A Vitamin B-Photocatalysed Approach to Methionine Analogues.

Access to new non-canonical amino acid residues is crucial for medicinal chemistry and chemical biology. Analogues of the amino acid methionine have been far less explored-despite their use in biochemistry, pharmacology and peptide bioconjugation. This is largely due to limited synthetic access.

Organic Semiconductors Processed from Synthesis-to-Device in Water.

Organic semiconductors (OSCs) promise to deliver next-generation electronic and energy devices that are flexible, scalable and printable. Unfortunately, realizing this opportunity is hampered by increasing concerns about the use of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), particularly toxic halogenated solvents that are detrimental to the environment and human health. Here, a cradle-to-grave process is reported to achieve high performance p- and n-type OSC devices based on indacenodithiophene and diketopyrrolopyrrole semiconducting polymers that utilizes aqueous-processes, fewer steps, lower reaction temperatures, a significant reduction in VOCs (>99%) and avoids all halogenated solvents.

Molecular Recognition by Zn(II)-Capped Dynamic Foldamers.

Two α-aminoisobutyric acid (Aib) foldamers bearing Zn(II)-chelating N-termini have been synthesized and compared with a reported Aib foldamer that has a bis(quinolinyl)/mono(pyridyl) cap (BQPA group). Replacement of the quinolinyl arms of the BQPA-capped foldamer with pyridyl gave a BPPA-capped foldamer, then further replacement of the linking pyridyl with a 1,2,3-triazole gave a BPTA-capped foldamer. Their ability to relay chiral information from carboxylate bound to Zn(II) at the N-terminus to a glycinamide-based NMR reporter of conformational preference at the C-terminus was measured.