Themed collection ChemComm 60th Anniversary Collection

This highlight focuses on breakthroughs, future perspectives and applications of ultra-high-energy-density lithium-based battery systems beyond 500 W h kg⁻¹, represented by systems such as Li–S/Se batteries, Li–gas batteries, Li–CF_x batteries, etc.

This highlight summarises electrochemical approaches for the deconstructive functionalization of arylcycloalkanes via the fragmentation of anodically generated aromatic radical cations.

Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) is powerful for characterizing the mechanical properties of organic/polymeric semiconductors.

VCD spectroscopy associated with DFT calculations is a powerful tool to unambiguously assign both the absolute configurations and conformations of chiral secondary metabolites directly in solution.

This highlight article summarizes the complete development of photodecarboxylative functionalization of free carboxylic acids via a concerted single electron transfer (SET) or energy transfer (ET) pathways.

This article highlights the expansion of time-resolved serial femtosecond crystallography (TR-SFX) to chemical systems by overcoming the challenges in SFX for small molecules.

Novel NOS linkages stabilize protein tertiary and quaternary structures and may be as prevalent as disulfide bonds. They regulate enzyme activity and have other important roles.

The field of chiral 2D and quasi-2D perovskite is reviewed highlighting the most important results to date and indicating future directions for advancement.

Alkene carbofunctionalization reactions have great potential for synthesizing complex molecules and constructing complex structures in natural products and medicinal chemistry.

This review summarizes the hierarchical structure and multifaceted properties of natural silk fibers, and provides an in-depth analysis of their extensive applications in the realms of biomedicine and advanced smart fiber technology.

This highlight discusses the advantages of various oxidation methods for improved performance of the electrochemical oxidation of ethylene and propylene, and provides an overview of current challenges and problems requiring further efforts.

Three strategies to realize the chirality-controlled growth of SWCNTs are presented.

This highlight article summarizes the recent developments and challenges in photocatalytic production of hydrogen peroxide and looks forward to the development direction of this field.

This review provides an electrosynthesis strategy of H₂O₂via the 2e⁻ ORR, covering aspects of reaction mechanisms, performance assessment, catalyst engineering, and setups for scaling up H₂O₂ production.

DNA nanostructures are easy to design and construct, have good biocompatibility, and show great potential in biosensing and drug delivery when combined with CRISPR/Cas systems.

This work summarizes catalyst design methodologies based on crystalline complex oxide nanostructures through the synthesis, catalytic application, and structure–activity relationship.

Versatile DNA nanodevices that modulate membrane receptor aggregation and reprogram cell signaling with high precision and programmability.

We highlight the challenges and recent progress in using semiconductors to harvest solar energy for carrying out alcohol oxidation.

This review provides a complete overview of the advances in the semipinacol rearrangement-mediated 1,2-group migration onto metal carbene centers which were reported in the past decades.

This article summarizes small-sized transition metal oxide (TMO) clusters for electrocatalysis. The synergistic actions between TMO and TM–N_x sites and mechanisms by DFT studies are comprehensively highlighted.

This feature article comprehensively summarizes the recent advances in catalytic enantioselective construction of monofluoromethyl-substituted stereocenters.

This paper's innovation lies in systematically summarizing and evaluating the latest metal catalyst design strategies and exploring their application in nitrogen sources.

Supramolecular approaches to face chemical biology problems targeting different types of species are illustrated with selected representative examples, using conventional receptor design or dynamic covalent chemistry.

This article describes applications of Eu, including MRI, luminescence, catalysis, and separation science.

Recent work on catalysed reactions using coordination cage hosts, including new mechanistic insights and reactions types, is reviewed.

This review highlights recent advances in transition metal complexes of silylene, showcasing their efficacy in hydroboration, hydrosilylation, hydrogenation, hydrogen isotope exchange, and small molecule activation chemistry.

This review explores studies on the development of direct dehydrative amide/peptide bond formation from carboxylic acids using organoboron catalysis.

This article summarizes the potential of TPP salts in tuning RTP properties and their applications in multi-level information encryption, high-level anticounterfeiting tags, and X-ray scintillators.

Mechanochemical backbone fracture by homolysis of covalent bonds generates highly reactive macroradicals, providing potential strategy to form new load-bearing bonds enabling new synthetic applications and development of stress-responsive polymers.

Cascading responses are a new concept for integrating stimulus-responsive materials to obtain output responses from the original input stimulus through successive conversions of the stimuli in a system.

The burgeoning interest in stable conjugated diradicals is attributed to their distinctive spin characteristics. In this review, we emphasize how to precisely control these spin characteristics to understand their role in the molecules and as functional radical materials.

This feature article examines recent lithium–sulfur studies, with a focus on high-loading sulfur cathodes in lean-electrolyte and solid state-electrolyte cells, and highlights recent achievements, challenges, and strategies for future research.

This article discusses the roles of Zr-MOFs in electrocatalysis, and the challenges and opportunities in using Zr-MOFs in electrocatalytic applications.

Advances in the understanding and applications of perovskite 2D/3D heterostructures were overviewed with a focus on ligand design principles.

In this article we disclose our contributions to use of cyclopropanes as unconventional reagents for the development of enantioselective transformations under different organocatalytic activation manifolds for the synthesis of chiral building blocks.

This review introduces tetrazoles as the building blocks. The tetrazole ring offers four nitrogens, thereby assisting in multiple binding sites. The consequence is usually polymeric networks, but meticulous stratagem can form discrete cages as well.

This review has examined the advancements and challenges in the development of transition metal-based electrocatalysts for the alkaline water splitting reaction in the last decade.

Several liquid crystalline polymer network films with bright multicolour and white circularly polarized luminescence have been fabricated, which exhibit luminescence dissymmetry factors up to 0.85 and fluorescence quantum yields up to 90%.

A highly crystalline and robust Zr-hydroxamate MOF was made from a pyrazine-derived ligand. Featuring abundant chelating sites which were readily metalated with a high Pd loading, the MOF became a versatile and recyclable Suzuki–Miyaura catalyst.

We demonstrate the intrinsic benign point defect properties of the one-dimensional photovoltaic semiconductor Se through a detailed theoretical investigation.

In a quest to understand bio-inspired interactions of SO₂ with hosts, we have observed the lone pair⋯π interaction between the aromatic ring and O of SO₂ (3.11 Å), in addition to the interaction between S of SO₂ and metal-bound thiolate (2.63 Å).

A mechanistic study is carried out to understand the high enantioselectivity in an Fe-catalyzed O–H insertion reaction. Our DFT calculations reveal the importance of non covalent interactions and catalyst framework in the catalyst-enol complex.

A non-equilibrium supramolecular host–guest system is fabricated, showing transient assembly behavior, time-dependent fluorescence, and positive feedback regulation. A dynamic fluorescent hydrogel is further developed for information encryption.

The regioselectivity of deuterium labelling is controlled by the geometric constraints introduced by a supporting ligand.

A novel multidimensional analytical tool was used to vindicate and improve the performance of bifunctional catalysts used for the one-pot conversion of CO2 to sustainable fuels.

A carbene and photocatalyst-catalyzed 3-acylation of indoles was disclosed, providing access to indole-3-yl aryl ketones, which play important roles in both organic synthesis and diverse types of functional molecules.

A proficient site for humid CO₂ adsorption in zeolites: K⁺-D8R structures can selectively adsorb CO₂ over H₂O.

The surrounding microenvironment regulation enhances the activity and selectivity towards C₂H₄ in electrochemical CO₂ reduction reaction.

Stoichiometry anisotropy through the thickness of the promising photovoltaic material Cesium-lead-bromide (CsPbBr₃) is observed, impacting the energy band levels and work function across the thin film.

A sandwich heterostructure improves organic phototransistor performance by enhancing mobility, photoresponsivity, and reducing dark current, weakening the adverse effects of traditional planar heterojunctions.

Divergent approaches were developed to synthesize δ-valerolactones or furanones via a palladium or copper-catalyzed α-hydroxycyclopropanol ring opening cyclizations, respectively.

Oxazoline-based iterative glycosylation to synthesize hexa- and octasaccharides in an expeditious manner.

A biosynthesized material could realize morphological transformation from globular to fibrous for exposing GO203 peptides, and bind to mucin 1 for immune checkpoint blocking therapy.

Heterobimetallic cages built from Pd and either octahedral Ru or square-planar Pt moieties and bridged by ligands with H bond-accepting or -donating properties are reported.

A simple and efficient electrocatalytic scheme based on Bi³⁺/Bi⁰ was developed for the first time for the efficient electrosynthesis of 4-aminophenol with high selectivity (∼100%) at an ultra-low overpotential in acidic media.

Placing cationic groups in the secondary coordination sphere of dimolybdenum paddlewheel complexes has allowed for quantification of electrostatic field effects on the MoMo quadruple bond.

The reactions of a uranium(VI)-nitride with 3d-transition metal metallocenes have been examined.

A catalytic asymmetric α-hydroxylation of pyridinone-fused lactones has been developed, enabling the highly enantioselective formation of oxa-quaternary stereogenic centre of this tricyclic scaffold.

Transborylation catalysis enabled the C2-selective allylation of indoles with excellent control of chemo-, regio- and stereoselectivity.

The chemical behaviors of alkali and alkaline earth metal hydrides under nitrogen plasma differ significantly from one another, exhibiting an ammonia production trend that contrasts with that observed under thermal conditions.