Boroles – fivemembered heterocycles with a boron atom – are one of the more curious families of molecule. They have four πelectrons, making them “antiaromatic” and, at least on paper, unlikely to be stable. Yet, synthetic chemists prepared them by bulking up the groups around the ring, creating a shield of aromatic groups that stops them from decomposing. If you add two electrons to a borole you increase the πelectron count to six – making them “aromatic”, and chemists have isolated this form as well. The group of Prof. Holger Braunschweig wondered: what about the missing borole with five πelectrons? By pushing the protection of the boron atom to the extreme and adding just one electron to the molecule, doctoral student Johannes Wahler isolated the 5electron borole, a radical anion. In his words: “Boroles are real multitalents in terms of reactivity, which is governed by the antiaromatic nature of this class of molecules. By the synthesis of a borole radical anion we intended to create a junction between the two fundamental concepts of aromaticity and antiaromaticity.” Using Electron Paramagnetic Resonance spectroscopy, they showed that the unpaired electron is located on the boron, confirmed by its reactivity as a boroncentred radical. According to Mr. Wahler, there is still a lot of work to be done: “Future work will include synthesis of related borole radical anions and other fancy borole derivatives a job that is challenging but rewarding.” The results were published recently in Angewandte Chemie, International Edition. Link to article: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anie .201108632/abstract Braunschweig Research Group: http://wwwanorganik.chemie.uni wuerzburg.de/Braunschweig/ Supramolecular interactions – the way a molecule interacts with other molecules – can have a huge effect on the properties of functional materials. Squaraines, promising molecules for applications as fluorescent dyes, have both large flat pisystems ideally suited to intermolecular pipi stacking and the possibility for hydrogen bonding. These structural traits result in the well known, propertyaltering aggregation of Squaraines. Despite their potential as molecular materials, no studies of the aggregation of squaraines have been performed in the absence of water, which can interfere with noncovalent interactions. Recognising this, the group of Prof. Dr. Frank Würthner set out to study the aggregation of squaraines in exclusively non polar solvents – conditions where the weak intermolecular interactions can truly shine. In a publication in the new journal Chemical Science, Dipl. Chem. Ulrich Mayerhöffer and Prof. Würthner use UVvisible spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy (AFM) to study and visualise the long fibres of pipistacked squaraines that form in nonpolar solvents. They found that this organisation begins with the coupling of two squaraines to form a dimer, followed by stacking of the dimers to form long chains about three nanometres in width, which eventually clump together in bundles about nine nanometres wide. Link to article: http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2 012/sc/c2sc00996j Würthner Research Group: http://wwworganik.chemie.uni wuerzburg.de/lehrstuehlearbeitskreise/wuerthn er/