2021 Editors' Highlights

The Editors and Editorial Board of Communications Chemistry are pleased to launch a 2021 Editors’ Highlights collection featuring some of their favourite Articles published in the journal this year. Here we highlight each Article and outline why it was selected.

Metal–organic frameworks have been shown to adsorb and decompose chemical warfare agents, but their mechanism of action is not completely understood. Here the authors quantitatively track the binding and decomposition product structures of nerve-agent simulant dimethyl methylphosphonate in host UiO-67 through in situ X-ray total scattering measurements, pair distribution function analysis, and density functional theory calculations.

Natural gas can be collected from hydrate deposits by exchange with CO₂, but the ensuing mixed hydrates and the path to a complete exchange are not fully understood. Here, computational analyses of neutron pair distribution functions of CH₄, CO₂ and mixed CH₄-CO₂ hydrates at 10 K reveal that the behavior of mixed gas species cannot be interpolated from properties of pure compounds.

DNA templating is a useful strategy to control the positioning and aggregation of molecular dyes on a sub-nanometer scale, but sub-angstrom control is desirable for the precise tailoring of excitonic properties. Here, the authors show that templating squaraine dyes functionalized with rotaxane rings promotes an elusive oblique packing arrangement and extended excited-state lifetimes.

Preparation of cyclobutanes with four different substituents is rare and often arduous. Here a cocrystallisation strategy enables the intermolecular [2+2] cross-photoreaction of non-symmetrical stilbene derivatives to obtain chiral tetrasubstituted cyclobutanes with up to four different substituents in quantitative yield.

Atomically precise gold nanoclusters hold promise as non-linear optical probes for biological imaging. Here functionalized luminescent gold nanoclusters bind free carbonyls via oxime bond formation, allowing detection of carbonylated proteins via gel electrophoresis and fluorescence imaging.

Air-sensitive molybdenum olefin metathesis catalysts are known to form stable but inactive adducts with appropriate chelating ligands, but regenerating the active catalyst requires the use of Lewis acids and vigorous conditions. Here, tuning the electron donor capacity of the ligands leads to air-stable solid adducts of tungsten and molybdenum alkylidenes that spontaneously release the active catalysts in solution.

Enzyme reaction networks can control the spatial and temporal formation of hydrogels. Here, inspired by biofilm formation, urease-containing particles create a propagating pH gradient which induces thiol-acrylate polymerization, with properties tuned by solution viscosity, particle dimensions, and spatial configuration.

Diels-Alderases remain rare in nature, particularly those catalysing intermolecular reactions. Here two natural Diels-Alderases are shown to catalyse exo-selective intermolecular Diels-Alder reactions on non-natural substrates.

The effect of the electric double layer with solid electrolytes remains hard to characterize. In this study, the authors show how to evaluate the electric double layer effect with various lithium solid electrolytes using a hydrogenated diamond-based transistor.

Porous organic crystals can be challenging to prepare, because in the absence of guests, they often collapse into denser, non-porous polymorphs. Here the formation of porous and non-porous polymorphs in different solvents is shown to depend on a solvophobic effect driven by dispersion interactions.

Antimonite (Sb₂S₃) has potential applications for solar energy, but how its layered structure changes under pressure is incompletely understood. Here diamond anvil cell experiments supported by first principles calculations offer a structural explanation for experimentally observed phase transitions.

Catalytic conversion of methane to ethene is limited by poor conversion, selectivity, and catalyst stability. Here a solid oxide electrolysis process is reported as a promising method for selective, partial oxidation of methane with low overpotentials.

Porphyrins have been incorporated into metal–organic frameworks in a periodic fashion in order to exploit their unique photophysical and electrochemical properties. This article reviews progress in the field, focusing on the fundamental physical properties that arise in porphyrin-based MOFs.

Mechanochemistry is driven by mechanical energy input, which often alleviates the need for solvents or heating to achieve desired products. Here, the author reviews mechanochemical syntheses of metal-oxide nanoparticles, exploring reaction mechanisms, and contrasting the influence of process parameters on the properties of end products.

Synthetic models of cells are becoming increasingly sophisticated, but engineering communication between these and living cells remains challenging. Here the authors review modes of communication and signal processing between living cells and synthetic analogs, such as giant unilamellar vesicles, proteinosomes, and coacervates.

The field of C-H activation has boomed in the past two decades, but the diverse and overlapping terms used in the literature can be difficult to parse. Here the authors review key mechanistic concepts and offer a guide to the perplexed.

Carbon mineralization is a versatile and thermodynamically downhill process that can be harnessed for capturing, storing, and utilizing CO₂ to synthesize products with enhanced properties. Here the author discusses the advances in and challenges of carbon mineralization, and concludes that tuning the chemical interactions involved will allow us to unlock its potential for advancing low carbon energy and resource conversion pathways.

Permanent magnets constructed from metal ions and organic linkers using molecular design principles could bring transformative advances in areas such as energy conversion, transportation, and information storage. This comment highlights the recent discovery of a metal–organic magnet ordering at 242 °C, and discusses future research directions and possible applications involving such materials.

Preorganization is an effective strategy for f-element separation, but the complexity of extractant synthesis hinders large-scale application. Here the authors discuss an alternative strategy induced by in situ self-assembly that borrows principles of multivalent cooperativity from Nature to separate f-elements.

Aimed to decipher the levels of metabolites, metabolomics can now advance to unraveling their functionalities in various contexts. Here, the authors present the metabolite medicine concept, integrating classical metabolomics methods with advanced computational and structural tools to facilitate functional studies.

Porous materials play a significant role in modern chemistry and materials science; despite recent scientific interest, they have a history dating back to antiquity. Here the authors provide a brief overview of the past that has contributed to their evolution.