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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.
Proteins can undergo both heat and cold denaturation, and in marginally stable proteins this is often controlled by electrostatic frustration. Here, the authors find that residues essential for protein function are also structural determinants for cold denaturation.
Singlet fission events could be exploited to improve solar cell performance, but currently their characterization is challenging. Here, the authors exploit magnetic field effects at low magnetic field strengths to determine the structure and diffusion pathways of triplet-exciton pairs and to predict the efficiency of singlet fission events.
The synthesis of electrically undoped silicon clathrate and unusual silicon phases is a challenge, but such materials have attractive opto-electronic properties. Here, high-throughput modeling predicts that noble gases may induce nucleation of unexpected phases from liquid silicon at high temperature and pressure.
For many applications, positron emission tomography tracers must be produced with high specific activity. Here the authors identify variables leading to increased specific activity when tracers are synthesized in microliter volumes, and show that specific activity can influence tracer biodistribution.
The self-assembly of thermally stable structures in water is a challenge in supramolecular chemistry. Here, cooperativity between weak intramolecular forces allows amphiphiles to associate into cube-shaped assemblies that are thermally stable in water up to 150 °C.
The conversion of carbon dioxide into valuable commodity chemicals is a promising approach to exploit anthropogenic emissions. Here, the authors use carbon-supported iron combined with alkali promoters derived from biomass to convert carbon dioxide directly to heavy linear terminal olefins.