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Green dinitrogen fixation is critical for the decarbonization of fertilizers and fuel. This Review examines the common grounds and complementarities between nitrogenase enzymes, homogeneous catalysis and solid electrodes.
There is increasing demand for synthetic DNA. However, our ability to make, or write, DNA lags behind our ability to sequence, or read, it. This Review discusses commercialized DNA synthesis technologies in the pursuit of closing the DNA writing gap.
As the most common derivative of graphene, graphene oxide has emerged as a new frontier material with tremendous applications to photonics, electronics and optoelectronics in the past decade. This Review highlights the state of the art and future prospects for this fast-growing field.
Molecular rectifiers are an essential component for the construction of molecular electronic devices, which are becoming potentially competitive with existing silicon-based devices. This Review provides an overview of molecular rectification and discusses the outlook for the field as well as prospects for commercialization.
Liquid-like surfaces (LLSs) are emerging omniphobic systems with promising abilities to minimize interfacial adhesion. This Review summarizes the concept, mechanism, fabrication and applications of LLSs, and discusses the challenges and future opportunities in this field.
The unique optical and magnetic properties of photoexcited chromophore–radical systems make them suitable for applications in molecular spintronics. We present the theoretical background required to understand their properties and illustrate the potential of these systems based on practical examples.
Solar energy can supply the global energy demand. This Review describes how photoelectrochemistry principles in natural photosynthesis can be exploited in advanced solar utilization technologies, and discusses related developments, challenges and opportunities.
The kinetics resulting from catalyst inhibition can be confused with reactions involving two catalytic species reacting together. This Review highlights common misconceptions, offers advice and good practices to avoid potential pitfalls, and provides critical analyses of 100 literature examples.
Optical and electrochemical sensing techniques have been used to detect real-time chemical signals in living plants in response to biotic and abiotic stress. Through modelling of data, pathogenic infection of plants can be identified and predicted.
Stereochemical editing is a strategy to access three-dimensional skeletons, where the stereochemistry-defining steps are decoupled from the major connectivity-forming reactions. This Review highlights recent advances in the area of light-driven contra-thermodynamic stereochemical editing.
Wearable chemical sensors are effective tools for exploring novel non-invasive biomarkers in alternative body fluids. This Review introduces criteria, strategies and technologies involved in biomarker discovery using wearable chemical sensors coupled with data analysis towards precision medicine.
While antibodies have a remarkable track record in therapeutics, achieving sufficient specificity remains an issue. This Review discusses the physicochemistry of non-specificity, with a focus on surface patches as a key challenge, and outlines future opportunities to improve protein binding.
Linkage chemistry is crucial for controllable synthesis and the physicochemical properties of covalent organic frameworks. This Review describes linkage chemistry for the derivation of the imine bond by covalent and noncovalent bonding in two-dimensional covalent organic frameworks.
Hybrid bilayer membranes (HBMs) are an advanced organic–inorganic platform for energy catalysis and biomimicry. This Review highlights the design principles, key developments, major achievements and prospects of HBM technologies.
Metal single-atom cocatalysts with a well-defined and tunable electronic structure maximize the interaction between photocatalyst and cocatalyst, facilitating the enhanced separation/transfer of photogenerated charge carriers and high-efficiency surface catalytic reactions.
Racemic natural products display a wealth of bioactivities and chemical diversity. Their derivation from intriguing racemization processes, through enzymatic or non-enzymatic pathways, are discussed here, as well as their pharmacological properties and the analytical techniques developed for their identification, resolution and characterization.
Multiscale ab initio simulations enable the accurate simulation of the spin dynamics of magnetic molecules. Together with machine learning, computer simulations will soon be able to assist the design of new compounds for spintronics and quantum technologies.
Photoredox catalysis has emerged as an indispensable platform for de novo synthesis and modification of complex biologically relevant molecules. This Review highlights photoredox-mediated C–H and C–C bond activation of carbohydrates leading to non-conventional C-functionalized sugars and rare sugar isomers.
This Review discusses progress in organizing the spatial arrangement and motion of molecular machines within solid frameworks such that they might be able to perform useful macroscopic work. We conclude with a discussion of a new non-equilibrium adsorption phenomenon, dubbed mechanisorption.