Nature Chemistry, Published online: 25 July 2024; doi:10.1038/s41557-024-01583-0The ligand–nanoparticle interface helps to control nanoparticle synthesis and functional properties, but determining its structure and dynamics is challenging owing to the lack of high-resolution direct imaging methods. Now, liquid-phase transmission electron microscopy...

Nature Chemistry, Published online: 25 July 2024; doi:10.1038/s41557-024-01591-0Singlet fission produces two molecular excitations from one photon and has the potential to boost solar cell efficiencies. Now it has been shown that magnetic fields can reveal the spectral signatures of the multi-excitonic intermediates in this process.

Nature Chemistry, Published online: 24 July 2024; doi:10.1038/s41557-024-01588-9Hydrogenation catalysis is commonly associated with (noble) transition metals that undergo oxidative addition of H2 and subsequently transfer hydrogen atoms to unsaturated substrates. Now, a geometrically constrained phosphenium cation can facilitate both of these challenging...

Nature Chemistry, Published online: 24 July 2024; doi:10.1038/s41557-024-01581-2Hydroxyl radicals (·OH) are important reactive oxygen species in environmental chemistry. The most efficient way to generate them is through a single-electron water-oxidation step, but this light-driven process is inefficient over inorganic semiconductor materials. Now,...

Nature Chemistry, Published online: 23 July 2024; doi:10.1038/s41557-024-01589-8Selection rules play an important role in Darwinian evolution. Now, it has been shown that selective templation enables the purification of oligomer libraries in a coacervate model, and that the oligomer library can reversibly affect the coacervates’ fusion behaviour.

Nature Chemistry, Published online: 19 July 2024; doi:10.1038/s41557-024-01590-1Molecular geometry can influence chemical reactivity through several opposing effects. By selecting individual conformers of hydroquinone in the chemi-ionization reaction with metastable neon, it is now shown that reaction pathways can be governed by molecular alignment...