In Issue 21 of OBC

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An international journal for the quickest publication of high-quality research covering the breadth of synthetic, physical and biomolecular organic chemistry.

Issue 21 of OBC

18 October 2007

Outside front cover

Stefan Schulz and colleagues at TU Braunschweig, Germany, and the University of Texas, US, identify and synthesise the four major components present in the scent gland extracts of male Costa Rica longwing butterflies.

A young male Heliconius pachinus approaching an already mated female carrying the macrolides. The female exposes its abdomial scent glands to repel the male.

Inside front cover and Emerging Area

The combination of single molecule atomic force microscopy and protein engineering techniques has made it possible to engineer proteins with tailored nanomechanical properties. Hongbin Li at the University of British Columbia, Canada, gives a personal account of this emerging area.

Atomic force microscopy is used to monitor the force-induced unfolding of a protein along a predefined reaction coordinate. The force required to unfold a protein represents the protein's mechanical stability, which can be tuned using protein engineering techniques.

Perspective

Natural enzymatic systems routinely use nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) to mediate hydrogen transfer. Stephen Connon at Trinity College Dublin, Republic of Ireland, discusses how chemists are using NADH analogues as chiral, metal-free organocatalysts for reduction reactions.

dihydropyridine NADH analogues

Perspective

Daesung Lee, at the University of Illinois at Chicago, US, and Mansuk Kim, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, US, summarise the metallotropic [1,3]-shift of alkynyl carbenes and their metal complexes.

Metal complexes of alkynyl carbenes undergo a [1,3]-bond shift known as a metallotropic shift.