The cover picture showsan inexpensive and eco-friendly method to synthesize osthole derivatives with Grignard reagents assisted by CuI and LiCl. With the purpose of discovering novel insecticides from Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the structure of osthole has been modified to improve its larvicidal activity against mosquitoes. Starting from Grignard reagents generated from 8-iodocoumarins, a broad range of osthole derivatives can be prepared in mild to good yields (up to 83%). Bio-activity evaluation showed that several products exhibited better larvicidal activities than osthole. More details are discussed in the article by Li et al. on page 1353–1358.

The enantioselective allylic amination of phthalimide and Morita-Baylis-Hillman adducts catalyzed by chiral cyclohexane-based thiourea-phosphines was investigated. In the presence of 20 mol% rosin-containing thiourea-phosphine, the chiral amines were obtained in up to 88% yield and up to 85% ee.

Two triblock polymers, TA-b-PNIPAM-b-PHEA and TA-b-PHEA-b-PNIPAM, were synthesized with identical chemical compositions but different connection order. Both of their aggregates have spherical shape assembled at 45°C. However, when their aggregate dispersion was cooled down to 20°C, only TA-b-PHEA-b-PNIPAM's morphology changed, forming worm-like aggregates with the diameter of about 100–200 nm.

Metal-dependent hydrothermal reaction products of 3,4,5,6-tetrahydrophthalic anhydride have been reported.

CuI and LiCl promoted efficient synthesis of osthole derivatives with Grignard reagents has been developed. Bio-activity evaluation showed that several products exhibited far better larvicidal activities against mosquitoes than osthole.

Degradation of the highly reactive hypervalent trifluoromethylation iodine reagent PhI(OAc)(CF₃), which can only be generated in situ with mixing PhI(OAc)₂ and TMSCF₃ in the presence of CsF, was studied by ESI-MS and GC-MS combined with ¹⁹F-NMR. The important transient intermediate PhICF₃⁺ was determined by ESI-MS, and the major volatile products containing CF₃ were identified with the authentic compounds by using GC-MS, such as trifluoromethylbenzene, 2-iodobenzotrifluoride, 3-iodobenzotrifluoride, 4-iodobenzotrifluoride. Meanwhile, more evidences obtained with ¹⁹F-NMR were given for such degradation reaction. A possible rapid CF₃ radical transfer reaction pathway was proposed to clarify such degradation progress based on the experimental results. Therefore, this study may be helpful in elucidating the intrinsic reactivity of PhI(OAc)(CF₃) and the possible competing side reactions caused by such self-degradation pathway.

The three-component reaction of thiazole (benzothiazole), dialkyl but-2-ynedioate, and isatinylidene malononitrile afforded diastereoisomeric spiro[indoline-3,7′-thiazolo[3,2-a]pyridines] and spiro[benzo[4,5]thiazolo[3,2-a]pyridine-3,3′-indolines].

Graphene nanoribbons were synthesized by the intramolecular cyclodehydrogenation of tetraphenylethene polymer precursors and successfully used in thin-film FETs, which provides a new type of method to controllably fabricate GNRs and represents a significant step to diversify the geometries of GNRs.

In the study, we present the preparation of zeolite NIR luminescence materials with a remarkable increase of luminescence intensity by attaching stopper molecule (an imidazolium salt) to the channel entrances of zeolite L loading with NIR lanthanide (Er³⁺) or Nd³⁺)) β-diketonate complexes.

A ruthenium carbene complex containing a Zn-porphyrin ligand was synthesized. It was characterized by ¹H NMR, IR, HRMS and elemental analysis. The activity of the complex for ring-closing metathesis and cross-metathesis reactions was investigated. The complex exhibited high catalytic activity for many different olefin substrates.