A decisive factor for obtaining high yields and selectivities in organic synthesis is the choice of the proper solvent. Solvent selection is often guided by the intuitive understanding of transition state–solvent interactions. However, quantum-mechanical tunneling can significantly contribute to chemical reactions, circumventing the transition state and thus depriving chemists of their intuitive handle

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is a powerful technique for chemical analysis. The use of NMR to investigate dilute analytes in complex systems is, however, hampered by its relatively low sensitivity. An additional obstacle is represented by the NMR signal overlap. Because solutes in a complex mixture are usually not isotopically labeled, NMR studies are often limited to 1H measurements, which, because

Inverse opals (IOs) are highly interconnected three-dimensional macroporous structures with applications in a variety of disciplines from optics to catalysis. For instance, when the pore size is on the scale of the wavelength of visible light, IOs exhibit structural color due to diffraction and interference of light rather than due to absorption by pigments, making these structures valuable as nonfading

Bioinspired organic/inorganic synthetic composites have been studied as high-performance and functional materials. In nature, biominerals such as pearls, teeth, and bones are self-organized organic/inorganic composites. The inorganic components are composed of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) and hydroxyapatite (HAp), while the organic components consist of peptides and polysaccharides. These composites are

The design and fabrication of synthetic self-assembled systems that can mimic some biological features require exquisitely sophisticated components that make use of supramolecular interactions to attain enhanced structural and functional complexity. In nature, nucleobase interactions play a key role in biological functions in living organisms, including transcription and translation processes. Inspired

This Account summarizes the progress in protein–calixarene complexation, tracing the developments from binary recognition to the glue activity of calixarenes and beyond to macrocycle-mediated frameworks. During the past 10 years, we have been tackling the question of protein–calixarene complexation in several ways, mainly by cocrystallization and X-ray structure determination as well as by solution

Controlling the physical and chemical properties of surfaces and interfaces is of fundamental relevance in various areas of physical chemistry and a key issue of modern nanotechnology. A highly promising strategy for achieving that control is the use of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs), which are ordered arrays of rodlike molecules bound to the substrate by a suitable anchoring group and carrying a

The concept of colloids encompasses a wide range of isotropic and anisotropic particles with diverse sizes, shapes, and functions from synthetic nanoparticles, nanorods, and nanosheets to functional biological units. They are addressed in materials science for various functions, while they are ubiquitous in the biological world for multiple functions. A large variety of synthetic colloids have been

The interaction of emitters with plasmonic cavities (PCs) has been studied extensively during the past decade. Much of the experimental work has focused on the weak coupling regime, manifested most importantly by the celebrated Purcell effect, which involves a modulation of the spontaneous emission rate of the emitter due to interaction with the local electromagnetic density of states. Recently, there

The asymmetric synthesis of heavily substituted benzylic stereogenic centers, prevalent in natural products, therapeutics, agrochemicals, and catalysts, is an ongoing challenge. In this Account, we outline our contribution to this endeavor, describing our discovery of a series of new reactions that not only have synthetic applicability but also present significant mechanistic intrigue. The story originated

A detailed understanding of the reaction mechanism(s) leading to stereoselective product formation is crucial to understanding and predicting product formation and driving the development of new synthetic methodology. One way to improve our understanding of reaction mechanisms is to characterize the reaction intermediates involved in product formation. Because these intermediates are reactive, they