Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
Understanding the relationship between reaction rate and thermodynamic driving force is central to developing efficient catalysts. This Perspective describes this relationship and the conditions that can give rise to reversible catalysis, which is relevant to energy conversions of fuels and motor proteins alike.
Developments in synthetic chemistry are increasingly driven by attempts to improve both selectivity and sustainability. This Review highlights the versatility of bifunctional reagents in generating chemical complexity with enhanced atom-economy-leveraging radical reactions, C–H functionalizations, cross-couplings, organocatalysed processes and cyclizations.
Photocatalysis is widely used in numerous fields, including chemistry and biology. This Review highlights the impact of photosensitization and photoredox photocatalysis within therapeutic development, bioconjugation and for probing complex cellular environments.
Theoretical models of clusters that account for molecular symmetry offer guidelines for their design. This Perspective describes the models and how we can synthesize the clusters thus designed.
Following a progression from quantum mechanics to modern data-driven methods, this Review presents the methodological spectrum of modelling organic reactions.
In a reaction discovered 50 years ago, a disarmingly simple iron catalyst was shown to couple alkenyl halides to alkyl Grignard reagents. This finding led to a proliferation of catalytic methodologies that today are an indispensable part of our synthetic toolkit.
Structures and activities of classical heterogeneous catalysts, electrocatalysts and photocatalysts can evolve over time. This Review compares such systems and emphasizes characterization of the true active sites.
Alzheimer and Parkinson diseases involve protein oligomers that are dilute, transient and heterogeneous. This Review describes techniques to characterize these challenging analytes.
DNA nanostructures are increasingly used in biological applications, in which nuclease resistance is a key parameter. This Review discusses the different strategies used to modulate and evaluate the nuclease resistance of DNA nanostructures.
Biological processes can be monitored in real time using induced volatolomics, whereby metabolism of an exogenous probe affords volatiles diagnostic of healthy functioning or pathogens.
The diverse manifestations of mechanochemistry probably share a similar mechanism, whereby mechanical motion drives otherwise endergonic reactions. This Review discusses what reactions of stretched polymers and model macrocycles have taught us about this mechanism.
This Review discusses recent progress in the uses, challenges and future prospects for separations using metal–organic cages. Precise control over the size, shape and functionalization of these cages enables their application for separations required in petroleum, pharmaceuticals, mining and life sciences.
Carbohydrate adjuvants potentiate immune responses through diverse mechanisms. This Review highlights carbohydrate-based adjuvants, providing insights into structure–activity relationships and applications in vaccine development, while discussing current knowledge of the mechanisms by which they potentiate and modulate the immune response.
Bispecific antibodies are an up-and-coming type of construct among biologics. They are currently being produced by genetic engineering and expression. This Review highlights recently developed chemical methods for their construction.
DNA is a promising scaffold for guiding biomineralization. This Review describes how DNA nanostructures template calcium-based and silica biominerals, with applications envisioned in biomedicine, electronics and engineering.
Chemical reactions can still occur at temperatures as low as 1 μK. Under such conditions, however, quantum effects are increasingly important, challenging the common understanding of chemical reactivity. The current developments of experimental and theoretical approaches are starting to provide us with a clearer picture of chemistry close to absolute zero.
