The cover picture shows the copper-catalyzed Ullmann-Ma reaction of aryl halides with nucleophiles by the assistance of two-generation ligands, amino acids and oxalic diamides or related amides. Ullmann-Ma reaction is one of the most important transformations for the construction of aryl carbon-carbon and carbon-heteroatom bonds in organic chemistry. For the details about the history, development, scope and applications of Ullmann-Ma reaction, please see the article by Cai et al. on page 879–893.

Interfacial engineering is expected to be a feasible strategy to improve the charge transport properties of the hole transport layer, which is of crucial importance to boost the device performance of organic solar cells. In this study, the doping of F4-TCNQ and N719 dye in the hole transport layer with and without integrating a graphene quantum-dots layer has been explored in non-fullerene acceptor-based organic solar cells. More details are discussed in the article by Feng et al. on page 817–822.

A novel, rational-designed approach to access various heteroaryl-substituted alkyl thioethers was developed via docking-migration cascade process. By utilizing three components involving alkene, dual-function reagent, and thioetherificating reagent, radical heteroarylalkylation of alkenes followed by thiolation of the alkyl radical intermediates proceeded smoothly, manifesting well compatibility of substrates and cascade transformations. Furthermore, this protocol also features mild conditions, broad substrate scope, and wide product diversity.

Sequential Ir-catalyzed asymmetric allylation/2-aza-Cope rearrangement of arylidene amino-malonates with allylic carbonates was successfully developed, and a variety of enantioenriched homoallylic amine derivatives were obtained in high yields with good chirality transfer and excellent E/Z-geometry control (up to 99% yield, 96% ee). Compared with previous dual catalytic system established for this transformation, the current mono metal catalytic system provides a simpler and more practical protocol employing the readily available starting materials.

Herein, we present a green and novel route to synthesize N,N-dimethyl arylmethylamines (DAMAs) from hexamethylenetetramine and aryl aldehydes in presence of hydrogen, and a series of DAMAs can be obtained in good yields.

A series of novel CF₃(OCF₃)CH-substituted arenes and alkenes were prepared through the silver-mediated oxidative trifluoromethylation of α-trifluoromethyl alcohols. Evaluation of the lipophilicities indicated that this CH(OCF₃)CF₃ motif is more lipophilic than the common fluorine-containing groups such as CF₃, OCF₃, and SCF₃.

Directly using arenols as coupling partners in cross-coupling, would be one of the most attractive goals. In this review, we summarized recent advances in cross-couplings of arenols as the electrophiles via C—O activation.

We summarize the recent development of genetically encoded peptide-protein coupling reactions and their diverse applications. It represents a novel way to tune chemical reactivity by the information encoded in the protein sequence, which is read out by protein folding and molecular recognition and translated into chemical bonding. The principles may be extended to enable new modes of supramolecular interactions that are coupled with covalent bonding.

As demonstrated in the prototypical SpyTag-SpyCatcher reaction, genetically encoded click chemistry is a superior way to manipulate chemical reactivity and holds great promise in diverse applications.

A mild, catalyst-free system has been established for the defluorosilylation of various fluoroalkenes with silylboronates via C—F activation. This route employs an inexpensive alkoxy base and can be used to generate silylated fluoroalkenes with a variety of synthetically useful functional groups.