Themed collection Most popular 2019-2020 chemical biology articles
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Metallodrugs are unique: opportunities and challenges of discovery and development
The vital roles of metals in nutrients and medicines are not accessible to purely organic compounds.
Chem. Sci., 2020,11, 12888-12917
https://doi.org/10.1039/D0SC04082G
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The Hitchhiker's guide to biocatalysis: recent advances in the use of enzymes in organic synthesis
Enzymes are excellent catalysts that are increasingly being used in industry and academia. This Perspective provides a general and practical guide to enzymes and their synthetic potential, primarily aimed at synthetic organic chemists.
Chem. Sci., 2020,11, 2587-2605
https://doi.org/10.1039/C9SC05746C
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Photo-controllable bioorthogonal chemistry for spatiotemporal control of bio-targets in living systems
The establishment of photo-controllable bioorthogonal chemistry is one of the most significant advances in chemical biology to perturb and study biological processes.
Chem. Sci., 2020,11, 3390-3396
https://doi.org/10.1039/C9SC06540G
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Biomedical applications of copper-free click chemistry: in vitro, in vivo, and ex vivo
Copper-free click chemistry has resulted in a change of paradigm, showing that artificial chemical reactions can occur on cell surfaces, in cell cytosol, or within the body. It has emerged as a valuable tool in biomedical fields.
Chem. Sci., 2019,10, 7835-7851
https://doi.org/10.1039/C9SC03368H
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A single amino acid Gly-tag enables metal-free protein purification
Gly-tag resin precisely captures and releases a protein with one glycine at the N-terminus. The user-friendly protocol delivers analytically pure protein free of metal contaminants.
Chem. Sci., 2020,11, 13137-13142
https://doi.org/10.1039/D0SC01153C
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Activation chemistry drives the emergence of functionalised protocells
The complexity of the simplest conceivable cell suggests that the chemistry of prebiotic mixtures needs to be explored to understand the intricate network of prebiotic reactions that led to the emergence of life.
Chem. Sci., 2020,11, 10688-10697
https://doi.org/10.1039/D0SC04506C
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Cyclooctatetraene-conjugated cyanine mitochondrial probes minimize phototoxicity in fluorescence and nanoscopic imaging
Cyclooctatetraene-conjugated cyanine dyes represent an effective strategy to improve biocompatibility under light in live-cell fluorescence imaging and analysis of mitochondria.
Chem. Sci., 2020,11, 8506-8516
https://doi.org/10.1039/D0SC02837A
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Self-division of giant vesicles driven by an internal enzymatic reaction
Giant unilamellar vesicles having pH-sensitive bilayers can undergo self-division triggered by an internal enzymatic (urea–urease) reaction coupled to a cross-membrane transport of the chemical species.
Chem. Sci., 2020,11, 3228-3235
https://doi.org/10.1039/C9SC05195C
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Bioorthogonal mRNA labeling at the poly(A) tail for imaging localization and dynamics in live zebrafish embryos
Live imaging of mRNA in cells and organisms is important for understanding the dynamic aspects underlying its function.
Chem. Sci., 2020,11, 3089-3095
https://doi.org/10.1039/C9SC05981D
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Probing enzymatic activity – a radical approach
Latent activity-based probes have been developed for deubiquitinating enzymes using a thiol–ene strategy, labelling following a specific binding interaction.
Chem. Sci., 2020,11, 2967-2972
https://doi.org/10.1039/C9SC05258E
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Metabolic inhibitors of bacterial glycan biosynthesis
Metabolic inhibitors based on rare bacterial monosaccharide scaffolds interfere with bacterial glycan biosynthesis in a bacteria-selective manner.
Chem. Sci., 2020,11, 1761-1774
https://doi.org/10.1039/C9SC05955E
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A H2O2 self-sufficient nanoplatform with domino effects for thermal-responsive enhanced chemodynamic therapy
Phase change material based H2O2 self-supply nanoparticles for enhanced thermal responsive chemodynamic tumor therapy.
Chem. Sci., 2020,11, 1926-1934
https://doi.org/10.1039/C9SC05506A
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Reversible RNA acylation for control of CRISPR–Cas9 gene editing
We report the development of post-transcriptional chemical methods that enable control over CRISPR–Cas9 gene editing activity both in in vitro assays and in living cells.
Chem. Sci., 2020,11, 1011-1016
https://doi.org/10.1039/C9SC03639C
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Isonitrile-responsive and bioorthogonally removable tetrazine protecting groups
Tetrazylmethyl groups are reported here as bioorthogonal protecting groups that are readily removed by isonitriles, establishing a valuable addition to the dissociative bioorthogonal chemistry and synthetic methodology toolboxes.
Chem. Sci., 2020,11, 169-179
https://doi.org/10.1039/C9SC04649F
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Isomeric triazines exhibit unique profiles of bioorthogonal reactivity
Isomeric triazines can be tuned to exhibit unique reaction profiles with biocompatible strained alkenes and alkynes.
Chem. Sci., 2019,10, 9109-9114
https://doi.org/10.1039/C9SC01427F
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Mesoporous cerium oxide-coated upconversion nanoparticles for tumor-responsive chemo-photodynamic therapy and bioimaging
A hollow structured biophotocatalyst comprising an UCNP core and mesoporous cerium oxide shell was constructed to realize oxygen self-efficient photodynamic therapy upon 980 nm laser irradiation under multiple imaging guidance.
Chem. Sci., 2019,10, 8618-8633
https://doi.org/10.1039/C9SC01615E
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A natural solution to photoprotection and isolation of the potent polyene antibiotic, marinomycin A
Perfect partners for photoprotection: orally ingestible sporopollenin confers striking photoprotection to the powerful, polyene antibiotic, marinomycin A, as well as enabling its selective extraction.
Chem. Sci., 2019,10, 7549-7553
https://doi.org/10.1039/C9SC01375J
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Introduction of the α-ketoamide structure: en route to develop hydrogen peroxide responsive prodrugs
New light on H2O2-activated prodrugs: the first α-ketoamide based prodrug opens up new alternatives for designing non-boron based H2O2-responsive promoieties.
Chem. Sci., 2019,10, 7156-7162
https://doi.org/10.1039/C9SC00910H
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Atomic resolution map of the soluble amyloid beta assembly toxic surfaces
Atomic resolution map of the soluble amyloid beta assembly (Aβn) “toxic surfaces” that facilitate the early pathogenic events in Alzheimer's disease (AD).
Chem. Sci., 2019,10, 6072-6082
https://doi.org/10.1039/C9SC01331H
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Targeting extracellular glycans: tuning multimeric boronic acids for pathogen-selective killing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Innovative chemotherapeutic agents that are active against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) are urgently required to control the tuberculosis (TB) epidemic.
Chem. Sci., 2019,10, 5935-5942
https://doi.org/10.1039/C9SC00415G
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Widely applicable background depletion step enables transaminase evolution through solid-phase screening
Directed evolution of transaminases is a widespread technique in the development of highly sought-after biocatalysts for industrial applications.
Chem. Sci., 2019,10, 5952-5958
https://doi.org/10.1039/C8SC05712E
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Harnessing 13C-labeled myo-inositol to interrogate inositol phosphate messengers by NMR
The analysis of inositol poly- and pyrophosphates, an important group of eukaryotic messengers, is enabled by applying 13C-labeled inositol.
Chem. Sci., 2019,10, 5267-5274
https://doi.org/10.1039/C9SC00151D
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Hollow nanoreactors for Pd-catalyzed Suzuki–Miyaura coupling and O-propargyl cleavage reactions in bio-relevant aqueous media
We describe the fabrication of hollow microspheres consisting of mesoporous silica nanoshells decorated with an inner layer of palladium nanoparticles and their use as Pd-nanoreactors in aqueous media.
Chem. Sci., 2019,10, 2598-2603
https://doi.org/10.1039/C8SC04390F
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Simultaneous dual-colour tracking lipid droplets and lysosomes dynamics using a fluorescent probe
NIM-7 is demonstrated to be a multicomponent fluorescent probe that accumulates in both lipid droplets and lysosomes after entering cells, giving rise to yellow and red fluorescence emission, respectively. This allows the two organelles to be visualized concurrently.
Chem. Sci., 2019,10, 2342-2348
https://doi.org/10.1039/C8SC04462G
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Dual-biomarker-triggered fluorescence probes for differentiating cancer cells and revealing synergistic antioxidant effects under oxidative stress
Dual-biomarker-triggered fluorescent probes were developed for simultaneous detection of the two biomarkers H2S and hNQO1 in cancer cells.
Chem. Sci., 2019,10, 1945-1952
https://doi.org/10.1039/C8SC03781G
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Rhodamine–Hoechst positional isomers for highly efficient staining of heterochromatin
Nuclei of living cells fluoresce brighter after staining with rhodamine–Hoechst 5-isomers.
Chem. Sci., 2019,10, 1962-1970
https://doi.org/10.1039/C8SC05082A
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Fluorogenic hydrogen sulfide (H2S) donors based on sulfenyl thiocarbonates enable H2S tracking and quantification
Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is an important cellular signaling molecule that exhibits promising protective effects.
Chem. Sci., 2019,10, 1873-1878
https://doi.org/10.1039/C8SC05200J
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In situ imaging of aminopeptidase N activity in hepatocellular carcinoma: a migration model for tumour using an activatable two-photon NIR fluorescent probe
In this work, a novel NIR two-photon fluorescence probe DCM-APN is reported for tracking APN in vitro and in vivo.
Chem. Sci., 2019,10, 1619-1625
https://doi.org/10.1039/C8SC04685A
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A general approach for the site-selective modification of native proteins, enabling the generation of stable and functional antibody–drug conjugates
Divinylpyrimidine (DVP) linkers enable access to highly stable and functional antibody–drug conjugates.
Chem. Sci., 2019,10, 694-700
https://doi.org/10.1039/C8SC04645J
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Site-selective protein conjugation at histidine
Site-selective conjugation generally requires both (i) molecular engineering of the protein of interest to introduce a conjugation site at a defined location and (ii) a site-specific conjugation technology.
Chem. Sci., 2019,10, 427-439
https://doi.org/10.1039/C8SC03355B
About this collection
This specially curated collection pulls together some of the most popular articles from 2019 and 2020 in the field of chemical biology. The collection presents some outstanding contributions to the field, ranging from the production of metabolic inhibitors of bacterial glycan biosynthesis to a novel method for temporal control of CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing activity, and as with all Chemical Science articles – they are all completely free to access and read. We hope you enjoy browsing through this collection.
See also:
Most popular 2019-2020 inorganic, main group and crystal engineering chemistry articles
Most popular 2019-2020 materials and energy chemistry articles
Most popular 2019-2020 physical and theoretical chemistry articles
Most popular 2019-2020 organic chemistry articles
Most popular 2019-2020 catalysis articles
Most popular 2019-2020 analytical chemistry articles
Most popular 2019-2020 supramolecular chemistry articles
Most popular 2019-2020 review articles