This special issue of the Journal presents papers authored by RACI and AAS award winners from 2015 and 2016.

Wine is a fascinating natural product containing many hundreds of volatile compounds. A much smaller number of key compounds typically contribute to wine aroma, and odorants with characteristic aroma qualities may even define a particular varietal wine. Examples include the varietal thiols, present as odourless precursors in grape berries, that typify the aroma of Sauvignon Blanc wine.

It is demonstrated how basic theoretical advances starting with the works of Craig and of Hush, combined with specifically engineered molecules, experiments, and computational advances, lead to solutions to old issues in chemistry and to new technology development.

Transition metal-mediated arylation is emerging as a powerful tool for the covalent modification of native peptides and proteins. This highlight review will summarize recent advances in the regio- and chemoselective arylation of select proteinogenic side chains and backbone amide N–H bonds with special focus on the application of these methodologies in the field of bioconjugation.

The Diels–Alder reaction is one of the most powerful, well-established, and versatile reactions in organic chemistry; however, its application in certain settings remains a challenge as a result of functional group incompatibility. In this review, we examine the methods in which masked ketenes can be employed as dienophiles, taking particular note of applications in complex settings.

Because it is an ozone-depleting substance, carbon tetrachloride is slowly disappearing from laboratories but it is still used in industry. There is more carbon tetrachloride in the upper atmosphere than can be accounted for by estimated releases from anthropogenic activities. The figure shown is adapted, with permission of the authors, from a recent report.

The elasticity of a range of vertebrate and particularly human tissues depends on the dynamic and persistent protein, elastin, which is predominantly made by assembling tropoelastin. This overview considers tropoelastin’s molecular features and biological interactions in the context of its value in tissue repair.

A variety of different evolutionary mechanisms have allowed metalloenzymes to gain or enhance xenobiotic-degrading activity.

A macroporous TiO₂ monolith-entrapped pipette-tip was developed for phosphorylated peptide enrichment with a detection limit of 1 ng mL^–1 and better enrichment efficiency compared with a commercial tip.

Functionalised gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) for the delivery of chemotherapy agent Taxol to breast cancer cells (T47D) have been tested using various nanoparticle modification protocols.

Building on our equilibrium relaxation theorem for systems in contact with a heat reservoir, we derive Gibbs’ equation, the fundamental equation of classical equilibrium thermodynamics. We reinforce that Clausius’ inequality contains terms that were undefined by Clausius and show the change in Gibbs entropy can be expressed in terms of physical quantities.

The 6–7 ring system of the frondosins has been synthesized using a highly stereo- and regioselective ring expansion cascade reaction that was inspired by a biosynthetic proposal.