Back Cover: Lactonization of C(sp2)—H Bonds in Enamides with CO2 (Chin. J. Chem. 5/2018)

The back cover picture shows a novel synthesis of 1,3‐oxazin‐6‐ones from enamides with CO₂ through C—H carboxylation and one‐pot cyclization. The concept of “CO₂ = CO + O”, using CO₂ to replace toxic CO and stoichiometric oxidant, guilds the development of this chemistry as well as green and safe synthetic methods in the future. More details are discussed in the article by Yu et al. on page 430–436.

     

Cover Picture: Palladium‐Catalyzed Intermolecular Oxidative Coupling Reactions of (Z)‐Enamines with Isocyanides through Selective β‐C(sp2)‐H and/or C=C Bond Cleavage (Chin. J. Chem. 8/2018)

The cover picture shows Two efficient intermolecular oxidative coupling reactions of (Z)‐enamines with isocyanides via palladium catalysis have been developed. In these transformations, the β‐C(sp²)‐H and/or C ＝ C bond were cut off selectively by using different anionic ligands, leading to controllable chemodivergent and stereoselective construction of a wide range of (E)β‐carbamoylenamine derivatives with intramolecular hydrogen bonds. More details are discussed in the article by Jiang et al. on page 712–715.

     

Cover Picture: Electrochemical Synthesis of (Aza)indolines via Dehydrogenative [3+2] Annulation: Application to Total Synthesis of (±)‐Hinckdentine A (Chin. J. Chem. 10/2018)

The cover picture shows an electricity powered dehydrogenative [3+2] annulation reaction of (hetero)arylamines with tethered di‐, tri, and tetra‐substituted alkenes for the preparation of indoline and azaindoline products. The electrochemical reactions proceed through H2 evolution and thus avoid the use of stoichiometric chemical oxidants. This method, which is applicable to the preparation of highly functionalized (aza)indoline scaffold, enables the total synthesis of (±)‐hinckdentine A in 12 steps. More details are discussed in the article by Xu et al. on page 909–915.

     

Cover Picture: Understanding Zeolites Catalyzed Methanol‐to‐Olefins Conversion from Theoretical Calculations (Chin. J. Chem. 5/2018)

The cover picture shows the complexity of the reaction mechanism of zeolites catalyzed methanol‐to‐olefins (MTO) conversion. The MTO process plays a vital role in the production of light olefins from nonpetroleum resources. Despite of the successful industrialization of the MTO process in China, the detailed reaction mechanism is not yet well understood. The theoretical studies on the MTO hydrocarbon pool mechanism by the Group of Xie are summarized in the Chemistry Author Up Close by Xie et al. on page 381–386.

     

Inside Back Cover: Photochemical and Electrochemical Carbon Dioxide Utilization with Organic Compounds (Chin. J. Chem. 7/2018)

Inside Back Cover picture shows The carps trying hard to make a successful jump over the Dragon Gate will change into fish‐dragons, which is a legend handed down in China over generations. The back cover picture shows photochemical and electrochemical CO₂ transformations with organic compounds through the utilization of solar energy or electric energy, producing a series of valuable products, including carboxylic acids and hetero‐cyclic compounds. The combined utilization of both clean energy and CO₂ has attracted increasing attention in sustainable development of renewable energy and green chemistry. Recent advances are summarized by He et al. on page 644–659.

     

Cover Picture: Synthesis of Subnanometer‐Sized Gold Clusters by a Simple Milling‐Mediated Solid Reduction Method (Chin. J. Chem. 4/2018)

The cover picture shows a simple milling‐mediated solid reduction method for fabricating of ultrafine gold catalysts. By solid grinding of the N‐modified SiO₂ supported Au precursors with NaBH₄, subnanometer‐sized clusters and isolated Au atoms can be facilely obtained by tuning the metal loading. This method establishes a good basis for fundamental understanding the size effect of Au in the hydrogenation of CO₂ to formate, and provides a general methodology for supported nano‐catalyst preparation. More details are discussed in the article by Huang et al. on page 329–332.

     

Back Cover: Dual Stereocontrol for Enantioselective Hydrogenation of Dihydroisoquinolines Induced by Tuning the Amount of N‐Bromosuccinimide (Chin. J. Chem. 2/2018)

The back cover picture shows an efficient dual enantioselective synthesis of 1‐substituted 1,2,3,4‐tetrahydroisoquinoline, which was realized through iridium‐catalyzed hydrogenation of 1‐substituted 3,4‐dihydroisoquinolines. Only tuning the amount of N‐bromosuccinimide, this reaction promoted by (R)‐BINAP is able to furnish both enantiomers of products up to 89% ee (S) and 98% ee (R), respectively. Dual activation role of N‐bromosuccinimide is proposed to be responsible for the reversal of enantioselectivity under two hydrogenation conditions. More details are discussed in the article by Zhou et al. on page 139–142.

     

Inside Cover: Upgrading CO2 by Incorporation into Urethanes through Silver‐Catalyzed One‐Pot Stepwise Amidation Reaction (Chin. J. Chem. 2/2018)

The inside cover picture shows an outline of significant advances on exhaust gas e.g. sustainable CO₂ recycling into urethanes via effective and renewable silver catalysis. Through one‐pot two‐step stepwise reaction of propargylic alcohols, CO₂, and various amines, a wide range of urethanes are obtained in excellent yields and selectivity together with unprecedented high TON and TOF value under mild conditions. Here, robust catalyst is compared to Magician's hand for its versatility in organic synthesis, and the picture indicates the meanings of greenness and transformation. More details are discussed in the article by Zhang et al. on page 147–152.

     

Back Cover: Asymmetric Synthesis of the Ring A Substructure of Genkwadane A (Chin. J. Chem. 9/2018)

The back cover picture shows Genkwadane A was isolated from the flower buds of Daphne genkwa which shows bioactivity against HeLa, HepG2, HT‐1080, MCF‐7, A549, U‐937, K562 and HL60 cell lines. It is the first time that a daphnane diterpenoid bearing a 1,10‐double bond was isolated. In this paper, B. Liu and co‐workers report asymmetric synthesis of the ring A substructure of genkwadane A in 10 steps from D‐tartrate derivative. More details are discussed in the article by Liu et al. on page 831–836.

     

Back Cover: Internally Reuse Waste: Catalytic Asymmetric One‐Pot Strecker Reaction of Fluoroalkyl Ketones,Anilines and TMSCN by Sequential Catalysis (Chin. J. Chem. 4/2018)

A highly enantioselective one‐pot Strecker reaction of α‐fluoroalkyl α‐aryl ketones, anilines, and TMSCN is disclosed, which simultane‐ously reuses water byproduct and catalyst from the ketimine formation step as a promoter and an additive to improve the reactivity and enantioselectivity of the subsequent Strecker reaction, respectively. The picture shows that the chiral bifunctional tertiary amine mediated asymmetric Strecker reaction is irrigated by the water generated in the p‐TsOH catalyzed ketimine formation, and fertilized by the remaining acid catalyst. More details are discussed in the article by Zhou et al. on page 321–328.

     

Inside Cover: Effect of Brønsted/Lewis Acid Ratio on Conversion of Sugars to 5‐Hydroxymethylfurfural over Mesoporous Nb and Nb‐W Oxides (Chin. J. Chem. 10/2017)

The inside cover picture shows the excellent catalytic performance of mesoporous Nb and Nb‐W oxides catalysts for the conversion of glucose to 5‐hydroxymethylfurfural. The catalytic activity and selectivity for all Nb‐W oxides vary according to the ratio of Brønsted to Lewis acid sites. The highest HMF selectivity of 52% was achieved over Nb₇W₃ oxide catalyst. More details are discussed in the article by He et al. on page 1529–1539.

     

Cover Picture: Nickel‐Catalyzed Cross‐Electrophile Coupling of Aryl Bromides with Pyrimidin‐2‐yl Tosylates (Chin. J. Chem. 9/2017)

The cover picture shows a new protocol for the NiCl₂ ‐catalyzed cross‐electrophile coupling of aryl bromides with pyrimidin‐2‐yl tosylates to give the corresponding C2 ‐arylation pyrimidine derivatives. This study provides an improvement over previous methods by using pyrimidin‐2‐yl tosylates instead of halides as coupling partners that are stable and easily available. More details are discussed in the article by Wang et al. on page 1366–1370.

     

Inside Back Cover: Fabrication of Neutral Supramolecular Polymeric Films via Post‐electropolymerization of Discrete Metallacycles (Chin. J. Chem. 2/2018)

The inside back cover picture shows the construction of neutral supramolecular polymeric films containing well‐defined metallacycles as the main scaffolds through combination of coordination‐driven self‐assembly with post‐electropolymerization. A new 120° triphenylamine substituted dicarboxylate donor ligand and the complementary 120° triphenylamine functionalized di‐Pt(II) acceptor were employed to build neutral multi‐triphenylamine functionalized 2‐D metallacycles with the well‐defined shape and size via the formation of oxygen‐to‐platinum coordination bonds. Subsequent post‐electropolymerization of the obtained neutral multi‐triphenylamine containing metallacycles allowed for fabrication of a new type of neutral polymeric film with well‐controlled cavity sizes and thickness, which may have potential applications in neutral molecule detection, separation, and capture. More details are discussed in the article by Yang et al. on page 134–138.

     

Cover Picture: Nitrogen Analogues of o‐Quinodimethane with Unexpected non‐Kekulé Diradical Character (Chin. J. Chem. 6/2018)

The cover picture shows para‐Quinodimethane (p‐QDM) and ortho‐quinodimethane (o‐QDM) are two typical examples of Kekulé‐type delocalized diradicals. The cover picture shows that the replacement of the carbinyl centers with isoelectronic aminium centers leads to the formation of isolable nitrogen analogues of o‐QDM. In contrast to o‐QDM, the nitrogen analogues exhibit unexpected non‐Kekulé diradical characters and features open‐shell singlet ground states with thermally accessible triplet states. More details are discussed in the article by wang et al. on page 487–490.

     

Cover Picture: Visible Light Accelerated Vinyl C–H Arylation in Pd‐Catalysis: Application in the Synthesis of ortho Tetra‐substituted Vinylarene Atropisomers (Chin. J. Chem. 1/2018)

The cover picture shows a protocol of a palladium‐catalyzed arylation of vinylarenes with diaryliodonium salts with the assistance of visible light. A palladium‐vinylarene complex may be excited via the visible light irradiation, where the kinetic isotope effect (k_H/k_D) was around 1.1. However under darkness, the reaction proceeded very slowly, and the kinetic isotope was found as 3.6, indicating the C—H bond cleavage step is the rate‐determining step. This protocol avoided high reaction temperature and enabled us to access a series of ortho tetra‐substituted vinylarene atropisomers with high enantiospecificity. More details are discussed in the article by Gu et al. on page 11–14.

     

Cover Picture: Rapid Detection of Sildenafil Drugs in Liquid Nutraceuticals Based on Surface‐Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy Technology (Chin. J. Chem. 10/2017)

The cover picture shows a rapid detection of sildenafil drugs in liquid nutraceuticals based on surface‐enhanced Raman spectroscopy technology. A detailed attribution analysis by density functional theory (DFT) was used to guide specific experiments. The Raman signals were obtained from a silver colloid (Ag col) substrate, and they increased in the presence of the mineral salt, potassium iodide (KI). These methods detected sildenafil in aqueous solutions as low as 1 µg/mL with high signal uniformity (RSD = 3.77%). Raman technology detected low contents of sildenafil drugs in liquid nutraceuticals, not in solid samples. Therefore, SERS technology has great potential for on‐site and real‐time detection of illegal drugs in water and in liquid nutraceuticals. More details are discussed in the article by Hasi et al. on page 1522–1528.

     

Back Cover: Synthesis,Nematicidal Activity,and 3D‐QSAR of Novel 1,3,4‐Oxadiazole/ Thiadiazole Thioether Derivatives (Chin. J. Chem. 10/2018)

The back cover picture shows As two important heterocyclic active groups, oxadiazole and thiadiazole are used to develop new pesticide with high efficiency and broad spectrum of biological activities. On the basis of our previous works, forty one novel 1,3,4‐oxadiazole/thiadiazole thioether derivatives were synthesized and their nematicidal activities against Tylenchulus semipenetrans were evaluated. And compound 33 was designed by using the CoMFA and CoMSIA models, which exhibited excellent nematicidal acivity in vitro. More details are discussed in the article by Song et al. on page 939‐944.

     

Inside Cover: Synthetic Strategies for Constructing Two‐Dimensional Metal‐Organic Layers (MOLs): A Tutorial Review (Chin. J. Chem. 8/2018)

The inside cover picture shows Metal‐organic layer (MOL), the two‐dimensional analog of metal‐organic framework (MOF), is a new member of two‐dimensional materials. This tutorial review summarizes current synthetic approaches for MOL preparation. More details are discussed in the article by Wang et al. on page 754–764.

     

Cover: Journal of the Chinese Chemical Society 12/2023

This special issue commemorates the 70th volume of the Journal of the Chinese Chemical Society (JCCS), the flagship journal of The Chemical Society located in Taipei launched in 1933 in mainland China and later resumed in 1954 in Taiwan. In this special issue, we have invited chemists from a broad range of disciplines and expertise to showcase the diversity and activity of chemical research. We hope that readers will thoroughly enjoy the content.