{"title":"Chiral medium-sized rings beyond central chirality","authors":"Shiqi Jia, Yudong Hao, Yuedi Li, Yu Lan","doi":"10.1038/s41570-025-00735-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41570-025-00735-1","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Chiral medium-sized rings (MSRs), cyclic molecular structures comprising 7–11-membered rings, are prevalent in bioactive molecules owing to their unique three-dimensional structures and pharmacological properties. Compared with the extensively studied central chirality, MSRs with unconventional chirality — that is, axial chirality, inherent chirality and planar chirality — remain underexplored. The past decade has witnessed rapid advances in this field, with breakthroughs in their synthesis and applications. This Review is structured around the three underexplored types of chirality exhibited in MSRs detailing their key synthetic strategies, with a critical evaluation of their advantages and limitations. Additionally, the factors that influence the conformational stability of chiral MSRs are discussed using structure and energy analysis.</p><figure></figure>","PeriodicalId":18849,"journal":{"name":"Nature reviews. Chemistry","volume":"29 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":36.3,"publicationDate":"2025-07-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144622438","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Li-ion battery industry and its challenges","authors":"Xuezhi Yang, Haiyan Zhang, Qian Liu, Guibin Jiang","doi":"10.1038/s41570-025-00742-2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41570-025-00742-2","url":null,"abstract":"The lithium-ion battery industry is driving the global clean energy transition but faces growing sustainability challenges. Pollution and recycling bottlenecks span the entire materials life cycle, emphasizing the urgent need for integrated chemical, environmental and policy frameworks to guide risk assessments and sustainable development.","PeriodicalId":18849,"journal":{"name":"Nature reviews. Chemistry","volume":"11 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":36.3,"publicationDate":"2025-07-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144603696","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Pursuing spatiotemporal coordination in electrocatalysis","authors":"Yuanfu Ren, Kuo-Wei Huang, Huabin Zhang","doi":"10.1038/s41570-025-00741-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41570-025-00741-3","url":null,"abstract":"Despite over half a century of development, catalysts still cannot mimic the efficiency of plants in producing oxygen. By considering spatiotemporal aspects in electrocatalyst design, researchers can transplant the concept of direct oxo–oxo coupling from natural metalloenzymes to heterogeneous catalyst surfaces, thus pushing oxygen-evolution activity beyond conventional limits.","PeriodicalId":18849,"journal":{"name":"Nature reviews. Chemistry","volume":"49 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":36.3,"publicationDate":"2025-07-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144603702","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Cesar Horna-Saldaña, Xavi Canaleta, Juan Ernesto Perez-Perez
{"title":"Developing a tool for teaching chemistry to people with visual impairments.","authors":"Cesar Horna-Saldaña, Xavi Canaleta, Juan Ernesto Perez-Perez","doi":"10.1038/s41570-025-00743-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41570-025-00743-1","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":18849,"journal":{"name":"Nature reviews. Chemistry","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":38.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144608855","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A story of chance and collaboration","authors":"Dek N. Woolfson, Stephanie Greed","doi":"10.1038/s41570-025-00736-0","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41570-025-00736-0","url":null,"abstract":"Ahead of his 60th birthday, Dek N. Woolfson, Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Bristol and a recently elected Fellow of the Royal Society, spoke to us about his career in science.","PeriodicalId":18849,"journal":{"name":"Nature reviews. Chemistry","volume":"8 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":36.3,"publicationDate":"2025-07-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144569029","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jeannie Z. Y. Tan, Joao M. Uratani, Steve Griffiths, John M. Andresen, M. Mercedes Maroto-Valer
{"title":"Chemistry advances driving industrial carbon capture technologies","authors":"Jeannie Z. Y. Tan, Joao M. Uratani, Steve Griffiths, John M. Andresen, M. Mercedes Maroto-Valer","doi":"10.1038/s41570-025-00733-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41570-025-00733-3","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Carbon capture (CC) is a key solution for decarbonizing industries with ‘hard-to-abate’ emissions, such as the cement, steel and chemicals sectors. The chemistry behind CC technologies underpins much of their cost and performance and hence, is an important research topic. As such, this Review focuses on the underlaying chemistry and industrial deployment status of CC technologies that have progressed to the early stages of development and beyond. The discussion provides insights into the CC technologies, which based on absorption, adsorption, membrane separation, cryogenic gas separation and electroswing, poised to have the greatest impact on industrial decarbonization.</p><figure></figure>","PeriodicalId":18849,"journal":{"name":"Nature reviews. Chemistry","volume":"9 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":36.3,"publicationDate":"2025-07-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144568793","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Guillermo M Muñoz Caro, Héctor Carrascosa de Lucas, Rafael Martín-Doménech
{"title":"Photochemistry of interstellar ice forming complex organic molecules.","authors":"Guillermo M Muñoz Caro, Héctor Carrascosa de Lucas, Rafael Martín-Doménech","doi":"10.1038/s41570-025-00729-z","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41570-025-00729-z","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Astrochemistry is a well-established multidisciplinary field devoted to the study of atoms and molecules in space. Although many astrochemists study molecules in the gas phase and reproduce their abundances by modelling the physical conditions of the interstellar medium, the microscopic dust particles floating in the interstellar medium also deserve the attention of the community. Radiation and thermally driven processes taking place on the bare dust, and particularly on dust particles covered by icy mantles, are mimicked in the laboratory. In addition to water, interstellar ice contains other simple species. In this Review we present our current knowledge on ice photochemistry and thermal processing that ultimately leads to the formation of complex organic molecules. Numerous complex organic molecules are of astrobiological interest and match those present in comets and asteroids. Upon impact of these minor bodies, water and complex organic molecules could have been delivered to the early Earth, which might have been vital for the first prebiotic reactions.</p>","PeriodicalId":18849,"journal":{"name":"Nature reviews. Chemistry","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":38.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144564967","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Simone Pezzotti, Wanlin Chen, Fabio Novelli, Xiaoqing Yu, Claudius Hoberg, Martina Havenith
{"title":"Terahertz calorimetry spotlights the role of water in biological processes.","authors":"Simone Pezzotti, Wanlin Chen, Fabio Novelli, Xiaoqing Yu, Claudius Hoberg, Martina Havenith","doi":"10.1038/s41570-025-00712-8","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41570-025-00712-8","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Terahertz (THz) calorimetry is a framework that allows for the deduction and quantification of changes in solvation entropy and enthalpy associated with biological processes in real-time. Fundamental biological processes are inherently non-equilibrium, and a small imbalance in free energy can trigger protein condensation or folding. Although biophysical techniques typically focus mainly on structural characterization, water is often ignored. Being a generic solvent, the intermolecular protein-water interactions act as a strong competitor for intramolecular protein-protein interactions, leading to a delicate balance between functional structure formation and complete solvation. Characteristics for biological processes are large, but competing enthalpic and entropic solvation contributions to the total Gibbs free energy lead to subtle energy differences of only a few kJ mol<sup>-1</sup> that are capable of dictating biological functions. THz calorimetry spotlights these intermolecular coupled protein-water interactions. With experimental advances in THz technology, a new frequency window has opened, which is ideally suited to probe these low-frequency intermolecular interactions. The future impact of these studies is based on the belief that the observed changes in solvation entropy and enthalpy are not secondary effects but dictate biological function.</p>","PeriodicalId":18849,"journal":{"name":"Nature reviews. Chemistry","volume":" ","pages":"481-494"},"PeriodicalIF":38.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144044439","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The future of reviews writing in the AI era.","authors":"Zhiling Zheng","doi":"10.1038/s41570-025-00738-y","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41570-025-00738-y","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":18849,"journal":{"name":"Nature reviews. Chemistry","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":38.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144540924","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Threading the needle","authors":"Ashley Mapile","doi":"10.1038/s41570-025-00739-x","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41570-025-00739-x","url":null,"abstract":"In separation or filtration membranes, polymers can clog the active sites of porous materials. A recent adaptation of solution-state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy allows for quantification of polymer intrusion in metal–organic frameworks.","PeriodicalId":18849,"journal":{"name":"Nature reviews. Chemistry","volume":"36 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":36.3,"publicationDate":"2025-06-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144341353","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}