by Hugh D. Burrows, Scientific Editor, Pure and Applied Chemistry
In this section of CI, we keep you up to date on what is happening in Pure and Applied Chemistry (PAC). PAC is the official journal of IUPAC, and publishes IUPAC Technical Reports and Recommendations together with articles arising from IUPAC-endorsed conferences. Occasionally we also publish special issues containing selected, peer reviewed articles by experts in the field and concentrating on topics of current interest and relevance. As Scientific Editor, I look after the Conferences and special topics side, while Ron D. Weir and Jürgen Stohner, respectively chair and secretary of the Interdivisional Committee on Terminology, Nomenclature and Symbols (ICTNS), are responsible for the publication of IUPAC Technical Reports and Recommendations.
The June and July 2015 PAC issues (issues 6 and 7) featured papers from the XXVth IUPAC Symposium in Photochemistry, which was organised by Dario M. Bassani in Bordeaux, France from 13-18 July 2014. This marks the 50th anniversary of a highly successful series of conferences. To celebrate, an article by Silvia Braslavsky traced the history and evolution of these meetings from their start under the direction of George S. Hammond in Strasbourg, France, in 1964 (PAC 87(7), pp. 663-705). (A Brief History was published earlier in Chem Int. March 2014, pp. 12-13)
Nathan D. McClclenaghan (Université Bordeaux) was Conference Editor for these PAC issues, which contained the Porter Medal-winning prize lecture from Masahiro Irie on the discovery and development of photochromic diarylethenes, together with papers on topics as diverse as mechanistic photochemistry in photochemically induced radical reactions with furanones (Michael Oelgemöller and Norbert Hoffmann), singlet oxygen reactions with natural polyunsaturated substrates (Axel G. Griesbeck et al.), and artificial photosynthesis (Giuseppina La Gnnga and Fausto Puntoriero). In keeping with the interests of the organizers, papers were presented on azobenzene-based photochromism and its application in supramolecular devices from the groups of Jiro Abe and Alberto Credi. A detailed discussion was given by Chihaya Adachi et al. on how thermally activated delayed fluorescence is leading to the development of highly efficient electroluminescent materials with potential applications in the third generation of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs).
Other topics covered in these issues are novel push-pull fluorophores (William G. Skene), how ultrafast spectroscopy is challenging new empirical rules in molecular photophysics (Majed Chergui), enhanced light energy conversion using plasmons in gold nanostructured titanium dioxide semiconductor photoelectrodes (Hiroaki Misawa), and the use of titanium dioxide-based heterogeneous photocatalysis to remove heavy metals and arsenic from water (Marta I. Litter). These papers provide a fitting celebration to an excellent anniversary meeting.
The August issue of PAC features articles based on Keynote lectures in the 2nd International Conference on Bioinspired and Biobased Chemistry & Materials. This has the acronym N.I.C.E. meaning “Nature Inspires Chemistry Engineers”, and was organized by Frédéric Guittard with the assistance of Elena Celia and Jeanne Tarrade, in Nice, France, from 15 to 17 October 2014. The goal of this series is to share ideas in the growing fields of bioinspired chemistry and materials, to see how nature has developed solutions for many current problems, and to envisage solutions for a sustainable future. Problems tackled include optimization of resources, energy efficiency, transport, and water and waste treatment.
The topics covered range from mimicking calcite-based functional material of the human body (Rüdiger Kniep) through a bioinspired approach to produce conducting polymer-based systems with parahydrophobic properties (Frédéric Guittard et al.) to using the inspiration of the structure of butterfly wings to produce porous carbon electrodes with ridge/pore array hierarchical architecture (Tongxiang Fan et al.). The new field of biofabrication uses 3D printing technologies with high spatial resolution for processing both cells and biomaterials into constructs suitable for tissue engineering. A comprehensive review is provided by the group of Thomas Scheibel, which includes a demonstration of how spider silk can be used as a cytocompatible and printable bioink.
Polymeric materials are discussed in articles from the groups of Shchipunov on self-organized chitosan bionanocomposites, and of Runguo Wang and Liqun Zhang on biobased elastomers with tunable damping properties. Interfacial control is important for immobilising biomolecules onto nanostructured materials for various applications. Mikhael Bechelany and coworkers show how atomic layer deposition can be applied to this problem. Interfaces are also involved in the study by Kock-Lee Law, who presents a detailed discussion on water-surface interactions and considers the important practical problem of how the terms hydrophilicity, hydrophobicity, and superhydrophobicity can be defined in such cases.
Bioisnpired materials are also relevant to energy and electronic. Marsella, Berand, Vullev and coworkers report a molecular level approach for bioinspired electrets based on β-aminoacids. The electronic properties of these can be tuned by appropriate chemical substitution.
Finally, Yves Queneau and co-workers show how glucosyloxymethylfurfural, which is readily obtained from natural sources, can act as an excellent scaffold for developing molecular architectures based on carbohydrates, including some fairly elaborate targets.
The area of bioinspired chemistry is rapidly developing, and we look forward to publishing articles from future editions of this interesting series of Conferences.
©2015 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston
