SWIR dyes─The Eras Tour. This love story between chemistry and biology shines.

This Collection showcases the latest advances in organic synthesis and catalysis, highlighting innovative strategies for the efficient and selective construction of pharmaceutically relevant compounds, natural products, and drugs. Emphasizing groundbreaking work in total synthesis, biocatalysis, and catalytic methodologies—including transition metal-, photo-, and organocatalyzed reactions—this Collection reflects the cutting-edge research recently published in ACS Central Science.

Images can be made more accessible by choosing hues, shapes and textures carefully.

X-ray fluorescence studies help scientists and conservators re-create the original hues in this famous painting

Photothermal conversion can promote plastic depolymerization (chemical recycling to a monomer) through light-to-heat conversion. The highly localized temperature gradient near the photothermal agent s...

Methyl groups are ubiquitous in natural products and biologically active compounds, but methods for their selective transformation in such structures are limited. For example, terpenoids contain many ...

Taking a magnifying glass to this tiny threat

Twenty years after the first publication that used the term microplastic, we review current understanding, refine definitions, and consider future prospects. Microplastics arise from multiple sources,...

Novel light-activated catalysts tear apart carbon-fluorine bonds in the forever chemicals

Water scarcity and heavy metal pollution are significant challenges in today’s industrialized world. Conventional heavy metal remediation methods are often inefficient and energy-intensive, and produc...

Stretchable electronics have seen substantial development in skin-like mechanical properties and functionality thanks to the advancements made in intrinsically stretchable polymer electronic materials. Nanoscale phase separation of polymer materials within an elastic matrix to form one-dimensional nanostructures, namely nanoconfinement, effectively reduces conformational disorders that have long impeded charge transport properties of conjugated polymers. Nanoconfinement results in enhanced charge transport and the addition of skin-like properties. In this Outlook, we highlight the current understanding of structure–property relationships for intrinsically stretchable electronic materials with a focus on the nanoconfinement strategy as a promising approach to incorporate skin-like properties and other functionalities without compromising charge transport. We outline emerging directions and challenges for intrinsically stretchable electronic materials with the aim of constructing skin-like electronic systems.

Interviews were conducted with 18 chemists from several subdisciplines of chemistry and include a diversity of demographics on the topic of creativity as seen through the eyes of Eureka moments. The experiences fell within three categories, i.e., (1) analytical problem-solving which can be reconstructed into a series of logical steps that can be identified; (2) memory retrieval processes of previously acquired knowledge; and (3) insights characterized by a sudden and unexpected understanding. There were variations of detail within each category. Suggestions for enhancing the probability of experiencing Eureka moments are provided.

Two anhydrous polymorphs of the novel antiviral medicine nirmatrelvir were discovered during the development of Paxlovid, Pfizer’s oral Covid-19 treatment. A comprehensive experimental and computational approach was necessary to distinguish the two closely related polymorphs, herein identified as Forms 1 and 4. This approach paired experimental methods, including powder X-ray diffraction and single-crystal X-ray diffraction, solid-state experimental methods, thermal analysis, solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance and Raman spectroscopy with computational investigations comprising crystal structure prediction, Gibbs free energy calculations, and molecular dynamics simulations of the polymorphic transition. Forms 1 and 4 were ultimately determined to be enantiotropically related polymorphs with Form 1 being the stable form above the transition temperature of ∼17 °C and designated as the nominated form for drug development. The work described in this paper shows the importance of using highly specialized orthogonal approaches to elucidate the subtle differences in structure and properties of similar solid-state forms. This synergistic approach allowed for unprecedented speed in bringing Paxlovid to patients in record time amidst the pandemic.

The first FDA-approved drug for frostbite can save limbs from amputation, and researchers are working on “coldscreen” preventatives.

Structural gating provides a molecular means to transfer electrons preferentially in one desired vectorial direction, a behavior needed for applications in artificial photosynthesis. At the interfaces utilized herein, visible-light absorption by a transition metal complex opens a “structural gate” by planarization of otherwise rotating phenyl rings in p-phenylene ethynylene (PE) bridge units. Planarization provides a conjugated pathway for electron flow toward a conductive oxide surface. Interfacial electron transfer to the oxide restores rotation and closes the gate to the unwanted recombination reaction. This structural gating results in nearly quantitative long-distance (>20 Å) interfacial electron transfer that occurs ∼1000 times faster than transfer in the opposite direction. A comparative kinetic study of these complexes with those that contain ionic bridge units, without gating function, as a function of the applied potential and hence −ΔG° provided a physical basis for the structural gating. A small distance-dependent reorganization energy with weak electronic coupling underlies the success of this gate that enables efficient long-distance electron transfer and slow recombination.