News & Comment

Let’s flip over the periodic table to peek at its dark side.

The periodic table as we know it now seems complete, its current 118 elements nicely fitting in the seven familiar rows. How many more can be synthesized — and how will the table expand to accommodate them? The search for ever-heavier elements is pointing towards new periods, though perhaps not as neatly ordered as the first seven.

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.

Scientists and non-scientists alike have long been dreaming of elements with mighty properties. Perhaps the fictional materials they have conjured up are not as far from reality as it may at first seem.

Yuri Oganessian relates the story of the formation and decay of a doubly odd moscovium nucleus.

At its inception, the periodic table sorted elements by weight, so it may be surprising that the heaviest natural element on Earth remains controversial, or at best, nebulous. In the strange, perhaps-unfinished search for this weightiest nucleus, the only definitive conclusion is that it lies somewhere beyond uranium.

Stuart Cantrill explains why looking to the heavens for element 61 — named after the Titan who stole fire from the gods — could extend the periodic table.

Bruce Gibb focuses on fatty acids and wonders whether we’ll all be eating cyanobacteria before too long.

Liz Williams explores the synthesis of tennessine, a story in which elements in supporting roles play a crucial part.

Michelle Francl considers how metaphor breathes life into chemistry.

Shawn C. Burdette and Brett F. Thornton examine hafnium’s emergence from ores containing a seemingly identical element to become both a chemical oddity and an essential material for producing nuclear energy.

Taye Demissie relates unununium’s unusually smooth route to roentgenium, and how predicting its properties relies on relativistic calculations.

Vikki Cantrill tells the story of element 88’s discovery and how its glowing reputation eventually faded.

Bruce C. Gibb takes us on a journey through the physical and chemical evolution of planet Earth and suggests that the reverse Hofmeister effect, the phenomenon whereby poorly solvated ions associate in water, could be a powerful driving force towards the first hint of life on the rock we call home.

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.

Michelle Francl dusts off Pauling’s notes on bonding to explore the illusory link between electron promotion and hybridization.

Ghotas Evindar, Chemistry Group Leader at GlaxoSmithKline, talks with Nature Chemistry about the advantages of using encoded libraries in drug discovery and the challenges these technologies present.

Kit Chapman explores the voyage to the discovery of element 118, the pioneer chemist it is named after, and false claims made along the way.

Scientists take nomenclature seriously, but tritium was named in a casual aside. Brett F. Thornton and Shawn C. Burdette discuss the heavy, radioactive hydrogen isotope that is available for purchase online.

Adrian Dingle relates how one ‘element’ that fell off the periodic table was eventually replaced by two.