Scientific community and society articles within Nature Chemistry

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  • Thesis |

    Michelle Francl considers how metaphor breathes life into chemistry.

    • Michelle Francl

  • Article |

    Chemically depolymerizing biomass polysaccharides to simple sugars is often controlled by the balance between depolymerization and degradation kinetics, which has limited the concentration of solutions that can be obtained and overall yields. The reversible stabilization of carbohydrates by acetal formation pushes back these limits and creates stabilized sugars that have advantageous properties for further upgrading.

    • Ydna M. Questell-Santiago
    • , Raquel Zambrano-Varela
    •  & Jeremy S. Luterbacher

  • Thesis |

    To appreciate women’s contribution to science, Michelle Francl suggests it’s time to stop talking about the most famous one.

    • Michelle Francl

  • Thesis |

    As another semester of organic chemistry comes to a close, Bruce Gibb looks back on what he has learned about learning.

    • Bruce Gibb

  • Thesis |

    Michelle Francl muses on fantastic beasts of chemistry and why we try to find them.

    • Michelle Francl

  • Interview |

    Suzanne Bart from Purdue University talks to Nature Chemistry about her investigations into the chemistry of actinides, and why she finds them both challenging and rewarding.

    • Anne Pichon

  • Thesis |

    Michelle Francl reminds us that you don't need to look like Einstein to be a scientist.

    • Michelle Francl

  • Editorial |

    The launch of Nature Chemistry in 2009 prompted some criticism of journal proliferation, but 100 issues later this young offender has matured into an accepted part of the publishing landscape.

  • Thesis |

    Louis Pasteur was a scientific giant of the nineteenth century, but, as Joseph Gal asks, was his most famous contribution to the understanding of chemistry — chirality — influenced more by his artistic talents?

    • Joseph Gal

  • Thesis |

    Tenure is vitally important when it comes to the creation and promotion of knowledge — and Bruce Gibb explains why.

    • Bruce C. Gibb

  • In Your Element |

    Alasdair Skelton and Brett F. Thornton examine the twisting path through the several discoveries of ytterbium, from the eighteenth century to the present.

    • Alasdair Skelton
    •  & Brett F. Thornton

  • In Your Element |

    From grand challenges of nineteenth century chemistry to powerful technology in small packages, Brett F. Thornton and Shawn C. Burdette explain why neodymium is the twin element discovered twice by two Carls.

    • Brett F. Thornton
    •  & Shawn C. Burdette

  • Thesis |

    The chemical universe is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. Bruce Gibb reminds us that it's somewhat messy too, and so we succeed by recognizing the limits of our knowledge.

    • Bruce Gibb

  • Thesis |

    Michael Donnay and Michelle Francl want chemists to share the stories behind the work they do, and not be afraid to identify the heroines and heroes — and their epic adventures — that paved the way.

    • Michelle Francl
    •  & Michael Donnay

  • Commentary |

    Imagine a class without lessons, tests and homework, but with missions, quests and teamwork. Video games offer an attractive educational platform because they are designed to be fun and engaging, as opposed to traditional approaches to teaching through lectures and assignments.

    • Ronald A. Smaldone
    • , Christina M. Thompson
    •  & Walter Voit

  • Editorial |

    Taking chemical technology from the bench to the consumer is a formidable challenge, but it is how research can ultimately benefit wider society. Companies are now beginning to incorporate metal–organic frameworks into commercial products, heralding a new era for the field.

  • Thesis |

    Researchers should spend more time doing science than cataloguing every last detail about how they get it done, argues Bruce Gibb.

    • Bruce Gibb

  • Interview |

    Omar Farha (Chief Science Officer & technical founder) and Ben Hernandez (Chief Executive Officer) of NuMat Technologies, talk to Nature Chemistry about the release of one of the first MOF-based commercial products and the challenges the journey posed.

    • Thomas Faust

  • Thesis |

    Although Friedrich Stromeyer is best remembered for writing one of the founding works in plant geography — the forerunner to modern-day biogeography — his contributions to chemistry should not be underestimated, argues Malte C. Ebach.

    • Malte C. Ebach

  • Thesis |

    Michelle Francl wonders if more chemists should be reading science fiction on the job.

    • Michelle Francl

  • Commentary |

    The practice and overarching mission of chemistry need a major overhaul in order to be fit for purpose in the twenty-first century and beyond. The concept of 'one-world' chemistry takes a systems approach that brings together many factors, including ethics and sustainability, that are critical to the future role of chemistry.

    • Stephen A. Matlin
    • , Goverdhan Mehta
    •  & Alain Krief

  • Thesis |

    It is easy to overlook just how important temperature is when it comes to chemistry and Michelle Francl wonders if thermometers had a role in turning alchemists into chemists.

    • Michelle Francl

  • Commentary |

    Of all the things humans can bestow names upon, new chemical elements are about the rarest. Our group of periodic table experts attempts to read the tea leaves and predict the names for elements 113, 115, 117 and 118.

    • Shawn C. Burdette
    • , Philip Ball
    •  & Brett F. Thornton

  • Article |

    Theoretical electronic-structure methods are routinely used to estimate the parameters of complex kinetic models. It is now shown that uncertainty in such model parameters is correlated and that it can be quantified. An associated sensitivity analysis method is also derived that handles complex systems with many correlated reactions.

    • Jonathan E. Sutton
    • , Wei Guo
    •  & Dionisios G. Vlachos

  • Commentary |

    Publishing the wrong interpretation of experimental data can result in an immediate horde of chemists feeding on the error like vultures. On rare occasions, this phenomenon can open up an entire new field of science — and the structure of ferrocene is a case in point.

    • Jeffrey I. Seeman
    •  & Stuart Cantrill

  • Thesis |

    A day in the life of an academic, as told by Bruce C. Gibb.

    • Bruce C. Gibb

  • Commentary |

    The Sustainable Development Goals adopted at a UN summit in September 2015 address many of the great challenges that our planet faces this century. Chemistry can make pivotal contributions to help realize these ambitious goals, but first it must undergo major changes in its priorities, approaches and practices.

    • Stephen A. Matlin
    • , Goverdhan Mehta
    •  & Alain Krief

  • Thesis |

    Carl Wilhelm Scheele had a hand in the discovery of at least six elements and contributed to the early development of chemistry in numerous other ways. Bruce Gibb looks into Scheele's story and considers why he doesn't get the credit that he deserves.

    • Bruce C. Gibb

  • Thesis |

    Michelle Francl suggests that chemists should relax and not fret over ambiguous language.

    • Michelle Francl

  • In Your Element |

    Brett F. Thornton and Shawn C. Burdette consider holmium's hotly contested discovery and later obscurity.

    • Brett F. Thornton
    •  & Shawn C. Burdette

  • Thesis |

    It's time to wake up and smell the chemistry, argues Michelle Francl.

    • Michelle Francl

  • In Your Element |

    Claire Hansell surveys the uses, past and present, for antimony, including an unusual method for 'recycling' it.

    • Claire Hansell

  • Research Highlights |

    • Gavin Armstrong

  • In Your Element |

    Trick cutlery and mobile phones have one peculiar element in common, as Marshall Brennan explains.

    • Marshall Brennan

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