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It is far from certain how simple chemical reactions became interconnected networks that gave rise to life on early Earth. Exploring the possible ways in which this could have occurred is an active area of research and a collection of articles in this issue consider what chemical steps may have been taken on the path towards life as we know it today.
Two Q&As in this issue consider aspects of chemical safety in industry and academia. And when it comes to the latter, a Review Article concludes that much more research is required to better understand — and improve — safety in academic laboratories.
As the International Year of the Periodic Table draws to an end, we reflect on how it has prompted chemists to explore the past, present and future of this chemical icon.
In our very first issue, eight scientists shared their visions for how they thought chemistry would develop and now, ten years on, we have asked another group of researchers to look to the future. We also take this opportunity to look back and reflect on a decade of Nature Chemistry.
The United Nations has declared 2019 to be the International Year of the Periodic Table to coincide with this iconic chemical chart turning 150 years old. We join in with the celebrations by publishing a collection of articles that explore the edges of the periodic system and look at some of the elements that do — and don’t — make up the table.
Encoded chemical libraries can be used to screen a vast array of compounds against a protein target to identify potent binders. A collection of articles in this issue discuss different methods to increase the chemical space sampled by encoded macrocycle libraries and the advantages that such libraries offer for discovering new drug leads.
Our understanding of actinide chemistry lags behind that of the rest of the periodic table. A collection of articles in this issue highlights recent progress featuring uranium(VI) dianions bearing four U–N multiple bonds, berkelium(IV) stabilized in solution and delocalization of 5f electrons in a plutonium material.
The launch of Nature Chemistry in 2009 prompted some criticism of journal proliferation, but 100 issues later this young offender has matured into an accepted part of the publishing landscape.
A range of mechanisms have evolved for communicating information across cell membranes, but designing synthetic analogues is far from trivial. A collection of articles in this issue discuss different methods of passing chemical information across lipid bilayers using artificial systems.
There are many unanswered questions regarding how the biomolecules and biomechanical processes that define life came to be. A collection of Articles in this issue show how intermediates in RNA synthesis might have formed and how the initiation and evolution of RNA replication might have occurred.
Taking chemical technology from the bench to the consumer is a formidable challenge, but it is how research can ultimately benefit wider society. Companies are now beginning to incorporate metal–organic frameworks into commercial products, heralding a new era for the field.
Nitric oxide (NO) is an important signalling molecule in biological systems, but it is unclear exactly how it interacts with some metalloproteins. Now, a collection of articles in this issue reveal how NO binds to proteins containing type-1 copper sites.
Chemistry research and education face challenges anywhere in the world, but more so in less developed — or less stable — economies. These countries and their more economically fortunate neighbours can all contribute to the development of chemistry and its ability to tackle local and global issues.
The modification of proteins with fluorophores, drugs and polymers is required for many applications, yet conjugation reactions often generate a heterogeneous mixture of products. A collection of articles in this issue focuses on methods to modify proteins in a site-selective manner.
The field of molecular electronics has developed significantly as experimental techniques to study charge transport through single molecules have become more reliable. Three Articles in this issue highlight how chemists can now better understand and control electronic properties at the molecular level.
A collection of articles in this issue focuses on the chemical origin of life — how simple molecules present on the early Earth could have evolved into the complex dynamic biochemistry that we know today.
