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Insulin and related heterodimeric peptides are challenging synthetic targets, and are commonly made using biomimetic N-to-C chemical linkers which can take two steps to remove. Here a symmetrical N-to-N linker is used to efficiently obtain six different peptides, with the linker removed in one chemical step.
The insertion of membrane proteins into synthetic membranes is a challenging task that can require considerable optimization. Here design of experiments is used to efficiently identify conditions for reconstitution of a proteorhodopsin-green fluorescent protein fusion protein into liposome and polymersome membranes.
The diffusion of surfactant micelles can be arrested by sufficiently increasing their concentration, but arresting diffusion in dilute solutions is challenging. Here the authors report the formation of dynamically arrested, disordered surfactant micelles at room temperature in a mixture of sugar and urea.
Hydrogenation of biomass-derived molecules offers a promising route to sustainable chemical precursors, but achieving high selectivity is challenging. Here the siloxane-mediated hydrogenation of furfural is optimised for selectivity towards four different value-added products.
Molecular conductivity, the quantum flow of electrons through a molecule, is typically overpredicted by theoretical methods to date. Here, the authors report a current-constrained, electronic structure-based method improving on existing techniques for calculating conductance by up to two orders of magnitude.
The origins of life likely involved abiotic combinatorial polymer synthesis but the characterisation of such mixtures is challenging. Here the authors show that large libraries of linear and cyclic oligomers spontaneously form from α-hydroxy acids under mild conditions which may be relevant to prebiotic synthesis.
Palladium can catalyse both the reductive carbonylation of aryl halides to aldehydes, and the reductive amination of benzaldehydes with amines. Here the authors describe a tandem reductive carbonylation/reductive amination using carbon monoxide as the carbonyl source, constituting aminomethylation of aryl halides
Extraction of water from air is a promising way to secure fresh water supplies in remote, arid regions. Here a composite material consisting of calcium chloride incorporated into alginate-derived beads is described, and shown to reversibly absorb 660 kg of water per cubic meter of material from the air.
Photoluminescence has important applications, but enhancing room-temperature phosphorescence by organic molecules is challenging. Here, the authors use heavy-atom gases as an external trigger for reversible enhancement of room-temperature phosphorescence in emitters bound in metal-organic frameworks.
Small-molecule metabolites can form amyloid fibrils associated with human disease, similar to those formed by proteins. Here the authors show that generic polyphenol inhibitors of protein amyloid formation also inhibit the aggregation of metabolite fibrils and reduce their cytotoxicity.
Silicon is a promising anode material owing to its high theoretical capacity, but can be unstable over charge/discharge cycles owing to a large volume change during cycling. Here, the authors report improved stability (>99.8% efficiency over 100 cycles) using porous silicon films with inorganic solid electrolyte.
The synthesis and folding pathways of insulin and related proteins are of wide interest. Here the authors characterise the major two-chain oxidative folding pathways of bovine pancreatic insulin, and develop synthetic conditions applicable to related foldable insulin variants
Identifying active sites in metal-substituted zeolite catalysts can be challenging as different metal sites can have similar molecular environments. Here the authors use solid-state NMR to identify two different open tin sites in Sn-β zeolite, and to detect a reversible conversion between open and closed sites.
Constructing metal-organic architectures with flexible organic linkers is challenging as there is an entropic barrier to their adopting well-defined conformations. Here the authors use oligoketones as precursors to flexible oligoimine linkers for two-dimensional and three-dimensional metal-organic assemblies.
Cycloadditions involving nitrene transfer provide a useful route to valuable substituted pyrroles. Here the authors report a ruthenium-catalysed [2+2+1] cycloaddition of diynes using sulfoximines as unusual nitrogen transfer reagents.
Chiral self-sorting is the assembly of a racemic mixture into homo- or heterochiral assemblies through chiral interactions between components. Here, the authors study chiral self-sorting in palladium cages and identify heterochiral kinetic intermediates en route to the homochiral thermodynamic end point.
According to Hückel’s and Baird’s rules, compounds which are aromatic in the singlet ground state are antiaromatic in the lowest triplet state and vice-versa. Here the authors report DFT calculations demonstrating that an osmapentalene is aromatic in both its singlet ground state and lowest triplet state.
Developing versatile luminescent platforms to distinguish metal ions in water, and volatile organic compounds is challenging. Here, a film containing bimetallic lanthanide metal-organic frameworks selectively recognize aqueous ferric ions within seconds and styrene vapor within minutes.
Displacement of water molecules from proteins can lead to higher affinity or selectivity of ligands, but measuring individual water binding energies is challenging. Here calculated binding free energies are used to estimate the stability of conserved water in 35 bromodomains and to predict the ease of displacement.
Manganese dioxide is a promising material for energy storage applications, but is limited by its brittleness and poor conductivity. Here, manganese dioxide domains are electrochemically deposited onto carbon nanotube networks to produce flexible and conductive hybrid fiber-shaped supercapacitors.