The reactions reviewed herein are those showing an unusual outcome when performed in water or in an aqueous medium. Notably, transformations are included for which the hydrophobic effect might be invoked as the activation factor, as well as cases where water leads to valuable changes compared to traditional solvents, except when they are clearly due to the polarity as for example in nucleophilic substitution reactions and except when the effect comes from the addition of a few equivalents of water. 1. Introduction 2. Physicochemical Background 2.1 Structure of Water 2.2 Aqueous Solutions of Simple Molecules 2.3 Hydrophobic Effects 2.4 Reactivity in Water 3. Pericyclic Reactions 3.1 Diels-Alder Reactions 3.2 Hetero Diels-Alder Reactions 3.3 Dipolar Cycloadditions 3.4 Claisen Rearrangements 4. Nucleophilic Additions 4.1 Aldolisation (Mukaiyama Reaction) 4.2 Michael-Type Reactions 4.3 Other Nucleophilic Additions 5. Organometallic Chemistry 5.1 Barbier-Type Reactions 5.2 Transition Metal Complex Catalyzed Reactions 5.3 Other Metal-Catalyzed Reactions 6. Oxidations 7. Reductions 8. Photochemistry 9. Conclusion

Are the liquid crystalline properties of the materials of living systems important in biological structures, functions, diseases and treatments? There is a growing consciousness that the observed lyotropic, and often thermotropic liquid crystallinity, of many biological materials that possess key biological functionality might be more than curious coincidence. Rather, as the survival of living systems depends on the flexibility and reformability of structures, it seems more likely that it is the combination of softness and structure of the liquid-crystalline state that determines the functionality of biological materials. The richest sources of liquid crystals derived from living systems are found in cell membranes, of these glycolipids are a particularly important class of components. In this critical review, we will examine the relationship between chemical structure and the self-assembling and self-organising properties of glycolipids that ultimately lead to mesophase formation.

The conversion of furfuryl alcohols by the Piancatelli reaction (and its C- and N-variants) provided highly functionalized cyclopentenones (intermolecular) and spirocycles (intramolecular).

Chemistry is indispensable for the elaboration of all products used in everyday life, such as manufactured goods, materials, fuels and devices for energy, construction, transportation, foods, pharmaceutical products, personal care products, and devices for communication. Considering the broadness of this sector and its necessary growth for ensuring development and technical progress to an increasing world population, the time has come for a new chemical era in which the environmental impact of chemical products, in terms of hazards, life cycle, carbon footprint, and sustainability of resources, is minimized. Utilization of biomass to produce chemicals, energy products, and materials is an important route toward sustainable development. This perspective gives a brief overview of the use of biomass as a renewable resource, analyzing its evolution over the years in terms of motives and societal issues, highlighting the seminal contributions, and stressing how the remaining challenges will require contributions from all facets of the chemical sciences.