This week, X. W. Lou et al. review the design and synthesis of mixed transition-metal oxides. What energy-related applications are there for such materials? The Highlights deal with the trifluoromethylating Sandmeyer reaction (D. L. Browne) and carbene-catalyzed activation of esters (P. Chauhan and D. Enders).
In the Communications section, H. Shinokubo et al. present near-IR absorbing nickel(II) porphyrinoids, which they obtained by regioselective ring expansion (see picture). M. Mastalerz et al. succeeded in the synthesis of a mesoporous organic cage with high surface area. M. Beller et al. report a general catalytic hydroamidation of 1,3-dienes.
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