Review Articles

Silk chemistries, mechanisms and biomaterial designs are discussed. Utility of chemically modified silk for different biomedical applications such as tissue engineering, adhesives, drug delivery and biosensors, among others, is highlighted. Different design strategies to improve biomedical outcomes are also addressed.

The characterization of terahertz dynamics in molecular materials is a relatively new technique, but has proved valuable for understanding various material functions. This Review highlights some of the most important developments in this cutting-edge area of materials chemistry.

Small-molecule inhibitors offer many advantages for manipulating the gut microbiome, both as tool compounds and as potential therapeutics. This Review highlights recent examples of inhibitors that target gut bacterial enzymatic activity as well as the challenges and opportunities associated with their design and development.

Open droplet microfluidic systems have unique advantages; for example, the droplets are accessible and the systems translate well into biomedical research. This Review highlights different types of open droplet microfluidic system in chemistry and biology and discusses their physical concepts and key applications.

Here, the utility of nitrogen-atom transfer chemistry is highlighted, the aspects that dictate nitride philicity discussed, and the reactivity of metal nitrides towards substrate functionalization examined. Emerging strategies and the remaining obstacles to harnessing nitrogen-atom transfer for nitrogenation of organic small molecules are presented.

Arynes are curious intermediates for synthesis because they are elusive, fleeting and neutral. This Review focuses on one of the most challenging issues in aryne chemistry, catalytic asymmetric reactions using aryne intermediates, and presents the recent advances in this field.

This Review focuses on the fundamental reasons for the increasing role of alkynes in radical cascades and highlights the unique opportunities provided by the inherent structural, energetic and stereoelectronic features of a carbon–carbon triple bond for the controlled design of cascade reactions.

Chiral molecules in biosamples are promising biomarkers for disease diagnosis and prognosis. The authors describe techniques for detecting and quantifying small-molecule enantiomers and approaches to improving these techniques.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis-mediated metabolism of xenobiotics poses an important research question for antitubercular drug discovery. Identification of the metabolic fate of compounds can inform requisite structure–activity relationship strategies early on in a drug discovery programme towards improving the properties of the compound.

Amorphous coordination polymers and metal–organic frameworks can be directly synthesized under mild conditions using a broader range of metals and ligands than their crystalline and crystal-derived counterparts and therefore exhibit different physicochemical properties. This Review discusses the direct synthesis of amorphous coordination polymers, as well as their characterization, properties and applications.

Adding temporal resolution to atomic-scale imaging represents the last dimensional frontier in transmission electron microscopy. This Review highlights recent key technical advances and applications of time-resolved transmission electron microscopy for studies of nanoscale dynamics of chemical processes on femtosecond-to-minute timescales.

Manipulating the chemical composition of proteins and peptides has been central to the development of polypeptide-based therapeutics and to help address fundamental biological questions. This Review describes how nature-inspired protein ligation strategies have been repurposed as chemical biology tools.

Metals and their complexes with antimicrobial activity are a promising source of new antibiotics. Their 3D geometry and potential for multiple mechanisms of action are important assets; however, a substantial investment in research is needed to advance them to the clinic.

Green dinitrogen fixation is critical for the decarbonization of fertilizers and fuel. This Review examines the common grounds and complementarities between nitrogenase enzymes, homogeneous catalysis and solid electrodes.

There is increasing demand for synthetic DNA. However, our ability to make, or write, DNA lags behind our ability to sequence, or read, it. This Review discusses commercialized DNA synthesis technologies in the pursuit of closing the DNA writing gap.

As the most common derivative of graphene, graphene oxide has emerged as a new frontier material with tremendous applications to photonics, electronics and optoelectronics in the past decade. This Review highlights the state of the art and future prospects for this fast-growing field.

Molecular rectifiers are an essential component for the construction of molecular electronic devices, which are becoming potentially competitive with existing silicon-based devices. This Review provides an overview of molecular rectification and discusses the outlook for the field as well as prospects for commercialization.

Liquid-like surfaces (LLSs) are emerging omniphobic systems with promising abilities to minimize interfacial adhesion. This Review summarizes the concept, mechanism, fabrication and applications of LLSs, and discusses the challenges and future opportunities in this field.

The unique optical and magnetic properties of photoexcited chromophore–radical systems make them suitable for applications in molecular spintronics. We present the theoretical background required to understand their properties and illustrate the potential of these systems based on practical examples.

Solar energy can supply the global energy demand. This Review describes how photoelectrochemistry principles in natural photosynthesis can be exploited in advanced solar utilization technologies, and discusses related developments, challenges and opportunities.