Themed collection 2025 Chemical Science HOT Article Collection

Finding a good match between sample, experiment and data analysis approach is challenging in halide perovskites. Solutions are presented in this perspective to facilitate this task for a wide range of material properties.

Gaining insights into the origins and roles of the field-effect will facilitate better applications in energy and environmental catalysis.

In situ Raman spectroscopy study of the CO₂ electroreduction reaction.

Hyperfine coupling in transition metal molecular qubits has been analysed using density functional methods to provide more information on how to control it through structural and coordination tuning.

Chemical modification of chlorophyll pigments in the far red light-photosystem II (FRL-PSII), expand the spectral range of oxygenic photosynthesis.

Scalable electric-field catalysis on carbon nanotubes in electromicrofluidic reactors is shown to accelerate and direct reactions toward intrinsically disfavored products.

Computational approaches for predicting the binding affinity of ligand–receptor complex structures often fail to validate experimental results satisfactorily due to insufficient sampling.

Reduction of ligand–surface interactions facilitated motion of coordination polymers on Cu(111). STM observations over a range of temperatures revealed structure-dependent vibrational behavior and chain modifications at the single-molecule level.

Base-controlled formation of Breslow intermediates versus Breslow enolates has been achieved with mesoionic carbenes. Of particular interest is the coupling of aldehydes and alkyl halides to yield ketones via an ionic pathway.

A supramolecular crosslinked disulfide elastomer decorated with catechol H-bonds and metal dopants enables the capacitive sensor material to feature decent mechanical tailorability, high sensitivity, broad range, and ultrafast response.

This work reports a novel strategy for engineering porphyrin dimer structures and properties using lacunary polyoxometalates. Three distinct hybrids exhibit modulated stacking geometries, interfacial distances, and properties.

A synergistic strategy was proposed to promote n–π* transitions, provide charge-transfer (CT) intermediates and inhibit intramolecular motions to achieve efficient ORTP based on thianthrene (TA) derivatives.

The synergy of mesoporous structure and binary PdS composition enabled selective hydrogenative coupling of nitrobenzene for electrosynthesis of value-added azobenzene in H₂O under ambient conditions.

A Cu²⁺-mediated bipolar-type CMP is developed to maximize abundant active site utilization and enhance ion diffusion kinetics for durable, high energy-density, and fast-charging LIB cathodes.

Radical SAM enzymes TrnC and TrnD collaborate to install thioether crosslinks in thuricin CD, with TrnC as the key catalyst—unveiling a rare two-component antibiotic biosynthesis.

PepINVENT introduces a generative model for designing peptides that extend beyond natural amino acids, enabling non-traditional peptide discovery and optimization.

For Fe–N–C catalysts, the stability (S-) number hardly varies in basic media. While in acidic media, the S-number stays constant at low current densities, and then increases with the climbing current density, likely due to the rising local pH values.

Methanol serves as the primary transport intermediate between metal oxides and zeolites, while ketene acts as the dominant intermediate for ethene formation in the OX–ZEO system.

An evolved designer enzyme featuring genetically encoded 3-aminotyrosine (aY) as catalytic residue promotes highly enantioselective Friedel–Crafts alkylations, is enantiocomplementary to a prior design, and enables whole-cell biocatalysis.

Circularly polarized fluorescence energy transfer (CPF-ET) was utilized as a guidance strategy for the synthesis of CPL-active CMOFs, resulting in three pairs of CMOFs with exceptional CPL performance, especially high |g_lum| values in single forms.

Overcoming the toxicity and selectivity issues of cationic antimicrobial peptide mimics via amine-caged prodrugs that could be specifically uncaged by bacteria-derived β-lactamase enzyme.

High Li⁺ flux exacerbating the decomposition of LPSCl at high voltage was identified, followed by the discovery of the bulk phase decomposition of LPSCl in the composite cathode.

Novel elastic ferroelectrics, developed by introducing DBs into commercial P(VDF-TrFE) and applying an innovative two-step LT–HT process, show high T_c and P_r with excellent recovery, setting a new benchmark for flexible electronic materials.

This work investigates organic–inorganic metal halides with room-temperature phosphorescence, showing that tuning the organic components and their interactions improves RTP performance for anti-counterfeiting applications.

The asymmetric total synthesis of penicifuranone A was achieved in eight steps using an NHC-catalyzed umpolung strategy. This approach enabled a convergent formal [4 + 2] annulation with gregatin A, leading to penicifuranone A.

A remarkable phosphorescence quantum yield (69.6%) was obtained, and then decreased to 2.7% with the variation in the methyl substituent position due to the extremely strong association between the substituent position and electron–phonon coupling.

Using synchrotron-based techniques, we studied the charge compensation in Ni–Co–Mn cathodes by analyzing electronic and geometric structures, with a focus on anion redox and local structural changes.

This work achieved the arylation of gold nanoclusters with maintained templates, bridging two major research areas of gold chemistry—arylgold complexes and gold nanoclusters.

In situ FTIR spectroscopy can measure K_a values across different classes of host–guest complexes involving hydrogen and halogen bonding. This approach requires minimal sample preparation and can track host or guest vibrational changes.

A fluorescence polarisation binding assay for Tet(X), an emerging tetracycline antibiotic resistance mechanism, was developed. Application of the assay resulted in the discovery of inhibitors with novel binding modes.

Machine learned interatomic potentials (MLIPs) are reshaping computational chemistry practices because of their ability to drastically exceed the accuracy-length/time scale tradeoff.

The ac-Pt@Co(OH)₂ catalyst, with abundant crystalline–amorphous (c–a) interfaces, employs amorphous Co(OH)₂ to split water into active *H. Electron redistribution at the c–a interface optimizes *H adsorption and boosts HER activity.

Electrochemical neutralization assisted galvanic–thermogalvanic device for waste heat recovery.

Using DNA-encoded libraries to identify protein binders is common, but finding molecules with functional activity remains challenging. We present here an encoded and pooled approach to discover catalysts for ubiquitin transfer.

The exsolution of ruthenium from a 3 at% ruthenium-substituted LaFeO₃ (LFR3) perovskite oxide is meticulously designed to produce a high-performance ruthenium-supported catalyst with high atomic efficiency.

A practical deconstructive arylation of aliphatic alcohols has been developed using a synergistic photoredox proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) and nickel dual catalytic system.

Umpolung of the typical p-type TPA into n-type ATTO contributes to the COF electrode with a remarkable cathodic capacity of 286.31 mA h g⁻¹ at a current density of 0.1 A g⁻¹ in SIBs.

Insight into the detailed bulk and surface structure of γ-Al₂O₃ is provided by a NMR crystallographic approach, exploiting isotopic enrichment, multinuclear experimental measurements and periodic calculations.

Bienzyme biocatalytic cascades are coupled with Fe³⁺-doped ZIF-90 (Fe³⁺-ZIF-90) nanozymes to enable three-catalyst cascaded chemical transformations in confined media. The enzyme/nanozyme composites are applied as sensing platforms.

A practical approach for the synthesis of multi-functionalized spirocyclic vinyl sulfones is disclosed, which proceeds via consecutive radical cyclization and (hetero)aryl migration.

Aerolysin nanopore was applied as a tool to discriminate the cis and trans isomers of the Xaa-Pro peptide bond at a single-molecule level.

Single-atom-anchored aptasensors eliminate aptamer flexibility-induced non-specific adsorption, enabling precise in vivo dopamine tracking and revealing Parkinson's-specific neurotransmitter patterns for targeted therapy.

A universal strategy is proposed to convert unqualified Prussian blue analogues (PBAs) into sodium layered oxide cathodes via a fast sintering process, achieving both economic and environmental benefits.

Chiral iron porphyrins catalyze the asymmetric cyclopropanation of a variety of aryl olefins via a reactive iron-cyanocarbene intermediate with high enantioselectivity and product turnover.

Alkaline byproducts at the zinc anode interface continue to exacerbate subsequent side reactions, so realizing timely salvage of electrodes is equally important compared to upfront prevention strategies.

A class of host–guest phosphonium salts with bright blue TADF emission was prepared through rational molecular design, where the anion–π⁺ stacking in the solid state plays a vital role in the population of the triplet state.

An in situ activatable COF-based nanozyme is designed for targeted inhibition of the cGAS–STING pathway for AD treatment, which presents a promising strategy for AD treatment.

We present a method for constructing water–air nanointerfaces with the curvature regulated electrochemically. The nanointerfaces' intrinsic properties could be probed through fluorescence imaging of the interfacial single-molecule collisions.

Mechanochemistry enables the facile ¹⁷O-enrichment of (bi)carbonate salts for high-resolution ssNMR analyses.

This work reports the first example of a NBE-CO₂Me-mediated palladium-catalyzed annulative π-extension reaction of bromoaromatics to construct structurally diverse polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH)-based fluorescent materials.

Utilizing a novel aromatic ligand-exchange plus porphyrin-axial-coordination strategy, all-inorganic CsPbBr₃ NCs with an order of magnitude improvement in optical absorption nonlinearities are achieved under PyMA and ZnPr co-modification.

An N-phosphinoamidinato potassium borasilenide containing an anionic SiB double bond is a versatile building block for transferring a BSi double bond or B/Si atoms into inorganic and organic substrates.

An externally exposed V dopant imposes H-atom uptake at the polyoxotungstate surface and dictates the proton–coupled electron transfer mechanism.

The core–valence energy gaps decrease from the light to the heavy elements, with the heavy noble-gas cores transferring their large spin–orbit splitting into the upwardly pushed valence bands of the ligands.

A general chemoproteomic profiling approach for oxidoreductases with conceptually novel probes based on diarylhalonium salts is reported.

Continuous porous aromatic framework membranes were designed and constructed to achieve the first example of ion conductive porous frameworks and continuous membranes that dynamically respond to chemical acid/base stimulus.

The first biomimetic syntheses of kadcoccitane H and kadcotrione C methyl ester were achieved by following our biosynthetic proposal for lanosterol-to-kadcoccitanes.

The mechanisms of electrochemical/chemical oxygen reduction catalyzed by an iron porphyrin were studied by in situ EC-MS/CR-MS assisted by electrochemical characterization and stopped-flow UV-vis spectroscopy.

High-performance donor–acceptor–donor′ type ultraviolet emitters have been achieved through an intramolecular locking strategy, realizing a high external quantum efficiency of 7.95% at 1000 cd m⁻² and color coordinates of (0.167, 0.025).

The fabrication of environmentally ion-dissociable high-performance supramolecular polyelectrolyte plastics with a synergistic multivalent and hydrophobic counterion strategy.

For the first time, the aromatization-driven alternating copolymerization of p-QM with isothiocyanates is explored under mild conditions.

PPW width is dictated by different probabilities of ion-water finger complex encountering with water molecules in the organic phase.

Full-color CPL composite films prepared using helical polymers, fluorescein and substrates have excellent mechanical and processing properties. They exhibit matrix universality, low cost, and multi-stimulus responsiveness to UV, heat, and acid/base.

Robust protein–ligand interaction modeling through integrating physical laws and geometric knowledge for absolute binding free energy calculation.

Poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF)-based solid-state electrolytes (SSEs) have been considered promising candidates for advanced Li metal batteries due to their adequate mechanical strength and acceptable thermal stability.

Methane is facilely activated by gas phase tantalum cations via a spin-forbidden process leading to statistical product energy disposal.

We disclose a method for silver-enabled formal [4π + 2σ] cycloaddition reactions between bicyclobutanes and nitrile imines (generated from hydrazonyl chlorides) to furnish a diverse array of 2,3-diazo-BCHepes.

The influence of the second metal atom in neutral σ,σ bimetallic gold(I) acetylides is studied in detail in the context of the migratory insertion of a number of substrates, where the reaction conditions depend dramatically on the nuclearity.