Reviews & Analysis

The field of spin transition has been dominated by six-coordinate octahedral metal ions, but now an unusual spin transition has been found for an oxide containing a square-planar coordinate iron(II).

Biopolymers, ingeniously designed by nature, can combine different mechanical properties and even adapt to changes in their environment. By imitating the structure of a protein, chemists have now made a strong, tough polymer that also exhibits elastic properties.

At arguably one of the prettiest locations in England, the Nineteenth Lakeland Symposium brought together an international group of delegates from academia and industry to discuss a breadth of topics at the cutting edge of synthetic and heterocyclic organic chemistry.

A racemic mixture of tartaric acid forms mirror-image domains with equal propensity when adsorbed on a copper surface. When one enantiomer is present in a slight excess, however, only ordered domains comprising the major isomer are formed.

Converting methane into more useful and readily transportable compounds has previously required the use of metal-based oxo catalysts, but now sulfur and phosphorus are showing their mettle.

Metal ions have been incorporated at specific pre-programmed locations into a well-defined, three-dimensional DNA structure. Applications of such cages could arise from the functionalities of the metal centres, guest encapsulation or biomimetic properties.

The catalytically active form of an iridium complex changes reversibly in the presence or absence of hydrogen. Such catalysts may be essential for the adoption of organic hydrogen-storage materials as an alternative to petroleum-derived fuels.

Chemical methods of achieving asymmetric protonation are classified according to reaction mechanism, with a view to developing a greater understanding of this most fundamental of asymmetric processes, and thus improving the potential for its application in synthesis.

Molecular dynamics simulations have been used to verify and understand recent experimental results that show that Woodward–Hoffmann rules can be circumvented by applying a force across the breaking bond.

Complete control over the composition, structure, scale and bulk properties of crystalline materials remains a generally elusive but worthwhile dream. The reversible stepwise assembly of a new porous, crystalline metal–organic material with large chambers now takes us closer to this goal.

Clusters of atoms are generally only stable enough to form superatoms when they have filled electron shells, so how can they have magnetic properties?

The covalent bonding behaviour of carbon is the mainstay of organic chemistry, but in some compounds carbon seems to behave more like a metal.

Reducing the manual labour associated with chemical synthesis by using continuous-flow reactors that not only make compounds, but also purify them, opens up new avenues to reaction automation and rapid scale-up.

Chemists are able to synthesize, and deduce the structure of, ever more complex molecules produced by nature, but what does the future hold for this venerable field, and what are the new challenges?

The direct transfer of molecules onto surfaces to form specific patterns has had a significant impact in a number of areas of science and technology, ranging from biomedical diagnostics to nanoelectronics. This Perspective compares and contrasts different lithographic approaches to molecular printing and considers future directions for this field.

The 1,2-diamine motif is found in a number of bioactive natural products, pharmaceuticals, and ligands for organometallic chemistry. Here, the recent advances in the synthesis of such structures by direct metal-catalysed diamination of alkenes are considered, and opportunities for future research in the area identified.

The simplicity and broad applicabilty of atom transfer radical polymerization make it a rapidly developing area of synthetic polymer chemistry. Here, the fundamentals of the technique are discussed, along with how it can be used to synthesize macromolecules with controlled molecular architecture, and how their self-assembly can create nanostructured functional materials.

The size and shape of amyloid-β protein assemblies have been studied using electrospray-ionization ion-mobility mass spectrometry, and the protein tetramers and dodecamers have been identified as an important oligomerization state in the development of neurodegenerative disease.