Nature Chemistry is now five years old! To celebrate, we look at some facts and figures relating to the manuscripts that have passed through our hands — including information about how many submissions we have received and where they came from, our referee pool, the authors and titles of published papers, as well as some citation data. Each editor has also picked out one of their favourite papers and explains why it stood out for them.
To celebrate Nature Chemistry turning five years old, editors past and present each share the story of a paper that, for one reason or another, stands out from all the others they have shepherded into the journal.
Specific molecular-recognition interactions are often used to build supramolecular architectures on very small length scales — typically those of molecules or macromolecules. Now, it has been shown that a host-guest system based on cyclodextrin rings and hydrocarbon groups can be used to direct the self-assembly of objects from macroscopic gel-based building blocks.
Multidimensional steric parameters in the analysis of asymmetric catalytic reactions - pp366 - 374
Kaid C. Harper,
Elizabeth N. Bess
&
Matthew S. Sigman
doi:10.1038/nchem.1297
Many parameters have been designed to describe steric size, but few have been able to explain consistently the selectivity of asymmetric catalytic reactions. Here, Sterimol parameters — originally used to develop quantitative structure–activity relationships in medicinal chemistry — have been used to quantify enantioselectivity in a diverse collection of asymmetric catalytic reactions.
The self-replication process of a giant vesicle encapsulating double-stranded DNA has been observed, which represents a supramolecular approach to the construction of a protocell. Growth and division of the vesicle occurred rapidly on addition of a membrane precursor, and amplified DNA was distributed amongst the resulting daughter giant vesicles.
The use of elemental sulfur as an alternative feedstock for polymeric materials - pp518 - 524
Woo Jin Chung,
Jared J. Griebel,
Eui Tae Kim,
Hyunsik Yoon,
Adam G. Simmonds,
Hyun Jun Ji,
Philip T. Dirlam,
Richard S. Glass,
Jeong Jae Wie,
Ngoc A. Nguyen,
Brett W. Guralnick,
Jungjin Park,
Árpád Somogyi,
Patrick Theato,
Michael E. Mackay,
Yung-Eun Sung,
Kookheon Char
&
Jeffrey Pyun
doi:10.1038/nchem.1624
A polymerization method for converting elemental sulfur into a chemically stable, processable and electrochemically active copolymer has been described. This methodology — termed inverse vulcanization — is conducted by a one-step process using liquid sulfur, as both reaction medium and reactant, and vinylic comonomers to form polymeric materials with a high content of sulfur (50–90 wt%).
Redox-inactive metals modulate the reduction potential in heterometallic manganese–oxido clusters - pp293 - 299
Emily Y. Tsui,
Rosalie Tran,
Junko Yano
&
Theodor Agapie
doi:10.1038/nchem.1578
The presence of Ca2+ is essential for the activity of the oxygen-evolving complex (OEC) of Photosystem II, although its exact role is still unclear. Now, electrochemical measurements of structural mimics of the OEC — based on mixed-metal trimanganese dioxido complexes — reveal a correlation between the Lewis acidity of the redox-inactive metal and the reduction potential of the complex.
Dinitrogen cleavage and functionalization by carbon monoxide promoted by a hafnium complex - pp30 - 35
Donald J. Knobloch,
Emil Lobkovsky
&
Paul J. Chirik
doi:10.1038/nchem.477
Two abundant feedstocks, dinitrogen and carbon monoxide, have the strongest bonds in chemistry, so breaking them is a significant challenge. An organometallic hafnium compound has now been shown to induce nitrogen cleavage on addition of carbon monoxide, with simultaneous assembly of new nitrogen–carbon and carbon–carbon bonds.