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Supramolecular peptide assemblies have been widely used for the development of biomedical, catalytical, and optical materials with chiral nanostructures in view of the intrinsic chirality of peptides. However, the assembly pathway and chiral transformation behavior of various peptides remain largely elusive especially for the transient assemblies under out‐of‐equilibrium conditions. Herein, the N‐fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl‐protected phenylalanine‐tyrosine dipeptide (Fmoc‐FY) was used as a peptide assembly platform, which showed that the assembly proceeds multistep evolution. The original spheres caused by liquid‐liquid phase separation (LLPS) can nucleate and elongate into the formation of right‐handed helices which were metastable and easily converted into microribbons. Interestingly, a bipyridine derivative can be introduced to effectively control the assembly pathway and induce the formation of thermodynamically stable right‐handed or left‐handed helices at different stoichiometric ratios. In addition, the chiral assembly can also be regulated by ultrasound or enzyme catalysis. This minimalistic system not only broadens the nucleation‐elongation mechanisms of protein aggregates but also promotes the controllable design and development of chiral biomaterials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extending the conjugation of viologen by a planar thiazolo[5,4-d]thiazole (TTz) framework and functionalizing the pyridinium with hydrophilic ammonium groups yielded a highly water-soluble π-conjugation extended viologen, 4,4′-(thiazolo[5,4-d]thiazole-2,5-diyl)bis(1-(3-(trimethylammonio)propyl)pyridin-1-ium) tetrachloride, [(NPr)2TTz]Cl4 , as a novel two-electron storage anolyte for aqueous organic redox flow battery (AORFB) applications. Its physical and electrochemical properties were systematically investigated. Paired with 4-trimethylammonium-TEMPO (NMe-TEMPO) as catholyte, [(NPr)2TTz]Cl4 enables a 1.44 V AORFB with a theoretical energy density of 53.7 Wh L−1. A demonstrated [(NPr)2TTz]Cl4/NMe-TEMPO AORFB delivered an energy efficiency of 70 % and 99.97 % capacity retention per cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The introduction of a simple methyl substituent on the bipyridine ligand of [Ru( tBu3tpy)(bpy)(NCCH3)]2+ ( tBu3tpy=4,4′,4′′-tri- tert-butyl-2,2′:6′,2′′-terpyridine; bpy=2,2′-bipyridine) gives rise to a highly active electrocatalyst for the reduction of CO2 to CO. The methyl group enables CO2 binding already at the one-electron reduced state of the complex to enter a previously not accessible catalytic cycle that operates at the potential of the first reduction. The complex turns over with a Faradaic efficiency close to unity and at an overpotential that is amongst the lowest ever reported for homogenous CO2 reduction catalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A key intermediate in the electroconversion of carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide, catalyzed by a manganese tris(carbonyl) complex, is characterized. Different catalytic pathways and their potential reaction mechanisms are investigated using a large range of experimental and computational techniques. Sophisticated spectroscopic methods including UV/Vis absorption and pulsed-EPR techniques (2P-ESEEM and HYSCORE) were combined together with DFT calculations to successfully identify a key intermediate in the catalytic cycle of CO2 reduction. The results directly show the formation of a metal-carboxylic acid-CO2 adduct after oxidative addition of CO2 and H+ to a Mn0 carbonyl dimer, an unexpected intermediate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]