ChemComm

Communications

ChemComm publishes concise accounts of significant new research in the chemical sciences. Communications should appeal to a wide general readership.

Our Communications may range in format from one-page urgent preliminary accounts to short standalone articles up to four pages in length. Authors must use the Communication template for preparing their submissions. We still ask that our authors aim to keep their Communications as succinct as possible, but hope that this new flexible approach will make things more straightforward.

A note giving the reasons why the work should be published in ChemComm should be provided. When preparing the statement the following criteria should be addressed.

• The significance and novelty (what are the key advances made in the article).
• The interest to the wide general readership should be highlighted.

Lengthy introductions and discussion, extensive data, and excessive experimental details and conjecture should not be included. Figures and tables will be published only if they are essential to understanding the paper. The experimental evidence necessary to support a communication should be supplied for the referees and eventual publication as electronic supplementary information (ESI).

Authors are asked to supply the names of five suitable referees (author preferred reviewers) for their manuscript upon submission. Authors are also permitted to provide the names of scientists that they would prefer not to review their manuscript (author non-preferred reviewers). If the names of non-preferred reviewers are provided, authors are requested to provide a brief note in the 'comments to the editor' submission field stating why these reviewers should not be used.

Feature articles

In addition to Communications, ChemComm publishes Feature articles. Feature articles are reviews written by leading scientists within their field and summarise recent work from a personal perspective. They cover many exciting and innovative fields and are of general interest to all chemists. They should not contain original research. Feature articles in ChemComm are normally submitted by invitation. However, suggestions from authors are welcome and enquiries should be directed to the editor.

Feature articles should ideally be between 10 and 16 pages in length, although longer articles may be acceptable after consultation with the editorial board. They can include photographs and brief biographies (max 100 words) for up to six authors. For inclusion in the articles, biographies and photographs must be supplied prior to acceptance. Authors are encouraged to read our guidelines for the preparation of Feature articles, and to use the article template for preparing their Feature article submission.

Highlights

Highlights in ChemComm are short, review-style articles that should provide a balanced overview or summary of a field’s progress over the last eight to ten years, stressing the importance of the field to the chemists of today and the future. Consideration of future developments in a field is encouraged, as are personal opinions, provided that they are not defamatory to the work of others. The aim of this latest series of Highlights is to appeal to ChemComm’s broad chemistry readership, and to introduce non-specialists to significant fields that will continue to be important for the next generation of chemists. While major contributions in an area should be highlighted, extensive referencing is not appropriate for Highlights, and it is not appropriate to present new results.

Highlights should discuss the invited subject in a readable style that will appeal to the non-specialist. However, a high level of knowledge in the general chemical sciences (to at least post-graduate standing) should be assumed. Highlights are ideally a maximum of three to four journal pages. They can include photographs and brief biographies (max 100 words) for up to six authors. For inclusion in the articles, biographies and photographs must be supplied prior to acceptance. Authors are encouraged to use the article template for preparing their Highlight submission.

Comments

Comments and Replies are a medium for the discussion and exchange of scientific opinions between authors and readers concerning material published in ChemComm.

For publication, a Comment should present an alternative analysis of and/or new insight into the previously published material. Any Reply should further the discussion presented in the original article and the Comment. Comments and Replies that contain any form of personal attack are not suitable for publication. 

Comments that are acceptable for publication will be forwarded to the authors of the work being discussed, and these authors will be given the opportunity to submit a Reply. The Comment and Reply will both be subject to rigorous peer review in consultation with the journal’s Editorial Board where appropriate. The Comment and Reply will be published together.

Guidelines for authors and reviewers

Guidelines for authors

As an author, you can choose if your manuscript undergoes double-blind peer review or traditional, single-blind peer review. Either option is available and your preference can be selected during the submission process. If you choose the double-blind peer review option, you should ensure that your manuscript and all associated files are suitably anonymised before submission - please refer to our checklist when preparing your submission. Please note that it is your responsibility as an author to ensure that your manuscript is suitably anonymised.

When you submit your revised manuscript, you will be asked to provide:

• A version of the main article without author and affiliation details and acknowledgements
• A ‘double-blind title page’ which contains these details
• Electronic supplementary information (if any) without author and affiliations details

Please use the template supplied below for the ‘double-blind title page’. We require a completed version of this template in .doc(x) form so that we can data capture the author names, affiliations, and acknowledgements for our production system; it will not be sent to reviewers.

Microsoft Word 'double-blind title page' template

Guidelines for reviewers

As a reviewer assessing manuscripts where the authors have chosen the option of double-blind peer review, you will receive an invitation where the identity of the authors is kept confidential, and all further communication will omit author and affiliation details. Please note that, for submissions undergoing single-blind peer review, author details will be absent in some places on our system, but will be present in all emails and manuscript files. If you determine the identity of the authors who have chosen double-blind peer review, please continue with your review, focusing on the suitability of the manuscript for the ChemComm audience in line with our reviewing procedure; however, please highlight that you were able to identify the authors in the confidential comments to the editor on submitting your review.

Characterisation of new compounds

It is the responsibility of authors to provide fully convincing evidence for the homogeneity, purity and identity of all compounds they claim as new. This evidence is required to establish that the properties and constants reported are those of the compound with the new structure claimed. Referees will assess, as a whole, the evidence presented in support of the claims made by the authors. The requirements for characterisation criteria are detailed below.

Organic compounds

Authors are required to provide unequivocal support for the purity and assigned structure of all compounds using a combination of the following characterisation techniques.

Analytical
Elemental analysis (within ±0.4% of the calculated value) is required to confirm 95% sample purity and corroborate isomeric purity. Authors are also requested to provide copies of ¹H,¹³C NMR spectra and/or GC/HPLC traces; however, if satisfactory elemental analysis cannot be obtained, copies of these spectra and/or traces must be provided. For libraries of compounds, HPLC traces should be submitted as proof of purity. The determination of enantiomeric excess of nonracemic, chiral substances should be supported with either GC/HPLC traces with retention times for both enantiomers and separation conditions (that is, chiral support, solvent and flow rate) or for Mosher Ester/Chiral Shift Reagent analysis, copies of the spectra.

Physical
Important physical properties - for example, boiling or melting point, specific rotation, refractive index - including conditions and a comparison to the literature for known compounds should be provided. For crystalline compounds, the method used for recrystallisation should also be documented (that is, solvent etc).

Spectroscopic
Mass spectra and a complete numerical listing of ¹H,¹³C NMR peaks in support of the assigned structure, including relevant 2D NMR and related experiments (that is, NOE, etc) is required. As noted in 'Analytical', authors are requested to provide copies of these spectra. Infrared spectra that support functional group modifications, including other diagnostic assignments, should be included. High-resolution mass spectra are acceptable as proof of the molecular weight providing the purity of the sample has been accurately determined as outlined above.

Polymers

For all soluble polymers, an estimation of molecular weight must be provided by a suitable method - for example, size exclusion chromatography, including details of columns, eluents and calibration standards, intrinsic viscosity, MALDI TOF, etc. In addition, full NMR characterisation (¹H,¹³C) as for organic compound characterisation (see 'Organic compounds' in this section) should be included. Small molecules on the route to the polymers should be characterised as above and NMR data should be tabulated.

Inorganic and organometallic compounds

A new chemical substance (molecule or extended solid) should have a homogeneous composition and structure. Where the compound is molecular, authors must provide data to unequivocally establish its homogeneity, purity and identification. In general, this should include elemental analyses that agree to within ±0.4% of the calculated values. In cases where elemental analyses cannot be obtained (for example, for thermally unstable compounds), justification for the omission of this data should be provided. Note that an X-ray crystal structure is not sufficient for the characterisation of a new material, since the crystal used in this analysis does not necessarily represent the bulk sample.

In rare cases, it may be possible to substitute elemental analyses with high-resolution mass spectrometric molecular weights. This is appropriate, for example, with trivial derivatives of thoroughly characterised substances or routine synthetic intermediates. In all cases, relevant spectroscopic data (NMR, IR, UV-vis, etc) should be provided in tabulated form or as reproduced spectra. These may be relegated to the electronic supplementary information (ESI) to conserve journal space. However, it should be noted that, in general, mass spectrometric and spectroscopic data do not constitute proof of purity, and, in the absence of elemental analyses, additional evidence of purity should be provided (melting points, PXRD data, etc).

Where the compound is an extended solid, it is important to unequivocally establish the chemical structure and bulk composition. Single crystal diffraction does not determine the bulk structure. Referees will normally look to see evidence of bulk homogeneity. A fully indexed powder diffraction pattern that agrees with single crystal data may be used as evidence of a bulk homogeneous structure, and chemical analysis may be used to establish purity and homogeneous composition.

Magnetic measurements

If data from magnetic measurements are presented, the manuscript must provide a thorough description of the experimental details pertaining to how the sample was measured (in a gelatin capsule, Teflon capsule, as a powder, etc). If the data have been corrected for sample or sample-holder diamagnetism, the diamagnetic correction term must be provided and the manner in which it was determined (for example, calculated using Pascal’s constants, measured) must be stated.

Any fit of magnetic data [for example, χ(T), χ(1/T), χT(T), μ(T), M(H), etc] to an analytical expression must be accompanied by the Hamiltonian from which the analytical expression is derived, the analytical expression itself, and the fitting parameters. If the expression is lengthy, it may be included in the electronic supplementary information instead of within the main manuscript text. Its inclusion as supplementary information should be noted in the electronic supplementary information paragraph at the end of the manuscript. When an exchange coupling constant (J) is quoted in the abstract, the form of the Hamiltonian must also be included in the abstract.

Nano-sized materials (such as quantum dots, nanoparticles, nanotubes, nanowires)

It is essential that the authors not only provide detailed characterisation on individual objects (see 'Inorganic and organometallic compounds') but also a comprehensive characterisation of the bulk composition. Characterisation of the bulk of the sample could require determination of the chemical composition and size distribution over large portions of the sample.

Biomolecules (for example, enzymes, proteins, DNA/RNA, oligosaccharides, oligonucleotides)

Authors should provide rigorous evidence for the identity and purity of the biomolecules described. The techniques that may be employed to substantiate identity include the following.

• Mass spectrometry
• LC-MS
• Sequencing data (for proteins and oligonucleotides)
• High field ¹H,¹³C NMR spectroscopy
• X-ray crystallography

Purity must be established by one or more of the following.

• HPLC
• Gel electrophoresis
• Capillary electrophoresis
• High field ¹H,¹³C NMR spectroscopy

Sequence verification also needs to be carried out for nucleic acid cases involving molecular biology including all mutants; for new protein or gene sequences, the entire sequence must be provided. For organic synthesis involving DNA, RNA oligonucleotides, their derivatives or mimics, purity must be established using HPLC and mass spectrometry as a minimum.

For new derivatives comprising modified monomers, the usual organic chemistry analytical requirements for the novel monomer must be provided (see 'Organic compounds'). However, it is not necessary to provide this level of characterisation for the oligonucleotide into which the novel monomer is incorporated.

Computational results

Authors must provide sufficient information to enable readers to reproduce any computational results. If software was used for calculations and is generally available, it must be properly cited in the notes and references. References to the methods upon which the software is based must also be provided. Equations, data, geometric parameters/coordinates, or other numerical parameters essential to reproduction of the computational results (or adequate references when available in the open literature) must be provided. Authors who report the results of electronic structure calculations in relative energies should also include in electronic supplementary information the absolute energies obtained directly from the computational output files. Computational results obtained using methods, parameters, or input data that are not adequately described in the manuscript or in the referenced literature are not acceptable for publication.