Articles in 2024

By drawing inspiration from ion transport in biology, researchers have developed highly selective channels for the separation and enrichment of Li⁺ ions from complex aqueous solutions.

The European BorderSens project leverages voltammetric sensors, developed with end-users’ input, to rapidly and accurately detect illicit drugs. By embracing practicalities and validation, this technology has the potential to combat the illicit drug problem.

Lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases are key enzymes in biomass processing and pathogenicity. They are, to our knowledge, the first known copper enzymes capable of utilizing H₂O₂ to hydroxylate C–H bonds. This Review draws a portrait of the catalytic paths at play and highlights outstanding questions in their reactivity.

Thirty-four years ago, Curry and Rumelhart described a neural network-based approach to annotate tandem mass spectra. Their ideas foreshadowed several important developments in computational mass spectrometry over the past decade, but many of the challenges they discuss remain relevant today.

A route to synthetically interesting axially chiral diaryl ethers combines an asymmetric desymmetrization and a kinetic resolution.

Cable bacteria are able to conduct electrons to interconvert oxygen and water. Here, researchers have isolated the conducting cable bacteria skeletons to demonstrate their activity in an electrochemical cell.

If intense ionizing radiation was present at a time of prebiotic life, protocells would have needed protection. Researchers have shown that peptide-containing coacervates can harbour DNA strands, which can then be coated with Mn-containing coacervates protecting the interior from radiation.

The total biosynthesis and engineering of complex natural products is now routinely achieved in filamentous fungal host organisms. This technology offers substantial advantages over traditional total chemical synthesis for the production of both known and new specialized metabolites.