Coordination chemistry articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Solid state Pt(II)-pincer complexes exhibiting vapochromic responses show promise for chemical sensing applications, but their slow responses typically limit their utility. Here, Raithby and colleagues design a Pt(II)-pincer complex with a subsecond, highly-selective vapochromic response to water and methanol.

    • M. J. Bryant
    • , J. M. Skelton
    •  & P. R. Raithby

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The Mannich reaction proceeds by functionalization of C(sp3)-H bonds alpha to carbonyls. Here, the authors suppress the Mannich reactivity of acetophenones in presence of a manganese catalyst and obtain valuable o-aminoalkylacetophenones and isoindolines via C(sp2)-H functionalization with imines.

    • Bingwei Zhou
    • , Yuanyuan Hu
    •  & Congyang Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Controlling the chirality of self-assembled polyhedra is a synthetic challenge. Here, the authors stereoselectively form emissive lanthanide tetrahedral cages from a series of chiral ligands, and use their circularly polarized luminescence to explore the effect of ligand point chirality on supramolecular architecture.

    • Chi-Tung Yeung
    • , King-Him Yim
    •  & Ga-Lai Law

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Many transition metals can form hydrogen bonds to organic species, but experimental evidence for Au is still lacking. Here, the authors obtain crystallographic and NMR spectroscopic evidence of hydrogen bonding between C-H groups and Au atoms of gold clusters, suggesting that non-covalent interactions may play a role in gold cluster catalysis.

    • Md. Abu Bakar
    • , Mizuho Sugiuchi
    •  & Katsuaki Konishi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Metal organic frameworks are promising catalysts due to their porous structure and the possible incorporation of multiple active sites. Here, the authors show that interpenetrated metal-organic frameworks containing both a photocatalyst and an organocatalyst catalyse the β-alkylation of carbonyl compounds.

    • Zhengqiang Xia
    • , Cheng He
    •  & Chunying Duan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Synergistic use of coordination bonds that are strong and reversible realizes unique molecular recognition in artificial systems. Here, the authors show that a zinc-based metallomacrocyle can bind dicarboxylic acids of suitable length at specific metal sites by shape deformation and dimerization.

    • Takashi Nakamura
    • , Yuya Kaneko
    •  & Tatsuya Nabeshima

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The complex, multicomponent structures often found in nature are difficult to mimic synthetically. Here, the authors assemble a molecular analogue of a peanut through coordinative and π-stacking interactions, in which a polyaromatic double capsule ‘pod’ held together by metal ions encapsulates fullerene ‘beans’.

    • Kohei Yazaki
    • , Munetaka Akita
    •  & Michito Yoshizawa

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Star motifs are ubiquitous throughout nature and in man-made architectures, but their molecular level design remains challenging. Here the authors present a stepwise approach to self-assemble pentagonal and hexagonal star-shaped metallo-architectures through the careful design of metallo-organic ligands.

    • Zhilong Jiang
    • , Yiming Li
    •  & Pingshan Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Converting the normally highly stable amide bond into different functionalities is a challenging task. Here the authors report a nickel-catalysed retro-hydroamidocarbonylation procedure, allowing the conversion of aliphatic amides into alkenes across a range of substrates.

    • Jiefeng Hu
    • , Minyan Wang
    •  & Zhuangzhi Shi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ordered mesoporous carbons have shown promise in a range of applications, but sustainable methods to achieve their large scale production are lacking. Here, Dai and coworkers produce OMCs via the mechanochemical assembly of non-toxic polyphenol-metal complexes and triblock copolymers, followed by pyrolysis.

    • Pengfei Zhang
    • , Li Wang
    •  & Sheng Dai

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Organoboranes are widely employed in organic synthesis and typically are prepared using electrophilic boron sources. Here the authors report a route to nucleophilic boryl anions via organomagnesium-driven cleavage of boron-boron bonds.

    • Anne-Frédérique Pécharman
    • , Annie L. Colebatch
    •  & Catherine Weetman

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Trivalent lanthanides possess similar chemical properties, making their separation from one another challenging. Here, Wang and colleagues demonstrate that their subtle chemical differences can be greatly amplified during borate crystallization, leading to a low cost and highly efficient separation strategy.

    • Xuemiao Yin
    • , Yaxing Wang
    •  & Shuao Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Advances in actinide chemistry have led to the isolation of a range of uranium–ligand multiple bonds, but analogous thorium complexes are rare. Here, the authors prepare thorium–arsenic complexes that are stabilized by bulky triamidoamine ligands and exhibit ThAsH2, ThAs(H)K, ThAs(H)Th and ThAsTh linkages.

    • Elizabeth P. Wildman
    • , Gábor Balázs
    •  & Stephen T. Liddle

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In metal-based molecular motors, the motion is generally triggered by changes in the ligand coordination around the metal centre. Here, the authors synthesize a molecular gear that switches between states through photo- and thermally driven geometrical isomerization around a platinum ion.

    • Hitoshi Ube
    • , Yoshihiro Yasuda
    •  & Mitsuhiko Shionoya

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The inverse-trans-influence has been shown to operate in high oxidation state actinide complexes. Here, the authors report tetravalent cerium, uranium and thorium bis(carbene) complexes with trans C=M=C cores where experimental and theoretical data also suggest the presence of an inverse-trans-effect.

    • Matthew Gregson
    • , Erli Lu
    •  & Stephen T. Liddle

  • Article
    | Open Access

    High-valent iron compounds do not form spontaneously under ambient conditions and those that are synthetically available are rarely stable. Here, the authors synthesize stable iron(IV) hexahydrazide clathrochelate complexes in aqueous media via a metal-templated reaction accompanied by aerobic oxidation.

    • Stefania Tomyn
    • , Sergii I. Shylin
    •  & Igor O. Fritsky

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Materials that demonstrate long-range magnetic order are synonymous with information storage. Here, the authors report the effect of pressure on two mononuclear rhenium compounds that exhibit long-range magnetic order under ambient conditions via a spin canting mechanism, whereTcis proportional to pressure.

    • Christopher H. Woodall
    • , Gavin A. Craig
    •  & Euan K. Brechin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Until now, it has been believed that Brønsted acid sites in amorphous silica-alumina are formed from only tetra-coordinated (AlIV) sites. Here, the authors use 27Al-{1H} correlation NMR experiments to identify a new AlV-based Brønsted acid site, with implications for increasing the acidity of solid acid catalysts.

    • Zichun Wang
    • , Yijiao Jiang
    •  & Jun Huang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Photocatalytic water splitting is a promising route to hydrogen generation from renewable solar power. Here, the authors report a hydrogen-evolving photochemical molecular device based on a self-assembled coordination cage, which simultaneously incorporates multiple photosensitizing and catalytic metal centres.

    • Sha Chen
    • , Kang Li
    •  & Cheng-Yong Su

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Crystalline phase transition can be used to detect changes in the solid state properties of materials. Here, the authors describe the mechanical response of a crystal composed of ferrocene-containing rotaxane to laser irradiation.

    • Kai-Jen Chen
    • , Ya-Ching Tsai
    •  & Masaki Horie

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Nanospace defined by unsaturated metal coordination sites opens up the possibility of controlling and templating chemical reactivity. Here, the authors show that a Fe(III) dicarboxylate framework with triangularly arranged metal sites can direct the [2+2+2] cyclisation of nitriles, alkynes and alkenes.

    • Yong-Sheng Wei
    • , Mei Zhang
    •  & Xiao-Ming Chen

  • Article |

    Zinc(I) bimetallic clusters have previously been reported, but they are not stable in air. Here, the authors synthesize octametallic Zinc(I) clusters with multi-centred zinc–zinc bonds and extensive electron delocalization over the cluster, resulting in cubic aromaticity and enhanced stability.

    • Ping Cui
    • , Han-Shi Hu
    •  & Jun Li

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Currently, gold recovery from waste materials requires inorganic cyanides and more environmentally benign methods are required. Here, the authors report that host–guest interactions between α-cyclodextrin and gold lead to the precipitation of one-dimensional superstructures, offering a selective and green alternative.

    • Zhichang Liu
    • , Marco Frasconi
    •  & J. Fraser Stoddart

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