Angewandte Chemie International Edition

Kwon, Sunbum; Jeon, Aram; Yoo, Sung Hyun; Chung, Im Sik; Lee, Hee‐Seung

doi: 10.1002/anie.201004587pmid: N/A

Windmill‐shaped architectures and square rods were formed by the self‐assembly of a short helical β peptide in aqueous solution. In their Communication on page 8232 ff., H.‐S. Lee and co‐workers show how the self‐assembly of these exceptional 3D shapes and their intermediate states could be guided and controlled by the addition of a surfactant.

Zhou, Shaolin; Fleischer, Steffen; Junge, Kathrin; Das, Shoubhik; Addis, Daniele; Beller, Matthias

doi: 10.1002/anie.201004297pmid: N/A

Although iron is one of the most abundant metals, its application to catalysis is still in its infancy. In their Communication on page 8121 ff., M. Beller and co‐workers present the first iron‐catalyzed asymmetric transfer hydrogenation of imines. Iron carbonyl complexes in the presence of a tetradentate P2N2 ligand catalyze the reduction of N‐diphenylphosphinylimines with high enantioselectivity (99 %) and good yields (98 %).

doi: 10.1002/anie.201090142pmid: N/A

doi: 10.1002/anie.201089944pmid: N/A

doi: 10.1002/anie.201004903pmid: 20878963

“My favorite subject at school was mathematics. My first experiment which I did together with a friend at the age of 11 was an oxyhydrogen gas explosion …︁” This and more about Helmut Werner can be found on page 8070.

Harriman, Anthony

doi: 10.1002/anie.201005968pmid: N/A

John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken 2010. 598 pp., hardcover € 132.00.—ISBN 978‐0470255575

Wilker, Jonathan J.

doi: 10.1002/anie.201003171pmid: 20839202

Sticky business: Marine mussels (see picture) affix themselves to rocks with a system of threads and adhesive plaques. Emerging results are showing that iron–protein interactions help mussels stick by playing two roles: initiating material formation and enhancing mechanical performance.

North, Michael

doi: 10.1002/anie.201003014pmid: 20809557

Joined at the hip: By linking two salen ligands together with a strap of appropriate size and shape, the effectiveness of a bimetallic titanium(salen) complex as a catalyst for asymmetric cyanohydrin synthesis can be increased by up to two orders of magnitude. The optimal catalyst is active at a catalyst loading as low as 0.0005 mol % and will accept both trimethylsilyl cyanide and sodium cyanide/acetic anhydride as the cyanide source (see scheme).

Cooper, Tony W. J.; Campbell, Ian B.; Macdonald, Simon J. F.

doi: 10.1002/anie.201002238pmid: 20859975

Synthetic organic reactions are a fundamental enabler of small‐molecule drug discovery, and the vast majority of medicinal chemists are initially trained—either at universities or within industry—as synthetic organic chemists. The sheer breadth of synthetic methodology available to the medicinal chemist represents an almost endless source of innovation. But what reactions do medicinal chemists use in drug discovery? And what criteria do they use in selecting synthetic methodology? Why are arrays (small focused libraries) so powerful in the lead‐optimization process? In this Minireview, we suggest some answers to these questions and also describe how we have tried to expand the number of robust reactions available to the medicinal chemist.

Dameris, Martin

doi: 10.1002/anie.201001643pmid: 20922727

The discovery of the ozone hole over Antarctica in 1985 was a surprise for science. For a few years the reasons of the ozone hole was speculated about. Soon it was obvious that predominant meteorological conditions led to a specific situation developing in this part of the atmosphere: Very low temperatures initiate chemical processes that at the end cause extreme ozone depletion at altitudes of between about 15 and 30 km. So‐called polar stratospheric clouds play a key role. Such clouds develop at temperatures below about 195 K. Heterogeneous chemical reactions on cloud particles initiate the destruction of ozone molecules. The future evolution of the ozone layer will not only depend on the further development of concentrations of ozone‐depleting substances, but also significantly on climate change.