Reviews & Analysis

Molecular engineers have long relied on a single light-driven event or chemical input to induce structural changes in switching systems. By carefully designing two hydrazone-based switches, it has now been shown that a single metal-binding event can trigger a signalling cascade that results in the isomerization of two different molecules.

A series of highly active, simplified analogues of the natural product bryostatin have been prepared. They offer an improved approach for the activation of latent HIV that could, in combination with current state-of-the-art antiretroviral therapy, offer hope for eventual eradication of the infection.

Synthetic receptors with properties resembling those of carbohydrate-binding proteins are known, but they are structurally rather complex. Elaborate structures are, however, not always required to bind carbohydrates in water — much simpler compounds can be just as effective.

Organic molecular building blocks can self-assemble into structures with interesting optoelectronic properties. A combination of selective chemistry, spectroscopy and thorough theoretical analysis of a double-wall supramolecular nanotube has now led to a detailed model of its structure and internal excitonic coupling.

Oxide materials typically used as supports for the active metal nanoparticles of heterogeneous catalysts are known to influence catalytic activity through strong metal–support interactions. Researchers have now revealed electronic interactions between platinum and ceria that go well beyond known effects and lead to excellent catalytic activity.

An electrochemical sensor that relies on displacement of a 'neutralizer' from a surface-bound, charged probe molecule by the analyte enables the use of a single platform for the detection of multiple analytes irrespective of their charge.

The interactions between ruthenium complexes and DNA duplexes, elucidated in detail in three different crystal structures, have been found to occur through the minor groove — an unexpected binding mode, but perhaps not such a strange one.

The efficient production of stable bioactive proteins often requires the selective formation of several disulfide crosslinks. Two recent studies have now shown that replacing cysteine with selenocysteine in the unfolded protein can autocatalyse the formation of the desired crosslinks.

To improve the efficiency of molecular motors, a better understanding of the dynamics of their functional motions is required. Now, ultrafast fluorescence spectroscopy has been used to monitor the excited-state evolution of a light-driven molecular motor.

Supramolecular ligands are promising tools for interacting with proteins, but how exactly they bind together has so far been difficult to characterize. An unambiguous picture of the interaction between a synthetic ligand and the surface of cyctochrome c has now been obtained in solution and in the solid state.

The successful synthesis of acyclic silylenes that are isolable at ambient temperature offers striking new opportunities to use stable silylenes for the activation of important small molecules such as dihydrogen and alkanes — hitherto almost completely the domain of transition metals.

The tunicamycins, secondary metabolites of various Streptomyces species, are invaluable tools in glycobiology. It has now been shown that their biosynthesis involves an unusual exo-glycal intermediate produced by previously unknown short-chain dehydrogenase/reductase activity.

The mechanism of the S_N2 reaction is fundamental to understanding and controlling the stereochemistry of organic reactions, but surrounding solvent molecules may complicate the textbook picture. Micro-solvation studies have now explored the stereochemical consequences of the presence of one or two solvent molecules.

Flow chemistry has grown in stature as a technique with the potential to deliver synthetic complexity with assembly-line-like efficiency. Application of flow technology to the front-line antimalarial drug artemisinin promises to revolutionalize treatment.

Sensing neuronal activity using fluorescence has many potential advantages over current methods. Now, by taking advantage of photoinduced electron transfer, fluorescent sensors have been developed that allow high-fidelity recording of neural signals in real time.

A dihydroboration–amination sequence provides a step-economical route to indolizidine alkaloids — a common structure in bioactive natural products.

The behaviour of di-selenol enzyme mimics indicates that a halogen bond between selenium and iodine, and a chalcogen interaction between the two selenium atoms, play an important role in the activation of thyroid hormones.

Previous approaches to the development of self-repairing polymeric materials have required either the input of external energy or the use of a healing agent. Now, a new type of elastomer, in which hard/soft phase-separation occurs at the nanoscale, displays efficient and entirely autonomic self-repair through reversible hydrogen bonding.

Supramolecular catalysts that combine an anionic chiral scaffold, a cationic coordinating structure and a metal centre have been shown to be highly effective for asymmetric synthesis. The success opens a new avenue for the design of new catalysts with a wide variety of chiral environments.

Proton conduction in both water and other hydrogen-bonded liquids occurs through successive proton transfers along the hydrogen-bond network. But first-principles simulations have revealed that the mechanism by which this occurs in orthophosphoric acid has some unusual features.