Browse Articles

Molecular logic gates that respond to the presence of a protein and a bacterial DNA sequence show how molecular systems could be used for medical diagnostics.

The electron-transport behaviour of a melamine molecule adsorbed on a copper surface has been tuned to exhibit rectifying and switching behaviour.

Carefully designed triangles made from DNA strands self-assemble into highly ordered 3D structures to produce macroscopic crystals.

The combination of a cyclic phosphine oxide and a chemoselective reducing agent are key in the discovery of a catalytic Wittig reaction.

Diagnosing disease states relies on sensing imbalances in the quantities of markers present in biological fluids. Now a biologically compatible gold nanoparticle sensing-system that detects proteins in serum has been developed, offering great potential for medical diagnostics.

One of the challenges facing the hydrogen economy is how to store and release the gas controllably. Although the large internal volumes of metal–organic frameworks offer promise, how can you keep the hydrogen inside?

For six days during the summer of 2009, hundreds of young researchers gathered in Germany on the shores of Lake Constance to take part in the 59th Meeting of Nobel Laureates at Lindau — this year dedicated to the topic of chemistry.

Are the days of print journals numbered — and if they are, what will that mean for how we interact with the scientific literature?

The exact nature of the gold–carbon bond formed during homogeneous gold catalysis has recently attracted a lot of interest and is somewhat controversial. Now a study of the bonding and trends in reactivity of various gold complexes offers new insights into whether such structures can be defined as gold-stabilized cations or gold carbenes.

New methodology that couples together carbonyl compounds with boronic acids shows much promise for synthesis owing to ease of access of the building blocks, functional group tolerance and broad scope of the reaction.

Jim Ibers takes a look at the intriguing structures and bonding found in tellurium and its compounds, and considers their uses in a diversity of fields ranging from metallurgy to electronics.

Saytzeff's rule is the result of empirical observations, and can be used to predict the outcome of elimination reactions. Now, ab initio calculations have provided the long-sought evidence to show that hyperconjugation is the key that unlocks the origin of this rule.

A synthesis of 6-deoxyerythronolide B is reported that uses a late-stage C–H oxidative macrocyclization reaction to forge the key macrocyclic core found in the erythromycins. By installing oxygen at a late-stage, this strategy improves synthetic efficiency by minimizing the ‘oxygen load’, and provides stereochemical versatility at the site of oxidation.

H/D exchange reactions in the high vacuum of a mass spectrometer reveal how crown ethers move between ammonium ion binding sites of an oligolysine peptide. This study enables the dynamics of non-covalent interactions to be probed in a unique environment and could be applied to more complex artificial or natural systems.

Electron-beam lithography creates binding sites onto which folded DNA molecules can attach and form regular shapes.

The fluorescence of an organogel mixed with a photochromic compound can be switched off by thermal heating, UV irradiation, or both, thus forming an OR binary logic gate.