The one-pot synthesis of a target molecule in the same reaction vessel is widely considered to be an efficient approach in synthetic organic chemistry. In this review, the characteristics and limitations of various one-pot syntheses of biologically active molecules are explained, primarily involving organocatalytic methods as key tactics. Besides catalysis, the pot-economy concepts presented he...

Silver colloidal nanorings have been synthesized by reducing silver ions with NaBH4 in trisodium citrate buffers. pH increase, by addition of NaOH, was used to speed up reduction reaction. The UV-vis absorption spectra of resulting silver nanorings showed two peaks accounting for transverse and longitudinal surface plasmon resonance, at ≈400 nm, and between 600 and 700 nm, respectively. The sha...

Knots are commonly encountered in everyday life, but their significance extends far beyond their obvious practical utility of being able to bind objects together. As well as serving as decorative motifs — most notably in some illuminated manuscripts such as the Book of Kells — the symbolism often associated with some knots’ intricate interwoven structures has seen them used to represent countri...