News & Views

Reactants require a certain amount of energy to react — but what kind of energy? Chemical dynamics simulations predict that vibrationally exciting reactants can promote 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions by bending them into the correct transition state shape.

Latent catalysts require activation, and this is often achieved with either heat, light or an additional chemical agent. By attaching polymer chains to known classes of metal–carbene complexes, it has now been shown that mechanical force can also be used to induce catalytic activity.

A terminal uranium–carbon multiple bond has long been sought-after in actinide chemistry. Now, a complex featuring a dianionic carbon atom as part of a multidentate ligand brings actinide carbenes a little nearer.

Adding polyoxometallate crystals to a solution of organic cations leads to the controllable growth of hollow microtubes that may ultimately prove useful for applications ranging from microfluidics to medicine.

A drying procedure using supercritical carbon dioxide gives greater access to the pores of metal–organic frameworks, affording larger surface areas for applications.

The timescale on which the hydrogen bonds formed by a water molecule in a salt solution switch between ions and other water molecules is revealed for the first time.

The quest for miniaturization of chemical reactors is leading to a tangled web of reaction vessels, each formed at the junction of polymer nanofibres.

Hydrogen-bonded dimers of one and two base-pair nucleotides can be stabilized inside the hydrophobic pocket provided by self-assembled molecular cages. The results could bring DNA-based computing a step closer to reality.