Expectations for Manuscripts in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering: Scope Summary and Call for Creativity

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A communal catalogue reveals Earth's multiscale microbial diversity

Our growing awareness of the microbial world's importance and diversity contrasts starkly with our limited understanding of its fundamental structure. Despite recent advances in DNA sequencing, a lack of standardized protocols and common analytical frameworks impedes comparisons among studies, hindering the development of global inferences about microbial life on Earth. Here we present a meta-analysis of microbial community samples collected by hundreds of researchers for the Earth Microbiome Project. Coordinated protocols and new analytical methods, particularly the use of exact sequences instead of clustered operational taxonomic units, enable bacterial and archaeal ribosomal RNA gene sequences to be followed across multiple studies and allow us to explore patterns of diversity at an unprecedented scale. The result is both a reference database giving global context to DNA sequence data and a framework for incorporating data from future studies, fostering increasingly complete characterization of Earth's microbial diversity.Peer reviewe

A communal catalogue reveals Earth’s multiscale microbial diversity

Our growing awareness of the microbial world’s importance and diversity contrasts starkly with our limited understanding of its fundamental structure. Despite recent advances in DNA sequencing, a lack of standardized protocols and common analytical frameworks impedes comparisons among studies, hindering the development of global inferences about microbial life on Earth. Here we present a meta-analysis of microbial community samples collected by hundreds of researchers for the Earth Microbiome Project. Coordinated protocols and new analytical methods, particularly the use of exact sequences instead of clustered operational taxonomic units, enable bacterial and archaeal ribosomal RNA gene sequences to be followed across multiple studies and allow us to explore patterns of diversity at an unprecedented scale. The result is both a reference database giving global context to DNA sequence data and a framework for incorporating data from future studies, fostering increasingly complete characterization of Earth’s microbial diversity

Delamination of layered aluminium boride into boron rich nanosheets by chelation assisted selective extraction

by Asha Liza James and Kabeer Jasuj

Boron-based nanosheets derived by the chemical exfoliation of layered metal borides

by Asha Liza James, and Jasuja Kabee

Synthesis of boron based nanosheets by chelation assisted chemical exfoliation of layered borides

by Asha Liza James and Kabeer Jasuj

High yield synthesis of boron-based nanosheets

We present the chemical exfoliation of magnesium diboride (MgB2) by employing organic chelating agents for synthesising boron-based nanosheets in high yield. MgB2 is a promising parent material towards realising quasi-2D forms of boron, owing to its unique layered constitution: graphenic boron planes interleaved with hexagonal arrays of Mg atoms. Chelating agents can selectively extract the interlayer Mg from MgB2 in water, to form Mg-chelant complexes. The loss of Mg results in delamination of MgB2 into boron-based nanosheets. This approach is further improved by rational choice of chelants with greater affinity for Mg and tuning the optimal pH for metal complexation, thereby leading to a better yield of nanosheets. These boron-based nanosheets have been explored for their candidacy as a new class of inorganic fillers in a polymeric matrix – polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). The mechanical and thermal properties of these boron-based nanosheet-PVA nanocomposite films have been studied.by Rohit Saraswat, Asha Liza James and Kabeer Jasuj

High yield synthesis of chemically modified magnesium diboride nanosheets by chelation assisted chemical exfoliation

by Rohit Saraswat, Asha Liza James and Kabeer Jasuja

High yield synthesis of chemically modified titanium diboride nanosheets and their application as nano-adsorbents for dye remediation

by Pandey Nidhi, Asha Liza James and Kabeer Jasuj

Chemical exfoliation of layered superconductors: an avenue to synthesize boron-rich quasi two dimensional nanostructures

Zero-dimensional and one-dimensional boron based nanostructures have presented excellent avenues in the past for utilizing the fascinating science of boron at the atomic level. The research on synthesizing two-dimensional (2-D) boron-based nanostructures is currently in its incipient stages. In this talk, we demonstrate two chemical approaches that yield quasi 2-D boron-rich nanostructures by enabling an exfoliation of a layered boron-based superconductor. While one approach employs the simple tool of ultrasonication in an aqueous phase, the other approach utilizes a chelation mediated strategy based on coordination of metal ions and organic ligands. Both these synthetic routes are shown to result in a processable colloidal dispersion of nanosheets. This talk will present details of the two exfoliation approaches and a comprehensive study of the morphological, chemical and optical properties of the dispersed nanosheets. We will demonstrate that the exfoliated nanosheets undergo an in-situ chemical modification with ionizable functional groups derived from solvent that enable electrostatic stabilization. We will further shown that this functionalization modifies the band structure of the nanosheets which gives rise to photoluminescence and result in physico-chemical properties distinct from the parent superconductor. This ability to synthesize quasi 2-D boron rich nanostructures significantly adds to the current state of literature on born-based quasi-planar nanostructures.by Saroj Kumar Das et al