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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.

Tethering a nickel complex to carbon nanotubes creates an effective catalyst for fuel cells.

A simple fluorescence quenching method can be used to visualize graphene.

Nature's enzymes are remarkably efficient at catalysing highly specific reactions with extraordinary selectivity. The ability to design enzymes for any desired reaction is a huge challenge. Here, the advances in the development of artificial enzymes are discussed with a particular focus on the computational advances that bring this challenge closer to reality.

The construction and operation of interlocked molecular machines often rely on the mutual recognition of different building blocks through a range of non-covalent interactions. Researchers have now shown that the versatility of bipyridinium systems can be increased by taking advantage of the complexes formed between their radical cations; with this approach they have been able to make electrochemically switchable bi- and tristable rotaxanes.

Chemists have very few tools at their disposal for controlling synthetic processes under physiological conditions. Now, a monomer has been prepared that oligomerizes in living cells under the control of various triggers (pH change, disulfide reduction and enzymatic cleavage), showing promise for imaging or therapeutic applications.

Two abundant feedstocks, dinitrogen and carbon monoxide, have the strongest bonds in chemistry, so breaking them is a significant challenge. An organometallic hafnium compound has now been shown to induce nitrogen cleavage on addition of carbon monoxide, with simultaneous assembly of new nitrogen–carbon and carbon–carbon bonds.

Electron tomography has revealed the interior structure of a calcite–agarose composite material.

Charge transfer in a donor–bridge–acceptor ensemble is shown to be affected by exciting the vibrational modes of the hydrogen-bonded bridging groups.

The conversion of carbon dioxide into methanol has been achieved by a metal-free homogeneous process.