News & Comment

Communications Chemistry is delighted to introduce a Collection of research works focused on the modelling and advanced characterization of framework materials. Here, the Guest Editors outline the themes within and look towards the future of the field.

Organic π-conjugated radicals have recently joined the ranks of high-efficiency light-emitting materials, however, their light-emission mechanism is still a matter of debate. Here, the authors highlight a recently proposed luminescent enhancement mechanism and record-breaking efficiency of a radical organic light-emitting diode.

Pupils with vision impairment face significant challenges in learning science. Here, the authors discuss the impact of an inaccessible curriculum and new ideas that can improve accessibility.

The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is a key enabler of sustainable chemical energy storage. Here, the author assesses the current status of protocols for benchmarking the OER in materials- and device-centered investigations and makes suggestions for more comparable data.

Molecular skeletal editing has a wide range of applications in late-stage derivatization, but metal–carbon exchange is underexplored due to the challenges in selectively cleaving highly inert chemical bonds and forming stable intermediates. Here, skeletal metalation of lactams enables a carbonyl-to-nickel exchange via Ni(0) reagent-mediated selective C–N bond oxidative addition and decarbonylation, generating synthetically useful organonickel reagents for the deletion and exchange of single atoms in the lactam core.

Andrew Goodwin is Professor of Materials Chemistry and a Professorial Research Fellow at the University of Oxford. His research focuses on the dual aspects of flexibility and disorder in functional materials, and his group of about 10–15 researchers is based in Oxford’s Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory.

Dr Camille Bishop is an incoming Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at Wayne State University. She obtained her PhD in chemistry at the University of Wisconsin—Madison, where she prepared glasses with liquid crystal-like packing using physical vapor deposition, after obtaining her B.S. in chemistry from the University of Chicago.

Nancy Scott Burke Williams is an Associate Professor of Chemistry at the Keck Science Department of Claremont McKenna, Pitzer, and Scripps Colleges in Claremont, California, where she has been in the faculty since 2003. She was born in Puyallup, WA to Burke and Nancy Williams, from whom she takes most of her names.

Abhik Ghosh grew up in Kolkata, India, and is a Professor of inorganic and materials chemistry at UiT—The Arctic University of Norway. His research interests lie at the intersection of inorganic, materials and computational chemistry.

Dr Jovan Dragelj completed his undergraduate and Master’s studies in chemistry in Belgrade, Serbia, after which he worked as a chemistry teacher and researcher at the University of Belgrade. In 2019, he earned his PhD in computational chemistry from Freie Universität Berlin and then pursued postdoctoral studies at Technische Universität Berlin. His research during this period spanned diverse areas, from non-covalent interactions to biocatalysis, with a major focus on studying cytochrome c oxidase and hydrogenase enzymes through multiscale modeling approaches.

Polly Arnold is a Professor of chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley and Director of the Chemical Sciences Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in the US. Polly’s research focuses on exploratory synthetic chemistry. Such knowledge underpins the discovery of catalysts and our understanding of the behavior of nuclear waste.

Dr Josh Makepeace is an Associate Professor in Materials Chemistry and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Future Leaders Fellow at the University of Birmingham. Raised in Australia, Josh started his journey in chemistry research at Flinders University of South Australia, investigating the origin of hematite crystals in William Bligh’s naval logbooks, and the detection of pesticides in waterways.

Anna G. Slater is a Professor of Chemistry and Royal Society University Research Fellow at the University of Liverpool’s Materials Innovation Factory and Chemistry Department. Exploiting continuous flow processes for enhanced control of chemistry is a central theme of her work, which spans molecular materials, supramolecular chemistry, and sustainable synthesis.

Today, Communications Chemistry launches a series of Q&A articles conducted with queer chemists. Here, we discuss the motivation for and aim of this series, and present some key take-home messages from our respondents.

The formation of Li dendrites at the Li/electrolyte interface at practically relevant current densities (> 1 mA cm⁻²) is a critical issue hindering the deployment of non-flammable and non-toxic Li₇La₃Zr₂O₁₂ (LLZO) electrolyte in solid-state batteries. In this comment, the authors argue for an agreement to standardize measurements of the critical current density at which Li dendrites begin to penetrate the LLZO solid-state electrolyte.

Attosecond science is nowadays a well-established research field, and table-top attosecond sources based on high-harmonic generation are routinely used to access electronic motion in matter at its natural time scale. Here, the authors describe a new way of doing chemistry—attochemistry—by directly acting on the electronic motion, and discuss a few key open questions in this emerging field.

Fluorochemicals have a wide range of applications in industry, but accessing these relies on the energy intensive conversion of acid-grade fluorspar (CaF₂) to toxic hydrogen fluoride (HF) gas, which is in turn used for the downstream production of fluorochemicals via multistep processes. Now, directly treating acid-grade fluorspar with dipotassium hydrogen phosphate (K₂HPO₄) under mechanochemical conditions affords a fluorinating reagent for direct S–F and C(sp³/sp²)–F bond construction, bypassing the need for HF production.

Vat-polymerization 3D printing (3DP) enables the high speed printing of precise and intricate 3D models, yet it inevitably produces highly crosslinked polymers that are not easily degradable or recyclable. Here, the author highlights recent work that realizes the formation of fully degradable polymers based on organocatalytic vat-ring-opening photopolymerization 3DP.

Dr Zoe Schnepp and Professor David Smith share their experiences of working part-time in academia, discussing some of the benefits and challenges, and offering advice to those who may be seeking to work part-time.

Dr Satoshi Honda talks to us about pursuing his scientific dreams, scientific developments he is excited about, directions polymer synthesis and materials development should focus on, as well as his experience of being an Editorial Board Member for Communications Chemistry.