This week, H. Lorenz and A. Seidel-Morgenstern review processes for the separation of enantiomers. How can we decide between crystallization or chromatography, or both? In a Minireview, T. Gaich et al. discuss the Witkop cyclization as a versatile tool for the synthesis of polycyclic indole alkaloids. The Highlights deal with protein engineering from scratch (U. T. Bornscheuer), cyclopropenylidene organocatalysts (S. J. Connon), and bimolecular substitution reactions of tertiary alcohols (K. Tiefenbacher).
In the Communications section, X. Chen et al. report the synthesis of core/shell upconversion nanoparticles that are effective as sensitive upconversion luminescent probes for the detection of an important disease marker (see picture). J. Piehler et al. explain high-fidelity protein targeting into membrane lipid microdomains in living cells. A. Tuel et al. obtained quasi all-silica zeolites from a germanium-containing precursor. R. J. Thomas et al. succeeded in the stereocontrolled syntheses of tetralone and naphthyl lignans by one-pot reactions.
