Articles in 2013

Tatanans A, B and C, members of a family of complex sesquilignan natural products, were recently reported to possess potent anti-diabetic, glucokinase-activating properties. Here, a convergent enantioselective total synthesis of these tatanans enabled by catalytic allylic dearomatization is described. Contrary to previous reports, biological assays show that tatanans A–C are not allosteric activators of glucokinase.

Bruce Gibb ponders what the future of chemistry research might look like if we take a more data-driven approach.

During photosynthesis, the oxygen-evolving complex oxidizes water to produce molecular oxygen. Now, a possible role for the calcium ion in this complex has been proposed based on the electrochemical properties of a series of synthetic heterometallic clusters.

Nature Chemistry signed up for a Twitter account in March 2009. More than 5,000 tweets later, what have we learned and how do we use it?

The study of the reaction of a ground-state O atom with H₂ has previously proved difficult because of its high activation barrier. Now, new experiments have revealed unexpected OH product states; but perhaps there is a simple explanation?

Combined spectroscopic measurements and theoretical calculations bring to light an ultrafast excited-state deactivation process in peptides that may contribute to the ultraviolet photostability of proteins.

Strategies for making sequence-controlled polymers in the laboratory are really quite primitive in comparison with those used in nature. By combining concepts from natural systems and synthetic polymer chemistry, it has now been shown that DNA codes can be translated into non-nucleic-acid polymers with defined sequences.

Hydrogen–oxygen alkaline fuel cells are promising devices for the 'hydrogen economy' but their oxidation of hydrogen fuel is slow compared with that of acidic fuel cells. More efficient electrocatalysts have now been prepared in which the adsorption of hydroxyl groups onto the electrode surface is controlled through suitable promoters.

A small molecule that mimics the sequence-specific peptide synthesis of nature's ribosomes paves the way for more elaborate artificial molecular synthesizers.

Eric J. Schelter ponders on cerium's rather puzzling redox reactivity, and the varied practical applications that have emerged from it.

Two-dimensional materials have recently garnered much interest in the scientific and technology communities. This Review describes how ultrathin transition metal dichalcogenides combine tunable structure and electronic properties, achieved through altering their composition, with versatile chemistry. This makes them attractive in various fields, for example as lithium-ion battery electrodes and electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction.

Although it is achieved routinely by nitrogenases, the conversion of molecular dinitrogen into ammonia under ambient conditions is proving difficult with synthetic systems. A thiolate-bridged diiron complex has now been developed that produces ammonia from coordinated N₂H₂ through a sequence of reduction and protonation reactions that may well mimic the biological nitrogen fixation.

A ruthenium complex bearing a chemically and redox-non-innocent tetradentate diolefin diazadiene ligand is shown to be an efficient homogeneous catalyst for the conversion of a 1:1 mixture of methanol and water to hydrogen and carbon dioxide. Development of this process is an important step in the production of hydrogen for use as a fuel from biomass.

The heat shock protein Hsp90 is a potential target for cancer and neurodegeneration drugs. Here, the introduction of a substituent into the 19-position of the naturally occurring inhibitor geldanamycin by chemical synthesis is shown to ameliorate toxicity, and also cause a favourable conformational switch that is required for protein binding.

The reaction O(³P) + H₂ → OH(X²Π) + H has, until now, eluded detailed experimental investigation. Now, a laser-induced fluorescence study of the deuterated analogue has revealed product-state distributions that defy the current descriptions of non-Born–Oppenheimer mixing on coupled potential energy surfaces, issuing new challenges to theory.