Nature Chemistry Contents November 2013 Volume 5 Number 11 pp 895-978

Advertisement Bio-Rad's new modular NGC™ chromatography system allows users to modify its capabilities when their throughput or application requirements change, obviating the need to purchase a completely new instrument. TABLE OF CONTENTS November 2013 Volume 5, Issue 11 Books and Arts Research Highlights Blogroll News and Views Review Articles In Your Element Advertisement   Frontiers in Chemistry is sending out a call to all active researchers and chemistry experts to help us build a dynamic, highly regarded editorial board! We're currently looking for Speciality Chief Editors for Organic Chemistry, Biochemistry and Marine Chemistry. Find out more about this and how you can apply for our specialist subject sections here Subscribe   Facebook   RSS   Recommend to library   Twitter   Advertisement Nature Outlook Chemistry Masterclass Presenting the perspectives of Nobel laureates and young researchers on the pressing issues in chemistry  Access the Outlook free online for six months.  Produced with support from: Mars, Incorporated   Books and Arts Top Ask Atkins   p895 Philip Ball reviews What is Chemistry? by Peter Atkins doi:10.1038/nchem.1775 Research Highlights Top Asymmetric catalysis: Restricting rotation | Bonding analysis: United they are strong | Heterogeneous organocatalysis: Catalytic cloth | Pigment degradation: Chrome yellow's darker side Blogroll Top Blogroll: Exposing fraud   p897 Tom Phillips doi:10.1038/nchem.1782 News and Views Top Processive catalysis: Thread and cut   pp899 - 900 Leonard J. Prins and Paolo Scrimin doi:10.1038/nchem.1785 Processive catalysis is frequent in nature, but much less common in synthetic systems. Now, a semisynthetic biohybrid catalytic system is reported that oxidizes DNA in a processive manner. See also: Article by van Dongen et al. Prebiotic chemistry: Ribozyme takes its vitamins   pp900 - 901 Cynthia J. Burrows doi:10.1038/nchem.1786 Selection of an RNA catalyst that can use the vitamin thiamin to catalyse a key metabolic decarboxylation reaction has broad implications for understanding the role of RNA in the early stages of chemical evolution. See also: Article by Cernak & Sen Chemical reactivity: Inverse solvent design   pp902 - 903 Donald G. Truhlar doi:10.1038/nchem.1774 Choosing a solvent for a particular reaction is often a matter of personal preference or the result of limited screening. Now, a computational method allows identification of a solvent that will enhance the kinetics of a reaction prior to running a wet experiment. See also: Article by Struebing et al. Conjugated macrocycles: Excitations get random   pp903 - 904 Ivan G. Scheblykin doi:10.1038/nchem.1787 The fate of newly created excited states in conjugated materials is not fully understood, with unanswered questions regarding where exactly excitons form and their subsequent behaviour. Now, single-molecule spectroscopy studies of large conjugated molecular wheels reveal that excitons localize at random positions around the wheel rims. See also: Article by Aggarwal et al. Chemistry JOBS of the week W2-Professorship for Physical Chemistry Friedrich-Schiller-University Canada Research Chair, Tier II, Aquatic Analytical Chemistry University of Calgary Tenure-Track Assistant Professor Position in Biointerfacial Chemistry McMaster University Full-Time Faculty Chemistry / Physics Fashion Institute of Technology Metabolomics Faculty Position Biological Chemistry & Pediatrics Johns Hopkins University More Science jobs from Chemistry EVENT Modern Synthetic Methods in Organofluorine Chemistry 06.03.14 London, UK More science events from Review Top The past, present and potential for microfluidic reactor technology in chemical synthesis   pp905 - 915 Katherine S. Elvira, Xavier Casadevall i Solvas, Robert C. R. Wootton and Andrew J. deMello doi:10.1038/nchem.1753 The successes and failures of past research in the development of microfluidic reactors for chemical synthesis are highlighted. Current roadblocks are assessed and a series of challenges for the future of this area are identified. Articles Top In situ growth of nanoparticles through control of non-stoichiometry   pp916 - 923 Dragos Neagu, George Tsekouras, David N. Miller, Hervé Ménard and John T. S. Irvine doi:10.1038/nchem.1773 Surfaces decorated with nanoparticles are typically prepared by depositing particles on the substrate. Instead, particles have now been grown in situ directly from perovskites, by exsolution through judicious tuning of the materials’ compositions, particularly their nonstoichiometry. This approach enables control over particle composition, size, surface coverage and anchorage. Optical control of antibacterial activity   pp924 - 928 Willem A. Velema, Jan Pieter van der Berg, Mickel J. Hansen, Wiktor Szymanski, Arnold J. M. Driessen et al. doi:10.1038/nchem.1750 Avoiding the development of microbial antibiotic resistance is a major challenge. Now the incorporation of a photoswitchable group into quinolones has been used to create ‘smart’ antibiotics that can be activated with light. The subsequent loss of activity (within hours) should prevent the build-up of active antibiotics in the environment. Chemical compounds Water lubricates hydrogen-bonded molecular machines   pp929 - 934 Matthijs R. Panman, Bert H. Bakker, David den Uyl, Euan R. Kay, David A. Leigh et al. doi:10.1038/nchem.1744 Although much is understood about the mechanical behaviour of macroscopic machinery, less is known about their molecular equivalents. It is now shown that for molecular machinery consisting of hydrogen-bonded components their relative motion is strongly accelerated by adding small amounts of ‘lubricating’ water, whereas other protic liquids have much weaker or opposite effects. Water vibrations have strongly mixed intra- and intermolecular character   pp935 - 940 Krupa Ramasesha, Luigi De Marco, Aritra Mandal and Andrei Tokmakoff doi:10.1038/nchem.1757 Liquid water has the unique ability to mediate ultrafast energy transfer and relaxation in aqueous chemical reactions. Ultrafast broadband two-dimensional infrared spectroscopy that probes vibrations spanning the mid-infrared region with sub-70-femtosecond time resolution now provides evidence for highly intertwined intra- and intermolecular vibrations in water that act to efficiently dissipate vibrational energy. A broadly applicable [18F]trifluoromethylation of aryl and heteroaryl iodides for PET imaging   pp941 - 944 Mickael Huiban, Matthew Tredwell, Satoshi Mizuta, Zehong Wan, Xiaomin Zhang et al. doi:10.1038/nchem.1756 Positron emission tomography imaging is an increasingly important technology in drug discovery and development, so there is an urgent need for logistically simple processes that allow access to [18F]CF3 (hetero)arenes. Here, a late-stage [18F]trifluoromethylation of (hetero)aryl iodides from [18F]fluoride and commercially available reagents is described, a process that relies on the in situ preparation of [18F]CuCF3. Chemical compounds A clamp-like biohybrid catalyst for DNA oxidation   pp945 - 951 Stijn F. M. van Dongen, Joost Clerx, Kasper Nørgaard, Tom G. Bloemberg, Jeroen J. L. M. Cornelissen et al. doi:10.1038/nchem.1752 Clamp proteins that encircle DNA and then recruit enzymes are one of nature's ways of making catalysis on DNA processive. Here, a clamp protein is equipped with a synthetic catalyst that sequence-specifically oxidizes DNA. The resulting biohybrid catalyst shows processive behaviour, which is visualized by atomic force microscopy. See also: News and Views by Prins & Scrimin Computer-aided molecular design of solvents for accelerated reaction kinetics   pp952 - 957 Heiko Struebing, Zara Ganase, Panagiotis G. Karamertzanis, Eirini Siougkrou, Peter Haycock et al. doi:10.1038/nchem.1755 Finding the right solvent can radically transform the rate of a reaction. Here, a systematic computational method for the identification of solvents that accelerate kinetics is described. Starting with a quantum mechanical computation of the reaction rate constant in a set of six solvents, a computer-aided approach identifies the best solvent among 1,341, with a 40% increase in reaction rate. See also: News and Views by Truhlar Layer-by-layer cell membrane assembly   pp958 - 963 Sandro Matosevic and Brian M. Paegel doi:10.1038/nchem.1765 Immobilized microfluidic water-in-oil droplets serve as templates for layer-by-layer deposition of lipid monolayers to create vesicles of programmable lamellarity and content. Arrays of vesicles allow reproducible assembly and multi-vesicle probing of complex membrane-associated parameters, such as permeability, asymmetry and membrane protein function. Fluctuating exciton localization in giant π-conjugated spoked-wheel macrocycles   pp964 - 970 A. Vikas Aggarwal, Alexander Thiessen, Alissa Idelson, Daniel Kalle, Dominik Würsch et al. doi:10.1038/nchem.1758 A deficiency in our molecular-level understanding of the electronic structure of conjugated polymers hinders their potential use in electronic applications. Shape-persistent highly ordered ring structures have been used to mimic conjugated polymers and have now been studied using single-molecule spectroscopy. The fundamentally non-deterministic nature of excitation energy localisation in π-conjugated macromolecules has been demonstrated. Chemical compounds See also: News and Views by Scheblykin A thiamin-utilizing ribozyme decarboxylates a pyruvate-like substrate   pp971 - 977 Paul Cernak and Dipankar Sen doi:10.1038/nchem.1777 Vitamins are thought to be relics of a primordial RNA World. A demonstration that catalytic RNAs are capable of harnessing vitamin cofactors would support the likely role of vitamins in early metabolic processes. Here, a ribozyme that uses vitamin B1 to aid decarboxylation of a pyruvate-like substrate is reported. See also: News and Views by Burrows In Your Element Top Manganese the protector   p978 John Emsley doi:10.1038/nchem.1783 John Emsley looks at an element that is vital to life. 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