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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Finest selection: Side-chain selective, end-group selective, diastereoselective, and RNA- vs. DNA-selective interactions have been revealed between multiturn helical aromatic amide foldamers having cationic side chains and G-quadruplex aptamers.

[Communication]
Laurence Delaurière, Zeyuan Dong, Katta Laxmi-Reddy, Frédéric Godde, Jean-Jacques Toulmé, Ivan Huc
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2012, 51, No. 2, 473. 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.