Nature Chemistry Contents July 2015 Volume 7 Number 7 pp 533 - 610

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TABLE OF CONTENTS July 2015 Volume 7, Issue 7 Thesis Research Highlights Blogroll News and Views Articles Corrigendum In Your Element Subscribe   Facebook   RSS   Recommend to library   Twitter   Advertisement Nature Communications is now fully open access All new submissions if accepted, will be published open access and an article processing charge will apply. For more information visit the website. Visit our open access funding page or contact openaccess@nature.com to learn more on APC funding.   Thesis Top Chemical doublespeak   pp533 - 534 Michelle Francl doi:10.1038/nchem.2288 Michelle Francl suggests that chemists should relax and not fret over ambiguous language. Research Highlights Top Dynamic covalent chemistry: Tales from the cryptates | Polymer folding: A right tangle | Biosynthesis: Building a biofactory | DNA duplexes: Carefully crafted crosslinks Blogroll Top Blogroll: Patently inventive   p537 Luke Gamon doi:10.1038/nchem.2292 News and Views Top Bioorthogonal catalysis: Rise of the nanobots   pp538 - 539 Asier Unciti-Broceta doi:10.1038/nchem.2291 Bioorthogonal catalysis provides new ways of mediating artificial transformations in living environs. Now, researchers have developed a nanodevice whose catalytic activity can be regulated by host–guest chemistry. See also: Article by Tonga et al. Stereoselective synthesis: Molecular editing of carbohydrates   pp539 - 541 Andrew McNally doi:10.1038/nchem.2289 Deoxygenation reactions have been used to convert biomass-derived carbohydrates into useful platform chemicals. Now, a method has been described that can selectively excise C–O bonds to produce valuable chiral synthons. See also: Article by Adduci et al. Analytical chemistry: Clamping down on cancer detection   pp541 - 542 Irina A. Gorodetskaya and Alon A. Gorodetsky doi:10.1038/nchem.2290 An electrochemical clamp assay that enables the rapid and sensitive detection of nucleic acids containing single base mutations has now been developed. It has been shown to differentiate between cancer patient samples featuring a specific mutation, and controls from healthy donors or other cancer patients, all directly in unprocessed serum. See also: Article by Das et al. Nano-plasmonics: Chirality transfer takes a jump   pp543 - 544 Vladimiro Mujica doi:10.1038/nchem.2294 The transfer of chirality is known to occur through chemical bonds. Now, chiral biomolecules have been observed to impart some of their optical properties to a spatially separated achiral dye — with the transfer mediated by plasmon resonance from an achiral metallic nanostructure. See also: Article by Ostovar pour et al. Chemistry JOBS of the week Associate Professor in Inorganic Chemistry University of Fribourg / Switzerland and the Department of Biology Postdoctoral Position in Organic and Medicinal Chemistry University of Hawaii at Hilo Postdoctoral Fellow – Chemistry (#78234) The California Institute for Biomedical Research Assistant Professor (tenure track) or Associate Professor in Physical Chemistry (ID 732839) Aarhus University More Science jobs from Chemistry EVENT Annual meeting of the Swedish Chemical Society Theoretical Chemistry Section 2015 Baltic Lights 25th Aug - 27th Aug 2015 Kalmar, Sweden More science events from Articles Top Simulation-guided DNA probe design for consistently ultraspecific hybridization   pp545 - 553 Juexiao Sherry Wang and David Yu Zhang doi:10.1038/nchem.2266 The use of kinetic simulations to guide the design of competitive hybridization probe systems is shown to enable high selectivity for single-nucleotide variants. Using this approach across 44 cancer mutation/wild-type sequence pairs showed between a 200- and 3,000-fold higher binding affinity than the corresponding wild-type sequence. In combination with PCR amplification this method enabled the detection of a 1% concentration of variant alleles in human genomic DNA. Selective, rapid and optically switchable regulation of protein function in live mammalian cells   pp554 - 561 Yu-Hsuan Tsai, Sebastian Essig, John R. James, Kathrin Lang and Jason W. Chin doi:10.1038/nchem.2253 The rapid and selective regulation of a target protein within living cells containing closely related family members is a longstanding challenge. Now the introduction of genetically directed bioorthogonal ligand tethering (BOLT) and the demonstration of selective inhibition (iBOLT) and optical switching (photo-BOLT) of protein function in live mammalian cells addresses this challenge. Chemical compounds Roaming-mediated ultrafast isomerization of geminal tri-bromides in the gas and liquid phases   pp562 - 568 Andrey S. Mereshchenko, Evgeniia V. Butaeva, Veniamin A. Borin, Anna Eyzips and Alexander N. Tarnovsky doi:10.1038/nchem.2278 Roaming — a new and unusual reaction mechanism in gas-phase chemical transformations — is now shown to occur in solution. Following ultraviolet excitation of geminal tribromides, what initially seems to be the simple fission of a bond is in fact isomerization occurring through the roaming of molecular fragments. An electrochemical clamp assay for direct, rapid analysis of circulating nucleic acids in serum   pp569 - 575 Jagotamoy Das, Ivaylo Ivanov, Laura Montermini, Janusz Rak, Edward H. Sargent et al. doi:10.1038/nchem.2270 The analysis of circulating cell-free nucleic acids (cfNA) in the blood of cancer patients permits the analysis of tumour mutations without requiring invasive sampling of tissue. Now, the development of an electrochemical assay that uses a collection of clamp molecules to sequester interfering cfNAs enables the accurate detection of mutated sequences in serum collected from people with lung cancer or melanoma. See also: News and Views by Gorodetskaya & Gorodetsky Chemoselective conversion of biologically sourced polyols into chiral synthons   pp576 - 581 Laura L. Adduci, Trandon A. Bender, Jennifer A. Dabrowski and Michel R. Gagné doi:10.1038/nchem.2277 Biorenewable carbohydrate feedstocks can be efficiently converted into a diverse set of oxygen-functionalized chiral synthons using a combination of a tertiary silane and the catalyst B(C6F5)3. The deoxygenation mechanism involves cyclic intermediates, which provide a means of controlling chemo- and diastereoselectivity. Chemical compounds See also: News and Views by McNally Triamidoamine uranium(IV)–arsenic complexes containing one-, two- and threefold U–As bonding interactions   pp582 - 590 Benedict M. Gardner, Gábor Balázs, Manfred Scheer, Floriana Tuna, Eric J. L. McInnes et al. doi:10.1038/nchem.2279 The nature of actinide–ligand bonding is attracting attention, in particular in the context of nuclear waste separations. Structurally authenticated one-, two- and threefold uranium–arsenic bonding interactions are now reported. Computational analysis suggests the presence of polarized σ2, σ2π2, and σ2π4 in the arsenide, terminal arsinidene, and arsenido complexes, respectively. Chemical compounds Through-space transfer of chiral information mediated by a plasmonic nanomaterial   pp591 - 596 Saeideh Ostovar pour, Louise Rocks, Karen Faulds, Duncan Graham, Václav Parchaňský et al. doi:10.1038/nchem.2280 Surface-enhanced resonant Raman optical activity (SERROA) reveals the through-space transfer of chirality from biomolecules to achiral benzotriazole dye-conjugated nanotags. The chiroptical responses generated by the stereoisomers of ribose and tryptophan establish this as the basis for a stereoselective nanosensor platform. See also: News and Views by Mujica Supramolecular regulation of bioorthogonal catalysis in cells using nanoparticle-embedded transition metal catalysts   pp597 - 603 Gulen Yesilbag Tonga, Youngdo Jeong, Bradley Duncan, Tsukasa Mizuhara, Rubul Mout et al. doi:10.1038/nchem.2284 Regulation of bioorthogonal catalysis in living systems is challenging because of the complex intracellular environment. Now, the activity of protein-sized bioorthogonal nanozymes has been regulated by binding a supramolecular cucurbit[7]uril ‘gate-keeper’ onto the monolayer surface. This arrangement enables the controlled activation of profluorophores and prodrugs inside living cells for imaging and therapeutic applications. See also: News and Views by Unciti-Broceta An eight-step gram-scale synthesis of (−)-jiadifenolide   pp604 - 607 Hai-Hua Lu, Michael D. Martinez and Ryan A. Shenvi doi:10.1038/nchem.2283 A chemical synthesis of (–)-jiadifenolide, a small molecule neurotrophin, has been achieved in eight steps. The route relies on a stereoselective coupling of two simple butenolides to build the entire skeleton in a single step and produce one gram of the target for broad distribution to the biomedical community. Chemical compounds Corrigendum Top Corrigendum: Orthogonal tandem catalysis   p608 Tracy L. Lohr and Tobin J. Marks doi:10.1038/nchem.2293 In Your Element Top Toxic thallium   p610 Anders Lennartson doi:10.1038/nchem.2286 Anders Lennartson ponders on the contribution of thallium to society, since its main characteristic is its toxicity. 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

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