Themed collection Celebrating the 150th anniversary of the German Chemical Society

Recent advances and new trends in crystal engineering are highlighted with particular emphasis on developments in intermolecular interactions, notably hydrogen and halogen bonds; metal–organic frameworks; polymorphism and solvates.

The reviews in this thematic issue of Chemical Society Reviews on gold chemistry are introduced and achievements in the field are reviewed.

In this perspective we discuss recent advances in the understanding of collective and many-body van der Waals interactions and their role and impact for molecular materials.

We review the crystal chemistry and physics of molecular perovskites, drawing on topical examples of the recent literature.

Cytochrome P450 enzymes (CYPs) have been used for more than six decades as catalysts for the CH-activating oxidative hydroxylation of organic compounds with formation of added-value products.

Tetronate natural products display a range of remarkable bioactivities. This review provides a proposal for a classification system of tetronate antibiotics based on structural features and discusses common principals in biosynthesis and chemical syntheses. Finally, a comprehensive analysis of structure–activity relationships and modes of action is included.

Historical developments, trends, pitfalls and strategies in improving f-element single molecule magnets are described.

The application of micro-total analysis systems has grown exponentially over the past few years, particularly in disciplines involving bioassays. This review aims to detail recent approaches to sample preparation, nucleic acid amplification and detection within microfluidic devices or at the microscale level.

Increasing the phobicity of pores towards ions can improve energy storage in nanoporous supercapacitors, and simultaneously increase the power density.

The stability of copper/zinc heterometallated porphyrin complex oligomers provides information on the strength of the copper porphyrin pyridine interaction. Heterometallated nanorings were prepared by template-directed synthesis.

The pyrazole and salen ligandosides, when combined, are able to create stable multi-copper ion complexing DNA duplex structures in a cooperative fashion.

A functional model of charge generation in a finely mixed polymer/fullerene phase followed by spatial separation of electrons and holes at the interface with crystalline PCBM.

The self assembly of two gigantic supramolecular copper(II)-cis,trans-1,3,5-triaminocyclohexane based MOFs, directed by anion control, is probed by cryospray mass spectrometry.

We discuss benchmarking considerations for multi-junction solar fuel absorbers and investigate the effects of spectral shaping by catalyst nanoparticles on design criteria.

Wearing of personal monitors for nanoparticle exposure studies does not affect the measurement performance compared to laboratory studies.

A reductive dehalogenase (PceA) adsorbed on TiO₂ nanoparticles catalyzes regiospecific transformations of chlorinated ethenes under UV irradiation.

The thermal decomposition of CF₄ (+Ar) → CF₃ + F (+Ar) was studied in shock waves over the temperature range 2000–3000 K. The experiments were shown to correspond to the central part of the falloff curve.

We study the full spatial and time dependence of the self-intermediate scattering function, F_s(k,t), for a quasi-two-dimensional colloidal hard sphere fluid and quantify the deviations from the Gaussian approximation.

A flow process for direct amination of a pharmaceutically relevant substrate using a Pd-NHC based catalyst was demonstrated in a lab-scale mini-plant and in a pilot-scale plant.

Thermal expansion in ABX₃ formates is correlated to the size and molecular anisotropy of the A- and B-site cations.

X-ray spectroscopies have shown a higher chlorine concentration near the perovskite/TiO₂ interface than throughout the rest of the perovskite film.

A comprehensive investigation into the limitations, reactivity and chemical decomposition mechanisms of ionic liquid–carbohydrate mixtures.

The orientation of seven iridium-based emitter molecules for OLEDs is compared and surprisingly all except Ir(ppy)₃ show considerable horizontal orientation.

Ruthenium-catalyzed syntheses of cyclopropyl-substituted isocoumarins and isoquinolones were accomplished through highly chemo-, site- and regioselective C–H/O–H and C–H/N–H bond functionalizations with cyclopropylacetylenes.

A Genetic Algorithm-DFT approach is used to predict the composition-dependent interconversion between 2D and 3D isomers for 8-atom Au–Ag clusters.

We have characterised black tea thearubigins using standard and advanced analytical techniques and confirmed the oxidative cascade hypothesis for thearubigins formation showing evidence for theaflavin and theacitrin polyhydroxylation and quinone formation.

The acidolytic activation of phenylated carbosilane dendrimers allows the selective functionalization of core, branch and end group positions.

Relating surface structure/morphology of Pt overlayers electrochemically grown on Ru(100) to catalytic activity towards electro-oxidation of small organic molecules?

The efficiency of a series of amino-azacryptands for encapsulation and extraction of the oxoanions pertechnetate and perrhenate from aqueous solution is investigated and compared with that of their open-chain counterparts. The extractabilities could not be explained solely on the basis of ligand lipophilicity.

A series of silyl- and germylboryl complexes of the type A and B (E = Si, Ge; R = various ligands) was obtained from the novel dichloroboranes Cl₂B–ER₃ and fully characterised, which, despite the electron deficiency of the boron centres, exhibit no metal–boron π-bonding in solution or in the crystal.