Organic chemistry articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Organic fluorescent nanoparticles have potential biomaterials applications due to their low-toxicity and ‘green’ synthesis. Here, a series of self-assembled nanoparticles and polymers are synthesized with intense visible fluorescence stemming from chromophores of hydrogen-bonded monoacylglycerol clusters.

    • Kwang-Ming Lee
    • , Wan-Yin Cheng
    •  & Bi-Yun Lin

  • Article |

    Aromaticity predicts the existence of the benzene tetra-anion, although it has not been unambiguously observed. Here, the authors have synthesized a tetra-anionic substituted benzene as a ligand and characterize the six-carbon, 10 π-electron system by structural, spectroscopic and theoretical techniques.

    • Wenliang Huang
    • , Florian Dulong
    •  & Paula L. Diaconescu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The construction of homochiral surfaces may play a significant role in applications including heterogeneous catalysis and bio-sensors. Here, globally homochiral two-dimensional assemblies of achiral molecules are formed via co-assembly with chiral co-adsorbers, demonstrating a ‘majority rules’ effect.

    • Ting Chen
    • , Wen-Hong Yang
    •  & Li-Jun Wan

  • Article |

    Purely organic materials are generally insulating and while charge-carrier generation can provide electrical conductivity, it is rare for single-component systems. Here, symmetric hydrogen bonding between tetrathiafulvalene-based molecules gives rise to room-temperature conductivity and low pressure metallic state transitions.

    • Takayuki Isono
    • , Hiromichi Kamo
    •  & Hatsumi Mori

  • Article
    | Open Access

    There are only a few known organic ferroelectrics, particularly ones that operate at high temperatures. Here the discovery of ferroelectricity above room temperature in members of an ubiquitous family of organic molecules reveals the possibility of novel low-cost electronic applications.

    • Sachio Horiuchi
    • , Fumitaka Kagawa
    •  & Yoshinori Tokura

  • Article |

    Acetylenes can be covalently linked by oxidative coupling reactions. Zhanget al. report terminal alkyne Csp-H bond activation and concomitant homo-coupling on a silver surface, yielding polymeric networks with a conjugated backbone.

    • Yi-Qi Zhang
    • , Nenad Kepčija
    •  & Johannes V. Barth

  • Article |

    Molecular systems with rigid macrocyclic backbones self-assemble into synthetic nanopores that mimic the mass-transport characteristics of biological channels. Zhouet al. produce self-assembling hydrophobic nanopores that mediate highly selective transmembrane ion transport and highly efficient transmembrane water permeability.

    • Xibin Zhou
    • , Guande Liu
    •  & Bing Gong

  • Article |

    Nitrogen-doped fullerenes and carbon nanotubes have been produced, but the synthesis of nitrogen-doped buckybowls, is an unsolved challenge. Tanet al. report an enantioselective synthesis of triazasumanene, and show that nitrogen doping leads to deeper bowl structures than in all-carbon buckybowls.

    • Qitao Tan
    • , Shuhei Higashibayashi
    •  & Hidehiro Sakurai

  • Article |

    The formation mechanisms of fullerenes remain unclear. This study shows that fullerenes self-assemble through a closed network growth mechanism in which atomic carbon and C2are incorporated into the growing closed cages.

    • Paul W. Dunk
    • , Nathan K. Kaiser
    •  & Harold W. Kroto

  • Article |

    Teflon is a carbon based polymer that cannot be intrinsically ferromagnetic. This study shows that room temperature ferromagnetism can be induced in Teflon tape by applying mechanical stress such as stretching or cutting, which gives rise to dangling carbon bonds.

    • Y.W. Ma
    • , Y.H. Lu
    •  & J. Ding

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Covalent organic frameworks form a porous skeleton with a precise pore size and geometry, but control of the pore surface is challenging. Here, a protocol is introduced for pore surface engineering of covalent organic frameworks, allowing the control of composition and density of organic groups in the pores.

    • Atsushi Nagai
    • , Zhaoqi Guo
    •  & Donglin Jiang

  • Article |

    Hoop-shaped aromatic hydrocarbons can be considered as finite models of single-wall carbon nanotubes. Hitosugiet al. describe the bottom-up synthesis of a macrocyclic tetramer of chrysene, and show that its persistent rotational isomers are finite models of chiral nanotubes.

    • Shunpei Hitosugi
    • , Waka Nakanishi
    •  & Hiroyuki Isobe

  • Article |

    Molecular probes that can detect aqueous sulphides could help to elucidate their roles in biological signalling. Qianet al. develop two sulphide-selective fluorescent probes and demonstrate their ability to image free sulphide in living cells.

    • Yong Qian
    • , Jason Karpus
    •  & Chuan He

  • Article |

    Hydrogels have a variety of applications including tissue engineering and controlled drug delivery. Here, liquid-crystal hydrogels are developed which transform into a fluid solution upon cooling; cells can be encapsulated in the gel at room temperature, then released at physiological temperatures.

    • Zhegang Huang
    • , Hyojin Lee
    •  & Myongsoo Lee

  • Article |

    Covalent reactions on carbon nanotube surfaces typically occur at random positions on the hexagonal lattice. Denget al. show that Billups–Birch reductive alkylation takes place at, and propagates from, sp3defect sites, leading to confinement of the reaction fronts in the tubular direction.

    • Shunliu Deng
    • , Yin Zhang
    •  & YuHuang Wang

  • Article |

    The detailed interactions of membrane proteins with their lipid environment are poorly understood. Sonntaget al. use low-resolution X-ray crystallographic data and molecular dynamics simulations to study the manner in which the sarcoendoplasmic reticulum Ca2+–ATPase adapts to different membrane environments.

    • Yonathan Sonntag
    • , Maria Musgaard
    •  & Lea Thøgersen

  • Article |

    The transformation of iminium ions to enamines has been used extensively in organocatalysis, but conversion of enamines to iminium species has not been exploited. In this study, oxidative enamine catalysis allows the conversion of enamines to iminium ions and the direct asymmetric β-functionalization of simple aldehydes.

    • Shi-Lei Zhang
    • , He-Xin Xie
    •  & Wei Wang

  • Article |

    The construction of porous solids from discrete organic molecules usually involves the formation of regular porous crystals. In this study, a covalent scrambling reaction gives molecules with a range of shapes that do not pack effectively — manipulation of the reagent ratio allows fine control of porosity.

    • Shan Jiang
    • , James T. A. Jones
    •  & Andrew I. Cooper

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cryptophane-A is a prototypical organic host molecule that binds reversibly to neutral guest molecules. Taratulaet al.report X-ray structures of cryptophane-A complexed with a range of host molecules to show that the cryptophane host–guest system exhibits ‘induced fit’.

    • Olena Taratula
    • , P. Aru Hill
    •  & Ivan J. Dmochowski

  • Review Article |

    Biologically active molecules can be identified through the screening of small-molecule libraries, but compound collections typically consist of large numbers of structurally similar compounds. Gallowayet al. review how diversity-oriented synthesis can efficiently generate structurally diverse compound libraries.

    • Warren R.J.D. Galloway
    • , Albert Isidro-Llobet
    •  & David R. Spring

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