Inorganic chemistry articles within Nature Communications

Featured

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The reactivity of expanded porphyrins is highly influenced by their scaffold architecture. Here, the authors construct two nonaromatic dumbbell-shaped benzene- and pyridine-incorporating octaphyrins via Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling; depending on the framework, different coordination modes are obtained upon metallation with Pd(II).

    • Le Liu
    • , Zhiwen Hu
    •  & Jianxin Song

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Chemical elements at high pressure may behave more consistently with their periodic properties than they do at ambient conditions. The authors report the synthesis of PH3 from black phosphorous and hydrogen, and the crystallization of the van der Waals compound (PH3)2H2 which fills a gap in the chemistry of adjacent elements in the periodic table.

    • Matteo Ceppatelli
    • , Demetrio Scelta
    •  & Maurizio Peruzzini

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The synthesis of closo-carboranes with more than 14 vertexes is challenging, and no examples have been reported to date. Herein, the authors present the long-sought 15- and 16-vertex closo-carboranes, in which the introduction of silyl groups to the two cage carbons is crucial; this finding might enable the synthesis of even larger carborane analogs in the future.

    • Fangrui Zheng
    • , Tsz Hin Yui
    •  & Zuowei Xie

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Properties of perovskite oxides can be changed by manipulating anion-vacancy order patterns, but they are difficult to control. Here the authors show strain-induced creation and switching of anion vacancies in perovskite films in which the direction or periodicity of anion-vacancy planes is altered depending on the substrate employed.

    • Takafumi Yamamoto
    • , Akira Chikamatsu
    •  & Hiroshi Kageyama

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Synthesis of high crystal quality quantum dots (QDs) requires optimization of reaction temperature and precursor reactivity. Here, the authors report precursor chemistry that enables controllable modulation of precursor reactivity using chemical additives, and systematically grow high-quality QDs from cores of various sizes and materials.

    • Joonhyuck Park
    • , Arun Jayaraman
    •  & Hee-Sun Han

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Atomic structure of alkali metal is difficult to be revealed at room temperature because of the chemical reactivity and irradiation sensitivity. Here the authors show that electron beam-induced in situ growth of alkali metals enables the investigation of atomic structure and growth kinetics at high spatiotemporal resolution.

    • Chao Liang
    • , Xun Zhang
    •  & Yi Yu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Low-valent zinc clusters, though exceedingly rare, are appealing synthetic targets because there is evidence that they may show unconventional chemical and physical behavior. Here, the authors obtain a large heterometallic zinc-bismuth cluster anion and discover that it bears a metalloid {Zn12} core with four-center bonding and essentially zero-valent character.

    • Armin R. Eulenstein
    • , Yannick J. Franzke
    •  & Stefanie Dehnen

  • Review Article
    | Open Access

    The development of high performing metal-ion batteries require guidelines to build improved electrodes and electrolytes. Here, the authors review the current state-of-the-art in the rational design of battery materials by exploiting the interplay between composition, crystal structure and electrochemical properties.

    • Artem M. Abakumov
    • , Stanislav S. Fedotov
    •  & Jean-Marie Tarascon

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Materials with oxygen hyperstoichiometry received great attention in solid oxide fuel cells field because of the low activation energy of interstitial ion migration. Here the authors revealed the relationship between the structure and oxide ion migration for the whole series of CeNbO4+δ compounds.

    • Jian Li
    • , Fengjuan Pan
    •  & Junliang Sun

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Examples of π single bonds in diradicals are rare, as they are typically unstable. Here, the authors describe a room temperature-stable closed-shell bicyclic tetrasilane that features a Si-Si π single bond between two of the non-adjacent Si centers.

    • Soichiro Kyushin
    • , Yoshikuni Kurosaki
    •  & Hideyuki Matsumoto

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Zeolites have pore structures that are attractive for shape-selective catalysis and separation, but targeted synthesis is challenging. Here, the authors propose using a 3D-3D topotactic transformation to synthesize targeted zeolites, including some that may be not feasible with conventional methods.

    • Zhehao Huang
    • , Seungwan Seo
    •  & Xiaodong Zou

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Stable diradicals are generally based on two s/p-localized or π-delocalized unpaired electrons (radicals). Here, the authors report a dication diradical that is based on two Se∴Se three-electron σ-bonds.

    • Wenbang Yang
    • , Li Zhang
    •  & Xinping Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Many Zintl ions with a single endohedrally encapsulated transition metal ion are known, but relatively few where clusters of two or more metals are present. Here, the authors report the synthesis and characterization of two clusters, [Au8Pb33]6− and [Au12Pb44]12−, which contain Au8 and Au12 cores surrounded by Pb shells.

    • Cong-Cong Shu
    • , Harry W. T. Morgan
    •  & Zhong-Ming Sun

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The polyhedral skeletal electron pair theory (PESPT), also known as Wade-Mingos’ rules, defines a relationship between skeletal bonding electron pairs and structure of clusters. Here the authors report the synthesis, structure and computational studies of planar C2B4R4 carboranes that do not adhere to PESPT.

    • Wei Lu
    • , Dinh Cao Huan Do
    •  & Rei Kinjo

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Nested polyhedra are compelling but incredibly complex synthetic targets in cluster chemistry. Here, the authors synthesize a Ag90 nanocluster comprising three concentric polyhedra with apparently incompatible octahedral (Oh) and icosahedral (Ih) symmetry, a mathematical oddity that is solved by the shells’ symmetric arrangement around rotational 2- and 3-fold axes.

    • Yan-Min Su
    • , Zhi Wang
    •  & Di Sun

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Photosensitizers that  are stable in biological conditions with absorption in the biological spectral window are needed for photodynamic therapy. Here, the authors report on the development of a Ruthenium complex for 1 and 2-photon therapy to address these issues and demonstrate application in vivo.

    • Johannes Karges
    • , Shi Kuang
    •  & Gilles Gasser

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Zeolite Cu(I)Y is attractive for adsorptive removal of sulfur compounds from fuel, however practical application is limited by instability of Cu(I). Here the authors use a coating to achieve superhydrophobicity in the zeolite, leading to improved Cu(I) stability against oxidation and thiophene removal.

    • Yu-Xia Li
    • , Jia-Xin Shen
    •  & Lin-Bing Sun

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Oxygen capture is attractive for catalysis, sensing, and separations, but engineering stable and selective adsorbents is challenging. Here the authors combine metal-based electron transfer with secondary coordination sphere effects in a metal-organic framework, leading to strong and reversible O2 adsorption that also exhibits negative cooperativity.

    • Julia Oktawiec
    • , Henry Z. H. Jiang
    •  & Jeffrey R. Long

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Porous coordination frameworks that undergo reversible structural transformations are promising for sensing, switching and separations. Here, the authors report an electroactive framework that exhibits a reversible single crystal-to-single crystal double [2+2] photocyclisation, leading to property changes.

    • Dylan A. Sherman
    • , Ryuichi Murase
    •  & Deanna M. D’Alessandro

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Switching of nonlinear optical signals is attractive for photoelectronics and photonics, but development is hindered by a lack of control over the switch temperature. Here the authors report a coordination polymer system that serves as an alloy-like nonlinear optical switch with a tunable switch temperature.

    • Shi-Yong Zhang
    • , Xia Shu
    •  & Xiao-Ming Chen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Borospherenes are the boron-based analogs of fullerene cages. Here, the authors report a class of Ln3B18– metallo-borospherenes with unusual spherical trihedron geometry, in which the lanthanide atoms surprisingly form a part of the cage surface.

    • Teng-Teng Chen
    • , Wan-Lu Li
    •  & Lai-Sheng Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The controllable synthesis of organometallic polymers that can be used in ultrahigh information storage and anti-counterfeiting security has been an unsolved challenge. Here, the authors show sequence-controlled electrosynthesis of organometallic polymers with exquisite insertion of multiple and distinct monomers.

    • Jian Zhang
    • , Jinxin Wang
    •  & Mao Li

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The utilization of white-colored, wide-bandgap CO2 hydrogenation photocatalysts has been hindered by their limited light-harvesting ability. By making stoichiometric white indium oxide non-stoichiometric and black, it is transformed from a highly inactive to a highly active photothermal catalyst.

    • Lu Wang
    • , Yuchan Dong
    •  & Geoffrey A. Ozin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Diatomic carbon (C2) is historically an elusive chemical species, considered to require high physical energy for its generation. Here, the authors describe the first room-temperature chemical synthesis of C2 and present experimental evidence for its singlet biradical (quadruple bonding) character and role as a molecular element of nanocarbons.

    • Kazunori Miyamoto
    • , Shodai Narita
    •  & Masanobu Uchiyama

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Polarization change from directional electron transfer attracts considerable attention owing to its fast switching rate and potential light control. Here, the authors provide a proof-of-concept of electronic pyroelectricity induced by intramolecular electron transfer in the single crystal of a valence tautomeric compound.

    • Shu-Qi Wu
    • , Meijiao Liu
    •  & Osamu Sato

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Charge ordering in magnetite is an important example of the complex behaviour that emerges in transition metal oxides. Here the authors show that doping causes selective oxidation of one site in the established trimeron pattern, introducing an additional charge-ordered structure.

    • E. Pachoud
    • , J. Cumby
    •  & J. P. Attfield

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Metal-ligand δ and φ interactions, though considered weak, may be necessary for fully describing the electronic and geometric structures of certain compounds. Here, in actinide metallacycles, the authors discover two new types of M-L δ and φ back-bonds that contribute substantially to their unusual chemical behavior.

    • Morgan P. Kelley
    • , Ivan A. Popov
    •  & Ping Yang

  • Review Article
    | Open Access

    The 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to a trio of pioneers of the modern lithium-ion battery. Here, Professor Arumugam Manthiram looks back at the evolution of cathode chemistry, discussing the three major categories of oxide cathode materials with an emphasis on the fundamental solid-state chemistry that has enabled these advances.

    • Arumugam Manthiram

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Understanding the crystal structure of different calcium phosphates is important for a range of different subjects from geology to biomedicine. Here, the authors report on the synthesis and determination of the crystal structure of dicalcium phosphate monohydrate.

    • Bing-Qiang Lu
    • , Tom Willhammar
    •  & Denis Gebauer

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Electron spin is a fundamental property of molecules, and changes in spin state affect both molecular structure and dynamics. Here, the authors resolve, by ultrafast electron diffraction, the nuclear reorganization stabilizing spin transitions in a [FeII(bpy)3](PF6)2 crystal.

    • Yifeng Jiang
    • , Lai Chung Liu
    •  & R. J. Dwayne Miller

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Renewable hydrogen production from water will require understanding and improving the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) on catalyst surfaces. Here, authors report α-Li2IrO3 to transform into a hydrated birnessite phase under OER conditions that exhibits enhanced OER performances and durabilities.

    • Chunzhen Yang
    • , Gwenaëlle Rousse
    •  & Alexis Grimaud

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Lanthanoid complexes are widely used for various applications but so far it is difficult to combine multiple lanthanoids into one single molecular entity with sufficient stability. Here, the authors report a method for this purpose using peptide synthesis, and show that a trinuclear lanthanoid complex can be used to create a luminescence nanocode.

    • Elisabeth Kreidt
    • , Wolfgang Leis
    •  & Michael Seitz

  • Article
    | Open Access

    While converting water to H2 with a catalyst offers a renewable means to produce carbon-neutral fuels, understanding the catalytic active sites has proven challenging. Here, authors show a structurally well-defined model complex with Pt-O bonding to enable efficient H2 evolution electrocatalysis.

    • Fei-Yang Yu
    • , Zhong-Ling Lang
    •  & Yang-Guang Li

Browse broader subjects

Browse narrower subjects

Browse Inorganic chemistry across other nature.com journals