Themed collection 2018 Emerging Investigators

The tunable bandgap energy has been recognized as a prominent feature of the colloidal semiconductor nanocrystal, also called the colloidal quantum dot (CQD).

Two-dimensional (2D) conductive metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have emerged as a unique class of multifunctional materials with broad applicability in electronics, chemical sensing, gas capture, catalysis, and energy conversion and storage.

High-throughput screening is an important component of the drug discovery process.

We present the isolations, the biosynthetic studies, the biological activities, and the comprehensive description of all reported total syntheses of spirocyclic PKS-NRPS-based fungal natural products.

Lessons can be drawn from cell membranes in controlling noncovalent functionalization of 2D materials to optimize interactions with the environment.

Surface and core of inorganic nanoparticles may undergo profound transformations in their environment of use. Accurate description is key to understand and control surface reactivity.

Separation and analytical sciences can help to advance metabolomics by improving metabolite coverage, accuracy of quantitation and data quality.

We highlight recent progress in bottom-up synthesis of well-defined distorted polyaromatic hydrocarbons with saddle shapes containing heptagonal and octagonal carbocycles.

The transfer of a reactive nucleophilic CH₂X unit into a preformed bond enables the introduction of a fragment featuring the exact and desired degree of functionalization through a single synthetic operation.

We describe the challenges of high-energy lithium-metal batteries and outline the future directions that are expected to drive their progress.

This feature article highlights the use of hybrid molecule/semiconductor devices for the selective production of solar chemicals.

Assays to monitor enzyme reactions are vital for studying enzyme mechanism, function and inhibition. We focus on recent progress in the development of enzyme activity assays using lanthanide(III) luminescence, covering Ln(III)-labelled biomolecules, Ln(III) ion encapsulation within peptide sequences, reactivity-based Ln(III) probes and discrete Ln(III) complexes.

Enzymes exist as a dynamic ensemble of conformations, each potentially playing a key role in substrate binding, the chemical transformation, or product release. We discuss recent advances in the evaluation of the enzyme conformational dynamics and its evolution towards new functions or substrate preferences.

The chemistry, properties and applications of corannulene are discussed.

Photoinduced electron/energy transfer-reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (PET-RAFT) process has opened up a new way of precision polymer manufacturing to satisfy the concept of green chemistry.

The past four years have witnessed significant developments in the field of the catalytic asymmetric synthesis of spirooxindoles, and this feature article outlines the recent progress in this area, including the contributions of our group. This article is divided into sections according to the size and type of the generated spiro-ring fused at the C3-position of the oxindole core.

The commonly inert chloromethanes, dichloromethane and trichloromethane, can exchange other solvents bonded at open coordination sites in metal–organic frameworks, providing a new route to activate the open coordination sites for subsequent use in applications.

Sn-Chalcogenides are recognized as high performance thermoelectrics and topological insulators due to their unique crystal and electronic structures and lattice dynamics.

We highlight recent novel approaches in the field of artificial photosynthesis. We emphasize the potential of a highly modular plug-and-play concept that we hope will persuade the community to explore a more inclusive variety of multielectron redox catalysis to complement the proton reduction and water oxidation half-reactions in traditional solar water splitting systems.

This review highlights the recent advances in the application of carbene complexes in bond activation reactions via metal–ligand cooperation.

Click chemistry-based amplification assays provide enabling tools for chemical probe and drug discovery.

Attributed to nanoscale proximity effects, integrated nanozymes with superior activities, specificity, and stability will be a hot topic in the future.

Hierarchically ordered perovskite materials which have potential applications in chemistry, energy and materials science.

In this review, we highlight how recent advances in the field of actinide structural chemistry of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) could be utilized towards investigations relative to efficient nuclear waste administration, driven by the interest towards development of novel actinide-containing architectures as well as concerns regarding environmental pollution and nuclear waste storage.

The effect of Yaa-position amino acid variation in collagen peptides paired with adjacent azaGlycine residues is investigated.

Star-shaped poly(ethylene oxide-stat-propylene oxide) polymers are end-modified with amine and epoxy groups to produce anisometric microgels with adaptable mechanical and (bio)chemical properties and self-assembly behaviour.

Mechanical and piezoelectric properties of Nylon-11 nanowires strongly depend on their crystal structure, which can be precisely controlled by template-assisted growth methods.

We designed and synthesized crystalline covalent-organic frameworks that exhibit both slow and fast molecular motions in their structure.

Transition-metal-free C–H amidation and chlorination for the synthesis of N/N′-mono-substituted imidazopyridin-2-ones from versatile N-pyridyl-N-hydroxylamine intermediates at room temperature.

An approach for the design of functionalized cyclic peptides is established for use in 3D cell culture and in cell targeting.

Specific mapping using AFM tips derivatized with toxin fragments targeting specific lipids as a novel approach to evidence lateral lipid heterogeneities at high-resolution.

Geometrically constrained phosphenium cation was synthesized, and in contrast to previously reported phosphenium cations, it is ambiphilic and reactive towards small molecules.

A versatile synthesis of unsymmetrical Si-rhodamines was established and applied for development of a hypoxia-sensing far-red to NIR fluorescence probe.

We report a divergent synthesis of CF₃-substituted fused skeletons based on precise control of the activation site through the selection of acid catalysts.

A π-conjugated inorganic polymer comprised of boron difluoride formazanate and platinum(II) diyne repeat units with unusual redox properties and a narrow optical band gap of ca. 1.4 eV is introduced.

Low-overpotential electrochemical CO₂ reduction by a Ru(II) polypyridyl complex can be achieved by the simple substitution of pyridine with a phosphine ligand.

Even for short peptides that are enriched in basic amino acids, the large chemical space that can be spanned by combinations of natural amino acids hinders the rational design of cell penetrating peptides.

An ultra-low voltage operatable thin-film transistor based on a polythiophene pendant with a carboxy sidechain can detect biogenic amines in water.

A novel multi-color-changing MCL compound has been developed that also shows TADF and RTP.

Herein, we demonstrate a new catalytic cycloaddition of quinolinium zwitterions involving a gold-bound allylic cation intermediate.

Catalytic oxidative nitrene transfer from azides with the early transition metals is rare, and has not been observed without the support of redox noninnocent spectator ligands.

A new phosphine-free Co(II) complex-catalyzed sustainable synthesis of quinoxalines, quinolines and 2-alkylaminoquinolines is reported.

The ZnO/perovskite interface can efficiently catalyse the perovskite crystallization process even without thermal annealing.

A palladium-catalyzed C5-selective alkenylation of imidazoles has been developed and applied to the synthesis of alkenyl imidazoles and multi-substituted benzimidazoles.

Tuning the molecular weight of polymeric amphiphiles allows access to polymeric micelles with extremely diverse enzymatic degradation and disassembly rates.

A pristine porous organic polymer with a polyaromatic core of pyrene and redox-active functionalities exhibits remarkable supercapacitor performance with long-term cyclic stability.

Confining iodine in the micropores of carbon cloth suppresses unfavorable triiodide intermediates and enables superior performance of assembled flexible zinc–iodine batteries.

Abnormal sergeants-and-soldiers enabled the discrimination of a single methylene group.

Hydrothermal synthesis of ammonia-intercalated iron chalcogenides using an alkali-free route.

A novel strategy for the synthesis of heterocyclic fused 2-aminoquinolines via palladium-catalyzed tandem cyclization of o-alkynylanilines and isocyanides has been developed.

CsPbBr₃ nanoparticles that have been treated with NH₄SCN to produce essentially trap-free surfaces show an increase of one photon up-conversion quantum yield with little change to the up-conversion energy of activation, as estimated using an Arrhenius analysis.

Metal ion-dependent glass formation of coordination polymer crystals and direct molecular doping for the glass are studied with H⁺ conductivity.

A 1.38 V aqueous organic redox flow battery demonstrated 97.48% capacity retention for 500 cycles and 128 mW cm⁻² power density.

Simple and readily accessible lithium compounds are found to be efficient single site catalysts for cyanosilylation and hydroboration of a range of aldehydes and ketones under ambient conditions.

Syntheses and site differentiated reactivity for titanium-functionalized polyoxovanadate–alkoxide clusters are presented. We present insights into the mechanism and electronic consequences metal oxide halogenation.

The Pd-catalyzed decarboxylative benzylation of aryl bromides using a diverse range of electron-deficient aryl acetates is reported.

Inspired by natural polyketide synthesis, pentalene-based, cross-conjugated chromophores were synthesized from an aliphatic oligoketone chain.

A hexagonal BaFeO_3−δ perovskite catalyst containing high valent iron species exhibits high catalytic performance for the aerobic oxidation of alkanes without the need for additives.

Rare difluorogold(III) complexes supported by N-ligands can be synthesized simply either from Au(I) precursors using XeF₂ or Au(III) using KF.

Photon upconverting coordination nanofibers are constructed by extracting the structural motifs of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs).

We measured three cooperative diffusion coefficients describing the dynamics of polymer gels, and provided the experimental evidence to fundamentally understand it.

The presented N-heterocyclic carbene iminoxyl borate radical zwitterion shows remarkable stability toward air, moisture, and silica gel.

The introduction of –NH₂ group in SION-100 allows the visible light absorption, and both SION-100 and SION-100-NH₂ luminesce NIR light with long lifetimes and high quantum yields.

A general and scalable microfluidic photoreactor for light-driven reaction of 2-methylbenzophenones was successfully developed.

Herein a novel, elusive cyanotrifluoromethylthiolation of unactivated dialkyl-substituted alkynes by means of intramolecular distal cyano migration is reported.

The reactions of 9-borafluorenes with organic azides result in either the insertion of the α-nitrogen and elimination of N₂ or the insertion of the γ-nitrogen to generate the corresponding phenanthrene analogues with boron and nitrogen in the 9- and 10-positions, respectively.

Mechanochemistry has been established to be an environmentally-friendly way of conducting reactions in a solvent-free manner.

A chiral aluminum solvating agent (CASA) was demonstrated to be a general and efficient reagent for ¹H NMR chiral analysis of alcohols.

The first Csp³–Csp² cross-coupling using aldehydes as latent α-alkoxyalkyl anion equivalents has been achieved.