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Inorganic semiconductors have long been used to construct rectifying diodes, but making them out of single molecules has remained a challenge. Now, two separate studies have induced rectification behaviour within molecular systems through different approaches.

The Nobel Laureate Meetings held on the German island of Lindau bring together some of the world's brightest young minds with those individuals who have reached a pinnacle of scientific achievement. The impact of this unique event on all the delegates — especially the young researchers — is far-reaching.

Copper-containing proteins can be classified into types 1 and 2, depending on their functional or spectroscopic properties. Now, a protein that fits neither type has been built using a scaffold made from the protein Pseudomonas aeruginosa azurin.

Complete chiral symmetry breaking of an amino acid derivative is achieved by circularly polarized light irradiation of a solution of the racemate in contact with racemic crystals, followed by abrasive grinding. The chirality of the amino acid derivative in the resultant crystals is fully determined by the rotation sense of the irradiation.

Silica microstructures can be grown from a sodium silicate solution using polymer beads loaded with transition-metal salts.

Calculations and model reactions show that a simple iterative Diels–Alder strategy is a viable method for the synthesis of most single-chirality carbon nanotubes.

A diarylethylene photoswitch can control paralysis in a nematode worm.

The nucleation and growth of methane hydrates have been investigated by molecular dynamic simulations.

A thiourea-derived catalyst provides the key to the scaleable Strecker synthesis of α-amino acids with quaternary alkyl and aryl substituents.

A computational method to screen metal–organic frameworks for hydrothermal stability has been developed.

Altering the properties of materials by using an external signal, such as light, heat or mechanical stress, is attractive for the preparation of functional materials in diverse fields. This Perspective focuses on liquid and solid materials that change the colour of their luminescence under mechanical pressure, and highlights the structural changes involved.

Small peptide-derived catalysts are shown to be effective in the enantioselective sulfonylation of polyols. The observation that, using closely related catalysts, enantiotopic alcohols can be phosphorylated or sulfonylated, raises questions about the details of catalyst–substrate recognition and, from a biomimetic standpoint, the role of histidine residues in enzyme active sites.

The development of molecules that target protein–protein interactions is one of the main goals of contemporary medicinal chemistry. Computational alanine scanning and molecular dynamics now leads to the identification of two peptide sequences that are important in microtubule assembly, and shows that the in silico activity can be translated into in vitro activity.

The properties of surfaces can be tailored by coating them with a thin film of molecules, for example by forming self-assembled monolayers. Now, researchers have shown how dynamic covalent chemistry can be used to reversibly pattern different compounds on to a surface with a high degree of spatial control to produce molecular gradients.

The development of general synthetic strategies for the prepartion of oligonucleotides and peptides has enabled them to be made routinely — often using automated systems. Making complex oligosaccharides is much less straightforward, but advances in areas such as one-pot multi-step protecting-group manipulations, stereoselective glycosylation protocols and chemo-enzymatic methods are offering new opportunities for carbohydrate chemistry.

The ability to study structural changes of DNA in live cells is of considerable interest. Here, a dinuclear ruthenium (II) complex that acts as a multifunctional stain for DNA and its use in both luminescence and transmission electron microscopy studies is described.

Plastic solar cells contain a blend of conjugated polymer and fullerene electron-acceptor material that phase separates, resulting in the formation of heterojunctions. Improving the performance of these devices requires an understanding of the blend morphology. Now researchers show how a microwave-assisted synthesis method can be used to create structurally diverse copolymers enabling the investigation of their structure–function relationship.

Materials built from metal centres and organic ligands have traditionally attracted attention for their channels’ host–guest properties. Now, controlling the occupancy of the channels by guest molecules has resulted in a framework that conducts protons under anhydrous conditions and acts as a gas-tight membrane, offering a promising approach to fuel-cell electrolytes.

Comparing microwave-heated reactions in glass and silicon carbide vials suggests that heating effects alone are responsible for the benefits of performing chemistry in a microwave.

Colloidal inorganic nanoparticles can self-assemble into ordered, aperiodic superlattices.