Recently, research group led by Prof. ZHANG Tao and Prof. QIAO Botao from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences found a novel approach to selectively obtain linear aldehydes in hydroformylation of styrene and its derivatives by coupling with a water-gas shift reaction on Rh single-atom catalyst supported by CeO2 without using any ligands. The results were publised in Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Hydroformylation of olefins is one of the most important homogeneously catalyzed industrial reactions for aldehyde synthesis. Various ligands are usually used to obtain desired linear aldehydes in aliphatic olefin hydroformylation. However, in aromatic hydroformylation it prefers to obtain branched aldehydes with common ligands, posing a grand challenge for the synthesis of linear products. To obtain high selectivity to linear aldehyde, steric hindrance ligands, such as triphosphoramidite and tetradentate phosphine, have to be used, which are generally followed by the problem of high cost and complex synthetic procedure. Therefore, the development of new approaches to manipulate the regioselectivity of styrene hydroformylation remains attractive but challenging in both fundamental study and practical applications. Detailed studies in this work revealed that the in situ H generated from the water-gas shift plays a critical role in determining the high regioselectivity to linear products. Besides, comparied with Rh single-atom catalyst, Rh homogeneous catalysts are much less active because of the inability to catalyse water-gas shift reaction, and Rh nanoparticle catalysts are mainly corresponding phenylpropanols rather than aldehydes, result in the decrease of chemoselectivity. The coupling of a traditionally homogeneous catalysis process with a heterogeneous catalysis reaction to tune product selectivity may provide a new avenue for the heterogenization of homogenous catalysis process. This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China, National Key Projects for Fundamental Research and Development of China, Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, DNL Cooperation Fund, CAS and LiaoNing Revitalization Talents Program. (Text and Imaged by LI Tianbo)

　　Findings of a new study led by Prof. XU Guowang from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Prof. YANG Chunzhang from the National Cancer Institute shed light on the selective therapeutics for IDH1-mutated glioma by targeting glutathione synthesis pathway.
　　The study was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Apr. 14. Glioma is the most common type of primary brain tumors. Isocitrate dehydrogenase I (IDH1) mutation is a cancer-associated mutation highly prevalent in patients with glioma.
　　Although the oncogenic role of IDH1 mutation has been shown in several human solid tumors, selective therapeutics for IDH1-mutated malignancies remain unavailable.
　　Glutathione synthesis is controlled by Nrf2 transcription factor, and can be disrupted by triptolide.(Image by YU Di)
　　The researchers demonstrated that glutathione de novo synthesis plays an essential role in IDH1-mutated cancer cells. Glutathione synthesis was controlled by a transcription factor NF-E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), which governs the gene expressions for antioxidative pathway.
　　"Our in vitro findings suggest that the disruption of Nrf2-driven glutathione synthesis pathway establishes synergistic lethality with a neomorphic IDH1 mutation, " said Prof. XU.
　　Triptolide, a diterpenoid epoxide from Tripterygium wilfordii, served as a potent Nrf2 inhibitor. "Triptolide exhibited selective cytotoxicity to patient-derived IDH1-mutated glioma cells in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, we studied the anticancer mechanism of triptolide." YANG said.
　　Mechanistically, triptolide compromised the expression of GCLC, GCLM, and SLC7A11, which disrupted glutathione metabolism and established synthetic lethality with reactive oxygen species (ROS) derived from IDH1 mutant neomorphic activity.
　　The study highlights triptolide as a valuable therapeutic approach for IDH1-mutated malignancies by targeting the Nrf2-driven glutathione synthesis pathway.(Text by YU Di)

Research groups led by Prof. WU Zhong-Shuai from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with Prof. CHENG Hui-Ming from Institute of metal research of Chinese Academy of Sciences reviewed the chemistry and promising applications of graphene and porous graphene materials (PGMs), and shared new insights on their existing challenges and future opportunities. The review was recently published in Advanced Functional Materials. 
　　Schematic of the chemistry and promising applications of graphene and PGMs. (Image by HUANG Haibo) Graphene and graphene oxide (GO), as wonder-materials, have penetrated nearly every field of research. However, this quick ascent to success has diverted attention away from their chemistry that makes them so “wonderful”. One of the most attractive features is the functionality and assembly of graphene or GO, in which they can be considered as chemically functionalized building blocks for the creation of unconventional porous graphene materials (PGMs) with diversified compositions and micro-, meso- and macro-pores. These PGMs not only combine the merits of both porous materials and graphene, but also have several major advantages over other porous carbon materials when targeted for specific applications. In this review, we first introduce the chemistry and approaches for functionalizing graphene and GO, and subsequently summarize the typical procedures for pore-creation (e.g., in-plane pores, 2D laminar pores, and 3D interconnected pore assemblies), self-assembly and tailoring mechanisms for PGMs to highlight the significance of precise control over the pore morphology, and pore size. Their structure-property relationships are also discussed. Because of the unique pore structures with different morphologies and intriguing properties, PGMs serve as key components in a variety of applications such as energy storage (supercapacitors, metal ion batteries, and new-type batteries), electrocatalysis, and molecular separation (water desalination, and gas separation). Finally, researchers identify the challenges relating to porous graphene from the understanding of chemical self-assembly to specific applications, and provide promising solutions on how to tackle them. This review provides an insightful outlook for the future development of the chemistry and applications of PGMs.
　　This work was supported by National Key R&D Program of China, National Natural Science Foundation of China, and Postdoctoral Fund, etc. (Text by HUANG Haibo, HOU Xiaocheng).

Research groups led by Prof. QING Guangyan and Prof. LIANG Xinmiao from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, proposed a brand-new dynamic covalent chemical method of Schiff base hydrolysis to realize the precise capture of sialylated glycans. The results were published in J. Am. Chem. Soc.  
　　Significance of sialylated glycan and the enrichment concept. (Image by XIONG Yuting) The sialylated glycans distribute widely on the cell surface as if a layer of "glycocalyx". The outermost position and wide distribution make the sialylated glycans play vital roles in many physiological processes, such as viral infection, immune activation, cancer occurrence, development and migration. Sialylated glycoproteins have been widely used as clinical biomarkers for various cancers. However, identification and analysis of the sialylated glycans is extremely complex and challenging, and a new and highly efficient material system is urgently needed to overcome the problems of sialylated glycan enrichment and separation in complex bio-samples and promote the comprehensive development of glycoproteomics. Based on a strategy of dynamic covalent chemistry, the research teams achieve accurate capture of sialylated glycans. This strategy is different from the traditional static affinity strategy. It cleverly uses the dynamic covalent chemical bonds present in Schiff base, forming a stable complex between its hydrolyzed part and the sialylated glycan. The developed material exhibits excellent enrichment selectivity for the sialylated glycopeptides, high adsorption capacity and satisfactory enrichment recovery rate, reaching a high level in the field of glycopeptide enrichment. This provides biochemists with a novel and powerful strategy that can be used to accurately capture glycan information, which is closely related to the occurrence of cancer and immune diseases. On the other hand, the easy hydrolysis characteristic of the material changes the researchers' knowledge, which the traditional enrichment materials need have good chemical stability. More importantly, the researchers disclosed an interesting story hidden behind the Schiff base hydrolysis reaction, one hydrolysis product forms a stable complex with the sialylated glycan, while the other product occurs ordered self-assembly in solution, both of which remarkably promote the hydrolysis reaction.This study shows the unique advantages of dynamic covalent chemistry in the fields of glycoproteomics and biomolecular sensing. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, DICP Innovation Funding and LiaoNing Revitalization Talents Program. (Text by XIONG Yuting, QING Guangyan)

Research group led by Prof. CHEN Ping from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences was recently invited to share their views on hydrides. This article was published on Joule.
　　Some important chemical transformations mediated by hydrides.(Image by WANG Qianru) Hydrogen is the essential element having profound significance to the evolution of the solar system and the human’s understanding of the physical word. Having an intermediate Pauling electronegativity of 2.2, H (1s1) can combine with one more electron forming H￣ (1s2). The corresponding hydrides in the forms of molecules, clusters, surface species and bulk-phase materials are composed of one or more hydridic hydrogen atoms bonded to a more electropositive element or group.They retain some of the characteristic features of H￣, i.e., highly energetic, reductive, reactive etc., and exhibit unique and unprecedented chemical and physical properties that are essential to energy storage and utilization, and chemical processing including fuel production, the important fields that gain strong momentum in recent years. Hydrides, as the hydrogen or energy carrier, have been extensively and intensively explored for hydrogen and thermal energy storage. Some hydrides were found to possess high Li+, Na+ or H￣ ionic conductivity, allowing them to be potential solid electrolytes. More encouragingly, a few hydrogen-rich hydrides have been recently discovered as potential high-temperature superconductors. Of particular importance to our sustainable energy future is the thermal, electrochemical or photochemical synthesis of energy carriers (such as H2, CH3OH, HCOOH, CH4 and NH3) effectively from kinetically or thermodynamically stable molecules (such as H2O, CO2, and N2). Some critical reactions that produce fuels, such as hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), N2 reduction reaction (NRR) and CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR), generally rely on electron, proton and energy inputs.In this context, the interchange among H￣, H0 and H+ endows hydrides a variety of opportunities to be actively involved in such important and challenging chemical transformations. For example, hydride, a combined source of electron and proton, plays critical roles in the transformation of dinitrogen molecule to ammonia in the thermal, biological, organometallic, and electro(photo)chemical processes. What else can hydrides do for our energy future? It also has been shown that they offer nascent potential towards neutron shielding, light harvesting and perhaps controversial cold fusion. The story of hydrides will continue. Future Energy articles of Joule are a forward-looking platform to highlight developing research areas which show promise in next-generation technologies and solutions, written by an expert in the field. Prof. CHEN’s group has devoted to the development of hydrides in hydrogen storage and catalytic conversion for nearly twenty years, enriching the contents of hydrides. This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China. (Text WANG Qianru)  

Research groups led by Prof. XIAO Jianping and Prof. DENG Dehui from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences recently proposed a new routine for electrochemical ammonia synthesis from nitric oxide (NO), which is supposed from exhausted gases of thermal power stations, factories, or vehicles. This work was published in the journal of Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. NO is one of the major air pollutants, which usually comes from the combustion of fossil fuels in power plant and automobile. Therefore, NO removal is essential for the waste gas treatment in industry. In the meanwhile, ammonia synthesis is another important chemical process in industry. Ammonia is a basic chemical substance in chemical production, which can be used to produce fertilizer, nitric acid and explosives. The traditional method of ammonia synthesis mainly depends on Haber-Bosch process, while this process can only happen under high temperature and pressure, which needs a lot of energy input. The electrchemical nitrogen reduction reaction can be carried out at ambient conditions, but it suffers from the low activity and selectivity due to the chemical inertness of N2 molecule. In this work, XIAO ea al. proposed to synthesize ammonia from exhausted NO via electrocatalysis. 
　　NO electroreduction to ammonia. (Image by LONG Jun, LI Jiayi) Based on the density functional theory calculations, ten reaction pathways were considered to study the NO reduction (NORR) mechanism. It’s found that NO reduction was more feasible than the N2 reduction and hydrogen evolution reaction in thermodynamics, and Cu was screened as the best transition metal catalyst via a descriptor based approach. Kinetic calculations suggested NH3 was the most preferred production for NORR on Cu(111) surface. In addition, experiments revealed Cu Foil was more selective than Pt Foil, which was consistent with our theoretical calculations. On Cu Foam electrode, a record-high ammonia synthesis rate of 517.1 μmol？cm-2？h-1 and FE of 93.5% were achieved at -0.9 V vs. RHE, with a stable electrocatalytic performances in 100 hours run. At last, a microkinetic simulation was performed to estimate the turnover frequency (TOF) at different potentials, which exhibited a nice linear correlation with the experimental ammonia yield rate, confirming our reaction pathways and mechanisms above. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the National Key R&D Program of China and LiaoNing Revitalization Talents program etc. (Text by LONG Jun, LI Jiayi)