Dynamic combinatorial chemistry articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Multiple autocatalytic reactions producing thiols are known, but negative feedback loop motifs are unavailable for thiol chemistry. Here, the authors develop a negative feedback loop based on the selenocarbonates, in which thiols induce the release of aromatic selenols that catalyze the oxidation of thiols by organic peroxides.

    • Xiuxiu Li
    • , Polina Fomitskaya
    •  & Sergey N. Semenov

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Controlling the self-assembly on noncovalent components is possible by suppressing entropy loss with templates but this is challenging for covalent components. Here the authors employed directing groups to endow purely covalent molecular building blocks with different conformations which favor the formation of specific self-assembled products.

    • Qiong Chen
    • , Zhaoyong Li
    •  & Hao Li

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The self-assembly of molecular knots in water is challenging. Here, authors report the self-assembly of a trefoil knot in water via imine condensation, without relying on external templates; the handedness of the trefoil knot is determined by the chirality of the bisamino precursor.

    • Ye Lei
    • , Zhaoyong Li
    •  & Hao Li

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In field, visual, chemical detection is of use for a wide range of possible applications. Here, the authors report on the creation of a host-guest liquid gating mechanism where detection of the target host triggers gate opening allowing for gas through the liquid gate, which can be used for visual detection.

    • Huimeng Wang
    • , Yi Fan
    •  & Xu Hou

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Nucleic acid-based constitutional dynamic networks (CDNs) enable control of various catalytic processes, but it is challenging to achieve intercommunication between different CDNs and by that mimic complex cell biology networks. Here, the authors report two CDNs that control the integration of photochemical and dark-operating processes, and show their intercommunication afforded by environmental components.

    • Chen Wang
    • , Michael P. O’Hagan
    •  & Itamar Willner

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Thiol-disulfide exchange is an extensively used reversible reaction in dynamic combinatorial chemistry, but usually requires long time to reach equilibrium. Here, the authors employ selenocystine as a catalyst of thiol-disulfide exchange at low temperatures and basic pH, and show that it can promote disulfide bond formation during folding of a scrambled RNase A.

    • Andrea Canal-Martín
    •  & Ruth Pérez-Fernández

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Structurally divergent reactions on racemic mixtures, which produce distinct chemical species from an enantiomeric mixture, are extremely rare in the literature. Here, the authors are able to use a dynamic combinatorial approach to yield structurally divergent, non-isomeric [2]catenanes from an enantiomeric mixture.

    • Tiberiu-M. Gianga
    •  & G. Dan Pantoș

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Dynamic hydrogels with controllable properties are of interest for a range of applications. Here, the authors report on a DNA hydrogel system which can be tailored to have reversible mechanical changes, reversible shape changes, is self-healing and can be used for controlled release applications.

    • Liang Yue
    • , Shan Wang
    •  & Itamar Willner

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Although bistability is common in biology, it is very difficult to design de novo into synthetic systems. Here, the authors present an experimental and theoretical analysis of a chemical network that displays bistable behavior under certain far-from-equilibrium conditions, and map the parameter space in which bistability operates.

    • Indrajit Maity
    • , Nathaniel Wagner
    •  & Gonen Ashkenasy

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Selection and persistence of chemical non-equilibrium species is crucial for the emergence of life and the exact mechanisms remain elusive. Here the authors show that phase separation is an efficient way to control selection of chemical species when primitive carboxylic acids are brought out-of-equilibrium by high-energy condensing agents.

    • Marta Tena-Solsona
    • , Caren Wanzke
    •  & Job Boekhoven

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