Perspectives in 2020

Affinity selection-mass spectrometry enables rapid screening of compound mixtures against a specific biomolecular target. This assay lets us identify ligands irrespective of their binding site and is amenable to the discovery of novel drugs.

Bimetallic complexes are fertile territory for investigating metal–metal cooperativity. This Perspective highlights how complexes with two proximal metals have tunable features of relevance to bond activation, catalysis and unprecedented reactivity.

This Perspective discusses the prospects of assembling multiple molecular machines within ordered frameworks, with the goal of producing artificial molecular factories in which molecular motions are coupled, synchronized and amplified across multiple length scales, leading to robust and stimuli-responsive solids.

Iron–sulfur enzymes catalyse multielectron redox reactions in nature. This Perspective describes the in vitro methodologies by which we study these enzyme biosyntheses and compares the way in which different active sites are constructed.

Metal–ligand complexes undergo diverse charge-transfer processes when stimulated by light or electric fields. This Perspective describes how these processes can be exploited in photosensitizers, luminophores and resistive memory materials.

Molecular design and synthesis, from small molecules to supramolecular assemblies, combined with new spectroscopic probes of quantum coherence and theoretical modelling, offer a broad range of possibilities to realize practical quantum information science applications in computing, communications and sensing.

As the International Year of the Periodic Table came to an end in 2019, the authors reflect on the chemistry and physics that drive the periodic table of the elements. This includes aspects of periodic trends, relativistic electronic-structure theory, nuclear-structure theory and the astrophysical origin of the elements.

Machine-learning techniques have enabled, among many other applications, the exploration of molecular properties throughout chemical space. The specific development of quantum-based approaches in machine learning can now help us unravel new chemical insights.

High-resolution mass spectrometry has unrivalled power to analyse individual components of ensembles, rather than ensembles as a whole. This Perspective describes recent advances in the mass spectrometry of synthetic polymers, as well as the limitations of present methods and possible strategies to overcome them.

Hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis involves enzymatic conversion of carbon dioxide to methane. This Perspective describes the reactions at play, with a particular focus on how [Fe]-hydrogenase cleaves dihydrogen and delivers hydride to an organic substrate.

A hollow multishell structure can feature voids between porous shells that allow it to controllably release multiple guests or play host to cascade reactions. This Perspective describes host–guest chemistry and the temporal–spatial ordering and dynamic responses of multishell structures to their environment.

The rules of biological reproduction and evolution may seem to, at first glance, conflict with simple physico-chemical principles. This Perspective identifies the constraints that must be placed on chemical processes in order for them to mimic natural selection seen in biology.