Stop the breathing : As the organic bridging ligands become more elaborate and large, the resulting MOFs tend to experience significant framework distortion (i.e., breathing) upon solvent removal. Rigidification of MOFs that are built from elongated tetracarboxylate bridging ligands by unusual interlocking and interpenetration leads to highly porous and robust hybrid materials.
One Heck of a reaction : Treatment of arylboronic acids or aryltrifluoroborates with vinyl acetate by using a palladium(II) catalyst gives the corresponding styrenes (see scheme). No palladium reoxidant is needed and the vinylation is performed under non‐inert conditions
Silica scaffolding : By employing functionalized mesoporous SBA‐15 silica, novel fluorescent cruciform‐silica hybrid materials are generated which preserve the desirable solution properties of cruciforms in the solid state for potential use in sensory schemes.
Stable complexes : An extremely air‐stable μ2‐hydroxy‐bridged binuclear hafonocene perfluorooctanesulfoante complex shows high catalytic efficiency in Lewis acid‐catalyzed reactions, such as esterification, Friedel–Crafts acylation, the Mukaiyama aldol reation, and the allylation of aldehyde (see scheme).
Brilliance of terbium : Heterodimeric conjugates of trimethoprim covalently linked to sensitized terbium chelates bind to Escherichia coli dihydrofolate reductase fusion proteins with nanomolar affinity (see picture). Terbium luminescence enables sensitive and time‐resolved detection of labeled proteins in vitro and on the surface of living mammalian cells.
The time is ripe : A general theoretical framework based on force‐transformed potential energy surfaces rationalizes the intriguing results of recent experiments in the emerging field of covalent mechanochemistry.
Perfluorination: The fully fluorinated analogue of pentaphenylborole (see structure; B gray, C black, F green) has been prepared using successive transmetallation reactions involving Zr and Sn heterocycles. The highly moisture‐sensitive borole is a new member of the perfluoroaryl borane family, a class of antiaromatic compounds of fundamental significance to concepts of aromaticity.
Fast moving : A new pentad (see figure) composed of silicon phthalocyanine (SiPc), as electron donor, that is connected with two units of naphthalenediimide (NDI) and fullerene C60, as electron acceptors, undergoes fast and efficient charge‐separation processes via the NDI and SiPc singlet excited states.
A novel screening approach based on an oligonucleotide‐addressing enzyme assay enables multiplexed simultaneous profiling of DNA polymerases in nanoliter volumes in terms of their different properties. This approach was used to identify enzymes with altered properties out of a library of protein mutants.
Gal‐PUGNAc (see picture), a highly selective inhibitor for β‐hexosaminidases HEXA and HEXB is cell‐permeable and modulates the activity of HEXA and HEXB in tissue culture, increasing ganglioside GM2 levels. Gal‐PUGNAc should allow the role of these enzymes to be studied at the cellular level without generating a complex chemical phenotype from concomitant inhibition of O‐GlcNAcase.
Sheet‐like mimic enzyme : A novel nanostructure (see figure) of sheet‐like FeS with peroxidase‐like activity was synthesized as a mimic enzyme for the development of amperometric transducers and biocatalysts.
Do the twist : The reaction of in situ generated phosphinidenes with phosphaalkynes is a facile route to the new metal‐coordinated η3‐diphosphavinylcarbene 1 , which shows facile ligand‐exchange reactions and undergoes an unprecedented rearrangement that involves phosphinidene complex 2 and η3‐phosphaalkenylphosphinidene complex 3 , the 1,3 isomer of 1 .
The fiveway junction : The synthesis of ligands with five symmetrically diverging binding sites is described and their assembly into large spherical structures (such as that shown here) investigated.
