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Liquid-phase electron microscopy is a powerful method for the direct, real-time monitoring of chemical processes on nanometre and micrometre scales. This Review describes the liquid-phase electron-microscopy techniques available to us and their application to studying chemical processes.
Hierarchical self-assembly and crystallization is ubiquitous in nature and is of key importance for creation of complex superstructures. Herein, Yuan and co-workers propose that hierarchically oriented organization guides the formation of such complex systems, especially in supramolecular peptide crystals.
CO2 reacts with alkanes over heterogeneous catalysts to give CO, H2O and the corresponding alkene. This Review describes catalytic bimetallics and their oxides, as well as experimental and theoretical studies of their mechanisms.
Metabolic glycoengineering provides a strategy to manipulate glycan structure and function to detect, monitor and treat disease. In this Review, we discuss the chemistry underlying metabolic glycoengineering and highlight recent advances towards the clinical translation of this technology.
Artificial intelligence has recently seen numerous applications in synthetic organic chemistry. Advanced pattern-recognition heuristics may facilitate the access to chemical matter of interest and complement chemical intuition in the near future.
The natural world has long provided inspiration for the production of artificial, adaptive materials. This Review discusses how unravelling the rules of molecular motion has enabled integration of the cooperative, and sometimes synchronized, operation of light-responsive molecular machines, across length scales, into responsive and autonomous matter.
Changes in the stereochemistry of polymer chains result in changes to the mechanical and physical behaviour of the resulting materials. By harnessing synthetic methods to create stereocontrolled polymers, a new parameter can be accessed to control the behaviour of bulk material.
The application of organocatalysis in biology is still in its infancy. In this Review, we evaluate organocatalytic reactions in terms of their applicability in biological settings, including new technologies in chemical biology and biomedicine.
Triboelectric charging is well known to us all and has widespread and important consequences. Nonetheless, its most basic foundations remain poorly understood, and progress is often countered by the emergence of baffling new observations. Recent work shows the difficulty may arise because charging is governed by competing and unstable dynamical processes.
Femtosecond spectroscopy of photosynthetic systems reveals long-lived quantum coherences. This Review focuses on efforts to understand the microscopic origins of these signals and discusses how such coherences may be exploited to probe design principles of photosynthetic light harvesting.
Electrosynthesis is a practical and green route to hydrogen peroxide, and could reduce our dependence on less environmentally friendly oxidants. This Review describes catalyst and reactor designs for highly selective hydrogen peroxide electrosynthesis.
Senescence is a state of permanent cell cycle arrest. This Review highlights the chemical characteristics of senescence and how we can use small molecules to target, detect or eliminate senescent cells, as well as to induce or inhibit senescence.
Natural product biosynthetic pathways are rich in novel enzymology, but identifying the enzymes that perform new transformations remains challenging. This Review describes recently characterized examples of remarkable chemistries catalysed by biosynthetic enzymes and explores the extent of enzymatic novelty that awaits discovery.
Light emitting, molecularly tunable organic colour-centers are sp3 quantum defects that create localized two-level systems within the host crystals, providing unique tools to harness electrons, excitons, phonons and spin for novel functionality.
FoF1-ATPase is a vital molecular machine in organisms responsible for the catalytic synthesis of the basic energy unit ATP. In this Review, the development of FoF1-ATPase reconstitution into artificial architectures is discussed ultimately leading to the development of stimuli-responsive ATP synthesis.
The development of C–H functionalization methodology offers a new logic for chemical synthesis. Dirhodium tetracarboxylates have emerged as some of the most effective catalysts for these transformations, enabling site-selective and stereoselective insertion of transient metal carbenes into C–H bonds.
3D printing technology emerged as a tool for the design and fabrication of prototypes. Chemists are now using this technology to produce chemically reactive materials. In this Review, Hartings and Ahmed discuss different approaches to 3D print chemically reactive objects.
This Review highlights recent conceptual and/or technological advances in photoredox catalysis, organic electrosynthesis, electrostatic chemistry and synthesis in static electric fields, mechanochemistry and synthesis in flow.
Modelling composite systems with components on different length scales is challenging. However, multiscale models based on quantum and classical descriptions can describe these systems and represent the most effective way to explain and predict light-activated events in such complex systems.
Ruthenium complexes have the potential to serve as potent drugs that act through unique mechanisms. This Review describes how these drugs can be efficiently and selectively delivered using polymers.
