News & Comment

Oleaginous yeasts grown on biomass sustainably produce high yields of triglycerides for use in foods and fuels.

The presence of water on the moon is now certain, less so its origin. New experimental findings support the idea of water being released from protonated lunar silicates due to heating from micro-meteorite impacts.

One can now prepare tertiary amides directly from CO and a tertiary amine by means of an atom-economical Fe-catalyzed reaction.

The aroma profile of dark chocolate has been elucidated and could be used as a benchmark to study the effect of changes in recipe, processing and storage conditions on its flavour.

All organisms have developed vital sensory processes that enable prompt reactions in response to external environmental changes. Su and co-workers propose a bioinspired thermoresponsive device made of solid-state nanochannels that induce thermally selective ion transport.

A potential new source of hydroxyl radicals – that mediate the reactions of organic aerosols in the atmosphere – has been identified.

History and anecdotes on the discovery of the superheavy elements.

Thermal denaturation of proteins affords species that differ in terms of cofactors and conformations. Ion mobility spectrometry and mass spectrometry can be used to unravel these mixtures and learn the factors stabilizing certain protein forms.

Academic chemistry is haemorrhaging talented female researchers. However, a barrage of new initiatives aims to stem the flood.

A rapid synthesis of the antibacterial drug linezolid using flow chemistry has been reported that does not require isolation or purification of any intermediates and is completed in seven synthetic steps

Analysis of complex mixtures often requires time consuming separation techniques. Mathias Nilsson and co-workers have, now, developed a new approach to dissecting the NMR spectra of unaltered complex mixtures.

Seven-membered rings are rare motifs in fullerene derivatives. However, these motifs can be stabilized by adjacent five-membered rings and feature in a hydrofullerene isolated from combustion soot.

A new optical approach has been developed for the generation, manipulation and transportation of floating micro droplets.

A biomimetic total synthesis of (–)-oxycodone relies on an electrochemically mediated coupling of two oxygenated aryl rings for a key bond formation.

Formylglycine residues are important functional handles on native and synthetic proteins. The formation of these residues is mediated by a copper enzyme operating via a superoxo intermediate.

Creating exam questions is a skill. Understanding the anatomy of a question can help teachers write good questions and help students maximize their score.

Bacteria sense metal ions using proteins whose interactions with DNA are sensitive to metal ion availability and identity. Less competitive metal ions trigger protein–DNA binding only at high concentrations.

Careful reaction design has enabled the use of single electron transfer reagent samarium diiodide in substoichiometric amounts to catalyse radical cyclizations.

X-ray structures of reactant and product states, as well as theoretical calculations, have helped uncover the mechanism of Escherichia coli phosphofructokinase 2.

A biography of Mendeleev goes well beyond his most famous creation.