Electrophoresis 2014, 35, 1504–1508. DOI: 10.1002/elps.201400001 Combination of DNA biobarcode assay with micro‐capillary electrophoretic analysis on a chip allows us to perform breast and colorectal cancer cell detection with high sensitivity, multiplexity, and accuracy.
In this paper, a simple in situ preparation of aluminum iodide (AlI3) from cheap, abundant aluminum metal (Al(s)) and elemental iodine (I2) served as an efficient catalyst for the dehydrative thioglycosylation of 1‐hydroxyl sugars with various alkyl and aryl mercaptans. Due to the anchimeric assistant mechanism, the anomerically pure β‐thioglycosides were obtained in high yields with exclusive diastereoselectivity. More details will be discussed by Dr. Shiue‐Shien on page 464–473 in this issue.
Electrophoresis 2014, 35, 1144–1151. DOI: 10.1002/elps.201300501 The center stage of nanopore sequencing is to extract gene information from the translocation of DNA through a nanopore. Graphene nanopore technology has been promising ultra‐high resolution for gene sequencing owing to the atomic thickness and excellent electronic properties of the graphene monolayer. By filtering out the thermal noise of ionic current, the instantaneous conformational variations of DNA in a graphene nanopore could be unveiled from undulates of the blocked ionic current, because of the spatial blockage effect of DNA against ionic migration. It supplies a theoretical basis for the monitor of dynamical information of DNA in a graphene nanopore during sequencing from the ionic current fluctuation.
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 (kH/kD) 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.
In this invited paper, square‐planar Pt(II) azolate complexes: their luminescent properties can be easily fine‐tuned by varying chelating chromophores and the associated Pt…Pt stacking in the solid state. Depicted in the cover picture are four Pt(II) complexes with sky‐blue, green, yellow and red‐orange electroluminescence. More details will be discussed by Dr. Yun Chi and his group on page 574–588 in this issue.
In this invited paper , docking deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) onto gold nanostructures provide promising biomedical applications in drug vehicles, biomolecular sensing, target therapy, and genetic regulation because of the combination of the characteristics involving the structural flexibility and hybridization specificity in DNA and the optical properties of the scattering and absorbing behavior in gold nanoparticles. More details will be discussed by Dr. Chen‐Sheng Yeh and his co‐worker on page 1250‐1258 in this issue.
Performance enhancement of polymer solar cells (PSCs) is achieved by expanding the absorption of the active layer of devices. To better match the spectrum of solar radiation, two polymers with different band gaps are used as the donor material to fabricate ternary polymer cells. Ternary blend PSCs exhibit an enhanced short‐circuit current density and open‐circuit voltage in comparison with the corresponding HD‐PDFC‐DTBT (HD)‐ and DT‐PDPPTPT (DPP)‐based binary polymer solar cells, respectively. Ternary PSCs show a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 6.71%, surpassing the corresponding binary PSCs. This work demonstrates that the fabrication of ternary PSCs by using two polymers with complementary absorption is an effective way to improve the device performance.
The inside back cover picture shows the allosteric modulation of human serum albumin (HSA) induced by the Peptide SA06 ligand. Peptide SA06 is a reported peptide ligand comprising 20 amino acids, and is known to non‐covalently bind with HSA to extend the lifetime and improve the pharmacokinetic performance of drug molecules. The structural evidence on the allosteric interaction between peptide ligand and HSA, and the structure‐affinity relations of the binding mechanism have been revealed in this work, which can also shed light on optimization of therapeutic properties in the affinity‐controlled delivery systems. More details are discussed in the article by Wang et al. on page 1270–1277.
The inside cover picture shows a temperature controllable porphyrin aluminum catalyst using 5,10,15,20‐tetra(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8‐octahydro‐1,4:5,8‐dimethanoanthracen‐9‐yl)porphyrin as ligand, which showed significantly temperature‐responsive selectivity in the coupling reaction of CO2 and PO. Only cycloaddition reaction happened at temperature above 75 °C to produce 100% CPC, whereas copolymerization became dominant to afford PPC with selectivity over 91% at temperature below 50 °C. More details are discussed in the article by Wang et al. on page 299–305.
Hierarchical semicrystalline block copolymer nanoparticles are produced in a segmented gas‐liquid microfluidic reactor with top‐down control of multiscale structural features, including nanoparticle morphologies, sizes, and internal crystallinities. Control of multiscale structure on disparate length scales by a single control variable (flow rate) enables tailoring of drug delivery nanoparticle function including release rates.
Electrohydrodynamic cojetting has been employed to synthesize compartmentalized microfibers from thermally responsive hydrogels. The synthesis of the hydrogels as well as their transformation into compartmentalized microcylinders is discussed. After programmable shape‐shifting, snail‐like particles are obtained that undergo functional and structural reconfiguration in response to a change in temperature.
In this paper , a micro/mesoporous carbon‐silica materials of different carbon contents were obtained from hydrothermal treatment in acidic solution, pyrolysis and calcination on agricultural waste rice husk. After milling, the carbon‐silicas can be used as green filler to improve the thermal conductivity and storage modulus in underfill materials for green electronic packaging applications. More details will be discussed by Dr. Hong‐Ping Lin and his group on page 427–433 in this issue.
As an ideal candidate in mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) transplantation , salvianolic acid B can not only protect MSCs against ?OH‐induced damages, but also promote their proliferation. This extraordinary effect may be attributed to catechol moieties with antioxidant & Fe‐chelating capacities, and to ester, carboxylic, or benzofuran moieties with proliferation‐promoting potential. More details about this figure will be discussed by Dr. Xican Li and his group on pages 924–929 in this issue.
The cover picture shows a green and highly efficient synthetic method for the synthesis of quinazoline‐2,4‐diones from readily available isatins and arylamines. This method is interesting in keeping with the notion of green chemistry because of the use of hydrogen peroxide as the terminal oxidant. The rearrangement oxidation exhibited good functional group tolerability, metal‐free catalysts, obviating the need for oxidants and only environmentally benign H2O was released. Moreover, an antibacterial activity study was performed to evaluate the antimicrobial activities. The results showed that some of the testing compounds inhibited the growth of the Staphylococcus aureus (32 μg/mL) and Staphylococcus epidermidis (64 μg/mL), which could potentially solve the problem of multidrug resistance. More details are discussed in the article by Shang et al. on page 1835–1843.
The cover image by Simon van Hurne depicts the formation of a dynamic covalent boronate-TetraAzaADamantane bond, which could be integrated in a covalent adaptable network. As a result of the on-going dynamic bond exchange reactions within this network, the material could undergo stress relaxation. At the same time, the more robust triple bonding motif allowed for stronger materials compared to their conventional boronate ester-based counterparts. DOI: 10.1002/pol.20230446
In this work, syndiotactic polypropylene (sPP) as well as isotactic polypropylene (iPP) are cross‐linked to gain a shape memory effect. Both prepared PP networks exhibit maximum strains of 700%, stored strains of up to 680%, and recoveries of nearly 100%. While x‐iPP is stable for many cycles, x‐sPP ruptures after the first shape‐memory cycle. It is shown by wide‐angle X‐ray scattering (WAXS) experiments that cross‐linked iPP exhibits homoepitaxy in the temporary, stretched shape but in contrast to previous reports it contains a higher amount of daughter than mother crystals.
In this paper , the structural and energetical properties of binary porphyrin complexes are studied employing quantum chemical techniques. The molecular electrostatic potential maps along with the obtained energetical parameters indicate the importance of axial ligands and pyridine H atoms that necessitate for the formation of perfectly stacked binary ionic porphyrin layers. An insight on the underlying quantum processes will present new class of robust biomolecular nanomaterials for various applications. More details will be discussed by Dr. Gopalan and his co‐workers on page 908–917 in this issue.
In this paper , tyrosinase‐immobilized magnetic nanoparticles (TRY‐MNPs) and 96 well homemade magnetic microplate are used for quickly screening tyrosinase inhibitors. True inhibitors are identified, without interference from antioxidants. Whether the inhibitor is a copper ion chelator or a specific enzyme binder can be identified by adding Cu2+ to restore the activity of TRY‐MNPs. More details will be discussed by Dr. Hweiyan Tsai and her co‐workers on page 1075–1081 in this issue.
The back cover picture shows the asymmetric synthesis of α ‐substituted mercaptoglycine via nickel(II) complex. The α ‐substituted mercaptoglycine is an important framework of various peptide drugs and nickel(II) complex can be utilized to generate single enantiomer of α ‐substituted amino acid efficiently. This work establishes an efficient method to access α ‐substituted mercaptoglycine with good yield and high stereoselectivity, which can promote the design of new peptide drugs in a broad scope. More details are discussed in the article by Wang et al. on page 1383‐1390.
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.
