Themed collection Celebrating 10 years of Chemical Science

Welcome to the first of our special anniversary issues planned for this year, marking 10 years since Chemical Science published its first issue, back in July 2010.

This perspective gives an outlook on the design of interparticle confined nanocavities in self-assembled NP systems and their functional relevance.

The combination of boron Lewis acid catalysts and hydride sources enables the cleavage of various carbon–heteroatom bonds.

This review article documents the key developments in the metal-free catalytic reduction of CO₂ into various energy intensive chemicals and fuels, and reductive functionalization of CO₂ for the formation of new C–N bonds.

This review summarizes the applications of grafted semiconducting polymer amphiphiles (SPAs) as multimodal optical nanoagents for cancer imaging and combination phototherapy.

Molecular machines can be made more useful with interfacial nanoarchitectonics.

The emission response for vibration-induced emission luminogens is highly sensitive to the encountered steric hindrance during the planarization process such that a tiny structural variation could induce an obvious change in fluorescence.

Clusters containing tin atoms show a huge variety of molecular structures, chemical as well as physical properties.

This article reviews the design, synthesis, and application of different classes of Ub-based chemical probes.

This minireview introduces Pd-catalyzed direct asymmetric C–H functionalization reactions using a directing group strategy.

This minireview summarized the recent advances on the photoinduced, NHC-catalyzed organic reactions according to the function of visible light.

This minireview looks at recent electrodeposition strategies for metal (hydro)oxide design and water oxidation applications, unveiling the unique properties and underlying principles of electrodeposited metal (hydro)oxides in the OER.

This review discusses the current scope and limitations of the [2 + 2] photocycloaddition reaction between an imine and an alkene component, the aza Paternò–Büchi reaction, and highlights recent improvements within this area of research.

Decisions, decisions, decisions: the interplay between different retrosynthetic strategies in the synthesis of the highly bridged, polycyclic arcutane natural products.

Recent developments of microfluidics-based antibiotic susceptibility tests (ASTs) at the single-cell or single-molecule level are summarized for guiding antibiotic treatment.

Chiral polyether macrocycles are versatile molecules.

A mechanically responsive polymer system that is hydrolytically stable without stress, but unmasks enol ether backbone linkages under force to allow facile hydrolytic degradation.

A tyrosine in the active site of the 5′ cap methyltransferase Ecm1 was photocaged. Translation of mRNA could be triggered by light in eukaryotic cell lysate.

The direct chemical reduction of CAACCO2 adducts by alkali metals to yield multinuclear clusters is reported. The mono- and dianions of CO₂ have been studied for decades and are fundamentally important oxycarbanions and critical species in CO₂ fixation chemistry.

The scaling relationship of methane activation via a radical-like transition state shifts toward a more reactive region with decreasing coordination number of the active sites.

Understanding the origin and sensitivity of carbon dot emission will improve their utility in various applications.

The reactivity of sphingosine and acetylsphingosines towards both metal-free and metal-treated amyloid-β is demonstrated showing a correlation of their micellization properties.

We report a dual-fluorophore approach for ratiometric fluorescent imaging of K⁺ levels in live cells. Intracellular esterases cleave RPS-1 to detach the K⁺-responsive fluorophore (PS525) from its internal standard (Coumarin 343).

Engineered artificial cells respond to environmental cues through a pre-programmed enzymatic machinery that induces spatio-structural organization and activation of effector proteins at the lipid membrane.

A sustainable and rapid mechanochemical method for the preparation of bimetallic nanosized pentlandite particles as cathode material is developed and tested within zero-gap PEM cells.

Covalent organic frameworks define a versatile structural paradigm combining various attractive properties. The impact of different dopants on the conductivity of imine-linked 2D COFs featuring a redox-active Wurster-type motif was studied.

Click-triggered flip of the conformation of a sulfated iduronyl azide afforded a superior enzyme substrate to screen for Hunter syndrome.

We reported the synthesis of hexa-peri-benzocoronene (HBC) with two extra K-regions adopting an ortho-configuration. The systematical study provides deep insights about the effect of zigzag edge on the π-conjugated pathway and molecular design.

Metal free click reactions used to glycosylate ubiquitin and its mutant A28C afforded two protein scaffolds with high affinity for Burkholderia ambifaria lectin (BambL).

Aminoalkyl radicals can be used as both initiators and chain-carriers for the conversion of aryl halides into the corresponding radicals. This approach by-passes the requirement for strongly reducing photocatalysts.

Tailorable multicomponent MOFs and MOF membranes for efficient H₂/CO₂ separation.

A near-infrared fluorescence probe for detecting pantetheinase activity has been used for imaging pantetheinase in mice with inflammatory bowel disease.

Construction of a water oxidising photoanode with an organic chromophore-catalyst dyad.

The structure of the drug, represented with a SMILES sequence, is being translated into the structures of possible metabolites that can be formed in the human body.

Characterization of a group D putative sensory [FeFe]-hydrogenase reveals how the active site can be tuned to decrease CO inhibition and increase stability of a reduced H-cluster while retaining the ability to catalyze H⁺/H₂ interconversion.

A trans-product is isolated and characterized under traditional hydroboration–oxidation conditions using Δ⁵-steroids as substrates. Experimental and theoretical studies indicate that the trans-species occurs via a retro-hydroboration mechanism.

Ultra-high throughput in silico screening identified molecules that bind to α-synuclein fibrils, which were analyzed by photo-crosslinking, structure-activity studies, and radioligand binding to validate this approach for finding imaging probes.

Combining phosphatase activity assays with molecular docking and free energy calculations reveals low promiscuity and substrate binding of intrinsically labile phospho-lysine peptides to the enzyme LHPP.

Well-formed AIE nanoaggregates with good stability can achieve high-fidelity visualization of lysosomal movement and drug-escaping processes.

A new mitochondrial uncoupler that forms membrane permeable dimers through interactions of remote acidic and anion receptor groups.

RuRhPdIrPt high-entropy-alloy nanoparticles with a broad and featureless valence band spectrum show high hydrogen evolution reaction activity.

Electrochemical stability and state delocalization critically impact the functions and practical applications of electronically active polymers.

High-spin diiron alkylidenes give insight into the electronic structure and functional relevance of carbon in the FeMoco active site of nitrogenase.

Phenol-like group functionalized graphene quantum dots that structurally mimic natural antioxidants are constructed as high-efficacy reactive oxygen species scavengers for acute kidney injury antioxidative therapy.

We report the kinetically controlled supramolecular polymerization of organic two-dimensional charge-transfer nanostructures via a chemical reaction (imine)-driven approach.

A modified Vilsmeier–Haack reaction resulted in the synthesis of a pyrylium based turn-on fluorescent pH probe. The probe can monitor minute acidification and dynamic pH variation in cells during apoptosis with therapeutic chemo drugs.

We report a metal-free novel route for the accelerated synthesis of benzimidazole and its derivatives in the ambient atmosphere.

With total scattering methods and stacking fault simulations, we observe previously predicted random local layer offsets in a COF, which are typically disguised by the apparent crystallographic symmetry but strongly influence properties.

To understand factors that determine ring pattern and stereochemistry of thioether cyclization of lanthipeptide natural products, the structures of five prochlorosins (blue) and two enterococcal cytolysins (red) were determined by NMR spectroscopy.

The complexity of the simplest conceivable cell suggests that the chemistry of prebiotic mixtures needs to be explored to understand the intricate network of prebiotic reactions that led to the emergence of life.

Triboluminescent compounds that generate emission of light in response to mechanical stimulus are promising targets in the development of “smart materials” and damage sensors.

Bimetallic cooperativity is demonstrated with a Co/Zr complex featuring both nucleophilic Zr(IV) oxo and redox active Co sites.

Trinuclear gold(I) complexes of C₃-symmetric tris(ferrocenyl)arene-based tris-phosphanes with four accessible oxidation states catalyse the ring-closing isomerisation of N-(2-propyn-1-yl)benzamide with different rates depending on their redox state.

Designer inorganic nanoblocks encrypt 2D superatomic crystals with in-plane anisotropy, quasi-chiral domains and rich physicochemical properties.

A late-stage electrochemical decarboxylation enables rapid access to structural analogues of biseokeaniamides A–C, cytotoxic lipopeptide natural products.

Guidelines for incorporating aza-glycine residues in collagen peptides are presented, detailing their effects on triple-helical thermal stability.

Clinical and pre-clinical GAG-based biotherapeutics were encapsulated within three metal-azolate frameworks (ZIF-8, ZIF-90, and MAF-7). The resulting MOF biocomposites show different loading capacity, biopreservation properties and release profiles.

SAXS studies confirm that a judicious binary mixture of enthalpically incompatible steric stabilizer blocks enables the synthesis of relatively small, well-defined vesicles via polymerization-induced self-assembly in aqueous media.

The molecular mechanism of the proteolysis reaction catalyzed by SARS-CoV-2 M^pro, one of the enzymes essential for the replication process of the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, is described using computational QM/MM methods.

Ion-conductive liquid-crystalline molecules with high-oxidation resistance, which were designed with density functional theory calculation, improved charge–discharge reactions in Li-ion batteries.

Our results unequivocally reveal the importance of spin states, spin coupling and spin cooperation in controlling the reactivity in dinuclear Fe-oxo species.

The synthesis and characterization of an iridium polyhydride complex (Ir-H₄) supported by an electron-rich PCP framework and capable of mild hydrogen/deuterium exchange catalysis is described.

The surface partitioning of a medium chain fatty acid and its conjugate base has been investigated through a combined experimental and theoretical approach of the multi-equilibria involved in the bulk phase and at the air/water interface.

Here we report gold(I)-catalyzed cycloisomerization as a new powerful synthetic tool for the preparation of π-extended BODIPY derivatives.

Accommodation of polyacrylonitrile in MOFs facilitated and regulated the transformation to ladder polymer in the carbonization process.

Amination of the endohedral fullerene Gd@C82 exhibits enhanced quantum phase memory time and tunable substitution effect for quantum information processing.

Direct difunctionalization of chemically distinct ortho- and peri-C–H bonds of fused hetero(arenes) is illustrated through an unusual one-pot domino {[4 + 2] & [5 + 2]} double annulation with alkynes for the first time.

We employ a python computational tool to compare 3 relevant case studies with increasingly complex ground states: vanadyl complexes, Ho(III) square antiprisms and Ho(III) cubic structures.

The Cu electrode surface is reconstructed by a halide anion assisted method for promoting CO₂ reduction.

The discrete nature of the charge carriers at polarised soft interfaces yields sharp potential profiles as well as concentration and potential independent capacitances.