Themed collection ChemComm 60th Anniversary Historic Papers from the United Kingdom

The number of transition metal catalyzed fluorinations using a fluoride source has increased tremendously in recent years.

Supramolecular gels are fascinating soft materials with a growing list of hi-tech, niche applications. This article reviews the progress in their chemistry over the past decade.

This highlight article looks back at progress in anion receptor chemistry in the last decade and ahead to developments in sensing, catalysis and transport that are on the horizon.

This feature article discusses the range of stereospecific transformations available to enantioenriched boronic esters, and their applications in synthesis.

In this review we look beyond CH₃NH₃PbI₃ to other ns² containing solar absorbers, with the aim of identifying those materials likely to achieve high efficiencies.

This feature article highlights the opportunities presented by ring-opening copolymerization (ROCOP) as a controlled route to prepare polyesters and polycarbonates.

Exploration of medicinal chemistry of the elements of the periodic table, and especially metals, offers the promise of new drugs and diagnostic agents with novel targets and new mechanisms of action.

We focus on sandwich and half-sandwich complexes of Fe^II, Ru^II, Os^II and Ir^III with promising activity towards cancer, malaria, and other conditions.

In this feature article the use of boronic acids to monitor, identify and isolate analytes within physiological, environmental and industrial scenarios is discussed.

The structure-directing potential of boronic acids complexation with diols and their congeners has led to the development of a variety of self-organisation. Structure controls as well as remarkable synthesis are highlighted in this feature article.

The article reviews recent developments (mostly since 2004 until June 2010) in catalysts for CO₂/epoxide copolymerisation and in the properties of the polycarbonates.

Electronic and steric ligand effects play a major role in organometallic chemistry and catalysis. This contribution presents the development of a more general method to determine the steric parameter associated with tertiary phosphine and N-heterocyclic carbene ligands.

The emerging area of the application of Ir, Re and Ru polypyridyl and organometallic complexes as lumophores in fluorescent cell imaging is reviewed.

Simple bis- and tris-bidentate ligands which connect either two metal ions (edge-bridging) or three (face-capping) react with labile transition metal dications to afford a wide range of polyhedral coordination cages of remarkable structural complexity.

By combining the advantages of one imaging technique with the advantages of another, dual-modality imaging probes are substantially greater than the sum of their parts. The chemistry behind these probes and their widespread application within molecular imaging are discussed in this feature article.

Ionic liquids act as both solvent and structure directing agent in the synthesis of solids to give materials with unusual properties.

The field of shell cross-linked (SCL) micelles is briefly reviewed: important recent advances are emphasized, potential applications are discussed and current technical problems are highlighted; particular attention is paid to (i) development of new cross-linking chemistries and (ii) interfacial adsorption of SCL micelles.

This article summarises the recent progress on transfer hydrogenation reactions in water, showing that various carbonyl compounds can be reduced in high speed, enantioselectivity and chemoselectivity with either off-the-shelf or tailor-made catalysts.

Through the comparison of reactions performed in micro reactors with those conducted in traditional batch reaction vessels, this Feature Article aims to illustrate the advantages associated with the emerging field of micro reaction technology.

Certain ruthenium(II) arene complexes exhibit promising anticancer activity, and illustrate rapidly evolving research into bioorganometallic chemistry.

This feature article addresses the reactivity of carbon surfaces, with particular emphasis on the importance of edge-plane sites for both electron transfer and surface modification. Novel carbon nanotube and graphitic materials are contrasted and a critical overview of the recent literature is presented.

This article outlines the major role that palladacyclic pre-catalysts have played in a range of C–C and C–heteroatom bond forming reactions, including a discussion on the likely nature of the true active catalysts produced in situ.

Neutron diffraction shows the methylammonium cation in the photovoltaic [CH₃NH₃]PbI₃ demonstrates increasing positional disorder on heating from 100 K to 352 K.

We report the liquid exfoliation of black phosphorus to form few-layer phosphorene nanosheets.

This paper presents utilization of carbonized metal–organic frameworks for sulphur loading to fabricate cathode structures for lithium–sulphur batteries.

By using this route, bulk layered graphite flakes or multi-walled carbon nanotubes can be directly exfoliated and disintegrated to high yield monolayered graphene quantum dots. The as-prepared graphene quantum dots show different electronic structures and exhibit strong luminescence with high quantum yield.

A novel di-iron(III) catalyst for the copolymerisation of cyclohexene oxide and CO₂ to yield poly(cyclohexene carbonate), under mild conditions, is reported. The catalyst selectivity was completely changed on addition of an ammonium co-catalyst to yield only the cis-isomer of the cyclic carbonate, also under mild conditions. Additionally, the catalyst was active for propylene carbonate and styrene carbonate production at 1 atm pressure.

A chain-folded supramolecular polymer system, based on complementary π–π stacking interactions, shows remarkably facile thermo-healing characteristics.

Multiwalled carbon nanotube aqueous dispersions using block copolymers are able to form supramolecular complexes with the aromatic chromophore and anticancer agent doxorubicin via π–π stacking and enhance its cytotoxic activity.

The first synthesis of regioregular poly(3-hexyl)thiophene) (P3HS) is reported, and its properties are compared to those of regioregular poly(3-hexylthiophene). P3HS is a promising photovoltaic donor material, exhibiting high crystallinity, high charge carrier mobility and an optical band gap of 1.6 eV.

A novel asymmetric Lewis base–Brønsted acid bifunctional organic catalyst promotes high reactivity and enantioselectivity in the Michael addition of malonate esters to nitro olefins.

The widely reported ‘electrocatalysis’ by multi-wall carbon nanotube-modified electrode is shown to reside in electron transfer from the ends of the tubes which structurally resemble edge plane graphite.

A tetrahedral nanostructure whose edges are DNA double helices self-assembles spontaneously when four oligonucleotides are annealed in solution.

Concomitant polymorph formation of a caffeine : glutaric acid cocrystal is reported. The two polymorphs can be prepared in essentially pure form, however, by grinding in the presence of an appropriate solvent.

Microporous materials can be derived directly from soluble polymers whose randomly contorted shapes prevent an efficient packing of the macromolecules in the solid state.

A new type of solvent can be formed from a mixture of an amide and a quaternary ammonium salt that is environmentally compatible and also exhibit unusual solvent properties.

Supported Au catalysts are very selective for the direct formation of hydrogen peroxide from H₂/O₂ mixtures at 2 °C. The rate of H₂O₂ synthesis is markedly increased if Au–Pd alloy nanoparticles are generated by the addition of Pd.

Glycerol is oxidised to glyceric acid with 100% selectivity using either 1% Au/charcoal or 1% Au/graphite catalyst under mild reaction conditions (60 °C, 3 h, water as solvent).