Browse Articles

Thiolate groups are promising anchors to immobilize catalysts, particularly on coinage metal surfaces, but the anchor group’s impact on the local adsorption configuration of the catalyst is often overlooked. Here, the authors study a sulfurated derivative of the prominent Re(bpy)(CO)3Cl carbon dioxide reduction catalysts on a Ag(001) surface at room temperature.

Ligand-based reverse screening plays an important role in predicting molecular targets of bioactive compounds, however, its predictive ability might be overlooked due to the limitations of existing external test sets. Here, the authors assess the predictive power of reverse screening with a large diverse external bioactivity dataset.

The strong electric field between the tip of a scanning tunneling microscope and graphite has been used to modulate the two-dimensional polymerization of aryl boronic acids. Here, the authors study the influence of solvent choice and monomer concentration on the electric field-mediated polymerization and depolymerization of a boroxine-based 2D polymer on graphite.

Establishing biotechnological alternatives to chemical syntheses requires the rational design of biosynthetic pathways and degradation routes either as enzymatic cascades in vitro or as part of living organisms. Here, the authors use alanine dehydrogenase from Vibrio proteolyticus and the diaminopimelate dehydrogenase from Symbiobacterium thermophilum for the in vitro production of (R) and (S)-3-fluoroalanine, reaching >85% yield with complete enantiomeric excess.

Identifying the short-lived intermediates and reaction mechanisms of multichannel radical cation fragmentation processes remains a current and important challenge to understanding and predicting mass spectra. Here, the authors show that coherent oscillations in the femtosecond time-dependent yields of several product ions following ultrafast strong-field ionization of endo-dicyclopentadiene represent spectroscopic signatures that elucidate their mechanism of formation and identify the intermediate(s) they originate from.

Breakthroughs in the efficient use of biogas fuel depend on the successful separation of carbon dioxide/methane streams and identification of appropriate separation materials. Here, machine learning models are trained to predict biogas separation properties of metal-organic frameworks.

Label-free detection of nucleic acids such as microRNAs holds great potential for early diagnostics of various types of cancers, but insufficient detection limits hamper applicability. Here, the authors use nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond to measure the intrinsic magnetic noise of paramagnetic counter ions interacting with microRNAs, lowering the detection limit to ~23 miR-21s.

Targeting RNA with small molecules represents an attractive medicinal approach, and profiling the small molecule-binding landscapes of various types of RNA structures is critical. Here, the authors develop a large-scale approach for investigating small molecule-RNA structure interaction profiles using a multiplexed pull-down assay with various RNA structure libraries, and validate the assay using G-clamp and thiazole orange derivatives.

Biomolecular coacervates are emerging model systems to understand biological processes. Here, the authors reveal details on how the length and sequence of the DNA binders influence the multivalency-driven coacervate formation, how to introduce switching and autonomous behavior in reaction circuits, as well as how to engineer wetting, engulfment, and fusion in multi-coacervate system.

Molecular complexes with single-molecule magnet or qubit properties are great candidates for quantum information storage and processing, however, device implementation requires controlled surface deposition and property retention, which is a challenge. This Perspective gives a brief overview of molecular properties on a surface relevant for magnetic molecules and how they are affected by surface deposition, pointing out possible ways of overcoming the problems encountered so far.

Rare-earth telluride clusters enable the construction of highly crystalline rare-earth tellurides, but a general route for preparing such clusters is lacking. Now, a facile reduction approach produces rare-earth clusters supported by (poly)tellurido ligands, including a tri-tellurido ligand with a three-center, four-electron bonding structure.

Aldo-keto reductase 1C3 (AKR1C3) is known to be a cancer biomarker correlated to androgen synthesis, and causes drug resistance by direct action on chemotherapeutics and by stabilizing AR splice variant 7 (ARv7). While selective inhibitors against AKR1C3 are developed, the ARv7 is thought to be undruggable. Here, the authors develop an AKR1C3-ARv7 dual PROTAC degrader based on a selective inhibitor against AKR1C3, showing the potential for degradation of AKR1C3 and ARv7 simultaneously.

The fluorine isotope ¹⁸F is a PET nuclide used for imaging studies, but the incorporation of [¹⁸F]HF into 2,2-difluorovinyl groups to generate radiotracers and labeling reagents has only been achieved in low yields. Here, using a combination of Et₃SiH and TEMPO in the absence of oxidizing agents is shown to afford a higher yield, better product quality, and controllable selectivity between the formation of a S–F or C–F bond.

Amides are important intermediates in organic chemistry and the pharmaceutical industry, but their low reactivity requires catalysts and/or harsh reaction conditions to esterify them. Here, the authors report a versatile and mild dimethyl sulfate-mediated reaction to activate and esterify C—N bonds, achieving up to 95% amide bond cleavage.

Organosodium compounds are appealing sustainable alternatives to precious transition metal compounds, yet they have rarely been used in homogeneous catalysis. Here, the authors introduce a dihydropyridylsodium compound, Na1,2-tBu-DH(DMAP), and its monomeric variant [Na-1,2-tBuDH(DMAP)]·Me₆TREN, and demonstrate their effectiveness in transfer hydrogenation catalysis of a representative alkene, 1,1-diphenylethylene, using 1,4-cyclohexadiene as a hydrogen source.

The chemical reduction of group 1 metal cations to their zero-valent species is challenging. Now, a bipyridine-stabilized borate anion joins the ranks of suitable reducing agents and also proves active in the two-electron reduction of CO₂.

Peptide condensates are known to regulate compartmentalized enzymatic reactions, however, the influence of condensate chemical composition on enzymatic reactions is still poorly understood. Here, the authors study β-galactosidase as a simple enzymatic model and reveal that product formation is enhanced in heterotypic peptide-RNA condensates, but the reaction is restricted in homotypic peptide condensates.

Isofagomine (IFG) and its analogs have promising glycosidase inhibitory activities, however, a flexible synthetic strategy toward C5a-functionalized IFGs remains to be achieved. Here, the authors show a practical synthesis of C5a-S and R-aminomethyl IFG derivatives via diastereoselective addition of cyanide to cyclic nitrone, and the synthesized derivatives are subsequently assessed for their efficacy as GCase stabilizers.

Stereoselective production of trans-4-substituted cyclohexane-1-amines—including a key intermediate in the synthesis of antipsychotic drug cariprazine—remains challenging. Here, the authors develop a process catalyzed by a single transaminase to produce trans-4-substituted cyclohexane-1-amines from the corresponding cis/trans-diastereomeric mixtures via a cis-deamination approach in continuous-flow, to achieve a dynamic cis-to-trans isomerization.

Combinatorial biosynthesis of natural products is a method to synthesize structurally diverse molecules with defined modifications. Here, the authors review the various approaches used for combinatorial biosynthesis of fungal natural products by engineering biosynthetic enzymes and pathways to generate novel molecules.