 and catalytically active UiO-66-NH₂ accessible on the gram scale through mild solid-state self-assembly, without strong acids, high temperatures or excess reactants.

A nitro-substituted dipyrrolylphenol was synthesized as a precursor of a π-electronic anion, whose phenolate (phenoxide) moiety upon deprotonation was stabilized by the hydrogen-bond-donating pyrrole NH, thus forming solid-state ion pairs with various cationic species.

A combined experimental and computational study on the CO₂ adsorption performance of zirconium-based MIL-140 frameworks has revealed the crucial influence of pore-confinement effects.

A FRET-based, ratiometric redox probe undergoes a fluorescence colour change upon reduction, and can be used to study cellular oxidative capacity using confocal microscopy, fluorescence lifetime imaging and flow cytometry.

A fluorescein derivative exhibits increased fluorescence selectively in response to monofunctional platinum complexes, and can be used to study the metabolism of platinum-based chemotherapeutics.

A new dual-boron-cored luminogen ligated with a nitrogen-containing multidentate ligand and four bulky phenyl rings exhibits AIE and piezochromism. Furthermore, it shows good capabilities for imaging and anion sensing.

Thiazolothiazole-linked porous organic polymers have been synthesized from a facile catalyst-free condensation reaction between aldehydes and dithiooxamide under solvothermal conditions.

Two highly unusual isomeric coordination frameworks incorporating the nickel bis(dithiolate) metalloligand exhibit cyclable electroactive properties.

Cyclotrimerization of arylalkynes on Au(111) proceeds readily at modest temperatures, and affords two-dimensional covalently bonded polyphenylene networks.

Electrochemical potential causes molecular tiling of organic ions at the solid–liquid interface with supramolecular motifs that contain between 2 and 7 tectons.

A fluorescent sensor for redox state shows reversible oxidation/reduction at biologically-relevant potentials, and is used to visualise cellular oxidative capacity.

An efficient approach toward the synthesis of the 6,6,5,7-tetracyclic core of the daphnilongeranin B, a Daphniphyllum alkaloid, is reported.

We report the viscosity imaging of the plasma membrane of live cells using a new targeted BODIPY-based molecular rotor.

Addition of cadmium(II) nitrate to gallium-coordinated metal–organic C-alkylpyrogallol[4]arene nano-capsules affords a marked variation in the near spherical capsule motif.

The synthesis of a Co₁₅ cluster is dependent on the in situ formation of CO₃²⁻ and bis-phenolate ligands mimicking tetrahomodioxacalix[4]arene.

At physiological pH, polymer nanoparticles having degradable-core and charged-shell morphologies readily attract or repel enzymes carrying opposite or similar charges, respectively.

The ligand bis(5-tert-butyl-2-hydroxy-3-hydroxymethyl-phenyl)methane, a flexible calix[n]arene analogue, is employed to construct an unusual linear [Ln₃] trimer.

PCM-15 is a robust and recyclable sensor for the effective discrimination of a wide range of small molecules.

This communication describes the facile synthesis of mesoporous cuplike anatase TiO₂ nanocrystals. The novel cuplike morphology of the Au–TiO₂ nanomaterial with a dominant (101) facet shows remarkable visible-light photoactivity.

A microwave-assisted heating method allows for the convenient and reproducible synthesis of defined Au–Rh core–shell metallic nanoparticles with tuneable shell thicknesses.

Using concomitant redox and acid–base reactivity, conversion of CO₂ into MgCO₃ or CaCO₃, via regenerable (IP⁻)₂Al(OH), is presented (IP = α-iminopyridine).

A highly efficient microwave methodology for the synthesis of isoreticular zirconium oxide based Metal–Organic Frameworks has been demonstrated.

A two-photon fluorescent microporous bithiophene polymer (MBP) stable up to 460 °C was synthesized through Suzuki cross-coupling reaction.

Well-defined microrods with controllable crystal aggregate structures were achieved to generate outstanding optical waveguide properties.

A reaction-based strategy exploiting cobalt-mediated oxidative C–O bond cleavage affords a selective turn-on fluorescent probe for paramagnetic Co²⁺ in water and in living cells.

A new family of N-heteroacenes has been synthesized. Their solid state packing and optoelectronic properties can be finely tuned via modification of the substituents.

The development of an in situ solid state UV-Vis-NIR technique reveals the optical properties of [Zn₂(NDC)₂(DPNI)]^0/−/2− (DPNI = N,N′-di(4-pyridyl)-1,4,5,8-naphthalenetetracarboxydiimide, NDC = 2,7-naphthalene dicarboxylate).

The electrogenerated upconversion was achieved in the uniformly doped organic nanowires based on triplet energy transfer from tris(2,2′-bipyridyl)ruthenium(II) to 9,10-diphenylanthracene.

The 3-dimensional porous coordination polymer, PCM-10, is based on triphenylphosphine. The free phosphine sites within the polymer may be post-synthetically modified with catalytic species, such as AuCl.

Synthesis of substituted phenylacetylide ligands 2,6-bis(trimethylsilyl)phenylacetylene (H1) and 2-(triphenylsilyl)phenylacteylene (H2) is reported.

PCM-11: a highly stable Mg(II)-phosphine oxide coordination material that exhibits a very large CO₂ storage capacity at high pressure.

Using fluorescent probes and EPR we have shown that irradiation of “Killer Red” (KRed) results in the production of radicals and hydrogen peroxide supporting a Type I photosensitization mechanism.

Tetraimine cobalt complexes are active for H₂ evolution. A carboxylic acid derivative is electrochemically active in CH₃CN upon adsorption to ITO. Co(dmgBF₂)₂(MeCN)₂ (dmg = dimethylglyoxime) can be adsorbed on a glassy carbon electrode and is active for H₂ evolution in aqueous solution at pH < 4.5 with an overpotential of ca. 100 mV.

Zwitterionic dinuclear cobalt macrocycles incorporating a pyridazine bridging unit reversibly support five distinct oxidation states, and are active proton reduction electrocatalysts at comparatively positive redox couples and low overpotentials.

A cyclodextrin is clasped round the waist of a cyanine dye to form a stable rotaxane.

A picosecond infrared spectroscopic study of DNA bases has demonstrated that electronic excitation creates vibrationally excited ground state molecules within the first picosecond.