News & Comment

Chiral halogen-bonding catalysts have emerged as a new approach towards asymmetric catalysis, but enantioselectivities have thus far remained low. Now, fine-tuning the substrate–catalyst halogen–halogen interactions is shown to significantly enhance enantioselectivity for a model anion-binding-catalyzed dearomatization reaction.

To solve the environmental disaster that is generated by legacy plastics accumulation, researchers are looking to design plastics with enhanced end-of-life options, but many circular plastics do not meet industrial requirements. Here, we highlight a metal-free approach to produce chemically recyclable poly(1,3-dioxolane) with ultra-high molecular weight and comparable properties to one of the most produced plastics, polyethylene.

Professor Wei Zhang answers questions on his scientific career, scientific developments he is excited about, directions electrochemical energy storage and conversion technologies should focus on, as well as his experience of being an Editorial Board Member for Communications Chemistry.

Efforts are ongoing to address inequities in scientific fields. Here, the author provides a critical look at the practice and culture of science with calls to action to broaden participation and recognition of talented members from marginalized groups in the chemical sciences.

As Communications Chemistry turns five, the Editors reflect on the journal’s values, achievements, and ambitions for the years to come.

Economical and high-efficiency synthesis of single-atom catalysts is a tremendous challenge hampering their large-scale industrialization, which is mainly attributed to the complex equipment and processes necessary for both top-down and bottom-up synthesis methods. Now, a facile three-dimensional printing approach tackles this dilemma. From a solution of printing ink and metal precursors, target materials with specific geometric shapes are prepared with high output, directly and automatically.

Liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) underlies the formation of intracellular membraneless compartments in biology and may have played a role in the formation of protocells that concentrate key chemicals during the origins of life. While LLPS of simple systems, such as oil and water, is well understood, many aspects of LLPS in complex, out-of-equilibrium molecular systems remain elusive. Here, the author discusses open questions and recent insights related to the formation, function and fate of such condensates both in cell biology and protocell research.

Efforts to address equitable access to education and research in chemistry are ongoing in many countries around the world. Here, Professor Hind A. Al-Abadleh provides a personal account of her contributions to equity, diversity, and inclusion in the Canadian chemistry community.

Combining the superior photovoltaic performance of three-dimensional perovskites and the intrinsic durability of two-dimensional perovskites, the construction of 3D/2D perovskite bilayer heterojunctions is a promising strategy to realize efficient and stable perovskite solar cells, but it is still a challenge to control the phase purity, film thickness, orientation, and crystal structure of 2D perovskites. Now, a solution-processing strategy has overcome this challenge by directly coating a tailored single-crystal 2D perovskite ink on as-prepared 3D perovskite films, resulting in effective, ultra-stable and phase-pure 3D/2D perovskite bilayer heterojunctions.

Professor Jun Lu talks about the driving force for his career pathway and his academic journey from chemical physics to materials science and electrochemistry, as well as his experience of being an Editorial Board Member for Communications Chemistry.

The Editors and Editorial Board of Communications Chemistry are pleased to launch an Editors’ Highlights Collection featuring some of our favorite Articles published in the journal in 2022. Here we highlight each Article and outline why it was selected.

To reach a net-zero energy economy by 2050, it is critical to develop negative emission technologies, such as CO₂ reduction electrolyzers, but these devices still suffer from various issues including low utilization of CO₂ because of its cross-over from the cathode to the anode. This comment highlights the recent innovative design of membrane electrode assembly, utilizing a bipolar membrane and catholyte layer that blocks CO₂ cross-over and enables high CO₂ single-pass utilization.

Pinpointing double bond (C=C) positions in native lipid extracts is beyond the capabilities of standard mass spectrometry-based approaches. This article highlights a novel untargeted workflow supported by the open-source software MS-RIDD, that allows for semi-automated annotation of C=C locations with high confidence.

Organic–inorganic lead halide perovskites are highly promising materials for solar cell devices, but their widespread commercialization is hindered by their poor environmental stability. Now, porous organic cages are shown to stabilize methylammonium lead iodide films under hot and humid conditions.

Professor Kristin Wustholz answers questions on her scientific career, scientific developments she is excited about and directions the spectroscopy and photochemistry communities should focus on, as well as her experience of being an Editorial Board Member for Communications Chemistry.

The role of selenium in proteins and nucleic acids is well-established, but the pathway for incorporating selenium into small molecules remains unknown. Now, using bioinformatics tools, a selenium-incorporating gene cluster is discovered from immense genomic data, leading to the identification of selenoneine from microorganisms and the elucidation of a selenium incorporation pathway.

Hear from Professor Nathalie Katsonis on her academic journey and passions, her thoughts on the future directions of chemical research, and her experience of being an Editorial Board Member for Communications Chemistry.

Adiabatic state preparation (ASP) represents an efficient way of generating correlated wave functions on quantum computers for subsequent quantum simulation. Here, the author discusses recent work that numerically studied the performance of ASP on strongly correlated molecules and presented several approaches of improving the quality of prepared ground state wave functions.

[n]cycloparaphenylenes feature extensive para-conjugation that leads to useful electronic and optoelectronic properties, but their strained topology prevents their conversion into planar macrocycles. Now, on-surface coupling of cleverly designed precursors affords planar π-extended [12]cycloparaphenylene.

It has been a great joint achievement of astronomy, laboratory spectroscopy and quantum chemistry to identify interstellar molecules in various astronomical environments and piece together their origins story from the fragmented evidence. Here the authors provide a sketch of what we know and motivate the asking of open questions on carbon-based molecules in space.