Themed collection 2026 Pioneering Investigator Collection

α-Carbonyl cationic intermediates have emerged as useful species for polarity-reversed functionalization of carbonyl compounds.

This review provides an overview of recent advances in low-dimensional metal electrocatalysts for high-performance and sustainable nitrate upgrading to high-value products via C–N coupling.

This Feature Article summarizes the dominant electrode-level degradation pathways in CO₂ electrolysis and critically evaluates regeneration strategies that restore performance without electrode replacement.

Recent advances in hydrogels based on vinyl amino acids (VAHs) are summarized in this review, including construction strategies, multifunctional properties, and diverse applications, along with current challenges and future perspectives.

This feature article highlights the most recent advances in nanoparticle-enabled delivery of proteolysis-targeting chimeras (PROTACs) for spatiotemporally controlled protein degradation.

Catalytic enantioselective desymmetrization of prochiral sulfoximines and sulfonimidamides enables efficient construction of chiral S(VI) stereocenters.

Mechanism-centric roadmap review organizing 30 years of nonspherical polymer-particle research to enable broader adoption of shape-engineering benefits.

Organic electronic device performance is increasingly recognized as an emergent property governed by molecular organization.

Te dopants steer CoFe toward ethanol via formate-mediated C–C coupling on electron-enriched surfaces, while Mo dopants redirect it to the RWGS pathway for high CO selectivity through stabilizing *CO on electron-deficient surfaces.

Hydrolysable quaternary ammonium analogues (Cn-N-R) are developed, offering potent, broad-spectrum bactericidal efficacy comparable to commercially available cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB).

A diazirine-based crosslinker enables direct photolithography of PEDOT:PSS with high-fidelity micropatterns.

² H NMR reveals the high lability of the THF ligands in zeolite-supported complexes. Dissociation occurs more readily with lighter metals, suggesting that it is predominantly driven by the steric force applied by the support surface.

An oxide/sulfide heterointerface regulates charge transfer and surface reconstruction, achieving a combination of fast OER kinetics and structural stability.

A low-barrier liquid–liquid conversion pathway is induced via atomically dispersed Fe sites to confine acetonitrile–I₂ charge-transfer complexes, realizing fast and reversible iodine redox kinetics even at −40 °C.

ZnO_1−x was synthesized for the photothermal catalytic glycolysis of PET. It presented nearly 100% depolymerization of PET with the purity of the obtained BHET about 96%. The recovered BHET was further utilized in the synthesis of polyurethane (PU).

A supramolecular network-based artificial light-harvesting system featuring two-step sequential energy transfer and its photocatalytic oxidation activity in aqueous media.

Benzo-extended fluorenophenalenes with tunable HOMO–LUMO gaps are synthesized, revealing substituent-dependent enhancement of aromaticity in the proaromatic p-quinodimethane core.

Introducing fluoroalkyl groups suppresses undesired high-voltage polymerization while maintaining sufficient ionic conductivity.

Herein, we prepared iron-specific porous adsorbents with six oxygen-formed deformable octahedral adsorption sites.

A quinoidal conjugated polymer was successfully synthesized. Its nanoparticles exhibit a ε of 52.7 L g⁻¹ cm⁻¹ at 1064 nm and a remarkable photothermal conversion efficiency of 82.2%, representing a promising platform for NIR-II photothermal therapy.

COF-OH-Rh catalysts facilitate formate-driven NADH regeneration via a radical pathway, which minimizes byproduct formation and enhances catalytic efficiency for L-glutamate synthesis.

A new UiO-66 derivative MOF, UiO-66-F₂(OH)₂, which integrates fluorine and hydroxyl groups for enhancing propylene/propane separation.

We developed a ligand-protected synthetic approach to fabricate discrete nickel boron–oxo clusters. Notably, BOC-22 serves as an efficient photocatalyst for visible-light-driven CO₂ reduction with CO and CH₄ as the main carbonaceous products.

We report a novel ¹⁹F MR imaging probe CoNO2ASF₅ exhibiting a large ¹⁹F chemical shift change of over 30 ppm in response to physiologically relevant pH changes.

Chiral monomers bearing (S)-configured stereogenic centers in α (red) or γ (magenta) positions on their side chains behave similarly to enantiomeric monomers.

Commercially available Hantzsch esters, and related dearomatized heterocycles react with SF₆, a potent and relatively unreactive greenhouse gas, promoted by 390 nm light. The pentafluorosulfanyl group is also reduced under these conditions.

NiO:SnO₂ nanofibers catalyze the electrochemical reduction of nitrate to ammonia. The effect of electrolyte cations K⁺, Na⁺, and Li⁺ on the ammonia product distribution is probed using DEMS.

The encapsulation of electrocatalysts within polymers featuring Lewis-basic functional groups enables opportunities to explore localized buffering effects and Gibbs–Donnan equilibria in ionomeric energy-transduction materials.

Alkali metal ketenyls with strong electron-withdrawing groups react with ammonia to form β-ketoamides, or activate all N–H bonds to give trianionic triamides that form dimers with a unique planar triangular {K₆}⁶⁺ array.

A reversible photopatterning strategy for quantum dots via ligand photoisomerization enables high-resolution writing and on-demand optical erasing.

The imidazole-incorporated CMP exhibits rapid sunlight-activated photochromic behaviour, altering its solid-state colour from yellow (red edge at 834 nm) to green (red edge at 1240 nm) with reversion in darkness.

In this communication we describe the crystal structure and unusual magnetic properties of La₇Os₃O₁₈, a new layered osmate with structurally discrete (non-corner-sharing) octahedra containing Os⁵⁺ with and strong spin–orbit coupling.

This comparative study investigates the role of side-group chemistry in mono-sulfonic acid dopants—CSA, DBSA, and TFMSA—within PANI/PAAMPSA complexes.

Dioxygen activation by a biomimetic FeZn₄(prv)₄(btdd)₃ MOF to form high-spin (S = 2) iron(IV)–oxo active species was revealed to proceed via two-state reactivity.

We report tetra-armed OPV-based imine COFs prepared by controlled-growth synthesis and show that imine linkage orientation dictates charge transport and hydrogen evolution.

A FeCuO_x bimetallic catalyst exhibits excellent NO₃RR performance in neutral electrolyte, achieving high performance.

Ball-milling-mediated activation of zinc(0) enables a one-pot Barbier/Simmons–Smith sequence, with diastereoselectivity emerging as a function of solvent loading.

In this report, efforts to create maximally electron deficient bicycles were undertaken using only inductive electron withdrawing effects.