Themed collection Celebrating International Women’s Day 2026: Women in Inorganic Chemistry

BODIPY-metal conjugated prodrugs: engineering targeted theranostic platforms for enhanced photodynamic and photothermal cancer therapy.

Nanomaterials have been developed utilizing organosulphur compounds, and the applications of such nanomaterials have been explored in catalysis and electrocatalysis.

This work demonstrates how metal-based chemotherapeutic candidates target key biomolecules (mitochondria, DNA, proteins, death receptors, enzymes and so on) to disrupt vital pathways to induce cancer cell death.

Mechanisms of action of copper–tinidazole complexes through a combination of experimental and theoretical studies.

In terms of electronic structure, the century-old brown ring complex formed in the classical brown ring test employed in the qualitative analysis of nitrate (and nitrite) is still a matter of debate among both theoretical and experimental chemists.

This perspective article deals with a comparative discussion on the isostructural molecular compounds of magnesium and zinc, both in +2 oxidation state, in terms of electronic properties and reactivity.

Graphical representation of electrochemical water splitting with Earth-abundant metal complex-based electrocatalysts.

This perspective article highlights the historical developments and recent progress in engineering two-dimensional nanomaterials using atomically precise noble metal nanoclusters, their properties and applications.

PTMCs target multidrug-resistant bacteria through ROS production, membrane disruption, and biomolecular interference. Their luminescence properties enable real-time imaging, offering powerful dual-action tools for infection diagnosis and therapy.

Nature’s molybdenum vs. tungsten selectivity for their biological functions under different working conditions (surrounding temperature and aerobic/anaerobic environment) is determined mainly by the relativistic effect which is experienced in different extents by these two congeners.

This review covers the design, synthesis, and biomedical applications of gold, silver, and iron nanoparticle-based nanogels. It highlights their multifunctional role in therapy and diagnostics while exploring challenges and future prospects.

This frontier article integrates synthesis strategies with structure–activity insights, advancing the rational development of multifunctional POM electrocatalysts for sustainable energy.

Lanthanide ions and phosphine ligands form multifunctional complexes with diagnostic and therapeutic potential, combining stability, solubility, and unique electronic properties for cancer applications. Graphical abstract image generated with AI.

Rhodamine-metal complexes enhance tumor cell selectivity and reactive oxygen species generation, addressing traditional rhodamines' limitation in photodynamic therapy. This new method offers promising applications in cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Ru/Ir/Re/Rh-based metallopharmaceuticals utilize diverse therapeutic approaches, including photodynamic therapy (PDT), sonodynamic therapy (SDT), chemodynamic therapy (CDT), and photothermal therapy (PTT), to enhance their anticancer efficacy.

A journey on Earth abundant transition metal complexes as emiters for Light-emitting Electrochemical Cells.

Surface decorated metal carbonyl clusters consisting of a metal carbonyl core decorated by metal–ligand fragments or composed of a naked metal core decorated by metal-carbonyl fragments are described and compared to other ligated nanoclusters.

This tutorial-review describes a systematic framework for selecting suitable electrolytes to improve the efficiency of resulting non-aqueous redox flow batteries.

Ru(II) carbonyl amidates are introduced as a new precursor class for ALD. Substitution pattern engineering yielded volatile and liquid complexes, which are predicted to interact favorably with O₂, O radicals, and NH₃.

The utilisation of p-cymene Ru^II-NHC complexes as pre-catalysts with formic acid as the H₂ source facilitates the formation of catalytically active diruthenium species.

A new, facile, and scalable ultrasound-assisted synthesis yields Cs₂AgBiBr₆ nanocrystals (∼6 nm) with high visible-light photocatalytic activity and remarkable stability.

We identified tert-butyl copper(II) phthalocyanine as the target material for reactor-based production of medically relevant quality and quantity copper-64 using recoil chemistry.

Catalytic olefin hydrosilylation with an original bis(iminophosphorane)phosphine NPN Co^II complex.

We systematically tune a hybrid metal thiocyanate family containing pyridine-N-oxide ligands, demonstrating potential for optical, electronic, and energy applications.

Blue-light promoted iron-catalyzed reactions of activated alkynes with secondary phosphine oxides and tert-butylhydroperoxide at RT led to benzo[b]phosphole-oxides and 9-phenyltribenzo[b,e,g]phosphindole-9-oxides.

This study shows that gas-phase hydrogen bond energies of aqua/ammine metal complexes mainly depend on complex charge and oxidation state to coordination number (OS/CN) ratio, while being largely independent of geometry, metal type or other ligands.

A new, simple, efficient and selective preparation of apical mono-phosphino closo-decahydrido-decaborate [N(n-Bu)₄]₂[1-B₁₀H₉PR₃] is reported starting from [N(n-Bu)₄]₂[1-B₁₀H₉I], tertiary phosphines and Pd(0)-PR₃ under mild conditions.

Triaza-18-crown-6-based macrocycle, H₃tripa, rapidly forms stable complexes with ²⁰³Pb and ²¹³Bi; structural, thermodynamic, and computational data support H₃tripa as a dual-purpose chelator for Pb/Bi-based radiotheranostics.

The synthesis of a rare-earth cluster-based MOF can be carried out using seven different yttrium(III) precursors.

Fuorescence experiments postulate [NiSi]@NU-1000 as a promising SO₂ detector due to its high SO₂ selectivity, showing an evident quenching effect.

Polymerization isomerism for tungsten alkoxides was observed via quick mutual transformation of distinct molecular forms near room temperature.

Choice of NHC and reducing agent are key to controlling the reduction chemistry of NHC-stabilised Aluminium(III) hydrides.

The dearomative functionalization of indoles to C2-borylated indolenium compounds is achieved under mild conditions by leveraging the high Lewis acidity of bis(1-methyl-ortho-carobranyl)borane.

An yttrium(III) metal–organic framework based on the V-shaped ditopic linker 4,4′-oxydibenzoate, oba²⁻: [Y₁₆(μ-OH₂)(μ₃-OH)₈(oba)₂₀(dmf)₄]·7H₂O·7dmf, 1, was solvothermally prepared, exhibiting an unusual 3D metal secondary building unit.

Obtained in a flux, K₂CaCu₆O₂(PO₄)₄ represents a new centrosymmetric modification of fumarolic arsenate shchurovskyite. The new oxocuprate phosphate orders antiferromagnetically in two steps, and theoretically, it can facilitate K-ion migration.

Four zinc precursors have been compared in a single thermal ALD setup to show that alternatives to the common DEZ exist, confirming that high-quality ZnO was obtained from all precursors.

Despite their very similar structures, the magnetic properties of the three cobalt(II)-phenanthroline complex solvates are not the same.

The ligand gave two types of Cu₄ assemblies showing new molecular structural patterns, interacting magnetic properties, DNA binding property and catalytic activity.

We synthesize a series of rare-earth magnets Ba₃BiPbREO(BO₃)₄ (RE = Pr, Nd, Gd, and Dy) with geometrically-perfect 2D triangular lattice, showing dominant antiferromagnetic interactions, with no long-range order down to 2 K due to spin frustration.

Incommensurately modulated Na₂[MoO₂(SO₄)₂] and β-K₂[MoO₂(SO₄)₂], the 2D sibling of the 3D α-phase, are reported. Both contain Mo(VI) and traces of Mo(V) as suggested by UV-Vis spectroscopy but below the detection limit of magnetic measurements.

Synthesis and evaluation of an 8-hydroxyquinoline-based macrocycle exhibiting selectivity for the larger lanthanide ions. Optical spectroscopy and radiolabelling with terbium-161 revealed the potential for dual-modal terbium(III) theranostic probes.

We report an unprecedented one-pot route synthesis and in-depth magnetic characterization of a new binuclear copper(II) complex with the tridentate PAN ligand (1-(2-pyridylazo)-2-naphthol).

This study explores the applicability of magnetic zeolites from industrial waste for the removal of emerging water contaminants and their recovery by ultrasound (UsAE), microwave (MwAE), and magnetic hyperthermia (MhAE) assisted extraction.

Cationic heteroleptic Ni(II) complexes are reported to assess the effect of chelate ring size on electrochemical proton reduction. Complex with dppp ligand showed superior HER activity due to greater conformational flexibility of its chelate ring.

Pincer-type zinc complexes bearing unsymmetrical 2-amino-6-iminopyridines with pendant diphenylphosphine show high activities towards ring-opening polymerization of lactides with TOF up to 1.03 × 10⁴ h⁻¹ activated by LiN(SiMe₃)₂.

Sustainable acetalization of furfural by 1-hexanol, cyclo-hexanol and their mixtures catalyzed with 2.5%NiOx@CSR.

Cytosine–Ag modified HKUST-1 exhibits laccase-like catalysis through synergistic ligand-chelating metalation in a MOF.

Phase transformation of Sr₃(PO₄)₂:Eu to Sr₅(PO₄)₃Cl:Eu in molten SrCl₂ is accompanied by the self-reduction of Eu³⁺ to Eu²⁺. Luminescent properties and the influence of synthesis conditions were studied.

The bio-reductive [Co(III)–Pt(II)] complex is developed for the selective release of Pt(II) by exploiting tumor-specific redox conditions for selective anticancer activity.

A new chia seed-based composite with a therapeutic coordination polymer was developed, showing a broad spectrum of antimicrobial action.

The inclusion of bis-salophen Zn(II) complexes functionalized with thiophene moieties in platinum ultra-small nanoparticles allows enhancement of photoconductance response.

This study effectively generated zinc ferrite (ZnFe₂O₄) and ytterbium oxide (Yb₂O₃) nanoparticles (NPs) using the co-precipitation method and a binary nanocomposite Yb₂O₃/ZnFe₂O₄@PEG supported by polyethene glycol (PEG).

The reaction of HB(C₆F₅)₂ with 1,2-dithiolene diiron complexes affords the first examples incorporating Lewis acidic borane moieties, allowing their reactivity toward hydride donors to be explored.

A self-assembled MOF–clay nanocomposite hydrogel exhibits superior dye adsorption and separation efficacy.

We investigated europium 1-naphthoate-pentafluorobenzoate compounds to study mixed-anion lanthanide complexes across all anion ratios. This led to diverse crystal structures and insights into how anion ratio affects structural and optical properties.

A triazine-based covalent porous organic polymer is developed from 2,6-diformyl-4-methylphenol and melamine. Nickel(II) was incorporated into the polymer. The nickel incorporated catalyst exhibited excellent electrocatalytic MOR activity.

Heterobimetallic dimetallocenes ([Cp–Be–M–Cp]⁺, M = B–Tl) with a donor–acceptor σ-bond; the percentage of covalent character increases when the group 13 element changes from B to Tl.

Schematic representation of (a) the preparation of CNF and Pt@CNF, and (b) a symmetric electrolyser using two identical hybrid Pt@CNF electrodes.

The development of efficient and stable electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is crucial for renewable energy conversion and storage systems.

Ni-URJC-3 demonstrates high CO₂ adsorption, significant H₂ storage capacity, and notable catalytic activity in the CO₂ cycloaddition of epoxides, underscoring its versatility for energy- and environmentally-oriented applications.

Manganese catalysts involved in C(sp³)–H bond oxidation were explored in the synthesis of (salen/salophen)manganese complexes, including catalytically competent dinuclear manganese(III)-μ-hydroxo and trinuclear manganese(IV/III/IV)-μ-oxo complexes.

A series of monometallic Pd and Pt complexes, as well as homobimetallic Pd/Pt and heterobimetallic Pd/Pt complexes with Ru/Os are reported. Their in vitro cytotoxicity on a panel of cancer cell-lines is also reported, along with speciation studies.

A new pyridinone-based linker was used to construct a family of lanthanide hybrid materials. Structural, thermal, and luminescence results reveal linker engineering drives the formation of novel architectures and affects material properties.

Several fluorine-substituted cyclometallated Rh(III) complexes were synthesized, characterized and modelled for biological interest.

Novel fluorescent Ru(II)–Cp complexes exhibit strong anticancer activity, particularly against U2OS cells. They enter cells via caveolin-mediated endocytosis, accumulate in lysosomes, and induce oxidative stress–driven apoptosis.

The synthesized Oestradiol-functionalized Au(I) bis(1,2,3-triazol-5-ylidene) complex exhibits high cytotoxicity and a 7-fold increased cellular uptake in ERα-positive breast cancer cells (MCF-7) compared to its oestradiol-free analogue.

A series of Pt(IV)-DFO (deferoxamine) complexes were successfully synthesised and radiolabelled with ⁶⁸Ga for potential theranostic applications in osteosarcoma.

Higher SHG efficiencies were observed for the T-shaped ferrocene-conjugated phthalimide chromophore 2 with an additional cyanovinylene group and the TICT effect.

Reactivity of an electrophilic iridium(III) complex, [Ir(H)(PMe₃)(^tBu4POCOP)][BAr^F₄] with H₂, H₃B·THF, and H₃B·NMe₂H has been studied. The complex brings about the heterolytic cleavage of the B–H bond in H₃B·THF and H₃B·NMe₂H via the intermediacy of σ-borane complexes.

The synthesis of a heterobinuclear Fe^IINi^II thiolate complex with an active coordination site (L′) has been achieved. The compound was accessed utilizing a compartmental N₆S₂ ligand and a stepwise metalation approach.