Gold-Catalyzed Direct Arylation 

Liam T. Ball, Guy C. Lloyd-Jones*, Christopher A. Russell*

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/337/6102/1644.short 

In this paper, a method for coupling two arenes through C-H and C-Si bond activation is reported.   This method relies of differentiation of reacting partners: one must be an aryl silane (electronics not critical), and the other a relatively electron rich partner. 

Quantifying through-space charge transfer dynamics in π-coupled molecular systems 

Arunabh Batra, Gregor Kladnik, Héctor Vázquez, Jeffrey S. Meisner, Luca Floreano, Colin Nuckolls, Dean Cvetko, Alberto Morgante, Latha Venkataraman

http://www.nature.com/ncomms/journal/v3/n9/full/ncomms2083.html

In this paper, through space charge transfer is studied in the context of para-cyclophanes on gold (111).  Aside, from XPS and NEXAFS, this study utilizes resonant photoemission spectroscopy (RPES) core-hole clock method, previously used to measure femtosecond (fs) charge-transfer times between molecule–metal interfaces like C60, aromatic thiols, amines and donor–acceptor complexes on Au (111). They find that the charge transfer time across the π-system of 44PCP (a) is about 20 times slower than across that of 22PCP (b), and attribute this longer charge transfer time to poor through-space coupling between the rings of the molecule.

Small molecule fluorophore and copolymer RGD peptide conjugates for ex vivo two-photon fluorescence tumor vasculature imaging

Biomolecules

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0142961212007326

A method using small molecule and block copolymer RGD peptide conjugates was reported for deep ex vivo imaging of tumor vasculature in “whole” excised tumors using two-photon fluorescence microscopy (2PFM). The fluorescent probes were administered to mice via tail-vein injection, after which the tumors were excised, fixed, and imaged. Both RGD conjugates demonstrated specific targeting to tumor blood vessels, and this selectivity imparted excellent contrast in 2PFM micrographs that captured high-resolution 3-D images of the tumor vasculature up to depths of 830  um.

Interfacial Ion-Transfer Mechanism for the Intense Luminescence Observed When Opening Self-Seal Envelopes

Langmuir

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/la302689y


The unusually intense luminescence (commonly called triboluminescence) observed when opening self-seal envelopes has been studied using spectroscopy.

the major cause of the intense blue luminescence (around 435 nm) is attributed to optical brightening agents added to the white paper.
The results suggest that the emission from the brightening agents may be caused by two mechanisms: (i) fluorescence due to excitation by the UV light from the gas discharge and (ii) nonoptically, by electron transfer. The electrical discharge results from contact electrification;  a mechanism was proposed for the charge transfer involving a net migration of hydroxide anions out of the paper into the wet latex-adhesive during drying.

A Crystalline Singlet Phosphinonitrene: A Nitrogen Atom−Transfer Agent

A Crystalline Singlet Phosphinonitrene: A Nitrogen Atom−Transfer
Agent  

Fabian Dielmann¹,², Olivier Back¹, Martin Henry-Ellinger¹,², Paul Jerabek³, Gernot Frenking³, Guy Bertrand¹,²,*

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/337/6101/1526.short 

In this paper, Bertrand and coworkers describe a beautiful new type of compound: a singlet phosphinonitrene, where the phosphorus is stabilized by two imidazolidin-2-iminato groups. Though not air-stable, Dielmann et al. succeeded in isolating, crystallizing, and characterizing it spectroscopically.  They also showed its utility in N-transfer.

Precisely Tunable Photonic Crystals From Rapidly Self-Assembling Brush Block Copolymer Blends

Garret M. Miyake, Victoria A. Piunova, Raymond A. Weitekamp, and Robert H. Grubbs

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anie.201205743/full

The researchers synthesized block copolymers consisting of equal amounts of norbornene functionalized hexyl isocyanate and 4-phenyl butyl isocyanate macromonomers of two different molecular weights. A blend of two block polymer in which the ratio of the MW is less than five will lead to the self-assembly of photonic crystals. By varying the amount of the smaller and larger block copolymer, a change in the wavelength of reflectivity was observed, with increasing amounts of the larger block resulting in longer wavelengths of reflectivity.

Ring-Closing Metathesis/Isomerization/Pictet–Spengler Cascade via Ruthenium/Chiral Phosphoric Acid Sequential Catalysis

Quan Cai , Xiao-Wei Liang , Shou-Guo Wang , Jun-Wei Zhang , Xiao Zhang , and Shu-Li You *

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ol302215u


Just a nice idea to generate polycyclic frameworks.  The added chiral phosphoric acid (substoichiometric) induces the requisite post-metathesis isomerization and allows the final Pictet-Spengler step to proceed in a highly stereoselective way.