History of chemistry articles from across Nature Portfolio

The periodic system was formulated in the 1860s by analysing order and similarities among chemical elements, but it is unclear how the exponentially growing chemical space has affected the periodic system. Here, evolution of the chemical space between 1800 and 2021 is analyzed, and it is shown that the system converged towards its current stable structure through six historical stages.

The relationship between synthetic discoveries and the materials breakthroughs that they enable is explored in this Perspective. It is concluded that most materials breakthroughs involve chemical compounds that were made out of curiosity or for an entirely different purpose. This conclusion has implications for the role of exploratory synthesis in materials research.

Pauling’s electronegativity scale has a fundamental value and uses accessible thermochemical data, but fails at predicting the bonding behavior for several elements. The authors propose their thermochemical scale based on experimental dissociation energies that provides dimensionless values for the electronegativity and recovers the correct trends throughout the periodic table.

Few explosives are better-known to non-chemists than trinitrotoluene (TNT). Thomas M. Klapötke reflects on the enduring appeal of TNT and whether its starring role as an explosive is nearing its end.

Clinton Veale and Fanie van Heerden discuss the story of natamycin. From its humble telluric origins in Pietermaritzburg, this unique antimicrobial agent has risen to become a mainstay of the food and beverages industry.

Martin Johansen and Abhik Ghosh reflect on the unusual chemistry of carbones — whose central carbon atom bears two lone pairs — and their role as double-dative ligands.

In this Editorial, we provide an overview of the present issue, while introducing some news related to our team.

Organisms that glow are perhaps eerie. Vadim Viviani ponders on the luciferin–luciferase systems responsible for their intriguing bioluminescence.

Jane Liao and Allie C. Obermeyer explore the discovery, modification and applications of green fluorescent protein, best known for its use as a tool to cast light on cellular processes.