Nature Chemistry Contents December 2015 Volume 7 Number 12 pp 941 - 1034

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TABLE OF CONTENTS December 2015 Volume 7, Issue 12 Commentary News and Views Perspective Articles Erratum Corrigendum In Your Element Correction Subscribe   Facebook   RSS   Recommend to library   Twitter   Advertisement Science Masterclass The 2015 meeting between Nobel laureates and young researchers in Lindau, Germany cast a spotlight on super-resolution microscopy, as discussed in depth in this Nature Outlook, as well as fields as diverse as memory formation and the Higgs bosons.  Access the Outlook free online.  Produced with support from: Mars, Incorporated     Commentary Top The role of chemistry in inventing a sustainable future   pp941 - 943 Stephen A. Matlin, Goverdhan Mehta, Henning Hopf and Alain Krief doi:10.1038/nchem.2389 The Sustainable Development Goals adopted at a UN summit in September 2015 address many of the great challenges that our planet faces this century. Chemistry can make pivotal contributions to help realize these ambitious goals, but first it must undergo major changes in its priorities, approaches and practices. News and Views Top Interlocked molecules: Aqueous assembly   pp944 - 945 Linyi Bai and Yanli Zhao doi:10.1038/nchem.2409 The quantitative self-assembly of mechanically interlocked molecules in water, instead of organic solvents, opens up the possibility of such systems being used in a biological context where their functions can be interfaced with biomolecular systems. See also: Article by Li et al. Photochemistry: A coherent picture of vision   pp945 - 947 Richard A. Mathies doi:10.1038/nchem.2406 Vision is initiated by photoisomerization of 11-cis retinal in the visual pigment rhodopsin — a fast and efficient process. Spectroscopic studies now demonstrate that the transition from the reactant photoexcited-state to the ground-state photoproduct, which mediates this important reaction, occurs on a sub-50-fs timescale and is vibrationally coherent. See also: Article by Johnson et al. 2015 Nobel Prize in Chemistry: Requiring repair   p947 Russell Johnson doi:10.1038/nchem.2412 Biocatalysis: Chiral cascades   pp948 - 949 Jian-bo Wang and Manfred T. Reetz doi:10.1038/nchem.2408 Racemic or enantiomerically pure alcohols can be converted with high yield into enantiopure chiral amines in a one-pot redox-neutral cascade process by the clever combination of an alcohol dehydrogenase and an appropriate amine dehydrogenase. 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine: Punishing parasites   p949 Stephen Davey doi:10.1038/nchem.2411 Domino reactions: More than just a game   pp950 - 951 Thomas Broja, Patrick J. W. Fuchs and Kirsten Zeitler doi:10.1038/nchem.2402 Catalytic methods are among the most valuable tools for sustainable synthesis. Domino catalysis enables multiple reactions to be combined so that synthetic efficiency may begin to approach that of nature, but significant challenges remain before this promising approach can fulfil the needs of pharmaceutical and materials chemistry. Chemistry JOBS of the week Postdoctoral fellow in synthetic chemistry and chemical biology University of Utah Post-doctoral position in Physical Chemistry ESPCI ParisTech Assistant Professor in Medicinal Chemistry The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Tenure Stream Position in Biophysical Chemistry University of Toronto Tier II Canada Research Chair in Analytical Chemistry University of Calgary More Science jobs from Chemistry EVENT 10th Drug Design & Medicinal Chemistry Conference 11.05.16 Berlin, Germany More science events from Perspective Top Recent advances in the molecular design of synthetic vaccines   pp952 - 960 Lyn H. Jones doi:10.1038/nchem.2396 Synthetic vaccines offer one method to avoid the drawbacks associated with vaccines derived from whole organisms. This Perspective highlights the improvements and significant recent progress that has been achieved in developing well-defined synthetic vaccines using a variety of molecular antigens. Articles Top Monitoring one-electron photo-oxidation of guanine in DNA crystals using ultrafast infrared spectroscopy   pp961 - 967 James P. Hall, Fergus E. Poynton, Páraic M. Keane, Sarah P. Gurung, John A. Brazier et al. doi:10.1038/nchem.2369 Uncertainty associated with solution-based electron-transfer studies of DNA–metal-complex systems has now been overcome by combining X-ray and time-resolved infrared data obtained for ruthenium polypyridyl–DNA crystals. Using these methods both the geometry of the reaction site and the kinetics of the reversible photo-induced one-electron oxidation of guanine have been determined. Inhibition of human copper trafficking by a small molecule significantly attenuates cancer cell proliferation   pp968 - 979 Jing Wang, Cheng Luo, Changliang Shan, Qiancheng You, Junyan Lu et al. doi:10.1038/nchem.2381 Copper is a transition metal ion essential for the regulation of cellular oxidative stress and ATP production. Now, the inhibition of copper-trafficking proteins by a small molecule has been shown to significantly reduce proliferation of cancer cells. The results indicate that copper-trafficking proteins could represent new anti-tumour therapeutic targets. Chemical compounds Local vibrational coherences drive the primary photochemistry of vision   pp980 - 986 Philip J. M. Johnson, Alexei Halpin, Takefumi Morizumi, Valentyn I. Prokhorenko, Oliver P. Ernst et al. doi:10.1038/nchem.2398 The isomerization of the retinal chromophore of rhodopsin is the photochemical process that initiates the sense of vision. Now, heterodyne-detected transient grating spectroscopy has been used to resolve coherent vibrational dynamics during this process, helping to identify strictly local vibrational motions as the origin of the coherent surface crossing, which occurs on a sub-50-fs timescale. See also: News and Views by Mathies A manganese catalyst for highly reactive yet chemoselective intramolecular C(sp3)–H amination   pp987 - 994 Shauna M. Paradine, Jennifer R. Griffin, Jinpeng Zhao, Aaron L. Petronico, Shannon M. Miller et al. doi:10.1038/nchem.2366 A manganese catalyst is reported that aminates C–H bonds via a mechanism that lies between that of reactive noble metals (concerted) and chemoselective base metals (stepwise). Rather than exhibiting intermediate reactivity and selectivity, [Mn(tBuPc)] is an outlier, and aminates all C(sp3)–H bonds, including 1°, while remaining tolerant of oxidizable p-functionality. Chemical compounds Reconstitution of [Fe]-hydrogenase using model complexes   pp995 - 1002 Seigo Shima, Dafa Chen, Tao Xu, Matthew D. Wodrich, Takashi Fujishiro et al. doi:10.1038/nchem.2382 [Fe]-hydrogenase has an iron-guanylylpyridinol cofactor and catalyses the reversible hydrogenation of a methenyl-tetrahydromethanopterin. Now, [Fe]-hydrogenase has been reconstituted using synthetic cofactor mimics. The enzyme containing a mimic with a 2-hydroxy-pyridine group was active, whereas one containing a 2-methoxy-pyridine group was inactive. This result, together with DFT computations, supports a catalytic mechanism involving the deprotonated pyridinol hydroxy group as a proton acceptor. Quantitative self-assembly of a purely organic three-dimensional catenane in water   pp1003 - 1008 Hao Li, Huacheng Zhang, Aaron D. Lammer, Ming Wang, Xiaopeng Li et al. doi:10.1038/nchem.2392 Purely organic molecules with complex interlocked architectures have proved difficult to prepare in water. Now, a three-dimensional organic [2]catenane has been obtained in a weakly acidic aqueous solution, through an almost quantitative self-assembly process relying on dynamic hydrazone linkages. The catenane is kinetically stable in neutral and weakly basic environments. Chemical compounds See also: News and Views by Bai & Zhao A steric tethering approach enables palladium-catalysed C–H activation of primary amino alcohols   pp1009 - 1016 Jonas Calleja, Daniel Pla, Timothy W. Gorman, Victoriano Domingo, Benjamin Haffemayer et al. doi:10.1038/nchem.2367 The functionalization of primary amines by C–H activation is often hindered by their strong metal-coordinating properties. Now, a steric tethering approach — which temporarily converts amino alcohols into hindered secondary amines — has been developed. The approach allows these amino alcohols to be transformed into structurally complex and diverse products using palladium-catalysed aliphatic C–H activation. Chemical compounds A labile hydride strategy for the synthesis of heavily nitridized BaTiO3   pp1017 - 1023 Takeshi Yajima, Fumitaka Takeiri, Kohei Aidzu, Hirofumi Akamatsu, Koji Fujita et al. doi:10.1038/nchem.2370 Oxynitrides are garnering interest because of their variety of novel properties, but their synthesis has typically involved highly reducing conditions that put significant constraints on their composition, structure and properties. Now, the lability of H− in perovskite oxyhydride BaTiO3−xHx has enabled H–/N3– exchange at a lower temperature, yielding a ferroelectric oxynitride BaTiO3−xN2x/3. Diastereoselective addition of Grignard reagents to α-epoxy N-sulfonyl hydrazones   pp1024 - 1027 Maulen M. Uteuliyev, Thien T. Nguyen and Don M. Coltart doi:10.1038/nchem.2364 α-Substituted-β-hydroxy ketones are valuable intermediates, but their preparation by alkylation of enolates is difficult with hindered electrophiles. Now, a direct method for preparing α-substituted-β-hydroxy ketones — including those having α-quaternary centres — by addition of Grignard reagents to epoxyhydrazones has been developed, enabling the stereocontrolled incorporation of a wide range of carbon based substituents. Chemical compounds Efficient green methanol synthesis from glycerol   pp1028 - 1032 Muhammad H. Haider, Nicholas F. Dummer, David W. Knight, Robert L. Jenkins, Mark Howard et al. doi:10.1038/nchem.2345 Impure glycerol is obtained as a significant by-product of biodiesel production. Now it is shown that this crude glycerol can be reacted with water over very simple basic or redox oxide catalysts to produce methanol in high yields, together with other useful chemicals, in a one-step low pressure process. Erratum Top Erratum: The essential role of charge-shift bonding in hypervalent prototype XeF2   p1033 Benoit Braida and Philippe C. Hiberty doi:10.1038/nchem.2394 Corrigendum Top Corrigendum: Organocatalytic removal of formaldehyde adducts from RNA and DNA bases   p1033 Saswata Karmakar, Emily M. Harcourt, David S. Hewings, Florian Scherer, Alexander F. Lovejoy et al. doi:10.1038/nchem.2401 In Your Element Top Rubidium round-the-clock   p1034 Iulia Georgescu doi:10.1038/nchem.2407 Iulia Georgescu explains why rubidium is atomic physicists' favourite chemical element. Correction Top Correction   p1034 doi:10.1038/nchem.2404 Top Advertisement Horticulture Research is an open access, fully peer-reviewed journal that publishes the best and most interesting research focusing on all major horticultural crops from around the world. Submit your manuscript   Natureevents is a fully searchable, multi-disciplinary database designed to maximise exposure for events organisers. 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