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This Review discusses progress in organizing the spatial arrangement and motion of molecular machines within solid frameworks such that they might be able to perform useful macroscopic work. We conclude with a discussion of a new non-equilibrium adsorption phenomenon, dubbed mechanisorption.
Hydrogels are important biomaterials for cell culture systems. This Review highlights the design criteria for engineering hydrogels to mimic the natural extracellular matrix, and provides an overview of chemical strategies used to fabricate hydrogels for cell culture and dynamically control their properties.
Molecularly thin water films host carbon mineralization reactions with anomalously high reaction rates and unique pathways. We examine the underlying reaction mechanisms that operate in water-limited environments relevant to permanent carbon storage and quasi-2D interfacial chemistry.
The prediction of interatomic potentials by machine learning is a well developed method; however, interatomic potentials account for only the energies and atomic forces and neglect other essential chemical properties. This Review showcases how other properties of interest, such as atomic charges, dipole moments, long-range effects, bond orders and parameters of reduced Hamiltonians, can also be accurately predicted using machine learning models.
Biomass and plastic share structural similarities in their composition and types of bond linkage between their monomeric units. Reviewing their catalytic conversion technologies in a unified angle provides new insights and opportunities for future advances.
Fused-ring electron acceptors are excellent n-type organic semiconductors with outstanding optoelectronic conversion and electron transport abilities. This Review highlights the fundamental principles, design strategies and versatile applications of fused-ring electron acceptors in photovoltaics, electronics and photonics.
Hydrogels have been found to replicate the gel-like properties of many intracellular environments and are thus of great interest in the construction of artificial cells. This Review highlights how hydrogels are currently used and explores avenues for their use in the construction of next-generation artificial cells.
Ten years ago, the engineering of a small luciferase called NanoLuc broke through a common limitation of bioluminescence. Currently the brightest known bioluminescent protein, NanoLuc’s activity has been used across a huge application range — enabling measurements in single cells and in whole living organisms.
Cryopreservation is a platform technology that underpins the delivery of complex therapies to patients and enables fundamental cell biology by allowing the banking and recovery of viable cells. This Review summarizes the role, and opportunities, for chemistry-driven approaches to cryopreservation, beyond formulation, to the design and discovery of innovative solutions.
The construction of the highly valuable C(sp3)–N bond motif in a generalizable, selective, robust manner has been in demand for decades. This Review highlights the new and rising avenues towards this goal in the context of visible light-induced chemistry.
Developing aqueous batteries with high voltages is possible with the use of pH-decoupling electrolytes with an acidic catholyte and an alkaline anolyte.
Chiral metal halide semiconductors are a new class of hybrid organic–inorganic materials that combine the properties of small chiral organic molecules with those of extended inorganic semiconductors. This Review highlights the design, properties and emerging applications of these chiral semiconductors, with an emphasis on structure–property relationships.
Carboranes are heteroborane clusters that offer many unique advantages in the exploration of biologically relevant chemical space. This Review highlights the examples of where carboranes have been used in drug discovery, chemical biology and molecular imaging.
Adoption of renewable energy sources will need to be accompanied by methods for energy storage. Lithium-ion batteries continue to dominate for portable electronic applications but other technologies are required for long-term and larger-scale storage. Redox flow batteries, the focus of this Review, represent one such technology.
Snake venom contains a diversity of bioactive compounds. This Review highlights the complex chemistry of snake venom and shows how venom can be used to derive new therapeutic drugs.
In this Review, we chart recent advances in the use of chemistry to control droplet motility in lipid solutions. The discussion includes a highlight on the interplay between chemical reactivity that occurs at the molecular level and motile behaviour that emerges at larger length scales.
Studies employing machine-learning (ML) tools in the chemical sciences often report their evaluations in a heterogeneous way. The evaluation guidelines provided in this Perspective should enable more rigorous ML reporting.
Radical reaction pathways have evolved sufficiently that C(sp3)–H bonds may now be viewed as strategic ‘reagents’ for bond formation in synthetic organic chemistry. This Review highlights the diverse approaches for C(sp3)–H functionalization and cross-coupling reactions, emphasizing radical-relay reactions.
