Active but unselective : Nucleoside triphosphates possessing glucose moieties (such as those depicted) instead of the natural furanose rings are recognised by the active sites of polymerases. Polymerases therefore seem to be very unspecific in their recognition patterns.
Recycling of “green” solvents : Recycling of ionic liquids with high efficiency is of key importance on going from the laboratory‐scale to large‐scale industrial application of these solvents.
Clones on film : 7‐mer peptides that bind to azobenzene‐containing polymer films were selected from a phage library under visible light. Isolated clones showed greater affinities to the films under ultraviolet light than those under visible light. Furthermore, the peptide binding responds to the photoinduced isomerization of azobenzene groups.
Tuning structures : We report a synthetically simple yet structurally rich gelator that self‐assembles through hydrogen bonding under different cooling regimes into different nanoscale morphologies (see figure), which can be covalently captured and stabilised by alkene metathesis.
Work‐alcoholic! The elusive enantioselective catalytic α‐alkylation of aldehydes, a widely sought transformation, was brought to execution by the use of alcohols capable of forming stabilized carbocations (see scheme, TFA=trifluoroacetic acid).
The first ratiometric fluorescent probe for hypochlorite has been developed through regulation of the electron‐withdrawing ability of the electron acceptor in an intramolecular charge‐transfer (ICT) system by a deoximation reaction (see figure; EWG=electron‐withdrawing group).
In a new direction : In situ NMR spectroscopy and DFT calculation studies demonstrate that the hybrid of imidazolium ionic liquids with morpholine can be formed by means of hydrogen bonds during the crystallization of molecular sieves (see graphic; T=Al or P), which drastically alters the structure‐directing property.
New tricks for an old dog : Calixpyrroles bind anions efficiently and can be transformed into transition‐metal complexes only under forcing conditions. Reducing the macrocycle creates a ligand that easily forms classical Werner complexes with copper, nickel, and palladium ions. The metal complexes present an array of four directed hydrogen bonds, which specifically bind the counterions (see picture; blue N, white H, green Cl, red Cu, Ni, or Pd).
