Long lived, high-energy excited states can give cobalt (III) complexes photocatalytic properties previously thought impossible, two US groups have shown. The findings could allow earth-abundant metal-based catalysts to replace precious metals for many important reactions and even to catalyse reactions not previously thought feasible. Some complexes of precious metals such as ruthenium and iridium are […]

University staff will have their pension benefits restored by next April under an agreement reached between Universities UK (UUK) and the University and College Union (UCU), which represents over 120,000 researchers and teaching staff. UCU members have taken 69 days of strike action since 2018 to defend their pension benefits. But the union has vowed […]

A new computational study adds to mounting evidence that electrophilic aromatic bromination reactions follow an addition–elimination pathway and not the classic mechanism described in textbooks.1  Brominating aromatic substrates is an important step in synthesising various pharmaceuticals, pesticides, flame retardants and dyes. Undergraduate organic chemistry courses often teach that such electrophilic aromatic substitution reactions proceed via […]

A handful of amino acid mutations in an enzyme from an Antarctic octopus equips it with remarkable cold tolerance. The discovery came from comparing enzymes from a cold-water and a temperate-water species. Insight into the cold-adapted enzyme might have relevance for cryogenic preservation or organ transplantation. Researchers in the US began by investigating the workings […]

Euclid, Archimedes of Syracuse, and Apollonius of Perga are the three most significant mathematicians of Ancient Greece. The names of Euclid and Archimedes are very well known outside of the world of mathematics. However, although as a mathematician Apollonius can be put into the same class as Archimedes his name is probably not even known […]

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) is setting its sights on creating element 120 as part of a new US effort to discover the first elements in row eight of the periodic table. The move follows the breakdown of the US–Russian partnership, which had previously discovered the five heaviest elements, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. […]

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) is setting its sights on creating element 120 as part of a new US effort to discover the first elements in row eight of the periodic table. The move follows the breakdown of the US–Russian partnership, which had previously discovered the five heaviest elements, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. […]

The EU has launched the first phase of its carbon border tariff on imported steel, fertilisers, hydrogen, and other goods. The carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) aims to bolster the bloc’s green commitments and encourage cleaner industrial practices in non-EU countries by introducing a tax on the embedded carbon emissions associated with imported goods. The […]

Lasers could revolutionise nitrogen fixation, offering a new way to synthesise ammonia under ambient conditions. For the first time, researchers have used commercial carbon dioxide lasers to break the nitrogen–nitrogen triple bond, offering a new green alternative to the Haber–Bosch process. The international team of researchers used lasers to convert lithium oxide into metallic lithium, […]

A tanker carrying anhydrous ammonia was punctured during a traffic incident in Teutopolis, US, killing five people and hospitalising a further seven. The incident appears to have occurred while a car was attempting to overtake the truck on 30 September, according to local news reports. All five victims are believed to have died from exposure […]