ION-INITIATED CROSS-TALK
Bethany A. Halford · Chemical & Engineering News · 2010
IN BIOLOGICAL SYSTEMS, the chemical chatter of electron transfer is often initiated by ions. But until now, few, if any, simple chemical systems were known to exhibit such ion-mediated cross-talk. In a new report, researchers have developed and characterized what they believe is the first example of a supramolecular assembly that undergoes electron transfer in the presence of particular ions ( Science 2010, 329, 1324). The system provides a new way to control electron-transfer reactions that could make it useful in the development of organic batteries, artificial photosynthesis systems, or molecular-scale information storage devices, according to Jonathan L. Sessler, one of the report’s four principal investigators. Sessler, who holds positions at the University of Texas, Austin, and Yonsei University, in South Korea, teamed up with Karl M. Kadish of the University of Houston; Shunichi Fukuzumi of Osaka University, in Japan, and Ewha Womans University, in South Korea; Christopher W. Bielawski, also of UT Austin; and ...