In recent years, hypervalent iodine reagents have emerged as powerful tools in synthesis. This highlight paper describes recent developments in the application of diaryliodonium salts for a variety of transformations. It is shown how the extremely electrophilic nature of these reagents can be exploited to difunctionalize alkynes in cascade reactions to access complex scaffolds.

The activated azide donor Et₂AlN₃ is a powerful reagent not only for epoxide ring-openings or Michael-additions, but also, as reported recently, for high-yielding 1H-tetrazol synthesis.

This review highlights the intercession of ligand constraints and the role of various concepts such as molecular panelling and subcomponent self-assembly in the synthesis of metal–organic polyhedra. This includes discrete architectures of various geometries having an internal cavity of appropriate size and nature suitable enough for a range of applications.

The synthesis of bis-N-(2,5-dimethoxyphenyl)pyridine-2,6-dicarbothioamide, 6-(4,7-dimethoxy-2-benzothiazolyl)-N-(2,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-2-pyridinecarbothioamide, and the pincer palladium(ii) chloride, and acetate coordination compounds of the latter species are reported. The electrochemical properties, stability constants for the palladium complex formations, the kinetics of formation and the associated thermodynamic parameters are also presented, and the efficacy of the pincer system in the Suzuki–Miyaura cross-coupling reaction is explored.

Four metal–organic coordination polymers have been solvothermally synthesized and characterized based on rigid ligands and N-donor ligands.

We present new ligands N-[3-(3,5-dimethyl-1H-pyrazol-1-yl)propylidene]ethylamine (L1) and N-[3-(3,5-dimethyl-1H-pyrazol-1-yl)propylidene]propylamine (L2) and their reactivity towards Zn^II. Complete characterisation of compounds [ZnCl₂(L)] (L = L1 (1) and L2 (2)) by analytical and spectroscopic methods and the resolution of structures by single X-ray diffraction are presented. The three-dimensional supramolecular structure through different intra- and intermolecular contacts is also studied.

The mixed-ligand strategy involving 1,2-phenylenediacetic acid and various nitrogen-rich co-ligands produce three new Zn coordination polymers, which display a vast diversity of structures from two-dimensional (2D) stepwise grids, 2D double layers to three-dimensional (3D)→3D 4-fold interpenetrating diamondoid networks and various ligand-based fluorescence emissions.

Two solvatomorphs of [(salpn)Fe(μ²-salpn)Fe(salpn)]·nMeOH (H₂salpn = N,N′-bis(salicylidene)-1,3-propanediamine, n = 0.5MeOH (1) and MeOH (2)) are prepared. Structural analysis reveals different packing motifs in the structures resulting in an increased number of layers in 1. Electrochemical studies unexpectedly show weak electronic communication between the Fe^III centres in these dimers.

A series of nanocomposites Ag/ZnO were prepared under different microwave power irradiation which combined with sedimentation, of which ZnO precursor particles were assembled as the characteristic of the cubic lattice of metallic silver. The different microwave power irradiation has an effect on the shapes, physical chemistry properties, and photocatalytic activities of Ag/ZnO.

Quinapril and quinaprilat are two angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors characterized by a band broadening and a peak splitting when analyzed by ultra-performance liquid chromatography. These observations, attributed to the existence of a conformational s-cis–s-trans equilibrium, established by the rotation around the peptide bond of both products, were examined by NMR and ultra-performance liquid chromatography–diode array detector.

Electrochemiluminescence detection and solid phase microextraction using a NH₂–graphene–Nafion modified glassy carbon electrode was developed for carbaryl with a linearity range of 5 × 10^–4 to 10 μg mL^–1 and a detection limit of 2 × 10^–4 μg mL^–1, which shows good reproducibility, stability, and precision.

A new sensitive method for linuron determination using a glassy carbon electrode modified with platinum nanoparticles within a dihexadecyl phosphate film (PtNPs-DHP/GCE) and square-wave voltammetry was proposed.

Polymer vesicles have attracted extensive interest for a variety of biomedical applications. To our knowledge, few reports focus on polymer vesicles for gene delivery. A novel library of cationic polymer vesicles with tunable hydrophobicity is evaluated as efficient and low-cytotoxicity gene vectors.

An improved route to 2-substituted 6-hydroxy-[3H]-pyrimidin-4-ones and 4,6-dichloropyrimidines using phosphoryl chloride gives yields up to 86 % on a one mol scale. Computations suggest that the chlorination occurs in an alternating phosphorylation–chlorination manner. The investigated 4,6-dichloropyrimidines form strong complexes with dichlorophosphoric acid but weak complexes with hydrochloric acid.

The novel task-specific ionic liquids (TSILs) introducing piperazine substructures were synthesized via a simple four-step process starting from available materials. TSILs can efficiently remove Cu²⁺, Ni²⁺, and Co²⁺ from water in mild acid solutions. The thermodynamics indicated that the extraction process was exothermic and spontaneous in nature.

Metal-free nitrogen-doped graphene can be easily prepared by direct electrochemical exfoliation of graphite in aqueous ammonium nitrate electrolytes for use as catalysts for oxygen reduction reactions.

Two novel tri-cholesteryl derivatives gel several liquids at room temperature. One of the gels, 1/cyclohexane, possesses multi-stimuli responsive properties and shows super smart and reversible thixotropic property. These findings suggest that there is a big potential for developing tri-cholesteryl derivatives into extraordinary low molecular mass gelators.

An efficient microwave synthesis of imines has been developed giving quantitative conversions, in a significantly reduced time frame and without the aid of expensive or elaborate chemicals. A large library of functionalised and unfunctionalised imines was quickly synthesised with minimal workup procedures.