Photochemistry articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Phytochromes are photoreceptors responsible for sensing light in plants, fungi and bacteria. Here the authors use computational simulations to reveal the molecular mechanism of photoactivation and characterize the involved reaction intermediates.

    • Giacomo Salvadori
    • , Veronica Macaluso
    •  & Benedetta Mennucci

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Improving the efficiency of light-driven molecular rotary motors is a challenging task. Here, the authors combine theoretical modeling, synthesis and spectroscopy to prepare a prototype molecular motor capable of avoiding inefficient thermally activated motion; thus offering prospects to implement a 2-stroke photon-only molecular motor.

    • Michael Filatov(Gulak)
    • , Marco Paolino
    •  & Massimo Olivucci

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Arch-3 rhodopsin variants are common fluorescent reporters of neuronal activity. Here, the authors show with quantum chemical modelling that a set of these proteins reveals a direct proportionality between their observed fluorescence intensity and the stability of an exotic excited-state diradical intermediate.

    • Leonardo Barneschi
    • , Emanuele Marsili
    •  & Massimo Olivucci

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Tumour hypoxia is a major issue for conventional photodynamic therapies, Here, the authors report on the supramolecular assembly of electron acceptors with photosensitizers which have improved reactive oxygen species production and are able to directly oxidise NHDH and demonstrate application against hypoxic tumours.

    • Kun-Xu Teng
    • , Li-Ya Niu
    •  & Qing-Zheng Yang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The development of photochromic systems is an important and growing area of research, in particular for bioactive molecular photoswitches. Here, the authors report on photopharmacological antimitotic agents, operational under visible light, based on a peptide-derived hemipiperazine photochrome.

    • Susanne Kirchner
    • , Anna-Lena Leistner
    •  & Zbigniew Pianowski

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Three-component carboacylation of simple alkenes often requires directing groups and strained substrates. Here, the authors report a photoredox N-heteroyclic carbene/Pd-catalysed alkylacylation of alkenes with aldehydes and unactivated alkyl halides; exogenous photosensitizer or external reductant are not required.

    • You-Feng Han
    • , Ying Huang
    •  & Song Ye

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Despite enormous potential of solar-driven biocatalysis, most living systems lack photoactive proteins and require toxic and expensive synthetic materials limiting the performance. Here, a class of natural photoconductors is demonstrated through sub-picosecond heme-to-heme electron transfer in bacteria-produced protein nanowires.

    • Jens Neu
    • , Catharine C. Shipps
    •  & Nikhil S. Malvankar

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The develop of organic functional materials requires the exploration of the pressure dependent emissive mechanisms of molecular structures, conformations and stacking modes. Here, Tong et al propose a strategy for monitoring the pressure-induced fluorescence under multiple excitation channels.

    • Shuang Tong
    • , Jianhong Dai
    •  & Xinggui Gu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    De novo development of a simplified photosynthetic reaction center protein can clarify practical engineering principles needed to build enzymes for efficient energy conversion. Here, the authors develop an artificial photosynthetic reaction center that functions without the need for sacrificial electron donors or acceptors.

    • Nathan M. Ennist
    • , Zhenyu Zhao
    •  & Christopher C. Moser

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Photoluminescent gold clusters have unique chemical and physical properties based on their perturbed electronic structures. Here, the authors report the synthesis of carbon-centered Au(I)-Ag(I) clusters with high phosphorescence quantum yields using N-heterocyclic carbene ligands.

    • Zhen Lei
    • , Mizuki Endo
    •  & Mitsuhiko Shionoya

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Catalytic asymmetric deuterations rely largely on two-electron reaction manifolds and are mostly limited to benzylic positions. Here, a metal-free platform using peptide- or sugar-derived chiral thiols and deuterium oxide allows for asymmetric open-shell deuteration at non-benzylic positions under visible-light irradiation.

    • Qinglong Shi
    • , Meichen Xu
    •  & Juntao Ye

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Polysulfur compounds have been ascribed as the unknown near-UV absorbers in Venusian atmosphere and play a key role in the sulfur chemical cycle of this planet. Here, authors establish their production from (SO)2 on the grounds of quantifications of photochemical and thermal pathways involved in the sulfur chemical cycle of the planet.

    • Antonio Francés-Monerris
    • , Javier Carmona-García
    •  & Daniel Roca-Sanjuán

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Deuteration of unactivated C(sp3)̵̵̵̵̵̵̵̵–H bonds is a simple route to deuterated compounds, of use in pharmaceutical chemistry, material science, and synthetic chemistry. Here, the authors describe a hydrogen/deuterium (H/D) exchange of remote unactivated C(sp3)̵̵̵̵̵̵̵̵–H bonds via photocatalysis, proceeding through hydrogen atom transfer.

    • Nian Li
    • , Jinhang Li
    •  & Jin Xie

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Triggered therapeutics are of interest but currently suffer from limited penetration depth of light sources. Here, the authors report on the development of a system, called radioswitch, that uses ionising irradiation to switch an azobenzene modified drug to an active form for deep tissue triggered therapeutic application.

    • Alban Guesdon-Vennerie
    • , Patrick Couvreur
    •  & Guillaume Bort

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The cytochrome P450 enzyme CYP1B1 is overexpressed in a variety of tumors, and is correlated with poor treatment outcomes; thus, it is desirable to develop CYP1B1 inhibitors to restore chemotherapy efficacy. Here the authors describe the creation of light-triggered CYP1B1 inhibitors as “prodrugs”, and achieve >6000-fold improvement in potency upon activation with low-energy (660 nm) light.

    • Dmytro Havrylyuk
    • , Austin C. Hachey
    •  & Edith C. Glazer

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Sulfonyl fluorides have potential application in chemical biology, materials science, and drug discovery, but their preparation remains challenging. Here, the authors report an air-stable fluorosulfonylating reagent that enables the radical fluorosulfonylation, hydrofluorosulfonylation and migratory SO2F-difunctionalization of unsaturated hydrocarbons to construct a variety of sulfonyl fluoride compounds.

    • Weigang Zhang
    • , Heyin Li
    •  & Yi Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Although mature and systematic theories of molecular photophysics have been developed, it is still challenging to endow clusteroluminogens (CLgens) with designed photophysical properties by manipulating through-space interactions. Here, the authors design three CLgens that show multiple emissions and white-light emission in the crystalline state, and emphasize the important role of secondary through-space interactions between the acceptor and non-conjugated donor units.

    • Jianyu Zhang
    • , Parvej Alam
    •  & Ben Zhong Tang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Nitrenium ions are highly electrophilic reactive intermediates of formula R−N−R+, nitrogen analogue of carbenes. Here the authors report the detection of a triplet nitrenium ion using time-resolved spectroscopic methods and ab initio computations, allowing a glimpse at the properties and behavior of this important class of intermediates.

    • Lili Du
    • , Juanjuan Wang
    •  & Arthur H. Winter

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Understanding the interaction of single chromophores with nanoparticles remains a challenging task in nanoscience. Here the authors provide insight into the interaction between isolated base-free phthalocyanine molecules and He and Ne nanoclusters in the gas phase using high-resolution two-dimensional spectroscopy.

    • Ulrich Bangert
    • , Frank Stienkemeier
    •  & Lukas Bruder

  • Article
    | Open Access

    .Sensitive detection of weak acoustic signals at nanometer scale is challenging. Here, the authors present an acoustic detection system based on a single molecule as a probe, where frequency and amplitude of acoustic vibrations can be extracted from its minute variations in distance to the surface of a plasmonic gold nanorod.

    • Mingcai Xie
    • , Hanyu Liu
    •  & Yuxi Tian

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Solid-state photochemical reactions of olefinic compounds provide access to organic cyclic molecules with specific configurations but the precise control of the stereochemistry in these reactions remains challenging. Here, the authors demonstrate control of the regiospecific configurations of C=C groups and the intermediates by varying temperatures in multi-step thermal and photoinduced ring opening and closing reactions using a single-crystal coordination polymer platform.

    • Meng-Fan Wang
    • , Yan Mi
    •  & Jian-Ping Lang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Light-oxygen-voltage (LOV) photoreceptors perceive blue light to elicit spatio-temporally defined cellular responses, and their signalling process has been extensively characterized. Here the authors report that the light signal is still transduced in the absence of a conserved Gln residue, thought to be key.

    • Julia Dietler
    • , Renate Gelfert
    •  & Andreas Möglich

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A Faradaic junction solar rechargeable device is one of the promising technologies to address the problem of solar energy storage but the working mechanism remains unclear. Here, the authors report a photovoltage memory effect in a portable Si/CoOx/KBi(aq)/MnOx Faradaic junction device.

    • Pin Wang
    • , Mengfan Xue
    •  & Zhigang Zou

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Although multinuclear, supramolecular photocatalysts show promise in their ability to separate the processes required for lightdriven energy production into light absorption, charge separation and fuel production by individual parts of the molecule, mechanistic understanding of the performance limiting processes are lacking. Here the authors synthesize two new dinuclear catalysts and compare them to a benchmark through detailed spectroscopic studies, obtaining significant chemical insight.

    • Linda Zedler
    • , Pascal Wintergerst
    •  & Sven Rau

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The endoperoxides of β-carotene play a key role in signaling of photooxidative stress in plant cells and are regarded as the products of chemical deactivation of singlet oxygen. The authors show that these compounds are instead formed in a reaction between oxygen and β-carotene in their triplet states, revealing the importance of the triplet states in the photoprotection of photosynthetic apparatus.

    • Mateusz Zbyradowski
    • , Mariusz Duda
    •  & Leszek Fiedor

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Although ynamides have emerged as a versatile class of compounds for organic synthesis, the radical chemistry of ynamides usually proceeds with the expected connectivity largely intact. Here the authors show a methodology by which the C(sp)–N bond undergoes scission, alkyne migration and functionalization under blue LED light in the absence of metals or additives.

    • Mohana Reddy Mutra
    •  & Jeh‐Jeng Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The field of homogeneous metal- and photocatalysis typically uses one-photon-absorbing photosensitizers, which are highly functional, but require higher-energy light. Here the authors report a group of ruthenium polypyridyl complexes possessing two-photon-absorption capabilities, active with irradiation with lower-energy (740 nm) light.

    • Guanqun Han
    • , Guodong Li
    •  & Yujie Sun

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The photosystem II reaction center (PSII-RC) is a model system to understand the initial steps of photosynthesis, but its excited state dynamics is difficult to disentangle with most spectroscopic methods. Here the authors perform a two-dimensional electronic-vibrational spectroscopic study of PSII-RC, providing detailed insight into such dynamics and into the mechanism of charge separation.

    • Yusuke Yoneda
    • , Eric A. Arsenault
    •  & Graham R. Fleming

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Photodynamic therapy has been a promising technique for the treatment of tumours. In this manuscript, the authors report on the photoactivation of the osmium peroxo complex and its potential use for chemotherapy and photodynamic therapy under blue light irradiation against tumours in their hypoxic environment.

    • Nong Lu
    • , Zhihong Deng
    •  & Pingyu Zhang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Type I photodynamic therapy (PDT) sensitizers show good hypoxia tolerance but only few strategies are available for the design of purely organic Type I photosensitizers (PS). Here, the authors use biotinylation as design strategy to obtain PS-Biotin sensitizers with high efficiency for the generation of superoxide anion radicals and singlet oxygen.

    • Jing An
    • , Shanliang Tang
    •  & Wen-Heng Zheng

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Being able to control motion at the molecular level is vital for many future developments in the molecular sciences. Here, the authors report the controlled forward and backward rotation of a molecular motor guided by external stimuli.

    • L. Pfeifer
    • , S. Crespi
    •  & B. L. Feringa

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A catalytic method for the enantioselective and C4-selective functionalization of pyridine derivatives is yet to be developed. Here the authors report an efficient method for the asymmetric β-pyridylations of enals that involve N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) catalysis with excellent control over enantioselectivity and pyridyl C4-selectivity.

    • Hangyeol Choi
    • , Gangadhar Rao Mathi
    •  & Sungwoo Hong

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Photocatalytic radical cascade reactions enable the facile construction of diverse cyclic compounds, though they rely on templated precursors. In this paper, the authors report on stereoselective intermolecular radical cascade reaction between tryptophan or ɤ-alkenyl substituted amino acids and acrylamides to synthesise multi-substituted trans-fused hexahydrocarbazoles or 1,3,5-trisubstituted cyclohexanes.

    • Jiang-Tao Li
    • , Jian-Nan Luo
    •  & Chun-Xiang Zhuo

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Label discrimination is challenging in fluorescence microscopy due to broad spectra and narrow lifetime distribution. Here, the authors introduce extra kinetic dimensions by illuminating reversibly photoswitchable fluorophores with different intensities, and discriminate 20 spectrally similar fluorophores.

    • Raja Chouket
    • , Agnès Pellissier-Tanon
    •  & Ludovic Jullien

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