Themed collection 2023 Emerging Investigators

This profile article showcases researchers who have contributed an article to the 2023 Emerging Investigators collection.

This profile article showcases researchers who have contributed an article to the 2023 Emerging Investigators collection.

This profile article showcases researchers who have contributed an article to the 2023 Emerging Investigators collection.

Ring-closing metathesis depolymerization (RCMD) is a robust approach to recycle and upcycle polyolefin materials. In this review, we highlight the recent advances in closed-loop recycling of polymers enabled by the RCMD approach.

This review provides a concise but comprehensive summary of recent advances in covalent organic frameworks (COFs) for biological applications.

Proposed de novo peptide design strategy against amyloidogenic targets. After initial computational preparation of the binder and target, the computational and experimental validation are incorporated in iterative machine learning powered cycles to generate better and improved peptide-based targets.

We review some recent strategies to improve the energy density, power density and cycling stability of redox-active COF-based electrodes for rechargeable batteries from the perspective of molecular design and electrode optimisation.

Materials informatics (MI) has immense potential to accelerate the pace of innovation and new product development for polymer-based therapeutic delivery platforms in biotechnology.

This review focuses on emerging high-entropy-oxide-based anodes for LIBs, summarizing synthesis routes, discussing the structural evolution and lithium storage mechanism, and detailing strategies for improving electrochemical performance.

Chloride additives for high performance perovskite solar cells, and the understanding of their roles from the viewpoint of their solubility, volatility, cation size and chemical groups.

This highlight article discusses the recent advancement of polymers of intrinsic microporosity (PIMs) and PIM based materials for removal of dyes by adsorption, nanofiltration and photocatalytic degradation.

In this review article, we have discussed the recent developments in fluorescence-based chemosensing of organoarsenic feed additives using luminescence MOFs, COFs, HOFs, and QDs.

Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting for hydrogen evolution has been considered as a promising technology to solve the energy and environmental issues.

Road map for patterned growth of two-dimensional atomic-layer semiconductors.

Mechanistic analysis of catalysis of the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and CO₂ reduction reaction (CO₂RR) by polypyridine complexes of first-row transition metals highlights many similarities with the active sites of Natural enzymes.

Proposed synergistic mechanism of simultaneous photocatalysis and Fenton-based processes.

Two-dimensional (2D) materials, consisting of atomically thin layered crystals, have attracted tremendous interest due to their outstanding intrinsic properties and diverse applications in electronics, optoelectronics, and catalysis.

Mechanoredox catalysis facilitates the transfer of external force to fuel radical polymerizations processes.

Liquid metal catalyzed morphology engineering allows for exercising control over critical parameters of 2D epitaxial heterostructures such as density, size, and thickness, achieved through gas flow modulation, substrate selection, or etching.

In this feature article, we discuss the formation of long-range, ordered, amyloid-like fibrils from native phenylalanine molecules in aqueous and organic media and the inhibition of toxic fibrils by using various potent therapeutic agents.

As an emerging functional material, liquid metal–hydrogel composites exhibit excellent biosafety, high electrical conductivity, tunable mechanical properties etc., providing a unique platform for a wide range of flexible electronics applications.

This feature article provides a comprehensive overview of recent developments and applications of Bobbitt's salt and 4-acetamidoTEMPO in organic synthesis and fields beyond.

Above band gap photoexcitation of halide perovskites with ultrashort visible pulses creates hot charge carriers, which relaxes to the band edge in a few hundred of femtoseconds.

An encompassing survey of XBX-doped π-conjugated systems and how the X-B-X unit induces transformative structural and property changes.

This feature article describes recent examples of the implementation of two types of organic electronic materials including phenothiazine and truxene in heterogeneous photocatalysis for organic synthesis.

A class of Cl-containing cyanine dyes has been found to selectively bind to albumin, enabling site-specific tagging of albumin. This leads to enhanced optical properties, improved pharmacokinetics/biosafety, and advanced bioimaging applications.

Stimuli-responsive switchable molecular magnetic materials undergo reversible changes in their physical properties upon application of external stimuli and have great application potential in spintronics, memory devices, switches, and sensors.

This Feature Article summarizes the recent progress in prodrug activation mediated by controllable bioorthogonal catalysis.

This feature article focuses on the synthesis and applications of vinyl sulfoxonium ylides under metal-mediated and metal-free conditions.

Main group elements are promising for developing electrochemical H₂ production or CO₂ reduction catalysts.

Combining a working knowledge of reaction mechanism with statistical modelling is a powerful approach to prediction.

This feature article focuses on the challenges, developments, and strategies for organic electrode materials and carbon/small-sulfur composites to provide insights for sustainable batteries.

This feature article discusses the state-of-play of cyclic sulfinic acid derivative (sultines and cyclic sulfinamides) formation.

We describe the recent efforts in the field of bioinspired confined complexes, with an emphasis on the emerging hemicryptophane caged catalysts.

This work summarizes how catalysts informatics plays a role in catalyst design.

Waxgels are known to slowly regenerate wax peels spontaneously. Here, black carbon composite enables the photo-thermal-accelerated regrowth of sacrificial wax peel on waxgel surfaces for an on-demand de-icing operation.

Pt(II)-bis(quinolinyl) complexes were used for photocatalytic H₂ production with a TON of 1230 surpassing the performances of conventionally used Pt(II)(terpyridyl) complexes.

This work designs a Nb₃O₇(OH) photocatalyst containing surface lattice hydroxyl groups for promoting photocatalytic CH₄ coupling to C₂H₆ under mild conditions.

Local tensile strain induces a 100 mV drop of the Ni(OH)₂-to-NiOOH transfer potential, remarkably enhancing the electrocatalytic ammonia oxidation reaction.

Systematic replacement of selenium for tellurium in a chalcogen-bonding tecton results in divergent assembly behavior from competitive solvents.

A pincer-supported nickel complex undergoes redox-controlled aryl insertion and elimination, triggering reversible Ni–P–C bond cleavage.

An air-stable, phosphine-free ruthenium-based molecular catalyst is developed for the efficient reduction of hydrazine to ammonia using suitable reductant and proton pairs.

Utilizing the click chemistry to create multifunctional molecular junctions on SAMs offers a versatile platform for advanced molecular electronics.

A physically crosslinked protein-based hydrogel was developed based on silk acid. It can be produced under physiological conditions with a modulus close to the extracellular matrix, supporting 3D cell culture and cell-laden injection.

Hydrogen bonding between CN and MCC enables excellent charge separation and migration, leading to the outstanding photoelectrochemical properties of MCC/CN.

Picogram quantities of polystyrene nanoparticles of varying size and surface functionality are separated in environmental matrices using capillary electrophoresis.

Alternative synthetic pathways for biomolecule encapsulation permit to overcome the elusive mineralization process of HKUST-1 in water.

We investigate the dynamic degradation behaviors of a nickel–copper–molybdenum hydrogen evolution catalyst in a liquid and solid polymer electrolyte to figure out its endurance in a renewable energy-driven electrolyzer.

We report the synthesis and characterization of two new fluorophores, consisting of a [8]cyclo-para-phenylene core in which two phenylenes are bridged by either a nitrogen atom or a carbonyl group.

A rare molecular cluster compound of bismuth and yttrium, [K(THF)₄][Cp*₂Y₂Bi₆], featuring a bridging cyclohexane-like Bi₆⁶⁻ chair, was isolated and characterised via single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis, UV-Vis spectroscopy and DFT calculations.

A cobalt–phenylenediamide complex reacts with electrophilic CF₃⁺ and F⁺ sources, generating new Co(III)–CF₃ or Co(III)–F species through ligand-to-substrate two-electron transfer.

Photochemical reductive deamination of alpha-amino aryl alkyl ketones under photosensitizer-free conditions is presented, and this protocol features high efficiency and selectivity.

We report a simple and rational method to rank lead-likeness of molecules using continuous evaluation functions.

Opto-magnetic dual-responsive actuating fibers and fabrics with high output force and multimodal motion abilities programmed by direct ink writing.

Biocatalytic decarboxylative halogenation of 3-carboxyindoles is enabled by vanadium haloperoxidases with halogenation generality.

Electrophilic or nucleophilic? Reduction of a bulky boron bromide with lithium leads to C–N bond cleavage though a nucleophilic boryl anion. In contrast, reaction with an anionic iron carbonyl salt leads to cooperative reduction of CO.

Cu(II) complexes of HDAC inhibitor analogues efficiently overcoming limitations of chemodynamic therapy.

Multi-coloured and white-light emissions from pyrene-based hydrazones are described.

Superior derivatives of bispyrazolylmethanes, bis(4-hydroxy-3,5-dinitropyrazolyl)methane and its high-performance energetic salts, were synthesized and characterized.

Giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) with semi-permeable nature are constructed as building blocks for synthetic cells.

Brønsted acidity is investigated from a new perspective by using nuclear electronic orbital methods. The orbital energies of the proton wavefunction are related to acid strength in analogy to the Koopmans' theorem for electrons.

Herein, we designed alkylated lysine-dendron oxytocin amphiphiles (ALOAs) 1G-OTK and 2G-OTK, which were self-assembled into spherical nanoparticles and nanostrips, respectively, and showed superior stability compared to native oxytocin.

Functionalized bicyclo[2.1.1]hexanones are easily accessible via enolate addition to bicyclobutanes, including derivatives with an exocyclic amino group for further functionalization.

The synthesis and excited state chiral investigations of a set of enantiomerically pure Au nanoclusters exhibiting circularly polarised phosphorescence, both in the solution state and solid film, is reported.

A wearable strain sensor with favorable durability and sensitivity achieved through thermal-radiation-promoted in situ welding of fiber joints.

Herein, we describe nickel-catalyzed nitrile hydroboration with pinacolborane, wherein a tethered NHC–pyridonate ligand enables cooperative activation of both reagents simultaneously to achieve efficient catalysis at room temperature.

A high-order dendritic framework nucleic acid was constructed via one-pot modular assembly for targeted delivery and responsive release of environment tolerant antisense peptide nucleic acids to combat drug resistance in cancer therapy.

Oriented external electric field is used to manipulate the direction of charge transfer in metal catalyzed oxidative addition reaction. The resultant mechanistic swap transforms an inhibitive electric field into a catalytic one.

A well-known molecule, benzilic acid, is used as a [2+2] photodimerization template by using third-generation crystal engineering principles.

We developed a whole-cell biosensor that quantifies β-lactamase inhibition in a cellular context. This assay accounts for factors such as membrane permeability and can be used to identify novel β-lactamase inhibitors.