Themed collection Viewpoints
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Enantioselective hydroacylation of olefins with rhodium catalysts
Since James and Young's seminal report on the kinetic resolution of 4-pentenals by hydroacylation, enantioselective methods have progressed to include 4-pentenal cyclisations, medium-ring syntheses, and intermolecular variants.
Chem. Commun., 2014,50, 13645-13649
https://doi.org/10.1039/C4CC02276A
In the dawn of magnets made from molecules
I discuss here the contribution from J. S. Miller and co-workers concerning the discovery of ferromagnetism in an organometallic compound.
Chem. Commun., 2014,50, 11437-11439
https://doi.org/10.1039/C3CC49087D
Molecular crystals by design?
In this Viewpoint, the impact of the paper published by Gautam R. Desiraju and Angelo Gavezzotti (J. Chem. Soc., Chem. Commun., 1989, 621) upon the development of Crystal Engineering, now recognised a key discipline in contemporary chemical/pharmaceutical/materials science, is discussed.
Chem. Commun., 2014,50, 11079-11082
https://doi.org/10.1039/C4CC04972A
The origins of cyanobactin chemistry and biology
Publication of the correct structure for ascidiacyclamide, a symmetrical patellamide, led to studies on the application and origins of these ribosomally produced compounds.
Chem. Commun., 2014,50, 10174-10176
https://doi.org/10.1039/C3CC49252D
Opening an Aladdin's cave: the Suzuki coupling in a room-temperature ionic liquid
This viewpoint will discuss the impact of the 2000 Chem. Commun. report that the palladium-catalysed Suzuki coupling can be performed quickly and easily in a room-temperature ionic liquid.
Chem. Commun., 2014,50, 1515-1518
https://doi.org/10.1039/C3CC44932G
Finding the right path: Baldwin “Rules for Ring Closure” and stereoelectronic control of cyclizations
In 1976, Baldwin suggested the favorable modes of ring closure. These guidelines have become the common starting point in the design of new cyclization reactions and catalyzed the development of modern stereoelectronic concepts.
Chem. Commun., 2013,49, 11246-11250
https://doi.org/10.1039/C3CC43872D
The birth of protein electrochemistry
The results from a final-year undergraduate project led to an $876M sale of a spin-out company 19 years later: the 1977 communication from Mark Eddowes and Allen Hill seeded the rich field of protein electrochemistry, the technology that underpins commercial glucose biosensors.
Chem. Commun., 2013,49, 11130-11132
https://doi.org/10.1039/C3CC46060F
The foundation of modern spin-crossover
The first explanation of spin-crossover in iron(II) complexes was published in Chem. Commun. in 1966. This has led to nearly 50 years of research in coordination chemistry, crystal engineering, solid state chemistry and physics, and nanoscience.
Chem. Commun., 2013,49, 10890-10892
https://doi.org/10.1039/C3CC44171G
Robinson's landmark synthesis of tropinone
Sir Robert Robinson's landmark total synthesis of tropinone is discussed.
Chem. Commun., 2013,49, 10775-10777
https://doi.org/10.1039/C3CC44461A
A durable template for carbosilane dendrimer synthesis
The hydrosilylation/Grignard sequence reported 20 years ago is still the most widely used method for the synthesis of carbosilane dendrimers.
Chem. Commun., 2013,49, 10209-10210
https://doi.org/10.1039/C3CC44067B
Guidelines for radical reactions: some thirty years on
The “guidelines for radical reactions”, first articulated by Beckwith in 1980, transformed the free radical landscape and represents a major contribution to chemistry from the past thirty years.
Chem. Commun., 2013,49, 9892-9895
https://doi.org/10.1039/C3CC43870H
Topology, chirality and interpenetration in coordination polymers
This Viewpoint turns back the clock to 1998 when a contribution by Carlucci, Ciani, Macchi and Proserpio (Chem. Commun., 1998, 1837-–1838) addressed the existence of multiple properties in coordination polymer networks and the use of topology for classifying network connectivity, thereby serving as a presage of the exponential growth in the field of coordination polymers that continues unabated to this day.
Chem. Commun., 2013,49, 9700-9703
https://doi.org/10.1039/C3CC46087H
Chemical bonding involving d-orbitals
The landmark 1954 paper by Craig et al. exploring the role of d-orbitals in chemical bonding is discussed.
Chem. Commun., 2013,49, 9521-9525
https://doi.org/10.1039/C3CC45204B
A brief perspective on the evolution of plastic electronics – from highly conducting polymers to conjugated organic semiconductors
Organic semiconductor technology has developed rapidly over the last three to four decades, providing thin-film electronic devices that are highly functional and extremely marketable.
Chem. Commun., 2013,49, 9242-9244
https://doi.org/10.1039/C3CC44599B
Sulfonic acid functionalised ordered mesoporous materials as catalysts for fine chemical synthesis
In 1998, Wim M. Van Rhijn et al. tethered sulfonic acid on mesoporous silica. This contribution explores the impact it had of material science and green catalysis.
Chem. Commun., 2013,49, 9073-9076
https://doi.org/10.1039/C3CC45160G
The first chiral Raman spectrum report of a protein : a perspective of 20 years
In 1990 the first measurement of Raman Optical Activity of a protein opened up this chiroptical technique to the biological world, which dramatically contributed to its further development.
Chem. Commun., 2013,49, 8893-8895
https://doi.org/10.1039/C3CC44921A
Cinchonine and thiourea
In this viewpoint, we discuss the seminal work contributed by Dixon, who reported the first use of a bifunctional cinchona-derived thiourea organocatalyst for the enantioselective conjugate addition of malonate esters to nitroalkenes.
Chem. Commun., 2013,49, 8583-8585
https://doi.org/10.1039/C3CC40825F
Supported gold catalysts : new properties offered by nanometer and sub-nanometer structures
Nano-sized gold particles on solid supports offer unexpected catalytic properties, with new discoveries emerging rapidly for oxidation, hydrogenation, coupling, and other reactions.
Chem. Commun., 2013,49, 7876-7877
https://doi.org/10.1039/C3CC44942D
Tetrathiafulvalene : the advent of organic metals
The first paper reporting pristine TTF showed the outstanding properties of this singular molecule which paved the way to conducting and superconducting organic compounds.
Chem. Commun., 2013,49, 7025-7027
https://doi.org/10.1039/C3CC00240C
Demonstration of permanent porosity in flexible and guest-responsive organic zeolite analogs (now called MOFs)
In the late 1990s rigorous proof of coordination polymer framework or MOF integrity in the absence of guest molecules still needed to be developed.
Chem. Commun., 2013,49, 6933-6937
https://doi.org/10.1039/C3CC42322K
Calixarenes and cations : a time-lapse photography of the big-bang
Starting in the 1980s in ChemComm, the reports on cation complexation by calixarenes triggered a massive “big-bang” explosion of studies on these macrocycles.
Chem. Commun., 2013,49, 6827-6830
https://doi.org/10.1039/C3CC43165G
On the early development of organic dyes for dye -sensitized solar cells
Starting from the D5 dye reported in 2006, the properties and development of organic D–π–A sensitizing dyes for dye-sensitized solar cells are highlighted in this viewpoint article.
Chem. Commun., 2013,49, 6580-6583
https://doi.org/10.1039/C3CC42733A
Brook silenes: inspiration for a generation
The impact of the landmark paper published in Chem. Commun. by Adrian Brook on the synthesis of a solid, stable silene is discussed.
Chem. Commun., 2013,49, 6366-6369
https://doi.org/10.1039/C3CC42595A
1-Ethyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate : from ionic liquid prototype to antitype
In this viewpoint we discuss how the publication of the crystal structure of [C2mim][PF6] by Fuller et al. (J. Chem. Soc., Chem. Commun., 1994, 299) helped to shape the perception of ionic liquids simultaneously spurring exponential growth in the field while leading to overgeneralizations that still plague the field today.
Chem. Commun., 2013,49, 6011-6014
https://doi.org/10.1039/C3CC42175A
Locked nucleic acid : tighter is different
This viewpoint briefly reviews the impact of Locked Nucleic Acid (LNA) oligonucleotides, first described in a ChemComm paper in 1998. A number of unique applications in oligonucleotide biotechnology have been made possible by the high binding affinity and specificity of LNA, and these provide the main focus of the viewpoint.
Chem. Commun., 2013,49, 5618-5620
https://doi.org/10.1039/C3CC40340H
Alkyne metathesis by molybdenum and tungsten alkylidyne complexes
Alkyne metathesis catalysts are now readily accessible and relatively efficient, even for terminal alkynes.
Chem. Commun., 2013,49, 5529-5531
https://doi.org/10.1039/C3CC42609B
N2 coordination
The impact of the report by Allen and Senoff in 1965 on the serendipitous discovery of the first complex with coordinated dinitrogen, [Ru(NH3)5N2]2+, is discussed in the context of what was known beforehand and the impact this work had on coordination chemistry.
Chem. Commun., 2013,49, 4866-4868
https://doi.org/10.1039/C3CC42001A
Bartlett's discovery of noble gas fluorides, a milestone in chemical history
In 1962, Neil Bartlett published a terse note in Proc. Chem. Soc. eradicating the long held dogma that noble gases are inert and cannot form stable compounds.
Chem. Commun., 2013,49, 4588-4590
https://doi.org/10.1039/C3CC41387J
The supramolecular approach for the syntheses of porphyrin complex species
The paper published by C. M. Drain and J.-M. Lehn in 1994 in Chemical Communications offered a new, elegant way of synthesizing, in high yield, porphyrin species with controlled structure and stoichiometry.
Chem. Commun., 2013,49, 4441-4443
https://doi.org/10.1039/C3CC41777H
The significance and impact of Wade's rules
The emergence of a set of simple yet powerful electron counting rules following a classic paper by Wade published in 1971 in J. Chem. Soc. D has transformed the way chemists think about the structures of clusters with delocalised skeletal bonding.
Chem. Commun., 2013,49, 3615-3616
https://doi.org/10.1039/C3CC00069A
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The making of iLiquids – the chemist's equivalent of the iPhone
In this viewpoint we discuss the contributions from John S. Wilkes and Michael J. Zaworotko concerning the discovery of stable ionic liquids (ILs) and their accompanying structural studies (J. Chem. Soc., Chem. Commun., 1992, 965) and those of Robin D. Rogers and James H. Davis et al. who described the rational modification of ILs for specific applications – so-called task-specific ionic liquids (TSILs) (Chem. Commun., 2001, 135).
Chem. Commun., 2013,49, 2594-2596
https://doi.org/10.1039/C3CC38671F
Metal-bound halogen atoms in crystal engineering
Metal-bound halogen atoms are good hydrogen- (HB) and halogen bond (XB) acceptors.
Chem. Commun., 2013,49, 1783-1785
https://doi.org/10.1039/C3CC37596J
Calixarenes and cations
Synthesis of calix[4]arene ethers providing pendent chelating groups proved to be the basis of an extensive field of coordination chemistry with truly practical applications.
Chem. Commun., 2013,49, 1578-1580
https://doi.org/10.1039/C3CC38667H
Two experiments that impacted the fate of fullerenes
Two papers showing fullerenes as a huge family of new nanoforms of carbon and the way to supramolecular chemistry of fullerenes are discussed.
Chem. Commun., 2013,49, 1039-1041
https://doi.org/10.1039/C2CC35608B
An overview of the synthesis of ordered mesoporous materials
In this viewpoint, we discuss two contributions from Inagaki et al. and Kleitz et al., respectively, and present an overview of their historical contributions to the synthesis and evolution of ordered mesoporous materials, as well as the progress based on the achievements.
Chem. Commun., 2013,49, 943-946
https://doi.org/10.1039/C2CC36964H
The brave new world of coordination frameworks
In 1994 the field of coordination frameworks was still in its infancy and yet to give birth to its offspring research field of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs).
Chem. Commun., 2013,49, 331-333
https://doi.org/10.1039/C2CC36098E
Beyond spheres: Murphy's silver nanorods and nanowires
We discuss the impact of the pioneering work of Murphy et al. on the solution phase synthesis of anisotropic metal nanostructures.
Chem. Commun., 2013,49, 215-217
https://doi.org/10.1039/C2CC34733D
First glimpse at a calixarene clathrate
The 1979 X-ray crystal structure of the p-t-butylcalix[4]arene toluene 1 : 1 intra-cavity inclusion complex proved a landmark result that established the iconic calixarene shape, proved the tetrameric calixarene structure and showed that an intrinsic molecular cavity in an artificial receptor could contain a guest molecule.
Chem. Commun., 2013,49, 114-117
https://doi.org/10.1039/C2CC32607H
Gold nanoparticle research before and after the Brust–Schiffrin method
In this viewpoint we discuss the early contribution from Brust et al., which is not only the most cited paper ever published in Chem. Commun., but also a landmark in gold nanoparticle research and in nanotechnology.
Chem. Commun., 2013,49, 16-18
https://doi.org/10.1039/C2CC35720H
About this collection
In 2012 ChemComm became the first chemistry journal to publish 100 issues in a year, making it the largest international publisher of high quality communications within general chemistry. To celebrate this exciting new era, ChemComm is publishing a new type of article; Viewpoints will highlight some of the seminal research published in ChemComm and its predecessors over the last 100 years.
New Viewpoints will be added to this collection as they are published, so please come back and take a look!