Cover Picture: Neurotrophic Natural Products: Chemistry and Biology (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 4/2014)

Abstract

The human brain is an incredibly complex network of neurons that controls life, thoughts, and emotion. Age‐ or disease‐related neural degeneration leads to breakdown of this network, incapacitating the affected individual. Certain natural products can induce outgrowth of neurites, the bridges that allow cell–cell communication in the brain, and so restore the neuronal web. E. A. Theodorakis et al. summarize in their Review on recent advances in the synthesis of these molecules and highlight their potential as tools for studying neuronal web structure and function.

Biaxially strained PtPb/Pt core/shell nanoplate boosts oxygen reduction catalysis

“…The Pt mass activity is determined by the specific activity (normalized by surface area) and the electrochemically active surface area (ECSA, normalized by mass). The specific activity can be optimized by tuning the chemical environment, including chemical composition (6-9), exposed catalytic surface (1,(10)(11)(12), and Pt coordination environment (13)(14)(15)(16). To date, the highest specific activities have generally been achieved on single-crystal surfaces or well-defined nanoparticles (NPs) with specifically engineered facet structure and alloy (19).…”

“…The most successful catalysts for boosting the activity of catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) on a per-Pt-atom basis have been PtM alloy nanoparticles (NPs) (where M has been Ni, Co, or Fe, among other metals) with a Pt-skin surface (core-shell structure). However, the formation of either a disordered PtM core or nonuniform Pt-skin layer (8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14) usually results in poor electrocatalytic stability after long-term voltage cycling.…”

Diastereoselective Electrophilic Trifluoromethylthiolation of Chiral Oxazolidinones: Access to Enantiopure α‐SCF3 Alcohols

“…The reaction conditions were first investigated using (R)-4-phenyl-3-(3-phenylpropanoyl)oxazolidin-2-one 2 a as the substrate. We were delighted to observe that by means of LiHMDS and in the presence of N-SCF 3 saccharin 1 a (Figure 1), [23] substrate 2 a was efficiently converted into the corresponding (Z)-lithium enolate, ultimately furnishing the expected trifluoromethylthiolated products as a 67:33 mixture of diastereomers, in 88% conversion (Table 1, entry 1). Even though face-selectivity in enolate reaction was not satisfactory yet, it was noteworthy that both diastereomers could be successfully separated by silica gel column chromatography.…”

Practical Reagents and Methods for Nucleophilic and Electrophilic Phosphorothiolations

“…Phosphorothiolation of 1,3dimethoxybenzene proceeded best in acetic acid in the presence of TMSÀCl, conditions similar to those used in Shen's trifluoromethylthiolation. [21] The general applicability of the above set of phosphorothiolation protocols using 1 and 2 is illustrated by the examples in Table 1.…”