Chem. Rev. May 2008 (vol 108, is 5)

Engineering Biomaterials for Synthetic Neural Stem Cell Microenvironments
Lauren Little, Kevin E. Healy, and David Schaffer
pp 1787 - 1796

JACS for May 2008 (vol 130, no 18-21)

Janus Micelles Induced by Olefin Metathesis
Frederik Wurm, Hannah M. König, Stefan Hilf, and Andreas F. M. Kilbinger
pp 5876 - 5877 (no 18)

Asymmetric Droplet Interface Bilayers
William L. Hwang, Min Chen, Bríd Cronin, Matthew A. Holden, and Hagan Bayley
pp 5878 - 5879 (no 18)

Noncovalent Cell Surface Engineering: Incorporation of Bioactive Synthetic Glycopolymers into Cellular Membranes
David Rabuka, Martin B. Forstner, Jay T. Groves, and Carolyn R. Bertozzi
pp 5947 - 5953 (no 18)

PEG-Detachable Polyplex Micelles Based on Disulfide-Linked Block Catiomers as Bioresponsive Nonviral Gene Vectors
Seiji Takae, Kanjiro Miyata, Makoto Oba, Takehiko Ishii, Nobuhiro Nishiyama, Keiji Itaka, Yuichi Yamasaki, Hiroyuki Koyama, and Kazunori Kataoka
pp 6001 - 6009 (no 18)

Fluidic and Air-Stable Supported Lipid Bilayer and Cell-Mimicking Microarrays
Yang Deng, Yini Wang, Bryan Holtz, Jingyi Li, Nathan Traaseth, Gianluigi Veglia, Benjamin J. Stottrup, Robert Elde, Duanqing Pei, Athena Guo, and X.-Y. Zhu
pp 6267 - 6271 (no 19)

Synthesis of Fluorine-18 Functionalized Nanoparticles for use as in vivo Molecular Imaging Agents
John B. Matson and Robert H. Grubbs
pp 6731 - 6733 (no 21)

Adv. Mater. 2008, 9999, 1–5

Polystannanes: Polymers of a Molecular, Jacketed Metal–Wire Structure

Fabien Choffat, Paul Smith, and Walter Caseri

J. Mater. Chem., 2008, 18, 1997 - 2002

Nanocomposite membranes as highly selective and sensitive mercury(II) detectors

Ce´sar Dı´ez-Gil,ab Rosario Martı´nez,c Imma Ratera,ab Alberto Ta´rraga,c Pedro Molina*c and Jaume Veciana*ab

Adv. Mater. 2008, 20, 1619–1623

Substrate-Independent Layer-by-Layer Assembly by Using Mussel-Adhesive-Inspired Polymers

Haeshin Lee, Yuhan Lee, Andrea R. Statz, Junsung Rho, Tae Gwan Park, and
Phillip B. Messersmith

Macromolecules 2008, 41, 2771-2777

Supramolecular Self-Assembled Ni(II), Fe(II), and Co(II) ABA Triblock Copolymers

Manuela Chiper, Michael A. R. Meier, Daan Wouters, Stephanie Hoeppener,
Charles-André Fustin, Jean-François Gohy, and Ulrich S. Schubert

Laboratory of Macromolecular Chemistry and Nanoscience, EindhoVen UniVersity of Technology and Dutch Polymer Institute (DPI), P.O. Box 513, 5600 MB EindhoVen, The Netherlands; Unité CMAT and CERMIN, UniVersité catholique de LouVain, Place L. Pasteur 1, 1348 LouVain-la-NeuVe, Belgium; and Laboratory of Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry, Friedrich-Schiller-UniVersität Jena, Humboldtstr. 10, D-07743 Jena, Germany

Macromolecules 2008, 41, 3219-3227

Poly(propylene oxide)-Poly(phenylene ethynylene) Block and Graft Copolymers

Marco A. Balbo Block and Stefan Hecht

Bioconjugate Chem. 2008, 19, 911–919

Fully Acid-Degradable Biocompatible Polyacetal Microparticles for Drug Delivery

Sergey E. Paramonov,† Eric M. Bachelder,† Tristan T. Beaudette, Stephany M. Standley,Cameron C. Lee,Jesse Dashe, and Jean M. J. Fréchet

Bioconjugate Chem. 2008, 19, 876–881

Enhanced Cell Penetration of Acid-Degradable Particles Functionalized with Cell-Penetrating Peptides

Jessica L. Cohen,† Adah Almutairi,† Joel A. Cohen,† Matt Bernstein,‡ Steven L. Brody,‡ Daniel P. Schuster,‡ and Jean M. J. Fréchet*,†

Biochemistry 2008, 47, 3822–3831

Vancomycin Derivative with Damaged D-Ala-D-Ala Binding Cleft Binds to
Cross-linked Peptidoglycan in the Cell Wall of Staphylococcus aureus
Sung Joon Kim, Shigeru Matsuoka, Gary J. Patti, and Jacob Schaefer

Biochemistry 2008, 47, 3525–3533

Three-Dimensional Structure/Hydrophobicity of Latarcins Specifies Their Mode of
Membrane Activity
Peter V. Dubovskii, Pavel E. Volynsky, Anton A. Polyansky, Dmitry V. Karpunin, Vladimir V. Chupin, Roman G. Efremov, and Alexander S. Arseniev

Angewandte Chemie International Edition 18-2008/21-2008

Green Pyrotechnics: A Chemists' Challenge (p 3330-3347)
Georg Steinhauser, Thomas M. Klapötke

A Porous Coordination-Polymer Crystal Containing One-Dimensional Water Chains Exhibits Guest-Induced Lattice Distortion and a Dielectric Anomaly (p 3376-3380)
HengBo Cui, Biao Zhou, La-Sheng Long, Yoshinori Okano, Hayao Kobayashi, Akiko Kobayashi

On-Chip Synthesis and Label-Free Assays of Oligosaccharide Arrays (p 3396-3399)
Lan Ban, Milan Mrksich


Pseudopolyanions Based on Poly(NIPAAM-co--Cyclodextrin Methacrylate) and Ionic Liquids (p 3435-3437)
Sadik Amajjahe, Soowhan Choi, Maricica Munteanu, Helmut Ritter

Click-Click-Click: Single to Triple Modification of DNA (p 3442-3444)
Philipp M. E. Gramlich, Simon Warncke, Johannes Gierlich, Thomas Carell

Glycodynamers: Fluorescent Dynamic Analogues of Polysaccharides (p 3556-3559)
Yves Ruff, Jean-Marie Lehn

A Bioluminescent Molecular Switch For Glucose (p 3718-3721)
Krystal Teasley Hamorsky, C. Mark Ensor, Yinan Wei, Sylvia Daunert

Protein-Cross-Linked Polymeric Materials through Site-Selective Bioconjugation (p 3751-3754)
Aaron P. Esser-Kahn, Matthew B. Francis

Synthesis of a Paramagnetic Polymer by Ring-Opening Polymerization of a Strained [1]Vanadoarenophane (p 3826-3829)
Holger Braunschweig, Christopher J. Adams, Thomas Kupfer, Ian Manners, Robert M. Richardson, George R. Whittell

Supramolecular Block Copolymers with Cucurbit[8]uril in Water (p 3950-3953)
Urs Rauwald, Oren A. Scherman

Macromolecular Rapid Communications 08-2008 & 09-2008

For the Gel people:

Thermo-Responsive Hydrogels with Nanodomains: Rapid Shrinking of a Nanogel-Crosslinking Hydrogel of Poly(N-isopropyl acrylamide) (p 672-676)
Nobuyuki Morimoto, Takafumi Ohki, Kimio Kurita, Kazunari Akiyoshi

A Thermosensitive and Biodegradable Physical Gel with Chemically Crosslinked Nanogels as the Building Block (p 751-756)
Zigang Yang, Jiandong Ding


For the ROMP people: Hydrogenation of ROMP backbones - be sure not to miss this one!

Poly(phenylethylnorbornene)s and their Hydrogenated Derivatives (p 713-718)
John P. Bishop, Richard A. Register

Chemistry - A European Journal

Terpyridine-Lanthanide Complexes Respond to Fluorophosphate Containing Nerve Gas G-Agent Surrogates
Raja Shunmugam, Gregory N. Tew
The significant problem of nerve gas poisoning requires new methods of detection, which are sensitive and selective. A new G-type agent chemical sensor is reported that exploits terpyridine-lanthanide emission. A detection limit of 6 ppb is obtained and the selectivity for reactive surrogates over a variety of other close chemical analogs is demonstrated.

Chemistry - A European Journal

Superstructure-Dependent Optical and Electrical Properties of an Unusual Face-to-Face, -Stacked, One-Dimensional Assembly of Dehydrobenzo[12]annulene in the Crystalline State (p 4178-4187)
Ichiro Hisaki,*[a] Yuu Sakamoto,[a] Hajime Shigemitsu,[a] Norimitsu Tohnai,[a]
Mikiji Miyata,*[a] Shu Seki,[b] Akinori Saeki,[c] and Seiichi Tagawa[c]

Chemistry - A European Journal

A Highly Selective Colorimetric Aqueous Sensor for Mercury (p 3904-3907)
Raja Shunmugam, Gregory J. Gabriel, Cartney E. Smith, Khaled A. Aamer, Gregory N. Tew

PNAS | April 8, 2008 | vol. 105 | no. 14 | 5501-5506

Cytidine deamination induced HIV-1 drug resistance
Lubbertus C. F. Mulder*, Ariana Harari*, and Viviana Simon*,,
*Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, and Department of Microbiology, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, One Gustave L. Levy Place, Box 1090, New York, NY 10029
Edited by Malcolm A. Martin, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, and approved February 15, 2008 (received for review October 25, 2007)
The HIV-1 Vif protein is essential for overcoming the antiviral activity of DNA-editing apolipoprotein B mRNA editing enzyme, catalytic polypeptide 3 (APOBEC3) cytidine deaminases. We show that naturally occurring HIV-1 Vif point mutants with suboptimal anti-APOBEC3G activity induce the appearance of proviruses with lamivudine (3TC) drug resistance-associated mutations before any drug exposure. These mutations, ensuing from cytidine deamination events, were detected in >40% of proviruses with partially defective Vif mutants. Transfer of drug resistance from hypermutated proviruses via recombination allowed for 3TC escape under culture conditions prohibitive for any WT viral growth. These results demonstrate that defective hypermutated genomes can shape the phenotype of the circulating viral population. Partially active Vif alleles resulting in incomplete neutralization of cytoplasmic APOBEC3 molecules are directly responsible for the generation of a highly diverse, yet G-to-A biased, proviral reservoir, which can be exploited by HIV-1 to generate viable and drug-resistant progenies.

Biochemistry 2008, 47, 5216–5224

Inhibitory Potency against Human Acetylcholinesterase and Enzymatic Hydrolysis
of Fluorogenic Nerve Agent Mimics by Human Paraoxonase 1 and Squid
Diisopropyl Fluorophosphatase
Marc-Michael Blum, Christopher M. Timperley,| Gareth R. Williams,| Horst Thiermann, and Franz Worek

Vol. 41, No. 4 April 2008 521-537 ACCOUNTS OF CHEMICAL RESEARCH

Chiral Metallocycles: Rational Synthesis and
Novel Applications
SUK JOONG LEE AND WENBIN LIN

Chiralsupramolecular systems have attracted a great deal of interest from synthetic chemists over the past two decades because of their ability to mimic complex biological processes and their potential applications in enantioselective events such as asymmetric catalysis and chiral sensing. Chiral metallocycles, among the simplest forms of chiral supramolecular systems, are of particular interest because of their relative ease of synthesis. In this Account, we survey recent developments in the rational design and synthesis of chiral metallocyclic systems based on metal–ligand coordination and their potential applications in enantioselective recognition and catalysis. General design principles for metallocycles are first introduced with particular focus on thermodynamic and kinetic considerations. The symmetry requirements for the linear and angular building units, the influence of stoichiometries and reaction concentrations, and the roles of solvents are discussed. Optimum synthetic conditions for the self-assembly and directed-assembly of metallocycles are also compared. Three synthetic strategies for chiral metallocycles are broadly categorized based on the source of chirality, namely, (1) introduction of metallocorners containing chiral capping groups, (2) use of metal-based chirality owing to specific coordination arrangements, and (3) introduction of chiral bridging ligands. The bulk of this Account focuses on the third synthetic strategy with examples of chiral metallocycles built from atropisomeric bridging ligands based on the 1,1′-binaphthalene framework. The influences of ligand geometries and metallocorner configurations on the metallocycle structures are demonstrated. The synthetic utility of directed assembly processes is illustrated with numerous examples of cyclic polygons ranging from nanoscopic dimers to a mesoscopic 47mer. Moreover, the directed-assembly processes offer exquisite control on structure, chirality, and functionality of the metallocycles. A number of interesting applications have been demonstrated with chiral metallocycles with diverse sizes and functionalities. For example, metallocycles with the Pt(diimine) metallocorners show interesting behaviors as luminophores in prototype light-emitting devices, chiral molecular squares based on 1,1′-binaphthyl-derived bipyridyl bridging ligands and fac-Re(CO)3Cl corners exhibit enantioselective luminescence in the presence of the 2-amino-1-propanol analyte, and chiral metallocycles based on 1,1′-binaphthyl-derived bialkynyl bridging ligands and cis-Pt(PEt)2 corners activate Ti(IV) centers to catalyze highly enantioselective diethylzinc additions to aromatic aldehydes to afford chiral secondary alcohols. Additionally, chiral metallocycles synthesized via the weaklink approach (WLA) are shown to exhibit allosteric regulation. They experience significant changes in the cavity sizes and shapes upon the introduction of other ligands, with the resulting open structures serving as a catalyst for acyl transfer reaction or as an enantioselective recognition pocket. In summary, chiral metallocycles with much enhanced stability, favorable solubility characteristics, unprecedentedly large sizes,well-positioned functional groups, and desired chirality have been synthesized using a combination of self- and directed-assembly strategies. The applications of these chiral metallocycles in light-emitting devices, allosteric regulation, chiral sensing, and asymmetric catalysis have been demonstrated. The examples illustrated in this Account give testimony to chemists’ ability, through chemical manipulations, to create large and complex chiral metallocycles that can potentially serve as mimics of natural enzyme systems.

New J. Chem., 2008, 32, 584 - 587

Luminescent coordination nanoparticles
Nicolas Kerbellec, Laure Catala, Carole Daiguebonne, Alexandre Gloter, Odile Stephan, Jean-Claude Bünzli, Olivier Guillou and Talal Mallah
Water-soluble lanthanide-containing coordination nanoparticles with a size around 4–5 nm were prepared by the growth confinement of the Tb2(bdc)3(H2O)4 three-dimensional network using an organic polymer; the terbium- and the europium-based objects present intense luminescence that opens perspectives for their use in different applications.

New J. Chem., 2008, 32, 670-676 & 676-679

My first published artwork. Not bad for someone who can't even draw.

And the articles themselves:

New J. Chem., 2008, 32, 676 - 679, DOI: 10.1039/b714237b
Extending helicity—capturing the helical character of longer ortho-phenylene ethynylene oligomers
Ticora V. Jones, Morris M. Slutsky and Gregory N. Tew
New ortho-phenylene ethynylene oligomers are shown to fold into helices of up to two full turns. Evidence of folding is shown by both 1D NMR, where – stacking is explored through both solvent and temperature titrations, as well as by 2D ROESY NMR which confirmed folding but also showed the dynamic nature of these helices through the flipping of the terminal TMS group into and out of a hydrophobic pocket created when the helix forms.

New J. Chem., 2008, 32, 670 - 675, DOI: 10.1039/b707618e
Synthesis and characterization of amphiphilic o-phenylene ethynylene oligomers
Morris M. Slutsky, Jason S. Phillip and Gregory N. Tew
We have previously reported the synthesis of short o-phenylene ethynylene oligomers with polar triethylene glycol side chains which adopt a helical conformation in solution with three residues per turn. Two new oligomers have been synthesized, a hexamer and a nonamer, incorporating a repeated triad motif of polar–nonpolar–polar sidechains in order to create a hydrophobic stripe in the folded conformation which we report here for the first time. Helical folding in solution was observed and, unlike the previously-reported oligomers, these new oligomers are ordered solids at room temperature. Although these oligomers were designed to assemble into helical bundle-like structures, no evidence for a quaternary-like structure was found. The difference in polarity between alkyl and triethylene glycol side chains is likely not strong enough to induce self-association of folded helices, especially since the molecules are not water soluble where the driving force for association of the nonpolar stripe would be larger. We expect that more polar side chains, granting water solubility, represent an important target for future research.

Biomaterials: Volume 29, Issue 19, July 2008, Pages 2891-2898

Development of a composite vascular scaffolding system that withstands physiological vascular conditions

Sang Jin Lee^a, Jie Liu^b, Se Heang Oh^a, Shay Soker^a, Anthony Atala^a and James J. Yoo


Fig. 1. (a) The gross appearance and SEM images of electrospun PCL/collagen composite scaffolds: (b) entire (×18), (c) surface (×6.0K), and (d) cross-sectional (×4.0K) morphologies.

Biomaterials Volume 29, Issue 19, July 2008, Pages 2923-2931

Sutureless amniotic membrane transplantation for ocular surface reconstruction with a chemically defined bioadhesive

Maho Takaoka^a, Takahiro Nakamura^{a, b, ,} , Hajime Sugai^c, Adam J. Bentley^d, Naoki Nakajima^c, Nigel J. Fullwood^d, Norihiko Yokoi^a, Suong-Hyu Hyon^c and Shigeru Kinoshita^a
Fig. 3. Representative photos of sutureless AMT. A drop of the bioadhesive was put onto the bare sclera from the tip of the syringe (A), and then the squarely trimmed AM was transferred into the place with the epithelial basement membrane side up (B and C). Excess fluid that extruded from the interface was rubbed off with a sponge and approximately 3 min elapsed before the AM was fixed. Immediately after sutureless AMT, AM was firmly secured on the bare sclera (D).

Biomaterials Volume 29, Issue 19, July 2008, Pages 2849-2857

The effect of integrin-specific bioactive coatings on tissue healing and implant osseointegration

Timothy A. Petrie^{a, b}, Jenny E. Raynor^c, Catherine D. Reyes^{a, b}, Kellie L. Burns^{a, b}, David M. Collard^c and Andrés J. García

Chem. Commun.,

A novel approach to magneto-responsive polymeric gels assisted by iron nanoparticles as nano cross-linkers
Miklós Czaun, László Hevesi, Makoto Takafuji and Hirotaka Ihara 2008, 2124 - 2126

Biomaterials Volume 29, Issue 19, July 2008, Pages 2829-2838

Modification of silk fibroin using diazonium coupling chemistry and the effects on hMSC proliferation and differentiation
Amanda R. Murphy^a, Peter St. John^a and David L. Kaplan

A simple chemical modification method using diazonium coupling chemistry was developed to tailor the structure and hydrophilicity of silk fibroin protein. The extent of modification using several aniline derivatives was characterized using UV–vis and ¹H NMR spectroscopies, and the resulting protein structure was analyzed with ATR-FTIR spectroscopy. Introduction of hydrophobic functional groups facilitated rapid conversion of the protein from a random coil to a β-sheet structure, while addition of hydrophilic groups inhibited this process. hMSCs were grown on these modified silks to assess the biocompatibility of these materials. The hydrophilicity of the silk derivatives was found to affect the growth rate and morphology, but hMSCs were able to attach, proliferate and differentiate into an osteogenic lineage on all of the silk derivatives.

Nature Chemical Biology 4, 272 - 273 (2008)

Encoding synthetic polymers

Jan C M van Hest


DNA is the blueprint for life; it enables nature to pass on information from one DNA strand to the other, create mRNA with high accuracy and make proteins with absolute control over the sequence of the amino acid building blocks. A new paper now adds another templating function to the list: the programmed construction of synthetic polymers.

Biomacromolecules, ASAP, (May 08)

Electron Density Mapping of Triblock Copolymers Associated with Model Biomembranes: Insights into Conformational States and Effect on Bilayer Structure
Byeongdu Lee and Millicent A. Firestone

Novel Fluorescent Core–Shell Nanocontainers for Cell Membrane Transport
Meizhen Yin, Christoph R. W. Kuhlmann, Ksenia Sorokina, Chen Li, George Mihov, Eweline Pietrowski, Kaloian Koynov, Markus Klapper, Heiko J. Luhmann, Klaus Müllen, and Tanja Weil

Zwitterionic Polymers Exhibiting High Resistance to Nonspecific Protein Adsorption from Human Serum and Plasma
Jon Ladd, Zheng Zhang, Shengfu Chen, Jason C. Hower, and Shaoyi Jiang

Journal of Polymer Science Part A: Polymer Chemistry, Vol 46, Iss 10 (15 May 2008)

Synthesis, characterization, and thermal properties of ring-opening metathesis polynorbornenes and their hydrogenated derivatives bearing various ester and cyano groups
Yasushi Nishihara, Seisuke Izawa, Yoshiaki Inoue, Yuushou Nakayama, Takeshi Shiono, Kentaro Takagi
(p 3314-3325)

Nanoletters, Vol. 8, Issue 4.

Biofunctionalized Lipid−Polymer Hybrid Nanocontainers with Controlled Permeability





Alma Dudia, Armag an Koçer, Vinod Subramaniam, and Johannes S. Kanger
pp 1105 - 1110.

Polymer Nanofibers via Nozzle-Free Centrifugal Spinning

R. T. Weitz, L. Harnau, S. Rauschenbach, M. Burghard, and K. Kern
pp 1187 - 1191.