Research articles

Carbonylative homologation reactions are typically catalysed by precious metal catalysts such as palladium and rhodium. Here, aryl iodides are reductively homologated using a nickel triflate catalyst and simple bipyridine ligand, using Mo(CO)₆ as the carbonyl source and phenyl silane as the reductant.

Rechargeable sodium ion batteries are a promising alternative to lithium technologies, however there are fewer high-performing anode materials. Here, the authors prepare a cobalt-doped tin disulfide/reduced graphene oxide nanocomposite and demonstrate its enhanced sodium kinetics and improved rate performance.

Several rare earth carbides are superconducting at ambient pressure and low temperature. Here global structure searching predicts high-pressure metallic phases of yttrium dicarbide with phonon-mediated superconductivity and increased carbon network evolution from dimers to sheets with increasing pressure.

Surface functionalisation of living cells offers opportunities for synthetic biology and drug delivery. Here an artificial allylic deallylase is covalently bound to the cell surface of C. reinhardtii and shown to retain activity in situ.

Regioselective methods for the reversible formation and breakage of C-O-ether bonds under mild conditions are desired. Here, the authors present a biocatalytic shuttle concept using corrinoid-dependent methyl transferases for demethylating various phenyl methyl ethers and functionalizing substituted catechols.

Metal sulfide batteries suffer from low electrical conductivity which limits their application in sodium ion batteries. Here, the authors report a manganese sulfide anode in sodium ion batteries with capacity of 340 mAh g⁻¹ maintained over more than 1000 cycles at a current density of 5.0 A g⁻¹.

Calcium phosphate is an important biomineral and is thought to crystallise through non-classical pathways. Here, time-resolved liquid-phase transmission electron microscopy offers confirmatory evidence gained through continuous monitoring of mineralisation in solution.

Rhenium disulfide is a promising lithium ion battery material but its distorted structure makes computational modelling challenging. Here hardware-accelerator-assisted high-throughput DFT based structure searching is used to model the reversible lithiation of ReS₂ including metal–sulphur bond cleavage.

Peptide nucleic acids (PNAs) can invade canonical nucleic acid dimers but may be limited to certain sequences or perform poorly under physiological conditions. Here PNAs containing Janus bases invade a range of RNA and DNA sequences via Watson-Crick base pairing under near-physiological conditions.

The design of beta-sheet rich proteins offers new opportunities for developing synthetic functional molecules. Here a series of proteins and peptides capable of binding multiple heme units between beta-sheets with high affinity are reported.

The detailed molecular-level speciation of organic aerosol is a highly challenging task. Here, the authors show an extensive molecular-level intercomparison of functionalized organic aerosol from three diverse field sites revealing large compositional variability between samples at each field site.

Exciton/recombination events in semiconductor quantum dots are highly dependent on surface coordination environments and these processes are well studied. Here, conversely, the authors use sum-frequency generation spectroscopy to probe the effect of the quantum dot on the vibrational structure of the ligands.

Materials with switchable colour and opacity hold promise as components of ‘smart windows’. Here a photo- and electrochromic device based on a self-assembled naphthalene diimide gel is shown to undergo reversible photo or electrochemical transition from transparent to black.

Solid-state NMR of nitrogen nuclei offers a powerful way to solve protein structures but often requires isotopic labeling. Here through-space interactions between nitrogen-14 and protons allows structural assignment of cyclosporin without the need for isotopic enrichment with nitrogen-15.

Self-driven synthetic microswimmers typically move continuously until the fuel runs out. Here, multilayer graphene oxide particles are shown to periodically swarm together under continuous UV illumination.

Glycerol is an abundant byproduct of the biofuel industry which holds promise as a platform chemical. Here glycerol is converted to value-added chemicals of varying degrees of reduction using thermostable multi-enzyme cascades.

Silicates are abundant in the Earth’s crust but their high-pressure solution chemistry has not been studied by NMR. Here the complexation chemistry of aqueous silicates is studied at pressures of up to 1.8 GPa by ²⁹Si NMR spectroscopy.

Metal-organic frameworks are attractive candidates as catalyst materials. Here, the authors report a highly symmetric hierarchical framework with a rare nha net topology catalyzing microwave-assisted radical polymerization of methyl methacrylate in high yields.

Efficient capture of iodine has important applications in nuclear waste processing. Here a class of imidazolate-derived ionic liquids are shown to chemically capture up to 17.5 grams of iodine per gram of ionic liquid at useful temperatures.

Kinetic control of self-assembly at interfaces offers a promising route to new two dimensional materials. Here high-resolution dynamic atomic force microscopy experiments combined with DFT calculations reveal the kinetic pathways by which 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid sequentially assembles on calcite.