Phys.org Chemistry

• Large AI models can speed catalyst discovery by predicting performance before synthesis

  Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming the way scientists discover and design new materials. In a specially invited review published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Tohoku University researchers highlight how large AI models are redefining catalyst discovery and paving the way for faster, smarter innovation in clean energy and sustainable technologies.

• Upconversion materials: A new frontier in solar water-splitting

  Solar water splitting is one of the most direct ways to produce green hydrogen using sunlight. However, most photocatalysts and photoelectrodes absorb only a limited portion of solar radiation, mainly ultraviolet and part of the visible spectrum. A large share of solar energy, particularly infrared photons, remains unused. This spectral mismatch significantly limits the efficiency of hydrogen production from sunlight.

• Shrinking the carbon footprint of chemical manufacturing with lasers and solar radiation

  Researchers have found a way to use solar energy to power a key chemical reaction that drives many manufacturing industries. This new method can significantly reduce the energy required to run these operations, eliminate harsh oxidizing byproducts and minimize carbon emissions.

• Polymer-chemistry dataset created for training AI models

  Polymers are fundamental to our daily lives, serving as the core components for a wide array of goods, including clothing, packaging, transportation infrastructure, construction materials, and electronics. Advances in polymer science open pathways for recycling and upcycling waste materials into more valuable chemical feedstocks. They can also have an outsized environmental impact: many widely used polymers are Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS), widely recognized as "forever chemicals."

• Researchers advance solvent-based recycling for flexible plastics

  Polypropylene and polyethylene are two durable and affordable plastics commonly used as packaging materials, snack wrappers, microwave containers, and other, usually flexible, plastic films. Their flexibility, however, makes them resilient to recycling processes, and these plastics often end up in landfills or leak into the environment.

• Cleaner water, longer-lasting devices: New benchmark measures electrocatalysis oxidants in real time

  From brightly colored textile dyes to persistent pesticides and antibiotics, many modern pollutants dissolved in water—such as Bisphenol A—resist traditional treatment methods. A promising approach uses electricity to power chemical reactions in water over an electrode surface. Much like in a battery, electrodes send and receive electrical current that drives chemical reactions.

• Scientists create a hexagonal diamond that could be even harder than the real thing

  To misquote a famous song, "Diamonds are industry's best friend." Cubic diamond is the hardest mineral on Earth and is used in everything from precision cutting tools to high-performance semiconductors as well as expensive jewelry. But there is a rare and potentially tougher form called hexagonal diamond (HD), which has long been the subject of theories and debate over its actual existence. But now researchers from China claim to have created this elusive form of carbon in the lab.

• The secret lives of catalysts: How microscopic networks power reactions

  Catalysts are essential to modern industry, accelerating reactions used to produce everything from fertilizers and fuels to medicines and hydrogen energy. But until now, scientists could not directly observe how reactions unfold across real catalyst surfaces.

• Natural dye produced by Amazonian fungus can be used in cosmetics

  Initial tests with a natural dye produced by the Amazonian fungus Talaromyces amestolkiae show that eco-friendly cosmetics, such as face creams, gel sticks, and shampoos, can be developed with antioxidant and antibacterial properties. This finding is significant because microbial dyes, which are still underexplored in cosmetic research, can serve as a sustainable alternative to synthetic dyes.

• From water splitting to H₂O₂: A new method narrows carbon nitride photocatalyst design

  Photocatalysis promises an efficient conversion of abundant solar energy into usable chemical energy. Polyheptazine imides have some key structural and functional twists that make them especially interesting for photocatalysis. So far, there is only limited knowledge about how structural changes affect the electronic and optical properties of the many material candidates in this class. A team led by researchers from the Center for Advanced Systems Understanding (CASUS) at HZDR has now presented a reliable and reproducible theoretical method to solve this challenge that was confirmed by measurements done on genuine candidate materials.

• New peptide catalyst enables stereoselective head-to-tail macrocycle synthesis

  A team at ETH Zurich developed a new peptide-based organocatalyst that handles macrocycle formation from start to finish. Macrocyclic compounds are ubiquitous both in nature and in the chemical industrial setup. They are ring-shaped molecules with 12 or more atoms and are key components of many natural products and pharmaceuticals. Their unique structures let them lock onto specific proteins with impressive precision, making them exciting candidates for new therapies. Some even come with fun names—like robotnikinin, a macrocycle that inhibits the Sonic Hedgehog (Shh) protein. However, synthesizing them hasn't been as fun as their names—until now.

• Hard-to-make diastereomers: How a cage-like allyl reagent changes the outcome

  Diastereomers are structurally identical molecules that are not mirror images of each other. Diastereomers can have different biological activities, potencies or toxicities, which means they can influence biological systems, be separated from one another and more. To fully unlock their potential in organic chemistry, it is important to create the necessary diastereomer, but their creation is a key problem in organic synthesis.

• A community-driven standard for reporting metal–organic framework syntheses

  Scientists at the EU4MOFs research network have taken the initiative to standardize the reporting of synthetic procedures and material properties of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs). To this aim, they have developed the concept of a "Material Preparation Information File (MPIF)," which has been introduced in a recent paper in Advanced Materials.

• BaSi₂-supported nickel catalyst boosts low-temperature hydrogen production

  A new catalyst strategy developed at Institute of Science Tokyo uses BaSi2 as a support for nickel and cobalt to decompose ammonia at lower temperatures. By forming unique ternary transition metal–nitrogen–barium intermediates that facilitate nitrogen coupling, the system lowers the energy barrier for ammonia decomposition. This enables nickel- and cobalt-based catalysts to achieve high hydrogen-production activity at reduced temperatures, matching the performance of ruthenium while relying on Earth-abundant metals for cleaner hydrogen generation.

• Chemically 'stapled' peptides used to target difficult-to-treat cancers

  Researchers at the University of Bath have developed a new technology that uses bacteria to build, chemically stabilize, and test millions of potential drug molecules inside living cells, making it much quicker and easier to discover new treatments for difficult-to-treat cancers.

• Chemists create iridium compounds for the synthesis of 'smart' antitumor drugs

  Chemists from St. Petersburg University has developed a new family of luminescent iridium complexes that, for the first time, realize a unique mechanism of photoactivated proton transfer. In the future, this discovery will potentially allow for the creation of a fundamentally new class of "smart" antitumor drugs that can be activated directly inside tumor cells and tracked in real time by the change in the color of their glow.

• Chemists rapidly assemble fusicoccadiene, a complex fungal molecule tied to cancer research

  A Florida State University chemist has developed a method to rapidly assemble significantly complex natural molecules with potential for biomedical applications, opening the door for novel drug therapies based on the molecule's structure. James Frederich, the Warner Herz Associate Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and his team are the first to fully synthesize fusicoccadiene, a precursor to an emerging treatment in cancer chemotherapy. Their work is published in the Journal Of The American Chemical Society.

• How to train your catalyst, one atom at a time

  How do you keep a copper catalyst from losing its oomph? Just add a dusting of platinum, says a new study published in Nature Materials. A team of researchers, including scientists at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, investigated a class of metal nanoparticles used as catalysts in major industrial processes. They found that adding a trace amount of platinum to copper nanoparticles greatly reduced an effect known as "sintering," which causes these catalysts to degrade over time.

• Chemists create complex DNA structures without hydrogen bonds

  No "sticky ends"? No problem. A new study by NYU chemists finds that DNA tiles can assemble into 3D structures without the sticky cohesion of hydrogen bonding. This finding, published in Nature Communications, turns a fundamental paradigm in the field of DNA self-assembly on its head.

• A crystal that 'comes alive': Heat-driven bubbles push it forward while it changes fluorescence color

  In a study published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition, researchers from National Taiwan University report that a seemingly solid, nonporous organic crystal can undergo dramatic structural and mechanical transformations when gently heated.

• Dissolvable hydrogel could enable personalized bone implants

  Bones broken in a skiing accident usually heal on their own. But if the break is too severe or a bone tumor needs to be removed, surgeons insert an implant that enables the bone to grow back together. Implants often consist of pieces of the patient's own bone, known as autografts, or metal or ceramic parts. A key drawback of many of today's implants is that they require a second surgery to harvest the tissue for the autografts. Additionally, metal implants tend to be too rigid and may loosen over time, compromising stability.

• Identifying potential drug candidates with deep learning virtual screening

  The earliest stage of drug discovery is governed by a simple constraint: there are far more possible drug-like molecules than any pharmaceutical laboratory could ever test. A new deep learning system, reported in the International Journal of Reasoning-based Intelligent Systems, offers a way to speed up research and could unblock industry bottlenecks.

• Nutri-Score labels do not reflect true nutritional quality of soluble cocoa, study shows

  Researchers at the University of Granada have revealed that the Nutri-Score labeling system, commonly used in Europe to assess food quality, is unable to adequately reflect the nutritional and metabolic complexity of soluble cocoa sold in Spain. The study, which integrates non-targeted metabolomics techniques applied to the evaluation of nutritional labeling systems, analyzed 54 products from 19 different brands with Nutri-Score ratings between A and D.

• Scientists synthesize stable N₄ radical anions under ambient conditions

  A team of scientists from the University of Manchester and Oxford have synthesized stable nitrogen chain radical anions under ambient conditions. These molecules, which are normally too reactive to isolate and study under ambient conditions, are described in a new study, published in Nature Chemistry.

• From trash to climate tech: Rubber gloves find new life as carbon capturers

  Every year, over 100 billion nitrile rubber gloves are produced. They are made from synthetic polymers—a material chemically related to plastic and derived from crude oil. The vast majority is used in the health care sector, and most are discarded after single use. This creates a massive amount of material waste globally. However, Simon Kildahl, a postdoc at the Department of Chemistry at Aarhus University, has moved a step closer to a way of recycling these gloves. In a new study published in the journal Chem, he and his colleagues demonstrate how they can transform waste rubber into a CO2 adsorbent in the laboratory. The potential, he explains, is significant.