Themed collection 2024 Focus and Perspective articles

Ionic liquids are efficient pretreatment solvents for cellulosic biomass, but typical cellulose-dissolving ionic liquids are toxic to microorganisms, hindering the fermentation process for bioethanol production. Here I summarize the mechanisms of toxicity and how to overcome the toxicity.

Hydrogels, polymer networks with versatile applications in both energy-related devices and biomedicine, fall into three categories: natural, synthetic, and hybrid hydrogels.

Selenium deficiency increases pathogenicity of RNA viruses. While dietary selenium supplementation has been practiced clinically, synthetic selenium compounds are under evaluation for their antiviral activity, important classes are discussed in this essay.

Application of micro/nanomotors in environmental remediation is discussed.

When designing sensors for optoelectronic devices, fluorescent materials are always the choice of material chemists.

Due to the wide range of uses of graphene and its composites in electrocatalysis and photocatalysis, there has been a lot of interest in these materials.

This review summarized the progress in synthesizing eight-membered N-heterocycles over the past two decades (1995–2023), inspiring synthetic chemists to develop more efficient strategies for the construction of these skeletons.