Review Articles

The construction of the highly valuable C(sp³)–N bond motif in a generalizable, selective, robust manner has been in demand for decades. This Review highlights the new and rising avenues towards this goal in the context of visible light-induced chemistry.

Developing aqueous batteries with high voltages is possible with the use of pH-decoupling electrolytes with an acidic catholyte and an alkaline anolyte.

Chiral metal halide semiconductors are a new class of hybrid organic–inorganic materials that combine the properties of small chiral organic molecules with those of extended inorganic semiconductors. This Review highlights the design, properties and emerging applications of these chiral semiconductors, with an emphasis on structure–property relationships.

Carboranes are heteroborane clusters that offer many unique advantages in the exploration of biologically relevant chemical space. This Review highlights the examples of where carboranes have been used in drug discovery, chemical biology and molecular imaging.

Adoption of renewable energy sources will need to be accompanied by methods for energy storage. Lithium-ion batteries continue to dominate for portable electronic applications but other technologies are required for long-term and larger-scale storage. Redox flow batteries, the focus of this Review, represent one such technology.

Snake venom contains a diversity of bioactive compounds. This Review highlights the complex chemistry of snake venom and shows how venom can be used to derive new therapeutic drugs.

In this Review, we chart recent advances in the use of chemistry to control droplet motility in lipid solutions. The discussion includes a highlight on the interplay between chemical reactivity that occurs at the molecular level and motile behaviour that emerges at larger length scales.

Radical reaction pathways have evolved sufficiently that C(sp³)–H bonds may now be viewed as strategic ‘reagents’ for bond formation in synthetic organic chemistry. This Review highlights the diverse approaches for C(sp³)–H functionalization and cross-coupling reactions, emphasizing radical-relay reactions.

Reactions that form C–N bonds are key in the synthesis of molecules used in fertilizers, synthetic materials, pharmaceuticals and more. This Review examines the emerging area of heterogeneous electrocatalytic C–N bond formation using abundant starting materials, with the eventual goal of electrifying chemical manufacturing.

Dramatic innovations in surface and bulk chemistry enable MXenes to flourish in electrochemical applications. This Review analyses the recorded footprints of MXene components for energy storage, with particular attention paid to a coherent understanding of the fundamental relationship between MXene components and their qualified roles from a nuanced chemical perspective.

Metal–organic cages with good solubility, accessible cavities and abundant reactive sites can undergo various post-synthetic modifications to assemble into multidimensional functional materials. This Review explores current post-synthetic modification strategies used for metal–organic cages, including covalent, coordination and noncovalent methods.

Creating artificial nanostructures inside living cells requires the careful design of molecules that can transform into active monomers within a complex cellular environment. This Review explores the recent development of bioresponsive precursors for the controlled formation of intracellular supramolecular assemblies.

Disentangling the nanoscale interplay of electromagnetic near fields, heat and charge transfer in plasmon-assisted chemistry is non-trivial. We survey the techniques that enable the characterization of these properties with spatial, energetic and/or temporal resolution, with insight regarding the challenges associated when going from studying the ensemble level to single-particle measurements.

The aim of this Review is to guide synthetic chemists through their first electrosyntheses by describing the essential aspects of the field and by sharing practical tips. The fundamentals of electroanalytical techniques are discussed as tools to elucidate mechanism and are then examined in practice using three case studies.

This Review summarizes advanced photocatalytic systems for value-added chemical production from renewable biomass, with specific attention on the efficient strategies for controlling the generation of key radical intermediates and their subsequent conversion towards desired chemicals.

The hole-mediated oxidation reaction controls the rate of hydrogen production from water. Currently, associated challenges of wasted holes and the consequential chemical effects have placed the greatest bottleneck in photocatalytic hydrogen production. This Review provides a critical assessment of the hole and its related phenomena in solar hydrogen production.

Catalysts based on rotaxanes and catenanes are receiving increased attention, driven by high-profile examples with desirable properties. We survey this emerging field organized by the effect of mechanical bonding on activity, chemoselectivity and stereoselectivity to inspire future investigations and applications.

Protein functionalities rely strongly on their specific chemical and spatial structure. This Review dives into the hyphenation of native separation techniques with mass spectrometry to study protein (higher order) structure and functionality.

Sulfonyl fluorides are highly electrophilic and yet they exhibit stability towards hydrolysis under physiological conditions. This unique combination makes them highly attractive in chemical biology. This Review looks at the emerging synthetic approaches and applications for this intriguing functional group.

The chiral arrangement of inorganic nanoparticles brings new properties and functionalities that are distinct compared with the individual building blocks. This Review discusses the recent progress in the preparation, properties and emerging applications of self-assembled inorganic chiral superstructures.