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The bulk properties of materials that lack long-range order have been widely studied, but their local structures remain difficult to elucidate. Now, using scanning tunnelling microscopy, researchers have been able to look more closely at the structural motifs of robust, two-dimensional glassy networks assembled through metal–ligand interactions.

Precise calculations of molecular properties from first-principles set great problems for large systems because their conventional computational cost increases exponentially with size. Quantum computing offers an alternative, and here the H₂ potential energy curve is calculated using the latest photonic quantum computer technology.

A synthetic functional model of the oxygen reduction site in the enzyme cytochrome c oxidase has been used to investigate the effects of hydrogen sulfide on respiration.

Atmospheric organic aerosols from very different sources evolve towards similar characteristics, simplifying the models needed to investigate their effects on climate and air quality.

More predictable chemical patterns have been created by using nanoparticles instead of ions.

The editorial process at Nature Chemistry differs in some important ways from that employed at other chemistry journals.

Embedding platinum nanoparticles in a polymer matrix produces a system that reacts like a homogeneous catalyst, but provides the stability and separation advantages of a heterogeneous one.

Although it may seem counter-intuitive, the attraction between positively charged radical ions offers a new approach to driving controlled motion in molecular machines.

Small-molecule enzyme-inhibitors often display insufficient affinity and selectivity for their targets causing unwanted side effects when used as drugs. Molecularly imprinted polymers prepared using the enzyme as a template could offer a solution.

Bruce C. Gibb wonders why curry is not part of the chemistry curriculum.

Synthetic procedures for making nanoparticles often result in samples that contain a range of different particle sizes. By using hollow self-assembled metal–organic spheres as templates, however, it is possible to make silica nanoparticles with uniform shapes and sizes in a precisely controlled fashion.

Among the wide variety of synthetic processes that chemists have developed, only a few can be carried out under physiological conditions. A condensation reaction that is controlled by the constituents of cells has led to the formation of nanostructures within living cells.

Electrically tunable materials are used to construct switches and memory devices. Applying an electric field within a specific temperature range to cyanometallate complexes triggers their charge-transfer phase transition, altering their optical and magnetic properties.

Mitch André Garcia considers the disputed discovery of element 104 and takes a look at how the chemistry of this synthetic element is developing.

Many lab-on-a-chip applications use microarrays for the high-throughput screening of a range of materials, including biomolecules such as DNA and proteins, as well as living cells. To address some of the limitations of traditional printed microarrays, researchers have now developed robust hydrogel-based systems with thiol-ene chemistry that enables different covalent attachment strategies to be implemented in an orthogonal fashion.

Although molecular motors that ‘walk’ along tracks are common in biological systems, the only artificial analogues reported so far have been made from DNA. It has now been shown, however, that a synthetic small molecule with two ‘feet’ can take steps along a molecular track, and that the direction of movement can be biased under certain conditions.

A phosphine catalyses the formation of multiple rings and stereocentres in a single step from a simple linear precursor.