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Between 1920 and 1922, the University of Bristol biochemist, Maximilian Nierenstein, published four papers in a series exploring the structure of catechin in the Journal of the Chemical Society. The Society then abruptly refused to accept any more of his papers on catechin, or any other subject. It provided him with no reasons for the embargo until 1925. It then transpired that Nierenstein was boycotted because it was deemed that he had not responded adequately to criticisms of his work made by his rival in catechin research, the German natural products chemist, Karl Freudenberg. It was not until 1929 that, as a result of a petition by a group of his former Bristol pupils and friends, that Nierenstein was again permitted to publish in the Society's journal. The paper explores the Chemical Society's treatment of Nierenstein in detail, sheds new light on his career and his reaction to the Society's unprecedented boycott, examines some of the structural chemistry involved in the disputes, and discusses whether Nierenstein's research deserves the label of 'bad science'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gene therapy is a promising strategy for treating challenging diseases. The successful delivery of genes is a critical step for gene therapy. However, concerns about immunogenicity and toxicity are the main obstacles against the widespread use of effective viral systems. Therefore, nonviral vectors are regarded as good alternatives to viral vectors. Chitosan is a natural cationic polysaccharide that could be used to create nonviral gene delivery vectors. Various methods have been developed to improve the properties of chitosan related to gene delivery. This review introduces the features of chitosan in gene delivery, summarizes current progress toward methods promoting the properties of chitosan related to gene delivery, and presents different applications of chitosan in gene delivery vectors. Finally, future prospects of gene vectors based on chitosan are discussed. Adapted with permission from [ 137 ]. Copyright © 2017, American Chemical Society. Reprinted with permission from [ 161 ]. Copyright © 2014, American Chemical Society. Adapted with permission from [ 169 ]. Copyright © 2018, American Chemical Society. Unlabelled Image • Chemical modification could improve the performance of chitosan in gene delivery systems. • Various ligands could be utilized to promote the targetability of chitosan. • Chitosan can be used in gene vectors with different functions. • Carboxymethyl chitosan and PEGylated chitosan have been used in CRISPR/Cas9 system delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recurring academic laboratory accidents and a lack of consensus about the best approach to chemical safety culture education has led to the development of laboratory safety team (LST) programs at many research institutions in the United States. LSTs are collaborative groups that seek to improve the safety culture within a department or multiple departments. They usually consist of a partnership between departmental faculty, staff, and students and have the goal of providing concrete opportunities for all of these stakeholders to continuously improve safety practices within their department. These programs also offer a supplementary form of safety education that is designed to fit the specific culture and needs of each institution. As these programs have developed in a variety of institutions, best practices for forming and maintaining LSTs have begun to emerge. In order to better understand these best practices, we developed a pilot workshop for the 255th National American Chemical Society Meeting audience to provide attendees with the knowledge and resources to go back to their home institutions and establish LSTs or similar programs. To understand the effectiveness of this pilot workshop, we conducted a small survey of the attendees at the first presentation. Questionnaires before and after the workshop show that the workshop was well received overall. Participants became more confident in their ability to teach others about safety and gained an improved understanding of safety topics and resources. There is also evidence that the workshop changed participants perception on their own career values and their institution's values on laboratory safety. These results are promising and give us hope that programs such as this can be a useful platform for safety education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the chemistry enterprise as a whole has experienced a monumental shift in the way that it understands and approaches safety, both within society and as part of the science of chemistry. The American Chemical Society (ACS) has embraced this change and has committed to modelling it by incorporating "safety" into its core values. In early 2018, a Safety Summit involving stakeholders from across the chemistry enterprise was convened to consider strategies for "accelerating the adoption of an ethos of safety across the chemical enterprise". The summit resulted in a better understanding of the factors influencing the implementation of safe chemical practices, programs in progress to effect change in this area, and gaps where additional effort is needed. Opportunities were identified where the ACS could make a meaningful impact on chemical safety and which aligned with the goals of the Society. In this paper, we will describe how the ACS strategic plan addresses the chemical safety challenges in relation to both historical influences and the current environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is a review of work on the potential of biorefineries. First, it considers the concept of a refinery, the differences between biomass and oil, and the advantages of a biorefinery over a refinery. It goes on to describe the bio‐based economy and biorefinery concepts, and to discuss its origin as a promising alternative to dependence on non‐renewable feedstocks. It provides an exhaustive description of the classification of biorefineries, considering aspects such as systems, technological implementation status, size, feedstocks, platforms, products, and conversion processes. It outlines the main methodologies for designing biorefineries – conceptual design, optimization, and the 'early stage' method. Methodologies for the economic, environmental, and social assessment of a biorefinery are presented. Finally, challenges linked to the implementation of biorefinery projects at industrial level are discussed. The authors conclude that the methodologies of conceptual design and optimization must complement each other to achieve a robust design from a conceptual and mathematical point of view. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first total synthesis of carthamin (3), a historic natural red pigment, has been achieved. The molecular structure was efficiently constructed by assembling two equivalents of the in situ generated lithiated monomers and triisopropyl orthoformate. This synthesis confirms the structure proposed in 1996. Go red: The first total synthesis of carthamin, a historic natural red pigment, has been achieved. The molecular structure was efficiently constructed by assembling two equivalents of in situ generated lithiated monomers and triisopropyl orthoformate, concluding its structural identity after a century‐long scrutiny of the chemical society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In the past 15+ years, gas chromatography (GC) has undergone a renaissance in its implementation on the basis of the “disruptive” technology of comprehensive two‐dimensional gas chromatography (GC×GC). With a foundation based upon a two‐column GC separation approach, GC×GC significantly alters the classical multidimensional gas chromatography (MDGC) method by employing very fast separation on a second dimension (2D) after a conventional one‐dimensional (i.e., single column; 1D) column separation. This allows the experimentalist to apply the advantages of multidimensionality to the total sample rather than to just discrete zones of the 1D separation that characterizes MDGC. This requires a new “language” to describe GC×GC separations, applied to the first dimension (1D) and 2D, and consideration of the modulation processes that define the transfer of analyte from the 1D to the 2D. The present review is based on the FACS Foundation lectureship of the author given at the 17th Asian Chemical Congress of the Federation of Asian Chemical Societies (FACS). The award lecture and this manuscript is based on material deriving largely from research in the area of MDGC and GC×GC separations of the author. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The author's experience as editor of John D. Roberts' autobiography The Right Place at the Right Time published by the American Chemical Society in 1990 forms the basis for his description of Roberts as a research scientist and teacher, an author, a citizen of the world, and a friend. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a new type of organic‐inorganic hybrid hydrogel was prepared under the condition of low air press using SiO2 nanoparticles as initiator. The products shows a novel microstructure and characteristics that increased salt resistance and proper water absorbency. The xerogel showed absorbencies of 102.8 g/g for 0.9 wt% NaCl solution, respectively. More details will be discussed by Dr. Haiwang Wang and his co‐workers on page 157–293 in this issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue of the Journal of the Chinese Chemical Society is dedicated to Prof. Tien‐Yau Luh in honor of his 70th birthday. In this issue, 16 articles/reviews represent cutting‐edge research carried out by many of Prof. Luh's friends, colleagues, former students and coworkers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One-hundred fifty years ago, on the eve of German unification, about one-hundred people gathered in Berlin to found the German Chemical Society (DChG) under the charismatic leadership of August Wilhelm von Hofmann, who attracted a large international membership by promoting modern organic chemistry. By 1892, when Emil Fischer succeeded Hofmann, the DChG was the world's largest chemical society. Under Fischer the Society promoted international collaboration with foreign societies, and in 1900 it opened an impressive headquarters, the Hofmann House, where it centralized its greatly expanded literary activity including abstracts and reference publications. Yet a half-century later, after war and racial-national extremism, the house lay in ruins and the Society had ceased to exist. In remembering the Society, one may well ask why its auspicious beginning should have led to this ignominious end. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Time to reflect: This issue marks the 750th issue of Chemistry—A European Journal. The journal has played a significant role in changing chemistry. Its history has featured top papers from top authors for more than 20 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

General chemistry courses are often the foundation for the study of other science disciplines and upper-level chemistry concepts. Students who take introductory chemistry courses are more often from health and science-related fields than chemistry. As such, the content taught and assessed in general chemistry courses is envisioned as building blocks for concepts in other science courses and across many science disciplines. American Chemical Society (ACS) exams are developed by committees of expert chemists and serve as representative artifacts of content valued by the chemistry community. Before an exam is released, items developed by an examination committee undergo trial testing, and items deemed too easy, too hard, or not discriminating based on item statistics are removed. Analysis of content coverage from items on multiple released general chemistry ACS exams from the past decade and their associated unreleased trial tests revealed content areas where few exam items were written. Content coverage was analyzed by aligning exam items to the ACS Anchoring Concepts Content Map for General Chemistry. By comparing released and unreleased trial items, we found that many of the content coverage gaps on released exams are the result of a lack of items developed about these concepts. These conceptual holes warrant a discussion of whether what is being assessed is what is desired to be assessed and how curricular improvement and assessment reform efforts address content coverage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this Essay we write about the history of the German Catalysis Society Meeting, the unification of its component clubs, their members, and how those responsible pushed the boundaries of science policy and funding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at providing a statistical model for the preferred behavior of authors submitting a paper to a scientific journal. The electronic submission of (about 600) papers to the Journal of the Serbian Chemical Society has been recorded for every day from Jan. 01, 2013 till Dec. 31, 2014, together with the acceptance or rejection paper fate. Seasonal effects and editor roles (through desk rejection and subfield editors) are examined. An ARCH-like econometric model is derived stressing the main determinants of the favorite day-of-week process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Should manuscripts by young authors with low H indices be directly rejected? Such crazy ideas can be extrapolated from the notion that lots of citations are a guarantee for high quality. Such flawed developments in scientific publishing are one theme of the Editorial by the Editor in Chief of Angewandte Chemie, as are far more positive aspects, such as the activities of the German Chemical Society (GDCh; Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker) in it anniversary year, 2017. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A table of contents for the issue is presented.

The times of the “ivory tower” are over; society expects that scientists accept their responsibility for the consequences of their research. In addition, due to numerous examples of significant misbehavior, scientists are increasingly judged by the general public whether they perform according to good scientific practice. Learned societies play an important role here, which, however, has changed since such societies were established more than 150 years ago. This article addresses these questions with a special focus on the situation in Germany. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at providing an introduction to the behavior of authors submitting a paper to a scientific journal. Dates of electronic submission of papers to the Journal of the Serbian Chemical Society have been recorded from the 1st January 2013 till the 31st December 2014, thus over 2 years. There is no Monday or Friday effect like in financial markets, but rather a Tuesday–Wednesday effect occurs: papers are more often submitted on Wednesday; however, the relative number of going to be accepted papers is larger if these are submitted on Tuesday. On the other hand, weekend days (Saturday and Sunday) are not the best days to finalize and submit manuscripts. An interpretation based on the type of submitted work (“experimental chemistry”) and on the influence of (senior) coauthors is presented. A thermodynamic connection is proposed within an entropy context. A (new) entropic distance is defined in order to measure the “opaqueness” = disorder) of the submission process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Obituary: We are very sad that the ISN lost its President Kazuhiro Ikenaka, Professor and Chairman at National Institute for Physiological Sciences (NIPS), Director of Okazaki Institute of Integrative Biology. JNeurochem published an Obituary to value his outstanding achievements: Akio Wanaka et al. (2019) OBITUARY Kazuhiro Ikenaka (1952‐2018). https://doi.org/10.1111/jnc.14679 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As you may be aware, the American Chemical Society (ACS) has adopted Safety into its Core Values. What does this mean to you? Are you prepared to lead the way in safety like you do the other aspects of your technical undertakings? It may mean thinking and acting differently as you go about your everyday activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on several happenings related to the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry Council (NZIC) held in Otago, New Zealand as of January 2019. Topics include NZIC members Sameek Singh and Andrea Vernall attended the Medicinal Chemistry and Chemical Biology Conference in Brisbane, Queensland, and Calum Gordon jointly won the prize for the best student talk at the Otago Energy Research Centre (OERC) annual symposium.

The article congratulates several members of the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry. Topics include congratulations to Leandro Dias Araujo and Jessica Suda on the birth of their son Enzo, congratulations to Mahsa Motshakeri for winning the best poster prize for a symposium on nanomaterials and Rakesh Arul, from the Photon Factory, who was awarded a Cambridge-Rutherford Memorial doctor of philosophy degree (PhD) scholarship.

A table of contents for the December 2015 issue of the journal "Chemical Communications" is presented.

A table of contents for the September 2015 issue of the "Journal of the Chinese Chemical Society" is presented.

The article features Solomon Hiller, an organic chemist, manager of scientific research, and founder of the Latvian Institute of Organic Synthesis (IOS). Topics include his personal and educational background, areas that should be highlighted when considering the lasting heritage of Hiller, and his efforts to the Revertase project coordinated by academician V. A. Engelhardt before his death.

Chemistry has served a unique historical role among the sciences by not only studying the world around us, but also creating the chemicals we study and use. The impacts of chemistry are accordingly more profound on earth and societal systems, and helping our students understand both the benefits and potential hazards of chemicals and chemical processes represents a core responsibility of chemistry education. Establishing an overarching learning outcome for chemistry courses presents a flexible approach for embracing the challenge posed by our unique history and catalyzing future contributions to society through the students we educate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers content list and details of the journal related to chemistry community. Topics include topics such as; electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy for conjugated polymer's thermal and photochemical degradation and Faraday Discussion symposium on the role of carbon in electrochemistry, editorial board, staff and advisory board members such as; Richard R. Schrock, Robert Eagling and Michaele Hardie, and information for authors regarding submission of materials for publication.

This article describes a program session that focused on publishers’ experiences launching Open Access (OA) journals and lessons learned. The speakers discussed the current journal marketplace, current journal business models, and the possible shape of the OA landscape and marketplace in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In recognition of his exact determinations of the atomic weights of a large number of the chemical elements, T. W. Richards received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1914. His meticulous techniques resulted in “a degree of accuracy never before attained”. This Essay follows Richards from his precocious youth to becoming a celebrated chemist and emphasizes his dedication to forseeing likely sources of error and how to avoid them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]