This issue's Emerging Area, by Takuzo Aida and colleagues at the University of Tokyo, Japan, discusses the development of novel molecular machines that consist of interlocking photochromic and ferrocene units. This work is also features on the outside front cover. 

Colour plays an extremely important role not only in science and technology, but also in our everyday lives. The Perspective by Tomás Torres and colleagues at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain, describes the preparation of coloured azaporphyrins and analogues and their application in 'colourful' technological areas.

 

The inside front cover is supplied by Robert Cichewicz from the University of Oklahoma, US. In his communication, also a hot article, Cichewicz and colleagues demonstrate a ground-breaking method of getting fungi to produce normally 'hidden' compounds.

 

 

Nucleophilic reactions between organic carbocations and nucleophiles are key in organic syntheses. However, these reactions can be problematic because the nucleophiles are usually oxidized more quickly than the organic substrates. Mahito Atobe and colleagues at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan, have developed a novel electrocatalytic system that overcomes this problem, which they discuss in the second hot article of the issue.