Terpene synthases produce a wide number of hydrocarbon skeletons by controlling intramolecular rearragements of allylic pyrophosphate subtrates via reactive carbocation intermediates. Here we review recent research focused on engineering terpene synthases and modifying their substrates to rationally manipulate terpene catalyisis. Molecular dynamic simulations and solid state X-ray crystallography are

Homoleptic complex La(InMe4)3 is obtained from the respective aluminium congener La(AlMe4)3 via a donor-assisted tetramethylaluminate/tetramethylindate exchange protocol. Compound La(InMe4)3 exhibits interesting thermal lability as well as distinct cluster formation like La4In7(C)(CH)2(CH2)2(CH3)19 and La5In9(CH)6(CH3)24 upon addition of an excess of donor or thermal treatment. The neutral potentially

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The high entropy alloy (HEA) possesses distinctive thermal stability and electronic characteristics, which exhibits substantial potential for diverse applications in electrocatalytic reactions. However, accurately controlling the size of HEA still remains a challenge, especially for the ultrasmall HEA nanoparticles. Herein, we firstly calculate and illustrate the size impact on the electronic structure

Redox‐active covalent organic frameworks (COFs) have been demonstrated as promising organic electrodes in many electrochemical devices. However, their inherently low conductivity significantly hinders the full utilization of their internal redox‐active sites. To address this issue, a simple solvothermal method is used to in situ polymerize 2,4,6‐triformylphloroglucinol (TP) and p‐phenylenediamine (PA)

We present a novel electrochemical dicarboxylation of epoxides with CO2, characterized by the cleavage of two C–O single bonds. Not only are vinyl epoxides viable, but cyclic carbonates also serve as effective substrates, facilitating the synthesis of E‐configured adipic and octanedioic acids with high chemo‐, regio‐, and stereoselectivity. The synthetic practicality is further highlighted by the diverse

Herein, we first report a photocatalytic OCM using CO2 as a soft oxidant for C2H6 production under mild conditions, where an efficient photocatalyst with unique interface sites is constructed to facilitate CO2 adsorption and activation, while concurrently boosting CH4 dissociation. As a prototype, the Au quantum dots anchored on oxygen‐deficient TiO2 nanosheets are fabricated, where the Au‐Vo‐Ti interface

The limited cycling durability of Zn anode, attributed to the absence of a robust electrolyte‐derived solid electrolyte interphase (SEI), remains the bottleneck for the practical deployment of aqueous zinc batteries. Herein, we highlight the role of local supersaturation in governing the fundamental crystallization chemistry of Zn4SO4(OH)6·xH2O (ZSH) and propose a subtle supersaturation‐controlled

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Thermophotovoltaic (TPV) devices, which convert infrared thermal radiation from a hot emitter into electricity, hold great promise for applications in energy storage and waste heat recovery. While recent advancements have developed TPV devices with high efficiency, much less attention has been focused on improving the power density. Current TPV methods face challenges in significantly boosting power

Flexible organic solar cells (FOSCs) have gained significant attention as a promising power source for wearable electronics. PEDOT:PSS is a commonly used function layer material in FOSCs due to excellent light transparency and electrical conductivity, especially suitable for interface and electrode materials. However, PEDOT:PSS have poor phase separation, resulting in rough surface that is unfavorable

High-entropy spinel compounds (HESs), as a typical class of high-entropy materials (HEMs), represent a novel frontier in the search for next-generation catalysts. Their unique blend of high entropy, compositional diversity, and structural complexity offers unprecedented opportunities to tailor catalyst properties for enhanced performance (i.e., activity, selectivity, and stability) in heterogeneous

As a class of readily available and multifunctional building blocks, the chemistry of 4-alken-2-ynyl carbonates remains to be explored. Presented herein is a palladium-catalysed cascade transformative reaction between 4-alken-2-ynyl carbonates and ortho-functionalised activated alkenes. Achiral 1,1-bisalkyl-4-alken-2-ynyl carbonates undergo highly regioselective propargylic substitution with ortho

Atomically precise metal nanoclusters (NCs) have recently been unleashed as an emerging sector of metal nanomaterials but suffer from light-induced poor stability, giving rise to the detrimental self-transformation to metal nanocrystals (NYs), losing the photosensitization effect and ultimately retarding their widespread applications in photoredox catalysis. Are the metal NCs definitely superior to

This perspective covers the chemistry of cyclopentadienyl cations from the first synthetic attempts generating transient variants to their successful isolation earlier this year. They are highly reactive species that teams struggled to isolate and characterize that stifled efforts to explore their reactivity. The recent isolation of a cyclopentadienyl cation enabled characterization and reactivity

Fluorophores that respond to external stimuli, such as changes in pH, have utility in bio-imaging and sensing applications. Almost all pH-responsive fluorophores rely on complex syntheses and the use of pH-responsive functional groups that are peripheral to the fluorophore framework. In this work, pH-responsive boron-containing heterocycles based on tridentate acyl pyridylhydrazone ligands were prepared

The foetal plasma protein α-fetoprotein (AFP) harbours a high-affinity zinc binding site that is likely involved in transport and delivery of essential zinc during foetal development. Based on a recent electron microscopy structure of AFP and aided by biophysical studies on an AFP-derived peptide, we present a refined 5-coordinate model for this site.

The ORR kinetic optimization for PtNi and PtPb catalysts is conferred by stress induction. The first principle calculation shows the cleavage barrier reduction of key intermediate *OOH to 28.48 and 0 kJ mol-1, respectively. Proper kinetic tuning led to a mass activity promotion of PtNi to 3.57 times of Pt/C, whereas excessive modulation induced the activity degradation for PtPb and shifted rate-determined

Herein, we report a nanoscale composite COF material loaded with copper peroxide (CuO2) and nitric oxide (NO) prodrug via a stepwise post-synthetic modification. The obtained CuO2@COF-SNO can occur a cascade reaction in the tumour microenvironment to generate reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (ROS/RNS) to enhance chemodynamic therapy of tumor.

Phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) is a ubiquitous lipid species in higher eukaryotes which resides preferentially in mitochondria. Here, we synthesized a multifunctionalized PE derivative (1) de-signed to identify PE-binding proteins in intact cells through photo-crosslinking and subsequent isolation and proteomic analysis of the PE-protein conjugates. Due to its aromatic caging group, 1 is initial-ly