In this paper, we design a new interrupted AST‐type zeolitic imidazolate framework with cub and interrupted ast cages, which exhibits permanent porosity, high hydrophobicity and strong solid‐state photoluminescent properties. More details are discussed in the article by Wang & Zhang et al. on page 449–452.
The cover picture shows a synergistically directed assembly route towards novel multi‐component coordination architectures driven by aromatic donor‐acceptor and coordination interactions. The huge structural discrepancies between coronene donor present and absent experiments clearly prove the significance of aromatic donor‐accepter pairs and their inherent cooperation mechanism in these assembly processes. More details are discussed by Bu et al. on page 871–877.
A copper‐catalyzed aerobic oxidative ring expansion reaction of isatins with 1,2,3,4‐tetrahydroisoquinoline for the synthesis of tetracyclic quinazolinones has been developed. The capacity of the resultant 5H‐isoquinolino[1,2‐b]quinazolin‐8(6H)‐one for a range of palladium‐catalyzed directing C—H activation has been further demonstrated, thus giving a broader access to diverse tetracyclic quinazolinones. More details are discussed in the article by Xiao and Deng et al. on page 87—92.
Metal‐air batteries have achieved great proceedings in the past decade. This review summarizes progresses of cathode evolution and anode protection strategies in the area of Li/Na‐air batteries and prototypes of flexible batteries are presented. More details are discussed in the article by Zhang et al. on page 32—42.
Chiral structure is very common in nature. especially, the chiral materials could rotate the polarized light. Light‐matter interaction is very important for process of nature. Inorganic nanomaterials with unique chiral configuration and suitable size have shown exquisitely chiral recognition and selective catalysis function, similar to natural restriction endonuclease. There are no unbridgeable gulf between organic molecules and inorganic materials. The physical and chemical mechanisms involved in chiral phenomenon are very helpful to exploit novel application of chiral materials in biological sensing, imaging, gene editing and information communications. More details are discussed in the article by Kuang et al. on page 25—31.
The cover picture shows Schilancidilactones A, B and Schilancitrilactones A, B, C all belong to schinortriterpenoid. Preliminary bioassay shows some of them possess fascinating bioactivities, such as antitumor, antihepatitis, and anti‐HIV‐1 activities. The total synthesis of Schilancidilactones A, B and Schilancitrilactones A, B, C has been accomplished from the common intermediates for the first time by Tang group. An intramolecular radical cyclization, late‐stage halogenation and AIBN‐mediated or Ni‐catalyzed intermolecular radical cross coupling reaction were employed as the key steps. More details are discussed in the article by Tang et al. on page 255–268.
The cover picture shows that the radical sam enzyme hpnh catalyzes the coupling of an extremely hydrophilic substrate s‐adenosylmethionine (sam) and an extremely hydrophobic substrate hopene, producing adenosylhopane as a key intermediate in bacteriohopanepolyol biosynthesis. Coupling of the two substrates with totally distinct properties is somewhat analogous to the “1 up, 1 down” buddy system in freediving, in which one diver dives down and the other stays above the surface. Meeting the buddy in the middle way in the late stage of diving is always the most gratifying moment for the divers. More details are discussed by zhang et al. on page 39—42.
The cover picture shows the copper‐catalyzed Ullmann‐Ma reaction of aryl halides with nucleophiles by the assistance of two‐generation ligands, amino acids and oxalic diamides or related amides. Ullmann‐Ma reaction is one of the most important transformations for the construction of aryl carbon‐carbon and carbon‐heteroatom bonds in organic chemistry. For the details about the history, development, scope and applications of Ullmann‐Ma reaction, please see the article by Cai et al. on page 879–893.
Development of efficient catalytic asymmetric synthesis of chiral seven‐membered nitrogen‐containing heterocycles has been great important because their occurrence in a great number of pharmaceuticals and natural compounds. This work developed a Pd‐catalyzed asymmetric aromative [4+3]‐cyclization reaction of amino‐trimethylenemethanes (TMM, 1,3‐dipoles) with fused 1‐azadienes, which enables access to synthetically important and biologically active benzofuran fused azepines and indeno‐azepines in excellent efficiency and stereoselectivity (up to 95% yield, 99% ee, >19 : 1 dr). More details are discussed in the article by Deng and Shao et al. on page 151 ‐ 157.
The back cover picture shows the first LA‐catalyzed [3+2]IMCC of GDA‐epoxides with carbon‐carbon double bonds. This provides an efficient and general strategy for construction of bridged oxa‐[n.2.1] skeletons. A novel SN‐like mechanism through a carbon‐carbon bond cleavage of epoxide ring has been proposed. The colorful fireworks in the picture imply the generation of skeletal diversity from the epoxide‐diene, and express a dedication to the 100th Anniversary of Nankai University as well. More details are discussed in the article by Wang et al. on page 695–699.
Two‐dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) usually have poly‐phases, such as 2H, 3R and 1T. Controlling the structure phase of 2D TMDs is the key for engineering the physical and chemical properties of the materials and hence is vital to the applications. Many approaches, including doping/intercalation, alloying, defects, strain, electric field and so on, have been developed to tune the thermodynamic stability of the different phases of TMDs and then phase selective synthesis or controlled phase conversion has been achieved. More details are discussed in the article by Xie et al. on page 753–760.
Glycerol molecules can be selectively converted into 1,2‐propanediol in water by the way of Ni‐based Great‐Wall Catalysts with Beacon‐like macropores and Passage‐like mesoporous channels. Otherwise, an amount of by‐product lactic acid was produced via rearrangement from glycerol. More details are discussed in the article by Zhang & Ma et al. on page 439–444.
Interfacial engineering is expected to be a feasible strategy to improve the charge transport properties of the hole transport layer, which is of crucial importance to boost the device performance of organic solar cells. In this study, the doping of F4‐TCNQ and N719 dye in the hole transport layer with and without integrating a graphene quantum‐dots layer has been explored in non‐fullerene acceptor‐based organic solar cells. More details are discussed in the article by Feng et al. on page 817–822.
The cover picture shows that a new class of axially chiral aryl‐alkene‐indole frameworks has been constructed by the strategy of designing 3‐alkynyl‐2‐indolylmethanols as versatile reactants for catalytic asymmetric cyclizations. This approach represents the first catalytic asymmetric construction of axially chiral alkene‐heteroaryl scaffolds, which will add a nascent member to the atropisomeric family. The authors devised the innovative strategy to construct the intriguing axially chiral frameworks, just like Nuwa used the 'five‐colored stone' to mend the sky in the mythology of ancient China. More details are discussed in the article by Shi and Jiao et al. on page 543—552.
This picture describes Raman scattering process of molecules adsorbed on nanostructured particles. The SERS has been proven to be a versatile technique in application of energy systems. SERS allows nondestructive detection of reaction intermediate species, which is crucial for in situ characterization of reaction. In this review, the principles of SERS, fabrication methods of SERS-active substrates are discussed. The current advances in SERS applications, notably in Li-ion batteries, Li-S batteries, Li-O2 batteries, water splitting and fuel cells, are reviewed. More details are discussed in the article by Li et al. on page 355–369.
This review summarizes key development of N‐heterocyclic carbene organic catalysis, with a particular focus on the basic activation and reaction modes enabled by NHCs. More details are discussed in the article by Chi et al. on page 1167—1202.
The inside cover picture shows an electrochemical oxidative Csp3‐H/S‐H activation with hydrogen evolution for the synthesis of tetrasubstituted olefins. This method features very high atom economy, besides hydrogen gas, under the base‐free, transition met‐al‐free, and oxidants‐free conditions, no other by‐products were generated. More details are discussed in the article by Lei et al. on page 547–551.
The cover picture shows the structure of a Pd(II)‐enaminone complex which is prepared from Pd(OAc)2 and NH2‐featured enaminone, as well as its application in catalyzing the Suzuki‐Miyaura cross coupling reaction. As unprecedented Pd(II)‐organic species, it has been broadly used to catalyze the Suzuki‐Miyaura reaction of aryl bromides/chlorides and exhibited evidently superior catalytic activity over those commercially available Pd‐catalysts. Alongside the efficient and broad catalysis in Suzuki‐Miyaura reaction in clean aqueous medium, simply modifying reaction conditions and the enaminone structure in the Pd(II)‐enaminone complex, the homo‐coupling of aryl boronic acids can also be efficiently executed. The results disclose the application promise of enaminones in new frontiers of organometallics and catalysis. More details are discussed in the article by Wan et al. on page on page 254—258.
The inside cover picture shows the hydrogen transfer process of the production of acetic acid from ethanol and water mixture catalyzed by iridium catalyst owning bpyO ligand. A DFT mechanistic study indicates that the cooperation of the iridium center and bpyO ligand plays an important role in the catalytic activity, and that the hydrogen release process from the iridium center is the rate‐determining step. More details are discussed in the article by Lei et al. on page 883–886.
Cryo‐electron diffraction tomography (Cryo‐EDT) has been developed to determine the crystal structures of covalent organic frameworks (COFs) and their host‐guest interaction at the atomic precision, whose crystals are only submicron‐sized, organic, porous, and dynamic. The keys of 3D electron diffraction (3D‐ED) techniques are low‐dose beam, sample cryo‐handling, fast data collection, sensitive detector, and direct space structure solution. We envision the development of COF chemistry will be propelled by such powerful 3D‐ED techniques for a better understanding at the molecular level and correlation of structures to chemicophysical properties. More details are discussed in the article by Zhang et al. on page 1153—1166.
