Analytical chemistry articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ambient mass spectrometry-based approaches have found application in biology and medicine. Here the authors report a mass spectrometric imaging method (ambient nanoPALDI) for live hippocampal tissues, based on gold nanorodassisted femtosecond laser desorption and subsequent non-thermal plasma induced ionization.

    • Jae Young Kim
    • , Eun Seok Seo
    •  & Dae Won Moon

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The application of non-metal-oxide semiconductor materials as surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) substrates is impeded by their low SERS enhancement and detection sensitivity. Here, the authors develop a general oxygen incorporation strategy to magnify these parameters.

    • Zuhui Zheng
    • , Shan Cong
    •  & Zhigang Zhao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Hypoxia is a hallmark of many diseases including cancer and ischemia, and detection can be invasive and of low resolution and specificity. Here the authors show a hypoxia probe that converts non-ionizing light to ultrasound, which enables the acquisition of high-resolution 3D images in deep tissue.

    • Hailey J. Knox
    • , Jamila Hedhli
    •  & Jefferson Chan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Solid state Pt(II)-pincer complexes exhibiting vapochromic responses show promise for chemical sensing applications, but their slow responses typically limit their utility. Here, Raithby and colleagues design a Pt(II)-pincer complex with a subsecond, highly-selective vapochromic response to water and methanol.

    • M. J. Bryant
    • , J. M. Skelton
    •  & P. R. Raithby

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The NMR chemical shifts of a substance in urine strongly depend on the composition of the mixture itself, and this makes automatic assignment for quantification very difficult. Here the authors show the chemical shifts of signals and the concentration of NMR-invisible inorganic ions in urine, are predictable.

    • Panteleimon G. Takis
    • , Hartmut Schäfer
    •  & Claudio Luchinat

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In situ detection of protein coronas is usually performed via optical methods, but light scattering may hamper these measurements. Here, the authors use diffusion NMR techniques to characterize protein corona formation on 19F-labeled nanoparticles in blood and other complex media.

    • Monica Carril
    • , Daniel Padro
    •  & Wolfgang J. Parak

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Matching fragment spectra to reference library spectra is an important procedure for annotating small molecules in untargeted mass spectrometry based metabolomics studies. Here, the authors develop strategies to estimate false discovery rates (FDR) by empirical Bayes and target-decoy based methods which enable a user to define the scoring criteria for spectral matching.

    • Kerstin Scheubert
    • , Franziska Hufsky
    •  & Sebastian Böcker

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Digital information can be stored in monomer sequences of non-natural macromolecules, but only short chains can be read. Here the authors show long multi-byte digital polymers sequenced in a moderate resolution mass spectrometer. Full sequence coverage can be attained without pre-analysis digestion or the help from sequence databases.

    • Abdelaziz Al Ouahabi
    • , Jean-Arthur Amalian
    •  & Jean-François Lutz

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The structures of inorganic clusters are commonly characterized by mass spectrometry (MS), but neutral sulfur clusters heavily fragment under MS conditions, preventing their exact mass determination. Here, the authors successfully perform MS on labile cyclic sulfur clusters by stabilizing them within ionic supramolecular capsules.

    • Sho Matsuno
    • , Masahiro Yamashina
    •  & Michito Yoshizawa

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Preparation of samples for diagnosis can affect the detection of biomarkers and metabolites. Here, the authors use a silver nanoparticle plasmonics approach for the detection of biomarkers in patients as well as investigate the distribution of drugs in serum and cerebral spinal fluid.

    • Lin Huang
    • , Jingjing Wan
    •  & Kun Qian

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Application of enzyme-based sensors is usually affected by costs, enzyme stability and immobilization and use of additional chemicals. Here, the authors show a cost-effective and robust photoelectrochemical detection system that can mimic enzymatic sensors using only air and light.

    • Stanislav Trashin
    • , Vanoushe Rahemi
    •  & Karolien De Wael

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Hyperpolarized molecules provide unique contrast for MRI but due to their short relaxation time need to be prepared shortly before injection. Here the authors report a method for eliminating the main source of relaxation and producing frozen polarized substances that can be stored and transported.

    • Andrea Capozzi
    • , Tian Cheng
    •  & Arnaud Comment

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Responsive molecular machines can perform specific tasks triggered by environmental or chemical stimuli. Here, the authors show that antibodies can be used as inputs to modulate the binding of a molecular cargo to a designed DNA-based nanomachine, with potential applications in diagnostics and drug delivery.

    • Simona Ranallo
    • , Carl Prévost-Tremblay
    •  & Francesco Ricci

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Heterocycles are ubiquitous in bioactive compounds and routes to different substitution patterns are important to access the full substrate space. Here the authors report a route to 4,5,7,8-substituted antiviral fluorescent quinazolines, to allow cellular uptake visualization without external marker.

    • Felix E. Held
    • , Anton A. Guryev
    •  & Svetlana B. Tsogoeva

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Semiconducting materials are potential SERS substrates as alternatives to noble metals, but often suffer from poor stabilities and sensitivities. Here, the authors use molybdenum dioxide as a SERS material, showing high enhancement factors and stability to oxidation even at high temperatures.

    • Qiqi Zhang
    • , Xinshi Li
    •  & Guangcheng Xi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Advances in chemical imaging capability can add to our understanding of complex cellular systems. Here the authors develop a framework for label-free quantitative volumetric Raman spectroscopic imaging and use it to visualize and quantify biomolecules in various 3D cellular systems.

    • Charalambos Kallepitis
    • , Mads S. Bergholt
    •  & Molly M. Stevens

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Two-dimensional materials have shown great promise as efficient chemical sensors. Here, the authors present a sensing mechanism to allow the detection of molecules based on dark excitons in atomically thin transition metal dichalcogenides.

    • Maja Feierabend
    • , Gunnar Berghäuser
    •  & Ermin Malic

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Synthetic DNA nanomachines have been designed to perform a variety of tasksin vitro. Here, the authors build a nanomotor system that integrates a DNAzyme and DNA track on a gold nanoparticle, to facilitate cellular uptake, and apply it as a real-time miRNA imaging tool in living cells.

    • Hanyong Peng
    • , Xing-Fang Li
    •  & X. Chris Le

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Monitoring interfacial electron transfer in photocatalytic systems is fundamentally important but experimentally challenging. Here the authors use mass spectrometry to detect and monitor intermediates formed through photoelectron transfer and to image active crystalline facets of semiconductor photocatalysts.

    • Hongying Zhong
    • , Juan Zhang
    •  & Zhiwei Yuan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    MRI imaging can be significantly enhanced by injecting highly magnetized chemical agents, but the short magnetization lifetime requires processing at the point of use. Here, the authors demonstrate a method that could extend the lifetime from seconds to hours, enabling remote preparation.

    • Xiao Ji
    • , Aurélien Bornet
    •  & Sami Jannin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Nuclear spin noise allows passive monitoring of magnetization using the sole NMR detection circuit. Here, the authors report spectroscopic signatures of low abundance molecules and of weak magnetic field gradients which are nonlinearly amplified by cooled-coil probes and large overlapping signals.

    • Maria Theresia Pöschko
    • , Victor V. Rodin
    •  & Hervé Desvaux

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Until now, it has been believed that Brønsted acid sites in amorphous silica-alumina are formed from only tetra-coordinated (AlIV) sites. Here, the authors use 27Al-{1H} correlation NMR experiments to identify a new AlV-based Brønsted acid site, with implications for increasing the acidity of solid acid catalysts.

    • Zichun Wang
    • , Yijiao Jiang
    •  & Jun Huang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    To advance our understanding of pathological features associated with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), chemical tools with distinct specificity towards AD targets would be valuable. Here the authors used a structure-mechanism-based design strategy to obtain small molecules as chemical regulators for distinct pathological factors linked to AD pathology.

    • Michael W. Beck
    • , Jeffrey S. Derrick
    •  & Mi Hee Lim

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Analysis of bacteria and their response to antibiotics in real time is challenging. Here the authors report a microcantilever based system that can detect and discriminate between bacteria species and, due to the ability to discriminate between alive and dead samples, measure response to antibiotics.

    • Hashem Etayash
    • , M. F. Khan
    •  & Thomas Thundat

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Protein phosphorylation mediates signalling and other important cellular processes, but the specific effect of cysteine phosphorylation is unclear. Here, the authors present a chemical strategy to selectively phosphorylate cysteine residues and a mass spectrometry approach to detect and characterize endogenous pCys sites.

    • Jordi Bertran-Vicente
    • , Martin Penkert
    •  & Christian P. R. Hackenberger

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Determining results of asymmetric reactions can take long periods of time and consume large amounts of organic solvents during work-up and analysis. Here, the authors report a bifunctional organic probe that can bind to chiral hydroxyacids, and provide yield, enantiomeric excess and absolute configuration even with crude mixtures.

    • Keith W. Bentley
    • , Daysi Proano
    •  & Christian Wolf

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy is a sensitive technique capable of detecting single molecules via their vibrational fingerprints. Here, the authors demonstrate improved sensitivity with photo-induced enhanced Raman spectroscopy applied to trace-level detection of explosives and other analytes.

    • Sultan Ben-Jaber
    • , William J. Peveler
    •  & Ivan P. Parkin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Chitosan hydrogel materials have unique properties, but understanding the gelation process these materials undergo has been problematic. Here, Wang and co-workers have visualised the entire gelation process of a chitosan LiOH-urea aqueous system by aggregation induced emission fluorescent imaging.

    • Zhengke Wang
    • , Jingyi Nie
    •  & Ben Zhong Tang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    DNA nanostructures with interlocked topologies will tend to display different behaviour to the linear counterparts. Here, the authors show a DNA catenane that is inactive for rolling circle amplification but is activated upon cleavage of one ring, and exploit this for the development of a biosensing system.

    • Meng Liu
    • , Qiang Zhang
    •  & Yingfu Li

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The success of a fluorescent dye as a molecular probe to monitor the intracellular activity of biomolecules depends on its physicochemical characteristics. Here, the authors use a predictive model to identify key features that allow them to design cell permeable, background-free fluorescent probes.

    • Samira Husen Alamudi
    • , Rudrakanta Satapathy
    •  & Young-Tae Chang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Imaging of inorganic dispersions in organic-inorganic composites is typically performed using electron microscopy. Here, the authors show that surfactants with attached aggregation-induced emission fluorophores allow simple fluorescence imaging of the spatial distribution of the inorganic filler dispersion.

    • Weijiang Guan
    • , Si Wang
    •  & Ben Zhong Tang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Wearable sensors can provide continuous, convenient feedback for users but typically focus on a small number of physiological parameters. Here, the authors report a skin-worn sensing system that combines a biosensor for lactate detection with an electrocardiogram in one patch, with applications for exercise monitoring.

    • Somayeh Imani
    • , Amay J. Bandodkar
    •  & Patrick P. Mercier

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Although historically common chemicals were frequently used as secret inks, the ease of readout could not prevent unauthorized reading. Here, the authors report a multi-analyte sensor that can conceal and encrypt messages by responding to simple chemicals, demonstrating a chemical means to secure communication.

    • Tanmay Sarkar
    • , Karuthapandi Selvakumar
    •  & David Margulies

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Despite its importance to the cement industry, tricalcium silicate hydration, with its sequence of induction, acceleration and deceleration steps, still hosts many open questions. Here, 29Si nuclear magnetic resonance provides new information on the silicate polymerization mechanism and its kinetics.

    • Elizaveta Pustovgar
    • , Rahul P. Sangodkar
    •  & Jean-Baptiste d’Espinose de Lacaillerie

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Functionalizing antimicrobial peptides with fluorescent groups is a useful strategy for imaging infection, but the tag can alter the performance of the probe. Here, the authors report a spacer-free method to directly functionalise an amino acid with a fluorogenic group and prepare peptide-based imaging agents for fungal infection.

    • Lorena Mendive-Tapia
    • , Can Zhao
    •  & Marc Vendrell

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