Nature Chemistry Contents October 2014 Volume 6 Number 10 pp 841-942

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TABLE OF CONTENTS October 2014 Volume 6, Issue 10 Editorial Thesis Interviews Research Highlights Blogroll News and Views Review Articles Errata Corrigendum In Your Element Subscribe   Facebook   RSS   Recommend to library   Twitter   Advertisement Nature Chemistry Web focus — Biomimetic drug discovery  Natural products and their derivatives have long been a significant source of pharmaceuticals. A collection of articles in this Focus highlights efforts to mimic some aspects of the way in which these compounds are made in nature with the aim of improving the processes by which synthetic drug leads are identified. Selected content free online to registered nature.com users for a limited time.     Editorial Top Inspiration comes naturally   p841 doi:10.1038/nchem.2081 A collection of articles in this issue focuses on attempts to mimic aspects of natural-product biosynthesis for the identification of new drugs. See also: Interview with Adam Nelson and Stuart Warriner | Interview with Jeffrey Bode | News and Views by Lowe | Article by Karageorgis et al. | Article by Huang & Bode Thesis Top Seeding crystallography   pp842 - 844 Michelle Francl doi:10.1038/nchem.2067 Michelle Francl wonders if the harem effect in crystallography is overrated. Interviews Top Parallels with nature   pp845 - 846 Interview with Adam Nelson and Stuart Warriner doi:10.1038/nchem.2076 Adam Nelson and Stuart Warriner, from the University of Leeds, talk with Nature Chemistry about their work to develop viable synthetic strategies for preparing new chemical structures in parallel with the identification of desirable biological activity. See also: Editorial | Interview with Jeffrey Bode | News and Views by Lowe | Article by Karageorgis et al. | Article by Huang & Bode Public libraries   pp846 - 847 Interview with Jeffrey Bode doi:10.1038/nchem.2070 Jeffrey Bode from ETH Zürich talks with Nature Chemistry about his group's work on synthetic fermentation, and how he hopes it could bring the power of chemical synthesis into the hands of citizen scientists. See also: Editorial | Interview with Adam Nelson and Stuart Warriner | News and Views by Lowe | Article by Karageorgis et al. | Article by Huang & Bode Research Highlights Top Electron microscopy: Gold rush | Protein-protein interactions: Bait and switch | Protein folding: Flip to unzip | Enzyme catalysis: Colourful conversion Blogroll Top Blogroll: Getting started   p849 Sylvain Deville doi:10.1038/nchem.2066 News and Views Top Drug discovery: Combichem all over again   pp851 - 852 Derek B. Lowe doi:10.1038/nchem.2074 The generation of chemical libraries for screening is a key part of the drug discovery process. Now, two studies describe attempts to combine features of natural product biosynthesis into the creation of libraries with the aim of mimicking nature's success at the production of bioactive molecules. See also: Editorial | Interview with Adam Nelson and Stuart Warriner | Interview with Jeffrey Bode | Article by Karageorgis et al. | Article by Huang & Bode Ion transport: Tipping a cell's ionic balance   pp852 - 853 Jeffery T. Davis doi:10.1038/nchem.2072 A synthetic compound that transports chloride across membranes can kill both normal cells and cancer cells in vitro. The transporter works together with sodium channels to move NaCl into the cells, which triggers cell death. See also: Article by Ko et al. Electron transfer: Lower tunnel barriers   pp854 - 855 John R. Miller doi:10.1038/nchem.2059 A better understanding of electron transfer through molecules could provide the basis for many technological breakthroughs. Now, the rate of electron transfer has been enhanced in a family of molecules by making them more rigid, and this phenomenon may be explained by the loss of electronic energy to vibrations. See also: Article by Sukegawa et al. Peptides: Bicycling into cells   pp855 - 857 Rob M. J. Liskamp doi:10.1038/nchem.2073 Bicyclic peptides that are cell-permeable and can inhibit an intracellular target have been developed. These peptides consist of two rings: one enables the peptide to pass through the membrane, the other can inhibit the target. Self-assembly: Served on a nanoplate   pp857 - 858 Chunhua Cai and Jiaping Lin doi:10.1038/nchem.2071 Self-assembled cylinders can generally be extended only from their ends — growth that is considered to be 'one-dimensional'. Now, platelet-like structures with controlled size and composition have been constructed by growth in two dimensions of self-assembled structures, starting from crystallite seed micelles. See also: Article by Hudson et al. Chemistry JOBS of the week Lecturer in Bio-Organic Chemistry University of East Anglia (UEA) Faculty Position in Medicinal Chemistry for Cancer Drug Discovery St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (SJCRH) PhD in Organometallic Chemistry National University of Singapore (NUS) Postdoctoral Fellows in Biophysical Chemistry - Site-Directed Isotope Labelling of Proteins University of Gothenburg (GU) Professor in Organic Surface Chemistry (ID 683364) Aarhus University More Science jobs from Chemistry EVENT Discovery Chemistry Congress 17.02.15 Berlin, Germany More science events from Review Top Contemporary screening approaches to reaction discovery and development   pp859 - 871 Karl D. Collins, Tobias Gensch and Frank Glorius doi:10.1038/nchem.2062 A critical overview and analysis of contemporary screening approaches toward the discovery of new reactivity is provided. A breakdown of each approach in terms of strategy, practicality and utility from the perspective of a synthetic chemist is also given, as well as considerations on the future of high-throughput screening in reaction discovery. Articles Top Efficient discovery of bioactive scaffolds by activity-directed synthesis   pp872 - 876 George Karageorgis, Stuart Warriner and Adam Nelson doi:10.1038/nchem.2034 A discovery approach termed activity-directed synthesis is described; it exploits arrays of reactions whose outcome is critically dependent on the conditions used, and prioritizes reactions that yield bioactive product mixtures. The discovery of both bioactive small molecules and associated synthetic routes thus occurs in parallel. Chemical compounds See also: Editorial | Interview with Adam Nelson and Stuart Warriner | Interview with Jeffrey Bode | News and Views by Lowe | Article by Huang & Bode Synthetic fermentation of bioactive non-ribosomal peptides without organisms, enzymes or reagents   pp877 - 884 Yi-Lin Huang and Jeffrey W. Bode doi:10.1038/nchem.2048 The production of biologically active compounds by microbial fermentation has proved highly successful in drug discovery. Now, a method that mimics this process has been used to prepare unnatural peptides from small building blocks without the need for additional reagents, and in a fashion that is immediately compatible with biological screening. Chemical compounds See also: Editorial | Interview with Adam Nelson and Stuart Warriner | Interview with Jeffrey Bode | News and Views by Lowe | Article by Karageorgis et al. Synthetic ion transporters can induce apoptosis by facilitating chloride anion transport into cells   pp885 - 892 Sung-Kyun Ko, Sung Kuk Kim, Andrew Share, Vincent M. Lynch, Jinhong Park et al. doi:10.1038/nchem.2021 Anion transporters that disrupt cellular ion homeostasis could represent a new approach for generating therapeutic lead compounds. Now, two pyridine diamide-strapped calix[4]pyrroles have been shown to induce coupled chloride anion and sodium cation transport in liposomal models and cells. These compounds promote cell death by increasing intracellular chloride and sodium ion concentrations. See also: News and Views by Davis Tailored hierarchical micelle architectures using living crystallization-driven self-assembly in two dimensions   pp893 - 898 Zachary M. Hudson, Charlotte E. Boott, Matthew E. Robinson, Paul A. Rupar, Mitchell A. Winnik et al. doi:10.1038/nchem.2038 Self-assembly is commonly used to construct complex nanostructures from soft matter. Now, using the living crystallization-driven self-assembly approach, controlled nanostructure growth in both one and two dimensions has been achieved. Uniform lenticular multiblock platelets, as well as hierarchical structures analogous to nanoscale single- and double-headed arrows and spears have been prepared with controlled sizes in two dimensions. See also: News and Views by Cai & Lin Electron transfer through rigid organic molecular wires enhanced by electronic and electron–vibration coupling   pp899 - 905 Junpei Sukegawa, Christina Schubert, Xiaozhang Zhu, Hayato Tsuji, Dirk M. Guldi et al. doi:10.1038/nchem.2026 The relationship between electron-transfer properties and the structure of molecular electronics is still not fully understood. Now, a rigid and flat molecular wire has been shown to significantly enhance the rate of electron transfer compared with conventional flexible molecular wires. This enhancement is attributable to both conjugation-induced electronic coupling and inelastic electron tunnelling-enabled electron–vibration coupling. Chemical compounds See also: News and Views by Miller Capturing snapshots of post-synthetic metallation chemistry in metal–organic frameworks   pp906 - 912 Witold M. Bloch, Alexandre Burgun, Campbell J. Coghlan, Richmond Lee, Michelle L. Coote et al. doi:10.1038/nchem.2045 Obtaining precise structural information for metal-centred reactions that take place within the pores of metal–organic frameworks continues to be an elusive goal. Now, a flexible framework has been synthesized that enables the direct elucidation of the products of post-synthetic metallation reactions and subsequent chemical transformations by single-crystal X-ray crystallography. Camera image: © boyoglu/iStock/Thinkstock In situ X-ray snapshot analysis of transient molecular adsorption in a crystalline channel   pp913 - 918 Ryou Kubota, Shohei Tashiro, Motoo Shiro and Mitsuhiko Shionoya doi:10.1038/nchem.2044 Analysing the dynamic adsorption of small molecules in porous materials is a significant challenge. Now, in situ single-crystal X-ray diffraction has shown that molecular adsorption in a crystalline nanochannel occurs through multiple steps. Transient states during the process were also visualized, demonstrating the potential of X-ray analysis for probing non-covalent adsorption processes. Harnessing redox activity for the formation of uranium tris(imido) compounds   pp919 - 926 Nickolas H. Anderson, Samuel O. Odoh, Yiyi Yao, Ursula J. Williams, Brian A. Schaefer et al. doi:10.1038/nchem.2009 Multi-electron redox chemistry is important in transition-metal-mediated processes, but is rarely observed with uranium due to its propensity to undergo single-electron reactions. Now, uranium can use its electrons, coupled with those stored in redox-active ligands, to perform multi electron reduction of organoazides and form uranium tris(imido) derivatives. Chemical compounds Low-energy spectrum of iron–sulfur clusters directly from many-particle quantum mechanics   pp927 - 933 Sandeep Sharma, Kantharuban Sivalingam, Frank Neese and Garnet Kin-Lic Chan doi:10.1038/nchem.2041 FeS clusters are a universal motif in organisms and are central to many processes, including nitrogen fixation and respiration. By carrying out the first many-electron calculation of the [2Fe-2S] and [4Fe-4S] clusters, they are shown to have an unusual set of closely packed energy levels, which are key to understanding their reactivity. Redox-inactive metal ions modulate the reactivity and oxygen release of mononuclear non-haem iron(III)–peroxo complexes   pp934 - 940 Suhee Bang, Yong-Min Lee, Seungwoo Hong, Kyung-Bin Cho, Yusuke Nishida et al. doi:10.1038/nchem.2055 Non-haem iron(III)-peroxo complexes that bind redox-inactive metal ions are synthesized to investigate the role of the Ca2+ ion in the oxidation of water to dioxygen in photosystem II. The electrochemical properties and reactions of these compounds with an electron donor and an acceptor are found to be markedly dependent on the Lewis acidity of redox-inactive metal ions. Chemical compounds Errata Top Erratum: Triazolinediones enable ultrafast and reversible click chemistry for the design of dynamic polymer systems   p941 Stijn Billiet, Kevin De Bruycker, Frank Driessen, Hannelore Goossens, Veronique Van Speybroec et al. doi:10.1038/nchem.2060 Erratum: High-performance Ag-Co alloy catalysts for electrochemical oxygen reduction   p941 Adam Holewinski, Juan-Carlos Idrobo and Suljo Linic doi:10.1038/nchem.2061 Corrigendum Top Corrigendum: Directed assembly of optoelectronically active alkyl-π-conjugated molecules by adding n-alkanes or π-conjugated species   p941 Martin J. Hollamby, Maciej Karny, Paul H. H. Bomans, Nico A. J. M. Sommerdijk, Akinori Saeki et al. doi:10.1038/nchem.2069 In Your Element Top The colours of chromium   p942 Anders Lennartson doi:10.1038/nchem.2068 From rubies to Rolls-Royce, Anders Lennartson explores the colourful history of chromium and its coordination compounds. 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