Nature Chemistry Contents June 2016 Volume 8 Number 6 pp 517 - 634

If you are unable to see the message below, click here to view.

Advertisement Solve our challenge and win $200,000.  Identify novel small molecules that bind glucose and improve diabetes treatments. Visit our challenge here. TABLE OF CONTENTS June 2016 Volume 8, Issue 6 Editorial Commentary Interview News and Views Review Articles In Your Element Subscribe   Facebook   RSS   Recommend to library   Twitter   Advertisement Launching in January 2017 - Nature Biomedical Engineering Discovery and technology for human health A new online journal for bench scientists, clinicians and medical engineers. Register for the journal's e-alert to receive content and news from the beginning.   Advertisement MATERIALS FOR ENERGY 2016 Presented by: Wuhan University of Technology | Nature Energy | Nature Materials | Nature The conference will feature sessions on electrochemical energy storage, solar energy conversion, and emerging materials and devices. June 11-14, 2016 | Wuhan, China REGISTER NOW   Editorial Top Coordinating chemists for global development   p517 doi:10.1038/nchem.2541 Chemistry research and education face challenges anywhere in the world, but more so in less developed — or less stable — economies. These countries and their more economically fortunate neighbours can all contribute to the development of chemistry and its ability to tackle local and global issues. Commentary Top Challenges and opportunities for chemistry in Africa   pp518 - 522 Berhanu Abegaz doi:10.1038/nchem.2533 Chemistry education and research in Africa is challenging — a fact that is clearly reflected by publication metrics. Yet this is far from the full story on a continent that has youth on its side, a cultural link to chemistry through its strong interest in plants and indigenous medicine, and an increasing number of ways forward. Interview Top A lab in Argentina   pp523 - 524 Interview with Mauricio Erben doi:10.1038/nchem.2532 Mauricio Erben, a researcher at the National University of La Plata and the National Scientific and Technical Research Council, talks to Nature Chemistry about his experience of research in Argentina, and how it is inherently linked to the country's political climate. News and Views Top Two-dimensional materials: Polyphony in B flat   pp525 - 527 Zhuhua Zhang, Evgeni S. Penev and Boris I. Yakobson doi:10.1038/nchem.2521 Early theories suggested the possibility of atomically thin boron layers, but electron-deficient boron favours multicentre bonds and assembles into various polymorphs, making the synthesis of such layers challenging. Now, in two independent experiments, the deposition of atomic boron has offered this long-sought material on a silver platter. See also: Article by Feng et al. Surface spectroscopy: Between a rock and a soft place   pp527 - 528 Heather Vanselous and Poul B. Petersen doi:10.1038/nchem.2531 The critical step in water splitting is the formation of a peroxo bond; the mechanism, thought to involve oxyl radical formation, remains elusive. Now, experiments reveal a distinct bond vibration directly connected to an oxyl radical that is simultaneously coupled to both the semiconductor electronic states and the motion of the surrounding water. See also: Article by Herlihy et al. Membraneless organelles: Phasing in and out   pp528 - 530 James Shorter doi:10.1038/nchem.2534 The low-complexity-protein, liquid phases of membraneless organelles have now been established to selectively partition biomolecules. The specialized microenvironment that they provide differs chemically from the surrounding medium and enables specific nucleic-acid remodelling reactions. See also: Article by Nott et al. Chemistry JOBS of the week Research Assistant Professor of Systems Pharmacology and Translational Therapeutics University of Pennsylvania International PhD program MDC More Science jobs from Chemistry EVENT International Symposium on Applied Chemistry (ISAC) 2016 03.10.16 Tangerang, Indonesia More science events from Review Top Counting on natural products for drug design   pp531 - 541 Tiago Rodrigues, Daniel Reker, Petra Schneider and Gisbert Schneider doi:10.1038/nchem.2479 Natural products are a prime source of innovative molecular fragments and privileged scaffolds for drug discovery and chemical biology. Advanced machine-learning approaches can help analyse and design synthetically accessible, natural-product-derived, compound libraries and provide insight into the high selectivity of such compounds. Articles Top An autonomous molecular assembler for programmable chemical synthesis   pp542 - 548 Wenjing Meng, Richard A. Muscat, Mireya L. McKee, Phillip J. Milnes, Afaf H. El-Sagheer et al. doi:10.1038/nchem.2495 Molecular machines that assemble polymers in a programmed sequence are fundamental to life. Now, synthetic machinery built from DNA has been used to execute a molecular program that produces peptides, or olefin oligomers, with a defined sequence. The oligomeric product is linked to a double-stranded DNA product that records the sequence of reactions that were executed. Detecting the oxyl radical of photocatalytic water oxidation at an n-SrTiO3/aqueous interface through its subsurface vibration   pp549 - 555 David M. Herlihy, Matthias M. Waegele, Xihan Chen, C. D. Pemmaraju, David Prendergast et al. doi:10.1038/nchem.2497 Water oxidation on titanate surfaces is thought to occur via an oxyl-radical intermediate (Ti­–O•), which precedes O–O bond formation, and for which there is indirect evidence. Using ultrafast infrared spectroscopy and theoretical calculations of photocatalytic water oxidation at the n-SrTiO3/aqueous interface, the oxyl radical has now been detected through its subsurface vibration. See also: News and Views by Vanselous & Petersen Evolution of thermophilic DNA polymerases for the recognition and amplification of C2'-modified DNA   pp556 - 562 Tingjian Chen, Narupat Hongdilokkul, Zhixia Liu, Ramkrishna Adhikary, Shujian S. Tsuen et al. doi:10.1038/nchem.2493 Naturally occurring DNA polymerases can amplify DNA efficiently via PCR, but they cannot utilize C2′-modified substrates to make non-natural nucleic acids. Such C2′-modified nucleic acids are of interest as they are resistant to nucleases. Now, a Stoffel fragment DNA polymerase has been evolved to transcribe C2′-modified DNA from a DNA template, reverse transcribe C2′-modified DNA back into DNA, and PCR-amplify C2′-modified DNA. Experimental realization of two-dimensional boron sheets   pp563 - 568 Baojie Feng, Jin Zhang, Qing Zhong, Wenbin Li, Shuai Li et al. doi:10.1038/nchem.2491 A variety of two-dimensional materials have been reported in the past few years, yet single-element systems—such as graphene and black phosphorus—have remained rare. 2D allotropes of boron have long been predicted and recently investigated. Two boron sheets have now been grown on a Ag(111) surface by molecule beam epitaxy that exhibit significant chemical stability against oxidation. See also: News and Views by Zhang et al. Membraneless organelles can melt nucleic acid duplexes and act as biomolecular filters   pp569 - 575 Timothy J. Nott, Timothy D. Craggs and Andrew J. Baldwin doi:10.1038/nchem.2519 Membraneless organelles form as liquid droplets inside cells. These bodies are effectively a separate organic phase, with unique biochemical properties. Now, the solvent interior of membraneless organelles has been shown to have a significant effect on the properties and structure of biomolecules. In addition to selectively partitioning and trafficking proteins, they can melt DNA without using ATP. See also: News and Views by Shorter A supramolecular ruthenium macrocycle with high catalytic activity for water oxidation that mechanistically mimics photosystem II   pp576 - 583 Marcus Schulze, Valentin Kunz, Peter D. Frischmann and Frank Würthner doi:10.1038/nchem.2503 Designing improved catalysts is predicated on understanding how they work. Now, by positioning three ruthenium centres in a macrocyclic framework, a remarkable acceleration of catalytic water oxidation has been achieved. Detailed mechanistic studies revealed that the catalyst operates through the ‘water nucleophilic attack’ pathway—similar to the natural oxygen-evolving cluster of photosystem II. Controlling activity and selectivity using water in the Au-catalysed preferential oxidation of CO in H2   pp584 - 589 Johnny Saavedra, Todd Whittaker, Zhifeng Chen, Christopher J. Pursell, Robert M. Rioux et al. doi:10.1038/nchem.2494 The preferential oxidation of CO is a potentially efficient means of purifying industrial hydrogen, however, no catalytic systems are known with sufficiently high activity and selectivity. Now Au/Al2O3 catalysts are shown to have outstanding activity and selectivity when both the feed flow-rate and the amount of surface water are carefully controlled. Sequence-defined bioactive macrocycles via an acid-catalysed cascade reaction   pp590 - 596 Mintu Porel, Dana N. Thornlow, Ngoc N. Phan and Christopher A. Alabi doi:10.1038/nchem.2508 Macrocyclic oligomers are a unique structural class of compounds in which the ring size and structure can be tuned through the precise control of the primary sequence. Now, it has been shown that oligothioetheramide (oligoTEA) macrocycles can be synthesized using a one-pot acid-catalysed cascade reaction. Preliminary results indicate that cationic oligoTEAs are promising bactericidal agents. Chemical compounds Covalent functionalization and passivation of exfoliated black phosphorus via aryl diazonium chemistry   pp597 - 602 Christopher R. Ryder, Joshua D. Wood, Spencer A. Wells, Yang Yang, Deep Jariwala et al. doi:10.1038/nchem.2505 Few-layer black phosphorus (BP) is a promising semiconductor, but it is highly reactive and susceptible to ambient degradation. Covalent functionalization with aryl radicals has now been shown to significantly improve the stability of exfoliated BP, as well as the performance of BP-based electronic devices through a controllable p-type doping effect. Tuning the driving force for exciton dissociation in single-walled carbon nanotube heterojunctions   pp603 - 609 Rachelle Ihly, Kevin S. Mistry, Andrew J. Ferguson, Tyler T. Clikeman, Bryon W. Larson et al. doi:10.1038/nchem.2496 The influence of the thermodynamic driving force for photoinduced electron-transfer between single-walled carbon nanotubes and fullerene derivatives has been investigated. The Marcus inverted region and small reorganization energies were observed for this model organic heterojunction. Small reorganization energies aid in minimizing energy losses for solar conversion to electricity or fuels. Parameterization of phosphine ligands reveals mechanistic pathways and predicts reaction outcomes   pp610 - 617 Zachary L. Niemeyer, Anat Milo, David P. Hickey and Matthew S. Sigman doi:10.1038/nchem.2501 The choice of ligand used in a reaction can drastically influence the overall outcome. Using a combination of classic physical organic chemistry and modern mathematical modelling, phosphine ligand effects are probed. The methods described provide the groundwork for future mechanistic studies of this ubiquitous ligand class. A highly stretchable autonomous self-healing elastomer   pp618 - 624 Cheng-Hui Li, Chao Wang, Christoph Keplinger, Jing-Lin Zuo, Lihua Jin et al. doi:10.1038/nchem.2492 Polymers that are both elastic and self-healing are desirable for a variety of applications, but often rely on hydrogen bonding which makes them moisture-sensitive. Now, by incorporating metal–ligand interactions with different bond strengths into flexible polymer backbones, an elastomer has been devised that combines high stretchability and high dielectric strength with autonomous self-healing and mechanical actuation capabilities. Fast response dry-type artificial molecular muscles with [c2]daisy chains   pp625 - 632 Kazuhisa Iwaso, Yoshinori Takashima and Akira Harada doi:10.1038/nchem.2513 Photoresponsive wet- and dry-type actuators can be built up from rotaxane-like structures through the polycondensation of four-armed polyethylene glycols with [c2]daisy chains comprised of cyclodextrin rings and azobenzene side chains. The response of the dry-type (xerogel) actuator to UV light was found to be more than 10,000 times faster than the wet-type (hydrogel) actuator. Advertisement npj Clean Water: open for submissions  An open access, online-only journal, dedicated to publishing high-quality papers that describe the significant and cutting-edge research that continues to ensure the supply of clean water to populations. Explore the benefits of submitting your next manuscript.   In Your Element Top Probing bohrium   p634 Philip Wilk doi:10.1038/nchem.2530 Bohrium behaves just as a group 7 element should — but this is in fact surprising, Philip Wilk explains. Top Natureevents is a fully searchable, multi-disciplinary database designed to maximise exposure for events organisers. The contents of the Natureevents Directory are now live. The digital version is available here. Find the latest scientific conferences, courses, meetings and symposia on natureevents.com. For event advertising opportunities across the Nature Publishing Group portfolio please contact natureevents@nature.com More Nature Events

You have been sent this Table of Contents Alert because you have opted in to receive it. You can change or discontinue your e-mail alerts at any time, by modifying your preferences on your nature.com account at: www.nature.com/myaccount (You will need to log in to be recognised as a nature.com registrant) For further technical assistance, please contact our registration department For print subscription enquiries, please contact our subscription department For other enquiries, please contact our customer feedback department Nature Publishing Group | One New York Plaza, Suite 4500 | New York | NY 10004-1562 | USA Nature Publishing Group's worldwide offices: London - Paris - Munich - New Delhi - Tokyo - Melbourne San Diego - San Francisco - Washington - New York - Boston Macmillan Publishers Limited is a company incorporated in England and Wales under company number 785998 and whose registered office is located at Brunel Road, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. © 2016 Nature Publishing Group, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited. All Rights Reserved.