Themed collection 2021 Emerging Investigators

The research of using DNA as a programmable material for engineering bacterial interactions is just emerging. DNA nanotechnology offers perhaps the most deliberate approach to develop bacteria-based live materials with unprecedented functions.

An online database and bound visualizations for researchers to understand design trade-offs and identify candidate materials for gas adsorption separations.

This review highlights recent development of non-viral carrier based CRISPR system delivery to achieve gene editing in various immune cells for enhanced immunotherapy.

Structural colors, generated by the interaction of interference, diffraction, and scattering between incident light and periodic nanostructured surfaces with features of the same scale with incident visible light wavelengths, have recently attracted intense interest.

Nanowire microfluidics using a combination of self-assembly and nanofabrication technologies is expected to provide bioanalytical methods for liquid biopsy, which are impossible to achieve with conventional technologies.

Recent advances in the transition metal-catalyzed dehydrogenation of N-heteroaromatics are discussed.

Transference of chiral information from monomers to supramolecular nanotubes through the self-assembly of discrete non-covalent macrocycles.

This feature article focuses on the progress in catalytic asymmetric hydrogenation and transfer hydrogenation of O/N substituted arenes.

The controlled synthesis methods and the applications of nanoscale covalent organic frameworks in cancer therapy are summarized in this feature article.

State-of-the-art materials design, structural engineering and computational modeling, and new opportunities to develop sustainable and energy-efficient thermal management materials for future smart buildings.

The transition towards safer and more sustainable production of polymers has led to a growing body of academic research into non-isocyanate polyurethanes (NIPUs) as potential replacements for conventional, isocyanate-based polyurethane materials.

This feature article describes the development of hydrogen bonded frameworks assembled using amidinium∙∙∙carboxylate hydrogen bonds, and discusses their structures, stabilities and applications.

Endohedral metallofullerenes are fascinating materials. Recent progress on molecular structures and magnetic properties of metallofullerenes is summarized in this feature article.

Prodrug strategies to overcome BBB.

Palladium has proven to be effective in catalyzing the (hetero)annulation of CC bonds with ambiphilic organo(pseudo)halides, as summarized in this Feature Article.

Triboelectric nanogenerator emerges as a cost-effective biotechnology that could convert the subtle skin deformation caused by arterial pressure fluctuation into high voltage output, creating electrical signals with an extremely high signal-to-noise ratio for high-fidelity continuous pulse waveform monitoring.

We review the current understanding of charge carrier dynamics in carbon nitride heterojunctions and highlight open questions in the field.

Computational modeling of the mechanochemical cycle of dynein motor proteins.

The C–H bond and O–H bond activation reaction by the bis(μ-hydroxido) dimanganese complex occurred via H-atom abstraction in a concerted manner.

Aqueous chaotropes accelerate the electrocatalytic activity of adsorbed cytochrome c towards reactive oxygen species (ROS) production at electrified aqueous|organic interfaces.

Experiments and computations establish that donor electronics control activity, while donor sterics control catalyst deactivation.

An iterative step-growth synthesis up to 26 viologen subunits is established for unimolecular polyviologens on a gram scale. Facile degradation of the polyviologens under mildly basic conditions was demonstrated in solution and in hydrogel networks.

Fully soft organic electrochemical transistors and a skin-mountable electrophysiological signal amplifier were developed by all soft components based on, particularly stretchable PEDOT:PSS enabled by crosslinking between PEG and DVS.

An ultrasound-initiated thiol–norbornene reaction has been applied to fabricate hydrogels, and the ultrasound conditions in determining the properties of hydrogels have been systematically investigated.

A water stable, porphyrin-based metal–organic framework as a colorimetric sensor for the detection of acidic pesticides.

The mechanism of C₂ formation is potential-dependent in the electrocatalytic reduction of CO₂ on several defective Cu(100) surfaces, and a nonmonotonic trend is observed between the effective free energy barriers and the average coordination numbers.

Ferrocene-containing polymers can simultaneously possess porosity, solubility, and intrachain electronic communication.

We report a new easily customisable droplet-based method to produce droplet interface bilayers with multiple layers.

The highly selective synthesis of various middle distillate fuels including gasoline, jet fuel and diesel range hydrocarbons is achieved for hierarchical ZSM-5 zeolite supported cobalt catalysts with different cobalt particle sizes for syngas conversion.

The rationally designed variant V37A of L. syltensis (R)-selective transaminase exhibits improved activity towards bulkier substrates compared to the wild-type.

This research presents the first proof of principle of a hyphenated AF4-TOC method to selectively quantify nanoplastics in environmental matrices.

Presented herein is the synthesis of a heterometallic hybrid compound used as a candidate for third-order nonlinear optical (NLO) materials.

A facile approach for preparing oral delivery systems is reported via encapsulating antigen-carrying pseudoviruses inside positively charged polyethyleneimine-modified yeast capsules, providing a versatile platform for developing oral vaccines.

A catalyst and organic oxidant free electrochemical method for the oxidative Z-selective C(sp²)–H chlorination of acrylamides has been developed.

Decoration of the Wnt5a mimetic peptide Foxy5 on a PDMS elastomer substrate promotes the mechanotransduction and activation of cytotoxic T cells.

The development of visible-light-induced photoacid catalyzed glycosylation is reported.

A three-component iron-bisphosphine-catalyzed regioselective dicarbofunctionalization of electron-rich alkenes is described.

Poorly soluble S₈ can be readily converted to soluble polysulfides by 1,2-aminothiol compounds for further sulfur transfer reactivity.

The endurance of a Mo/Hf_0.3Zr_0.7O₂/Si capacitor was improved up to 10⁹ cycles by using a Ti layer formed prior to the atomic layer deposition of a Hf_0.3Zr_0.7O₂ film to avoid direct exposure of Si to ozone with resulting trap density decrease.

The proposed inexpensive open-shell extensions of the closed-shell pCCD model facilitate an accurate description of open-shell molecules.

We describe here a Ni-catalyzed Negishi coupling reaction to prepare 1,2-dialkyl enol ethers in a stereoconvergent fashion.

A reversible interconversion of the P–P bond was observed in redox-induced reactions between two uranium(IV) complexes.

Polymer nanoparticle hydrogels made of deoxyribonucleic acid and silica have been prepared and shown to display shear thinning and self-healing properties, sustained release of cargo and enzymatic degradation.

A high performance near-infrared organic phototransistor with photoresponsivity of 2000 A W⁻¹ and detectivity of 10¹⁶ Jones is achieved via introducing a small molecule acceptor as an electron trapping site.

Gly mutations in the 1022^nd site led to increased stable short β-structures with new H-bonds, thereby stiffness, whereas mutations in the 1025^th site disrupted and decreased existing H-bonds, leading to more intensive fluctuations.

Installation of a PN bond in π-systems.

The generation of luminescent carbon nanodots in AFI-type zeolite crystals via light-induced activation upon near infrared laser irradiation is described.

Here, the synthesis of sub-micron MMnF₃ (M = Na or K) particles by a rapid microwave-assisted approach is reported.

We modulated the optical properties of cocrystals without changing the unit cell parameters and crystal morphology by simply changing the relative position of the cyan group on the electron acceptor molecule.

A bimetallic CoPd alloy modified NiAl-LDH achieved enhanced syngas production by adjusting the Schottky barrier height to facilitate the separation and transfer of charge carriers and optimize the active sites for CO₂ and H₂O activation.

We explored the mechanism of ethylene combustion by combining a density functional tight-binding based nanoreactor molecular dynamic method (DFTB-NMD) and a hidden Markov model (HMM) based reaction network generator approach.

We experimentally demonstrated that spatial charge separation can take place between the {010} and {001} facets of Bi₂WO₆ microplates.

A recyclable self-supported nanoporous PdCu alloy heterogeneous catalyst was developed for aqueous Suzuki–Miyaura cross-coupling. This catalyst could be easily separated from the product via centrifugation and reused several times.

An electrochemical preparation of β-fluorosulfones via assembly of the readily available styrenes, sulfonylhydrazides, and triethylamine trihydrofluoride, has been developed.

A fully integrated origami paper-based analytical device (oPAD) was developed for measuring DNA damage.

A highly durable Zn metal anode was achieved by simply controlling the operating temperature at 0 °C, enabling a Zn symmetric cell with an ultra-long cycle life over 2500 h (>100 days).

We demonstrate the diatomic molecule sublimation mechanism of GeSe and GeS through a detailed theoretical and experimental investigation.

A selenophene-containing conjugated organic ligand was synthesized and incorporated into a Sn(II)-based two-dimensional perovskite. FET and LED devices based on these 2D perovskite thin films exhibit high performance and enhanced operational stability.

A polyphenolic semiconducting polymer was prepared to chelate the high-Z Hf ions, followed by coating of the amphiphilic polymers to form a nanostructure (CPPDA–Hf@Poloxamer nanoparticles) for precise lesion imaging and photothermal therapy.

Pt²⁺-linked M₆L₃ nanoprisms with cobalt–porphyrin walls were prepared and their redox properties were evaluated, leading to the first time that cobalt–porphyrin nanocages have been characterized in Co^I, Co^II, and Co^III states.

We use DFT methods to explore the mechanism of a direct C(sp³)–H functionalization via metal quinoid carbenes.

The chiral exciton couplings within a Y-shaped amphiphilic glutamide-cyanostilbene could be significantly biased by solvent polarity and hydration effect, which led to sign inversion of both CD and CPL of its assemblies.

Rim-differentiated Co-pillar[4+1]arenes with clickable moieties and extra synthetic handles are versatile platforms for self-assembled molecular architectures and biological applications.

The photoactivation of two Pt(IV)Re(I) conjugates was investigated and leveraged for eradicating ovarian cancer cells.

Aryloxy substitution establishes an accessible mechanophore platform for mechanically triggered molecular cargo release.

Electrochemically-synthesized Pt–WO_x hybrid nanostructures showed excellent catalytic hydrogen evolution reaction performance. The creation of Pt–WO_x interfacial sites on the synthesized nanostructures contributed to improved catalytic performance.

A silver-catalyzed method for the enantio- and diastereodivergent synthesis of chiral pyroglutamic acid esters containing multiple stereocenters has been developed through stereospecific 1,4-addition followed by lactamization.

Cycloparaphenyleneacetylene carbon nanohoops can now be prepared in a scalable manner using alkyne metathesis followed by alkene-selective bromination and dehydrobromination.

Antifouling hierarchical microbumps on BSA hydrogels are fabricated by inducing homogeneous nanogels inside the microbumps. The resulted hierarchical surface shows bacterial repellency 100 times stronger than a flat or reverse-microbump surface.