The Making of a Mitragynine
The natural herb kratom (Mitragyna speciosa), isolated from the leaves of a psychoactive medicinal plant, is used as a remedy for pain.
JACS Spotlights
Recipe for Life: Prebiotic Synthesis of Lysine-Containing Compounds
Life as we know it originated in the form of a prebiotic soup of organic molecules that somehow began to replicate themselves.
Life in Multi-color: Harnessing Electrochromic Materials for Optical Recordings
Optical recording is a promising method to monitor a cell’s electrical activities by detecting optical signal changes.
Entering Uncharted Waters by Probing Nanoparticles’ Interactions with Cellular Membranes
Nanoparticles have been explored for use in biomedical applications including gene and drug delivery.
Tailoring the Stability of Synthetic Collagen
Collagen is the most abundant protein in the body and the key component in connective tissue.
Using Magnets to Turn on Melanin
Melanin is the pigment responsible for human skin and hair color─and it helps protect skin cells from sun damage.
Deconstructing Nature’s Unusual Herbicidin Biosynthesis
Herbicidins are a broad class of adenosine-based nucleoside antibiotics with an unusual tricyclic core.
Broadening the Horizons of Protein-Polyarene Conjugates
Catalyst-transfer polymerization (CTP) has made it possible to synthesize conjugated polymers with control over their length, sequence, and end-groups.
Lighting Up Ruthenium Complexes to Fight Cancer
Photodynamic therapy (PDT) and photochemotherapy (PCT) are two cancer treatments that use light to target and destroy tumor cells.
Sustainable Electrochemical Functionalization of Alkenes
Developing pharmaceuticals often calls for hazardous reagents and can spawn copious amount of environmentally harmful and toxic waste.
Common Metals, Cheaper Catalysts in Fuel Cells
Electrocatalysts lie at the heart of fuel cells and metal–air batteries, which promise low-weight power supply for future electric vehicles.
Small but Mighty: Clickable Fluorescent Probe for Bioimaging
For years, scientists have relied on fluorescent probes, which are specifically designed molecules used to label target biomolecules and follow their progress inside the body.
Spongy yet Sturdy: MOF Harvests Water from Air
Water vapor fills the air around us, yet more than half the world’s population faces water shortages with the current materials having limited capacities or require a large amount of energy to release the water they have captured.
Playing with Fire Recovers an Unusual Carbon Compound
Carbon fullerenes are fascinating molecules whose cage structure holds the possibility for unconventional molecular bonding.
Getting a Grip on Protein–Protein Interactions
Understanding protein–protein interactions could reveal new ways to attack cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, and infections.
Triangular Prism Sorts Natural Products
Natural products often have complicated, asymmetric structures. Capturing these structures in self-assembled receptors can be difficult, as such receptors tend to be regular and spherical.
Lighting the Way for Photonic Devices
The control of a particular type of light - circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) - is essential for optical data processing and display devices.
Under Pressure: Analyzing Amyloid-Beta Peptides as They Fold
Small pieces of amyloid-beta (Aβ) protein attach onto each other and insidiously pile up in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.
Pushing the Triple-Phase Boundary for Fuel Cells
Coupled electron- and phase-transfer reactions are the key in many electrochemical systems, including fuel cells and Li-ion batteries.
OIHP: New Player In the Ferroelectric Arena
Hybrid organic−inorganic ferroelectric have shown some remarkable optoelectronic properties in recent years.
A Radical Cationic Dimer for Optoelectronics
Macrocyclic oligothiophenes—giant cycles with thiophene segments—are fascinating compounds and good candidates for optoelectronic devices.
Material That Pushes Back
Materials with negative compressibility consist of a system that actually expands in volume at an increasing applied pressure.
New Cages Push Boundaries of Chiral Design
Nanocages are remarkable molecular constructs that can bind guest molecules in solution. The introduction of asymmetry into the confined nanospace is particularly interesting...
Programming Aromaticity with a Light Switch
Excited-state aromaticity gives rise to unique physical properties which may aid the design of functional photoactive materials. Particularly interesting are chemical structures called molecular photoswitches.
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