A scanning probe microscope has been used to exert exquisite control over the types of bonds formed and broken in an organic molecule. ‘This is awesome and very exciting work,’ comments Saw-Wai Hla from Ohio University in the US, who wasn’t involved in the research. ‘From an initial molecule, they produce three totally different molecules, […]

The UK government has approved construction of Sizewell C, a two-reactor nuclear power plant. Once completed in the early 2030s, it will provide 3.2GW or 7% of the country’s electricity needs. Sizewell C will be built next to two existing plants Sizewell A and B – the former closed in 2006 – in Suffolk, south-east […]

The European chemicals industry is facing huge uncertainty as it contemplates a winter of reduced gas supply, amid soaring energy costs and rising raw material prices – in part related to Russia’s continued war against Ukraine. While there was relief that Russia reopened the Nordstream gas pipeline after ten days of maintenance, flows are still […]

Africa’s latest programme that aims to boost the continent’s science base through investment in early-career researchers has just got off the ground. Last month, 44 early- to mid-career researchers across 38 African countries were awarded five-year fellowships of up to €500,000 (£425,000) each to start their independent research teams and deliver cutting-edge research. In all […]

Scientists have used a foldamer helix as a supramolecular aide to compartmentalise a rotaxane and displace its macrocycle to a site for which it has no real affinity. The product resulting from subsequent cleavage is an otherwise unlikely [2]rotaxane.1 Rotaxanes are mechanically-interlocked molecules, in which a macrocycle encircles an axle. The axle ends are capped […]

The environmental performance of England’s water companies is so poor that the Environment Agency (EA) has called for prison sentences for chief executives and board members whose firms are responsible for the worst pollution. It also wants courts to impose much higher fines for serious and deliberate pollution incidents. The EA’s annual report on England’s […]

Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has appointed a leadership team to head up the UK’s new Advanced Research and Invention Agency (Aria). New chief executive Ilan Gur and chair Matt Clifford both have expertise in bringing new technologies to market. In 2019, the government announced plans for Aria, a new ‘high-risk, high reward’ science funding body […]

More chemistry than physics research finds its way into patents, but it less often covered in the news than biology or medicine. These results come from a study that has demonstrated a strong correlation between publicly funded research and research appearing in patents, government documents and media outlets. The link between upstream public research funding […]

New electrocatalysis electrodes have been created that are simpler and cheaper than conventional ones, and can substantially increase the efficiency of water splitting. Decorated with chiral molecules like helicenes, these devices double the activity of the oxygen evolution reaction, the bottleneck of the process, and improve its selectivity. ‘With electrocatalysis, we [can] use electrons from […]

Researchers in China and Australia have developed an adjuvant system that activates both innate and adaptive immunity by inducing programmed cell death in dendritic cells. The system uses sodium-stabilised dendritic aluminosilicate nanoparticles, which can carry antigens and have basic sites that trigger pH-responsive H+–Na+ exchange. Compared to commercial and clinical adjuvants in an in vivo […]