News & Comment

A new class of adhesive is reported where the two-component glue adheres via electrostatic interactions. The glue works efficiently in wet and dry conditions, while exhibiting reversible properties in acidic and alkaline media.

In the interstellar medium, complex organic molecules are believed to form on icy dust grains in dark molecular clouds. Research now shows that carbon atoms, previously considered immobile, can diffuse across ice surfaces to take part in reactions with other adsorbed species.

The mercury drop test is widely used to distinguish between heterogeneous and homogeneous catalysis. However, testing the test revealed the unexpected issue of mercury reacting with protected and unprotected catalysts alike, leading to the reliance of this test being questioned.

The structure of pheromone, produced by microalgae in vanishingly small quantities as part of a signalling cascade that controls sexual reproduction, has been determined.

Researchers have found a new route to complex polycyclic indoline structures from indoles and bicyclo[1.1.0]butanes using a Lewis acid catalyst.

A general method to depolymerize plastic waste from resin codes 2–7 — including multilayered packaging and oil-contaminated packaging — and produce platform chemicals has been described.

The volatility of certain ionic liquids can be controlled electrochemically by applying a voltage to break their aromatic components. Cathodic reduction creates combustible species, but once the power is switched off and aromaticity restored, the liquid is thermally stable again.

Drawing inspiration from helical structures in nature, researchers have developed a cobalt-based complex able to twist and untwist, converting between nanohelix and nanowire structures.

The synthesis of a new family of self-assembled Ca²⁺-seamed capsules is reported. The interior volumes are the largest currently reported voids in molecular capsules, and they are completely isolated from the exterior environments.

A clean and non-toxic, one-step keratin crosslinking approach has been described, paving the way for greener and more sustainable hair styling.

A living catalyst transfer polymerization enables access to low dispersity polyphenylenes and ultimately to length-selective synthesis of graphene nanoribbons.

Voronoi domains combined with modelled vibrational sum frequency generation spectroscopy can be used to investigate surfaces, interfaces, and hydrations shells at reduced computational costs.

A series of tricopper mono-, di- and tri-hydride complexes have been prepared and studied as a models of heterogeneous copper catalysts for carbon dioxide reductions.

Near-infrared spectroscopy combined with machine learning can predict the publication years of paper books from 1851 to 2000 with an unprecedented accuracy of 2 years.

When two phenyl rings are perfectly stacked in a cyclophane structure that is bridged by three helicene linkers, they lose some of their aromatic stability, even though the overall structure — with 78 π-electrons — is aromatic.

Nitrogenases are enzymes capable of reducing atmospheric nitrogen to ammonia. By better understanding their structure and the reaction mechanism, researchers can work towards artificial mimics that may replace the need for the energy-demanding Haber–Bosch process.

A highly stable glass has been prepared by the physical vapour deposition of two materials in equal amounts.

A bacterial tridecasaccharide known to prevent inflammatory bowel disease has been synthesized.

Hydrogenation reactions of alkynes to cis-alkenes is typically carried out with precious metal catalysts. A new zinc complex represents a rare example of a non-transition metal able to carry out this stereoselective transformation.

Hydroxylamine is a molecule of prebiotic interest, but its estimated abundance in space is orders of magnitude greater than what we have observed. To answer this discrepancy, quantum chemical calculations are used to investigate its formation and destruction pathways.