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Discovery of new materials has been traditionally based on a trial-and-error approach. Now, miniaturized nanoreactors have been developed for the synthesis and analysis of nanoparticle megalibraries of different size and composition.
Dodecaphenylanthracene — a twisted polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon with interesting electrochemical properties — has, after 20 years of trying, finally succumbed to synthesis.
Particle swarm optimization allows one to search vast compositional space for new viable species. Additionally, simulating high pressures has enabled the prediction of hypervalent species such as IF8.
