CCS Chemistry 2025年第7期上线！本期包括3篇Mini-Review，3篇Communication和19篇Research Article。
Mini-Review分别是：1）华东师范大学姜雪峰关于3S绿色硫化学的综述文章；2）湖南大学冯见君、浙江师范大学邓卫平等关于双环丁烷的不对称催化反应的综述文章；3）吴勇、施昌霞、J. Fraser Stoddart等关于环糊精的综述文章。
Communication和Research Article涵盖了骨架编辑、卡宾B–H插入反应、可回收聚合物、手性大环载体、超分子催化、多孔晶态材料、单重态裂分活性材料、超分子上转换、共轭有机自由基、单分子磁体、高能氧化剂、生物安全型除草剂、CO₂光热催化还原等方面的最新研究进展。
本期封面来自中国人民大学王亚培等关于生物安全的百草枯前体的研究论文。
了解更多信息，欢迎访问：
https://www.chinesechemsoc.org/toc/ccschem/7/7。
Editorial
本期社论分享了1981年诺贝尔化学奖获得者罗尔德·霍夫曼（Roald Hoffmann）教授的见解——化学科学中蕴藏着艺术的本质和属性。化学的多元之美不仅表现在分子的结构之美上，还体现在分子的功能之美等多个维度。鼓励大家以全新的视角，多元地看待自己的化学研究工作。
Cite this: CCS Chem. 2025, 7, 1877–1881
Link：https://doi.org/10.31635/ccschem.025.202500620ed1
Author Spotlight
本期Author Spotlight邀请了香港中文大学魏濤、华东理工大学马骧、中山大学张学景、湖南大学冯见君、四川大学吴勇五位老师分享科研工作者在科研经历中独特的心得和感悟。
Cite this: CCS Chem. 2025, 7, 1882–1888
Link：https://doi.org/10.31635/ccschem.025.202500613ed2
以下是本期每篇文章的主编导读：
-Green Sulfur Chemistry. In this Mini-Review, Xuefeng Jiang (姜雪峰) and Leiyang Bai summarize recent advances on using smell-less, stable, and sustainable (3S) sulfur reagents to synthesize complex sulfur-containing molecules. The “3S” green sulfur chemistry framework provides a versatile platform for sulfur integration across multiple disciplines, including S-drug, S-peptide, S-sugar, S-nucleoside, S-natural product, S-agrochemical, S-flavor, and S-material, thereby advancing foundational synthetic paradigms in modern sulfur-based science.
Cite this: CCS Chem. 2025, 7, 1889-1902
Link：https://doi.org/10.31635/ccschem.025.202505568
-Asymmetric Catalysis. Bicyclo[1.1.0]butanes (BCBs) are potent substrates capable of being transformed into valuable chemicals, such as bicyclo[n.1.1]alkanes and functionalized cyclobutanes. In this Mini-Review, Wei-Ping Deng (邓卫平), Jian-Jun Feng (冯见君), and coworkers highlight the latest advancements in asymmetric transformations of BCBs, with a particular focus on innovative stereoselective catalytic strategies, catalyst systems, and activation modes. The application of BCBs for catalytic asymmetric synthesis of pharmaceutically valuable chiral molecules is highly anticipated.
Cite this: CCS Chem. 2025, 7, 1903-1934
Link：https://doi.org/10.31635/ccschem.025.202505825
-Cyclodextrins. Cyclodextrins have captured the imagination of scientists for over a century. In this Mini-Review, Yong Wu (吴勇), Enxu Liu, Changxia Shi (施昌霞), and J. Fraser Stoddart look back upon the Stoddart group’s 55-year journey of adventure and achievements in relation to cyclodextrins. The use of cyclodextrins and their derivatives as building blocks for the (non)covalent functionalization of surfaces, nanomaterials, supramolecular materials, and polymers are summarized. The work in cyclodextrin science and technology highlights the versatility of cyclodextrins in both fundamental and applied sciences, suggesting that there is still ample room for future discoveries. Prof. J. Fraser Stoddart, a CCS Chemistry EAB member, was invited to contribute this Mini Review before his sudden passing last December. He will always remain in our hearts as we honor him by publishing this review.
Cite this: CCS Chem. 2025, 7, 1935-1971
Link：https://doi.org/10.31635/ccschem.025.202505711
-Supramolecular Upconversion. Xiao-Qing Guo (郭小青), Qing-Fu Sun (孙庆福), and coworkers report the preparation of enantiopure tetrahedral cages through the stereoselective self-assembly of chiral ligands and rare-earth ions. Upconverted circularly polarized luminescence (UCCPL) in rare-earth supramolecular systems is observed for the first time. This work provides a novel approach to designing UCCPL materials and opens new avenues for the development of chiral rare-earth functional materials.
Cite this: CCS Chem. 2025, 7, 1972-1980
Link：https://doi.org/10.31635/ccschem.024.202405005
-Skeletal Editing. Xue-jing Zhang (张学景) and coworkers present a fast and efficient method for the skeletal editing of pyrimidines into pyridines via a two-atom (C–N to C–C) transformation. This method involves a two-step, one-pot process wherein pyrimidines are initially activated by Tf2O and then subsequently undergo nucleophilic addition and Dimroth rearrangement to yield pyridines. Potential applications for late-stage functionalization of bioactive molecules, including nucleoside drugs, are expected.
Cite this: CCS Chem. 2025, 7, 1981-1987
Link：https://doi.org/10.31635/ccschem.025.202405166
-Doublet Emission Materials. Zhiwei Liu (刘志伟) and coworkers report a novel cerium(III) complex that exhibits a new luminescence mechanism termed double delayed doublet emission (DDDE). Through the delicate design of ligands, they constructed two metastable triplet excited states, thereby enabling energy transfer between the doublet and triplet excited states and activating the DDDE. Their work offers new insights into the design of novel and functional doublet emission luminescent materials.
Cite this: CCS Chem. 2025, 7, 1988-1996
Link：https://doi.org/10.31635/ccschem.025.202505405
-Porous Covalent Cages. Yu Fang (方煜) and coworkers report the syntheses of a series of porous covalent cages (PCCs) based on phenothiazine derivatives, which display high iodine adsorption capacity. Remarkably, one of the iodine-loaded PCCs can stabilize the sulfur ylide intermediate, thus functioning as a heterogeneous catalyst to efficiently catalyze the C(sp3)-C(sp2) cross-coupling reaction of benzyl halides with boronic acids under mild conditions.
Cite this: CCS Chem. 2025, 7, 1997-2015
Link：https://doi.org/10.31635/ccschem.024.202404689
-Singlet Fission-Active Materials. Singlet fission (SF) offers the potential to improve the efficiency of photovoltaic devices by harnessing high-energy photons to produce doubled photocurrents. However, progress in SF-based photovoltaic devices is hindered by limited SF materials resulting from stringent requirements for atypical energetic arrangement and high ambient stability. Yishi Wu (吴义室), Xiao-Ye Wang (王小野), Hongbing Fu (付红兵), and coworkers have found that excited-state antiaromaticity relief can be used to regulate the energy gap between T1 and S0. This work provides a new approach for designing SF-capable materials with favorable energetic conditions and excellent stability.
Cite this: CCS Chem. 2025, 7, 2016-2023
Link：https://doi.org/10.31635/ccschem.024.202404275
-Li-ion Battery Recycling. As the eruption of the lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) market will result in the generation of an unprecedented volume of end-of-life LIBs, the development of a LIB recycling process is essential for sustainability. Shuang Liu, Sungyeol Choi, Yuexiang Lu (陆跃翔), and coworkers report a novel microplasma electrochemical technique designed for the rapid and efficient recycling of spent LIB battery cathodes using a green solvent. Their method can achieve a leaching efficiency close to 100% for lithium within 180 min.
Cite this: CCS Chem. 2025, 7, 2024-2033
Link：https://doi.org/10.31635/ccschem.025.202505445
-High-Energy Oxidizer. Polynitro compounds are indispensable high-energy oxidizers in solid propellants, including those used for space exploration. Generally, the more nitro groups a compound has, the higher its energy and lower its stability. Qi Sun (孙琦), Shenghua Li (李生华), Siping Pang (庞思平), and coworkers exploit the synergy between the weak repulsion among groups and the uniform charge distribution to design and synthesize a new polynitro compound. This compound not only has 12 nitro groups, which is the most among all small molecules, but also exhibits exceptional stability.
Cite this: CCS Chem. 2025, 7, 2034-2043
Link：https://doi.org/10.31635/ccschem.024.202404772
-Supramolecular Catalysis. Jiang-Fei Xu (徐江飞) and coworkers design an enzyme-like supramolecular catalytic system by combining host–guest complexation with photoinduced electron transfer (PET). The supramolecular catalyst, a host–guest complex of cucurbit[8]uril and a viologen derivative, can recognize and convert benzyl alcohol substrates into reactive ketyl radicals through the host-promoted PET process. The ketyl radicals can be easily oxidized to form benzyl aldehyde. Interestingly, the supramolecular catalytic system exhibits an oxidation preference for hydroxyl groups over sulfide groups, thus displaying an unusual inversion of reaction tendency.
Cite this: CCS Chem. 2025, 7, 2044-2053
Link：https://doi.org/10.31635/ccschem.025.202405229
-Single-Molecule Magnet. Bing-Wu Wang (王炳武), Song Gao (高松), and coworkers report the synthesis, structures, and magnetic properties of three mono(imidazolin-2-iminato) dysprosium(III) complexes. This series of complexes feature high-order axial local symmetry and very short axial Dy–N bond, leading to better single-molecule magnet performance than previously reported bis(imidazolin-2-iminato) dysprosium(III) complexes.
Cite this: CCS Chem. 2025, 7, 2054-2064
Link：https://doi.org/10.31635/ccschem.024.202404701
-Room-Temperature Phosphorescent Liquid. Achieving a single-component liquid having room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) is extremely challenging due to the fast nonradiative decay process and high sensitivity of triplet excitons. Xiang Ma (马骧) and coworkers report a 1,2-diketone derivative, named BZ-Et, which is a low-viscosity liquid under room temperature. Notably, BZ-Et exhibits tunable RTP emission and demonstrates applications in flexible materials and anticounterfeiting inks.
Cite this: CCS Chem. 2025, 7, 2065-2074
Link：https://doi.org/10.31635/ccschem.025.202405318
-Spin Crossover Complexes. Combining spin crossover (SCO) and fluorescence properties that can respond to multiple physical stimuli is meaningful for the development of switches and imaging tools. Bing-Wu Wang (王炳武), Song Gao (高松), and coworkers report the synthesis, crystal structure, and SCO behavior of a new family of neutral mononuclear iron(II) complexes with N4O2 donor sets. Notably, two of the complexes show an unusual increase in emission intensity in their fluorescence spectra, indicating a unique interplay between SCO and fluorescence.
Cite this: CCS Chem. 2025, 7, 2075-2085
Link：https://doi.org/10.31635/ccschem.024.202404670
-Shape-Memory Ionogels. Polymer gels are promising materials for smart actuators because of their softness and stimulus diversity. However, conventional stimuli-responsive polymer gels have limited work density due to the low deliverable force when used as actuators. Jin Huang (黄金), Mingjie Liu (刘明杰), and coworkers propose a new strategy to prepare high-work-density soft actuators based on a phase separation strengthening mechanism. By constructing a liquid–liquid phase separation interrupted by the glass transition of the polymer, they successfully make an ultrastrong and metastable ionogel with wide-range switchable stiffness.
Cite this: CCS Chem. 2025, 7, 2086-2097
Link：https://doi.org/10.31635/ccschem.024.202404593
-Biosafe Herbicide. Owing to the advantages of low cost, minimal environmental pollution, and excellent herbicidal activity against weeds, paraquat (methyl viologen) has been utilized as an herbicide in many countries worldwide; however, it is extremely toxic to humans. Yapei Wang (王亚培) and coworkers report a zwitterionic paraquat precursor that can be unlocked to paraquat via a decarboxylation reaction on demand. Highly improved cellular biocompatibility and organ biosafety of zwitterionic paraquat relative to paraquat are identified by in vitro and in vivo tests. The modified herbicide exhibits great potential in green-field agriculture.
Cite this: CCS Chem. 2025, 7, 2098-2108
Link：https://doi.org/10.31635/ccschem.024.202404831
-Conjugated Organic Radicals. π-Conjugated organic radicals have attracted significant interest due to their fascinating open-shell properties and potential applications in optics, conductors, and magnetism. Xianfeng Qiao (乔现锋), Yuguang Ma (马於光), and coworkers report the synthesis and basic spectral and spin properties of three naphthalenediimide anion radical crystals with different stacking structures. The stacking configuration is governed by various noncovalent interactions, including electrostatic forces, π–π interactions, van der Waals forces of substituents, and spatial effects.
Cite this: CCS Chem. 2025, 7, 2109-2120
Link：https://doi.org/10.31635/ccschem.025.202405226
-Chiral Macrocyclic Carriers. Significant challenges remain for the development of chiral drug carriers with mirror-symmetric structures, excellent enantiomeric consistency, and reproducibility in drug loading/release. Yu-Chen Pan (潘雨辰), Dong-Sheng Guo (郭东升), and coworkers develop a series of chiral macrocyclic carriers to address this challenge by leveraging the inherent characteristics of macrocyclic receptors, such as precise structure and a well-defined drug-loading model. They furthermore reveal the chiral biomedical effects of these drug carriers in key drug delivery processes.
Cite this: CCS Chem. 2025, 7, 2121-2136
Link：https://doi.org/10.31635/ccschem.024.202404596
-Pickering Emulsions. Microbial cultivation in water-in-oil (w/o) emulsion droplets has advanced the study of strict anaerobic bacteria, but separating and recovering the bacterial liquid is difficult. Bernard P. Binks, To Ngai (魏濤), and coworkers present an approach to cultivating and recovering strict anaerobic microorganisms using Pickering emulsions stabilized by hybrid microgels. This innovative phase inversion method offers significant potential for anaerobic fermentation, synthetic biology, and biomanufacturing.
Cite this: CCS Chem. 2025, 7, 2137-2148
Link：https://doi.org/10.31635/ccschem.024.202404698
-Photothermal Catalytic Reduction of CO2. Photoreduction of CO2 for evolution of useful hydrocarbons remains an important reaction process because it is green, sustainable, convenient, and inexpensive. Nevertheless, low CO2 conversion efficiency with unsatisfactory selectivity continues to be an Achilles heel restricting practical application of photocatalytic CO2 reduction. Yang Ding (丁杨), Li-Hua Chen (陈丽华), Bao-Lian Su (苏宝连), and coworkers report an innovative Pt nanoparticles–TiO2 composite in which an efficient hot electron transportation bridge between Pt nanoparticles and hierarchically porous TiO2 can promote the photothermal catalytic reduction of CO2.
Cite this: CCS Chem. 2025, 7, 2149-2160
Link：https://doi.org/10.31635/ccschem.024.202404469
-Closed-Loop Recyclable Polymers. Ze Zhang (张泽), Ye-Zi You (尤业字), and coworkers report an interesting multipath closed-loop chemical recycling process occurring via ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of a newly designed thionolactone monomer. This monomer undergoes anionic or cationic ROP on demand to yield well-defined poly(thionoester) or poly(thioester) selectively. Both of the polymers can efficiently depolymerize to the same thiolactone, which has good repolymerization ability.
Cite this: CCS Chem. 2025, 7, 2161-2172
Link：https://doi.org/10.31635/ccschem.024.202404866
-Carbene B–H Insertion Reaction. Formations and transformations of α-alkyl substituted carbenes are a longstanding challenge in carbene chemistry because of the high propensity of the alkyl metal carbene to undergo a β-hydride migration to form undesired alkenes. Ming-Hua Xu (徐明华) and coworkers develop an efficient alkyl carbene B–H insertion reaction using rhodium(I)/diene complexes as catalysts. This simple catalytic system not only reduces the formation of alkene byproducts but also achieves high enantioselectivity of the carbene B–H insertion.
Cite this: CCS Chem. 2025, 7, 2173-2184
Link：https://doi.org/10.31635/ccschem.024.202404591
-Chaperone-Like Activity of Sericin. The inherent instability of proteins limits their application, which points to an urgent need to develop protein stabilizers to protect proteins from various environmental stressors. Inspired by the intrinsically unstructured proteins as a special class of molecular chaperones, Runhui Liu (刘润辉) and coworkers have found that sericin exhibits chaperone-like activity and effectively stabilizes proteins. It is demonstrated Sericin can safeguard proteins from thermal denaturation by preventing aggregation and maintaining protein conformation. In addition, sericin is found to facilitate the refolding of denatured proteins.
Cite this: CCS Chem. 2025, 7, 2185-2200
Link：https://doi.org/10.31635/ccschem.025.202505877
-Metal Hydride Clusters. Guo-Hong Ning (宁国宏), Dan Li (李丹), and coworkers report the synthesis and structures of two atomically precise metal hydride nanoclusters, Cu@Cu23H6 and Ag@Cu23H6. The crystal structures of the clusters have DNA-like double-helical nanostructures held by intra- and inter-strand noncovalent interactions. Although Cu@Cu23H6 is nonemissive, its silver-doped counterpart Ag@Cu23H6 exhibits thermally activated delayed fluorescence both in the solid state and in solution.
Cite this: CCS Chem. 2025, 7, 2201-2214
Link：https://doi.org/10.31635/ccschem.024.202404213