The quest for the etiology of a biomolecular structure acquires special significance when the questions asked refer to molecules, the existence of which are fundamental to life, and in particular to the origin of life. In a search for the chemistry of the emergence of life, one needs to pay strict heed to molecular guides—nucleic acids, proteins, cofactors—that all carry a message, which is our job to decipher.

[Review]
Albert Eschenmoser
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2011, 50, No. 52, 12412. Read article.

Tracing the infection: The binding of human norovirus particles to blood group antigens was investigated using NMR spectroscopy. Binding epitopes were determined at atomic resolution, information on the binding specificity was obtained, and the bioactive conformation of various sugars was revealed. This provides valuable information for the design of entry inhibitors against this important class of human pathogenic viruses.

[Communication]
Brigitte Fiege, Christoph Rademacher, Jonathan Cartmell, Pavel I. Kitov, Francisco Parra, Thomas Peters
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2012, 51, No. 4, 928. Read article.

Nanopods functionalized with anti-HER2 antibodies (ImmunoPods, see scheme) have been synthesized by adsorbing the proteins onto gold nanoparticles and catalytically cross-linking them with a coadsorbed polymer through pendant propargyl ether groups. Upon dissolution of the gold template, the hollow polymer nanopod–protein conjugates remain. ImmunoPods are bioactive and can target cancer cells that express the HER2 antigen.

[Communication]
Ke Zhang, Dan Zheng, Liangliang Hao, Joshua I. Cutler, Evelyn Auyeung, Chad A. Mirkin
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2012, 51, No. 5, 1169. Read article.

Onkel Fritz: In his lecture at the Centennial Celebration of The Fritz Haber Institute, Fritz Stern reflects on the strengths and flaws of the Institute's founder. Can we judge a person without considering the historical and cultural context? In a sense, Haber's life encompassing triumph and tragedy is a reflection of his country at that time.

[Essay]
Fritz Stern
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2012, 51, No. 1, 50. Read article.

Midas touch: Diatom-templated noble metal (Ag, Pt, Au) and semiconductor (CdTe) nanoparticle arrays were synthesized by the attachment of prefabricated nanoparticles of defined size. The synthesized arrays were useful for surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) of components, for catalysis, and for the improvement of image quality in SEM.

[Full Paper]
Anne Jantschke, Anne-Kristin Herrmann, Vladimir Lesnyak, Alexander Eychmüller, Eike Brunner
Chem. Asian J. 2012, 7, No. 1, 85. Read article.

Hypersensitivity: 1-Amino-5-azidotetrazole (1), 5-azido-1-diazido-carbamoyltetrazole (2), and 1-(amino-azidocarbamoyl)-5-azidotetrazole (3) were formed by the diazotation of triaminoguanidinium chloride and separated by short-column chromatography. Their high nitrogen content results in extremely high sensitivity, therefore handling and characterization were very challenging.

[Full Paper]
Thomas M. Klapötke, Burkhard Krumm, Franz A. Martin, Jörg Stierstorfer
Chem. Asian J. 2012, 7, No. 1, 214. Read article.

Ru positive? A diverse range of lipophilic, cationic full-sandwich complexes of ruthenium(II) have been prepared and structurally characterized. Computational experiments predict each molecule to possess a delocalized δ+ electrostatic potential, and in vitro cytotoxicity studies demonstrate these lipophilic cations to be potent and selective growth inhibitors of tumorigenic cells lines.

[Full Paper]
Bradley T. Loughrey, Benjamin V. Cunning, Peter C. Healy, Christopher L. Brown, Peter G. Parsons, Michael L. Williams
Chem. Asian J. 2012, 7, No. 1, 112. Read article.

A great sense of achievement! The performance of nanoporous carbon as an electrode material was investigated and compared with that of bare glassy carbon, graphite microparticles, and carbon nanotubes. Nanoporous carbon was found to exhibit the highest heterogeneous electron transfer (HET) rate among these materials, thus sensing analytes such as NADH, DNA bases, and 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) with an improved electrochemical response.

[Full Paper]
Hwee Ling Poh, Martin Pumera
Chem. Asian J. 2012, 7, No. 2, 412. Read article.

Taking the Rab: Expressed protein ligation allows site-specific incorporation of unnatural functionalities, such as fluorophores, into proteins. This requires synthesis of peptides with such functionalities and their subsequent ligation onto proteins. To construct a library of fluorescent RabGTPase sensors we developed an alternative approach in which proteins are labeled on a free cysteine and then ligated to an unlabeled peptide.

[Full Paper]
Yao-Wen Wu, Roger S. Goody, Kirill Alexandrov
ChemBioChem 2011, 12, No. 18, 2813. Read article.

Click the switch: By using a photoswitchable click amino acid (PSCaa) a light-induced intramolecular thiol-ene click reaction with a neighboring cysteine under very mild conditions results in an azobenzene bridge (see figure). By expanding the genetic code for PSCaa the specific incorporation of photoswitch units into proteins in living cells can result in an exciting approach for studying light-controllable activity, in vivo.

[Communication]
Christian Hoppmann, Peter Schmieder, Nadja Heinrich, Michael Beyermann
ChemBioChem 2011, 12, No. 17, 2555. Read article.

Waste not, want not: A carefully optimized directed evolution strategy was used to obtain two enantiocomplementary haloalkane dehalogenase variants that convert the toxic waste compound 1,2,3-trichloropropane into either (R)- or (S)-2,3-dichloropropan-1-ol. The products can be converted into optically active epichlorohydrins that could be used for the preparation of various chiral pharmaceuticals.

[Full Paper]
Jan G. E. van Leeuwen, Hein J. Wijma, Robert J. Floor, Jan-Metske van der Laan, Dick B. Janssen
ChemBioChem 2012, 13, No. 1, 137. Read article.

Bromomaleimides are versatile scaffolds that allow facile conjugation of thiolated biomolecules. Here we demonstrate that bromomaleimide-linked GFP–rhodamine FRET pairs cleave in the cytoplasm of mammalian cells. We believe that bromomaleimide scaffolds provide a potential core structure for prodrugs designed to release bioactive cargo following cell internalisation.

[Communication]
Paul Moody, Mark. E. B. Smith, Chris P. Ryan, Vijay Chudasama, James R. Baker, Justin Molloy, Stephen Caddick
ChemBioChem 2012, 13, No. 1, 39. Read article.

Pin that enzyme down: Hierarchical porous silica, synthesized by using sodium silicate, is used as support for immobilization of β-galactosidase by the adsorption pathway. Their loading capacity and enzyme retention are explained in terms of their large mesopores and macropores and the surface silanol groups. Under extreme conditions, the hybrid biocatalyst is more stable than the soluble β-galactosidase.

[Full Paper]
Claudia Bernal, Ligia Sierra, Monica Mesa
ChemCatChem 2011, 3, No. 12, 1948. Read article.

Amides ride the ionic liquid cycles: A novel catalytic method to perform amide bond formation from esters and carboxylic acids in ionic liquids is described. Mechanistic studies and the ionic liquid effect are also investigated. Recycling reactions are performed successfully. NMR and electrospray ionization–quadrupole time-of-flight experiments allowed for the proposition of a catalytic cycle to explain the reaction with Brønsted acids, such as SnCl₂ and CdO.

[Full Paper]
Vanda Maria de Oliveira, Richard Silva de Jesus, Alexandre F. Gomes, Fábio C. Gozzo, Alexandre P. Umpierre, Paulo A. Z. Suarez, Joel C. Rubim, Brenno A. D. Neto
ChemCatChem 2011, 3, No. 12, 1911. Read article.

Precipitation–the solution? The recovery of a chiral copper(II) bis(oxazoline) catalyst by charge-transfer complexation and subsequent precipitation allows its efficient reuse in ene and cyclopropanation reactions for up to ten successive catalytic cycles and affords the desired products in high yields and enantioselectivities. The same catalyst batch is also successfully reused in three different asymmetric transformations in an original multireaction procedure.

[Communication]
Dorian Didier, Emmanuelle Schulz
ChemCatChem 2011, 3, No. 12, 1880. Read article.

Take CHAnce on zeolites: A new titanium silicate oxidation catalyst (Ti-CHA) and a bifunctional titanium aluminum silicate catalyst (Ti-Al-CHA) with the chabazite (CHA) topology have been synthesized. The materials have a 3-dimensional channel system with small pore openings that enable shape selective oxidation catalysis. The new Ti-Al-CHA material facilitates a high conversion of methanol to methyl formate with a selectivity of 85 % at 60 °C, using H₂O₂ as the oxidation agent.

[Communication]
Einar André Eilertsen, Silvia Bordiga, Carlo Lamberti, Alessandro Damin, Francesca Bonino, Bjørnar Arstad, Stian Svelle, Unni Olsbye, Karl Petter Lillerud
ChemCatChem 2011, 3, No. 12, 1869. Read article.

Make way for a superlattice! A crystalline 3D superlattice of 2.3 nm molecular CdS nanoclusters was prepared from a convenient mononuclear cadmium thiophenolate precursor. HRTEM and STEM tomography show highly crystalline repetition of monodisperse frameworks (see figure). This combined with elemental and thermogravimetric analyses suggests an approximate formula [Cd₁₃₀S₁₀₃(SPh)₅₄].

[Communication]
Tetyana I. Levchenko, Christian Kübel, Yining Huang, John F. Corrigan
Chem. Eur. J. 2011, 17, No. 51, 14394. Read article.

Step by step: Due to its extraordinary potential, N-H bond activation and C-N coupling processes have formed the focus of broad research activities. This Minireview will describe examples of these processes mediated by gaseous “bare” or ligated ions and provide detailed insights into the underlying mechanisms and elementary steps.

[Minireview]
Robert Kretschmer, Maria Schlangen, Helmut Schwarz
Chem. Eur. J. 2012, 18, No. 1, 40. Read article.

Photopolymerized micelles obtained from the self-assembly of diacetylene-containing amphiphiles have been developed for biomedical applications in the fields of imaging and drug delivery (see figure).

[Concept]
Edmond Gravel, Julien Ogier, Thomas Arnauld, Nicolas Mackiewicz, Frédéric Ducongé, Eric Doris
Chem. Eur. J. 2012, 18, No. 2, 400. Read article.

Perylene diimides make excellent building blocks for the formation of [2]-rotaxanes. The rich electrochemistry of the perylene-based recognition site facilitates a pathway to different oxidation states and properties and allows a mechanism for electrochemically driven de-treading of the interlocked species (see figure).

[Full Paper]
Benjamin J. Slater, E. Stephen Davies, Stephen P. Argent, Harriott Nowell, William Lewis, Alexander J. Blake, Neil R. Champness
Chem. Eur. J. 2011, 17, No. 52, 14746. Read article.

Virtual reality: Although crystallographic structure data and related information have been reported for class A GPCRs, herein we report the first use of structure-based virtual screening to identify new allosteric modulators of class B GPCRs. Despite the modest activities of the identified compounds, this study provides a novel in silico approach for the discovery of future class B GPCR modulators.

[Full Paper]
Chris de Graaf, Chantal Rein, David Piwnica, Fabrizio Giordanetto, Didier Rognan
ChemMedChem 2011, 6, No. 12, 2159. Read article.

Two become one: Comparing the crystallographic binding modes of ellagic acid (red) and 3,8-dibromo-7-hydroxy-4-methylchromen-2-one (DBC; blue), an X-ray structure-driven merging approach to the design of novel casein kinase 2 (CK2) inhibitors was taken. Using this strategy, a potent and selective urolithin derivative, 4-bromo-3,8-dihydroxy-benzo[c]chromen-6-one was identified, which exhibits a K_i value of 7 nM against CK2.

[Full Paper]
Giorgio Cozza, Alessandra Gianoncelli, Paolo Bonvini, Elisa Zorzi, Riccardo Pasquale, Angelo Rosolen, Lorenzo A. Pinna, Flavio Meggio, Giuseppe Zagotto, Stefano Moro
ChemMedChem 2011, 6, No. 12, 2273. Read article.

Cycling builds endurance! A family of linear N-substituted glycine “peptoid” oligomers bearing cationic and hydrophobic side chains were subjected to macrocyclization, thereby enhancing antimicrobial potency. These compounds are active against Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria and are non- hemolytic toward human erythrocytes.

[Full Paper]
Mia Lace Huang, Sung Bin Y. Shin, Meredith A. Benson, Victor J. Torres, Kent Kirshenbaum
ChemMedChem 2012, 7, No. 1, 114. Read article.

Molecular copycats! Isoxazoline-containing peptidomimetics, designed to be effective α_vβ₃ and α₅β₁ integrin ligands, were synthesized by hydroxyamine conjugate addition to alkylidene acetoacetates followed by intramolecular hemiketalization. Cell adhesion assay results suggest a very effective ligand–receptor interaction, as confirmed by docking studies.

[Full Paper]
Alessandra Tolomelli, Luca Gentilucci, Elisa Mosconi, Angelo Viola, Samantha Deianira Dattoli, Monica Baiula, Santi Spampinato, Laura Belvisi, Monica Civera
ChemMedChem 2011, 6, No. 12, 2264. Read article.

In the blood: Hollow-fiber membranes for continuous dissolution of hyperpolarized xenon gas into blood are investigated via NMR spectroscopy and imaging with a xenonizer setup (see picture). Spatially resolved functionality is analyzed and a comparison of different fiber materials is presented.

[Article]
Nadia Amor, Kathrin Hamilton, Markus Küppers, Ulrich Steinseifer, Stephan Appelt, Bernhard Blümich, Thomas Schmitz-Rode
ChemPhysChem 2011, 12, No. 16, 2941. Read article.

Bamboo nanostructures: Nitrogen-doped bamboo-structured carbon nanotubes are successfully grown using a series of cobalt/molybdenum catalysts (see picture). The growth of bamboo-structured nanotubes in the presence of nitrogen, in preference to single-walled and multi-walled nanotubes, is due to the greater binding energy of nitrogen for cobalt in the catalyst compared to the binding strength of carbon to cobalt, as determined by density functional theory.

[Article]
Justin P. O'Byrne, Zhonglai Li, Sarah L. T. Jones, Peter G. Fleming, J. Andreas Larsson, Michael A. Morris, Justin D. Holmes
ChemPhysChem 2011, 12, No. 16, 2995. Read article.

Evolution of oxyluciferin: Starting from simple models expanding to more complex ones (see picture) this review shows how theoretical calculations give insights for the color modulation of firefly luciferin.

[Review]
Isabelle Navizet, Ya-Jun Liu, Nicolas Ferré, Daniel Roca-Sanjuán, Roland Lindh
ChemPhysChem 2011, 12, No. 17, 3064. Read article.

Undercover: Carbon nanoparticles have recently emerged as a unique class of optical nanomaterials. This study demonstrates the chromophoric functions of suspended small carbon nanoparticles in harvesting visible photons for the reductive coating of the nanoparticles with silver and gold (see picture) and, as a result, the preparation of unique carbon-metal core–shell nanostructures.

[Article]
Juan Xu, Sushant Sahu, Li Cao, Parambath Anilkumar, Kenneth N. Tackett, IIHaijun Qian, Christopher E. Bunker, Elena A. Guliants, Alexander Parenzan, Ya-Ping Sun
ChemPhysChem 2011, 12, No. 18, 3604. Read article.

Make the switch: Poly(N-vinylcarbazole) derivatives with pendant donor–trap–acceptor structures exhibit electrical effects. The origin of the electrical bistability, which arises from the intramolecular charge transfer, trapping, and conformational relaxation of the electrostatic energy of the Al/polymer/indium tin oxide sandwich structure (see figure), was established by spectroscopic, microscopic, and molecular computational techniques.

[Full Paper]
Bin Zhang, Gang Liu, Yu Chen, Cheng Wang, Koon-Gee Neoh, Ting Bai, En-Tang Kang
ChemPlusChem 2012, 77, No. 1, 74. Read article.

Capacity management: Gold nanoparticle (AuNP) spacers have been used to increase the capacitance of electrochemically reduced graphene (ER-GO) to values of approximately 174 F g⁻¹. By the careful and systematic optimization of nanospacers loadings, the capacitance can be dramatically enhanced because these spacers prevent the graphene sheets from stacking (see picture: yellow=AuNP, green=purple=ER-GO).

[Full Paper]
Lucia Buglione, Alessandra Bonanni, Adriano Ambrosi, Martin Pumera
ChemPlusChem 2012, 77, No. 1, 71. Read article.

A series of core/shell magnetic mesoporous silica nanoparticle (MMSN) materials were prepared. The loading and release of anticancer drugs, 9-aminoacridine (9AA) and camptothecin (CPT), as well as cytotoxic activity of drug loaded materials, is influenced by the presence of phenylethyl functionalization inside the MMSN mesopores (see figure). An externally applied magnetic field accelerates the drug release from the materials.

[Full Paper]
Nikola Ž. Knežević, Igor I. Slowing, Victor S.-Y. Lin
ChemPlusChem 2012, 77, No. 1, 48. Read article.

Nanotubes say goodbye to H₂S: Nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes (N-CNTs) are synthesized by using a chemical vapor deposition method under a mixture of C₂H₆/NH₃/Ar with Fe/Al₂O₃ as a growth catalyst. N-CNTs can be used as a metal-free catalyst for the selective oxidation of H₂S into elemental sulfur. The desulfurization activity can be further improved by supporting the N-CNT on a macroscopic host structure such as SiC foam.

[Full Paper]
Kambiz Chizari, Adrien Deneuve, Ovidiu Ersen, Ileana Florea, Yu Liu, David Edouard, Izabela Janowska, Dominique Begin, Cuong Pham-Huu
ChemSusChem 2012, 5, No. 1, 102. Read article.

Gold standard: Au/TiO₂ catalysts, easily prepared in situ from different Au precursors and TiO₂, generate hydrogen from water/alcohol mixtures. Different alcohols, and even glucose, can serve as sacrificial reductants. The best system produces hydrogen on a liter scale, and is stable for more than two days. Deuteration studies show that proton reduction is likely the rate-limiting step in this reaction.

[Communication]
Felix Gärtner, Sebastian Losse, Albert Boddien, Marga-Martina Pohl, Stefania Denurra, Henrik Junge, Matthias Beller
ChemSusChem, October 27, 2011, DOI: 10.1002/cssc.201100281. Read article.

Turning up the stereo: An efficient three-step strategy for synthesizing chiral biobased dideoxy-diamino isoidide and dideoxy-diamino isosorbide in high yield with absolute stereo control is described. These highly interesting chiral building blocks are presently the subject of several investigations due to their application in high-performance biobased polymers such as polyamides and polyurethanes.

[Full Paper]
Shanmugam Thiyagarajan, Linda Gootjes, Willem Vogelzang, Jacco van Haveren, Martin Lutz, Daan S. van Es
ChemSusChem 2011, 4, No. 12, 1823. Read article.

Immobilized for crimes of pyrolysis: Quaternary ammonium- and amino-functionalized silica catalysts promote the cycloaddition of sulfur dioxide to epoxides to produce cyclic sulfites in high yields (79–96 %) that are comparable to those with the homogeneous catalysts. Separation of the functionalized silica catalyst from the product solution by filtration avoids pyrolysis of the cyclic sulfites during purification by distillation.

[Full Paper]
Yasumasa Takenaka, Takahiro Kiyosu, Goro Mori, Jun-Chul Choi, Norihisa Fukaya, Toshiyasu Sakakura, Hiroyuki Yasuda
ChemSusChem 2012, 5, No. 1, 194. Read article.

Three oximato-bridged linear heterobimetallic complexes [NiMNi] (M = Mn³⁺, Fe³⁺, Tb³⁺) have been prepared using [Ni(HL)]^– (H₂L = pyrimidine-2-carboxamide oxime). The size of the antiferromagnetic interactions in the Mn³⁺ and Fe³⁺ complexes has been supported by DFT calculations and justified on based on structural parameters, e.g. the Ni–N–O–M torsional angle and the distortion from the OC-6 octahedral to the TPR-6 trigonal prismatic geometry.

[Full Paper]
Cerise Kalogridis, María A. Palacios, Antonio Rodríguez-Diéguez, Antonio J. Mota, Duane Choquesillo-Lazarte, Euan K. Brechin, Enrique Colacio
Eur. J. Inorg. Chem. 2011, No. 34, 5225. Read article.

A family of dyes that contain a thiazolylazo group and several macrocyclic cavities with different ring sizes and type and number of heteroatoms has been synthesised and characterized. Studies of protonation and coordination behaviour in the presence of metal cations have been carried out. The interaction was also studied by using density functional theory quantum mechanical calculations.

[Full Paper]
Tatiana Abalos, María Moragues, Santiago Royo, Diego Jiménez, Ramón Martínez-Máñez, Juan Soto, Félix Sancenón, Salvador Gil, Joan Cano
Eur. J. Inorg. Chem. 2012, No. 1, 76. Read article.

Chelating Lewis acids containing two coordinatively unsaturated, tricoordinate aluminium atoms were obtained from a facile route by the twofold hydroalumination of dialkynylsilanes. An intermediately formed alkenyl–alkynylsilane gave a silacyclobutene derivative by 1,1-carbalumination.

[Full Paper]
Werner Uhl, Denis Heller, Jutta Kösters, Ernst-Ulrich Würthwein, Nugzar Ghavtadze
Eur. J. Inorg. Chem., November 7, 2011, DOI: 10.1002/ejic.201100890. Read article.

Sensitivity in ¹⁹F magnetic resonance spectroscopy and imaging is enhanced by placing a paramagnetic lanthanide within 7 Å of the spin label. Faster relaxation allows more rapid data acquisition for systems generating one main resonance, and the proximate lanthanide ion amplifies the chemical shift non-equivalence in responsive probes.

[Microreview]
Peter Harvey, Ilya Kuprov, David Parker
Eur. J. Inorg. Chem., November 8, 2011, DOI: 10.1002/ejic.201100894. Read article.

Several tryptophanyl-hexahydropyrroloindoles (Trp-HPI) with four or five orthogonal protecting groups have been synthesized. This polyheterocyclic system constitutes a scaffold for many natural products that have recently been isolated.

[Full Paper]
Pau Ruiz-Sanchis, Svetlana A. Savina, Gerardo A. Acosta, Fernando Albericio, Mercedes Alvarez
Eur. J. Org. Chem. 2012, No. 1, 67. Read article.

Extraction of the mushroom Cortinarius violaceus with methanol leads to the formation of several colourful artefacts. They arise from benzene-1,2,4-triol, β-dopa, and iron(III) ions, all of which are present in the fungus.

[Full Paper]
Franz von Nussbaum, Matthias Rüth, Peter Spiteller, Tina Hübscher-Weissert, Florian Löbermann, Kurt Polborn, Wolfgang Steglich
Eur. J. Org. Chem. 2012, No. 2, 380. Read article.

Synthesis of a seven-membered lactam–cobalamin derivative was achieved through intramolecular acidic aminolysis of heptamethyl dicyanocobyrinate with the NH₂ group at the C10 position. Subsequent ring opening gave new C8,C10-diamides.

[Full Paper]
Keith ó Proinsias, Sylwester Kurcoń, Dorota Gryko
Eur. J. Org. Chem. 2012, No. 1, 154. Read article.

A new type of olefin was prepared by an unprecedented lateral sequential lithiation/silylation/condensation of tertiary aromatic amides in good yield. The resulting functional olefin, containing an amide moiety, could act as an efficient ligand in phosphane-free palladium-catalyzed Suzuki cross-coupling reactions.

[Full Paper]
Li-Wen Xu, Xi-Huai Chen, Hao Shen, Yuan Deng, Jian-Xiong Jiang, Kezhi Jiang, Guo-Qiao Lai, Chun-Qi Sheng
Eur. J. Org. Chem. 2012, No. 2, 290. Read article.