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People writing on fumehood with marker pen

Feature

The future of total synthesis

From structure confirmation to methodology improvements, making complex natural products has driven innovation in organic synthesis for decades. Nina Notman looks at its current state, with threats from funding to academic pressures

Pillars of Creation

Feature

The JWST reveals the molecular origins of planetary systems

The world’s most expensive infrared spectrometer – the James Webb Space Telescope – is unearthing extraordinary exoplanet chemistry. James Mitchell Crow looks to the skies

Geometric construction workers in spanner shape

Research

How chemists are harnessing halogen bonds for asymmetric synthesis

Chiral control through halogen bonding could be the next frontier for organocatalysis

Democratising chemistry

Research

AI agents set to democratise computational chemistry

Large language models are powering a new generation of AI agents that could transform computational chemistry from a specialist discipline into one any researcher can use, reports Julia Robinson

An old Victorian illustration of agricultural workers meeting at a square in an English village

Opinion

Democratising science, one step at a time

Artifical intelligence is just the latest method to open up chemistry to more people

Plastic sorting

Plastic recycling’s perfect storm

Pending policies that demand more recycling cannot offset problems of high costs and competition from cheap virgin polymers

Tyre manufacturing

EPA delivers mixed finding on carcinogenic rubber ingredient

US environmental agency says 1,3-butadiene is harmful for some industry workers, but not for the environment or those living near plants using it

Alexandra Navrotsky

Alexandra Navrotsky: ‘I don’t think you attract people to science by big initiatives’

By

The nanogeoscientist on the importance of people to good science, the recent turnaround on diversity, equity and inclusion and why she will never be a professional artist

Plastic sorting

Plastic recycling’s perfect storm

By

Pending policies that demand more recycling cannot offset problems of high costs and competition from cheap virgin polymers

Mule

Archaeon’s lack of metabolism challenges definitions of life

By

A question that is not the same as asking whether something is alive

Woman with oversized pencil and sharpener

Why failing my first chemistry test was the best thing that ever happened to me

By

Lost in reactions, but driven by curiosity – how a supportive teacher enabled me to find my way to a career in science

Some voices conspicuously silent when it comes to Trump’s science policies

By

Research-intensive universities have been targeted in an unprecedented and unrelenting manner since Donald Trump retook the White House on 20 January. In April, nearly a third of the 6000-plus members of the US National Academies of Sciences, which is a nonpartisan organisation charged with providing evidence-based science and technology advice ...

Democratising science, one step at a time

By

Artifical intelligence is just the latest method to open up chemistry to more people

An airborne exposure route for a serious kidney disease

By

Linking Aristolochia plants to aristolochic acid nephropathy

Langmuir’s pump and the optimism of science

By

Creativity nurtured by an explorative environment

Louis E Brus

News

Quantum dot pioneer and Nobel prize winner Louis Brus dies at 82

Brus shared the 2023 chemistry Nobel prize with Alexei Ekimov and Moungi Bawendi

A cup of espresso with some coffee beans

Webinar

From bean to brew: the chemistry behind the perfect cup of coffee

Join us on 26 February to discover the chemistry behind the aromas and flavours of one of the world’s favourite beverages

Opinion

Alexandra Navrotsky: ‘I don’t think you attract people to science by big initiatives’

The nanogeoscientist on the importance of people to good science, the recent turnaround on diversity, equity and inclusion and why she will never be a professional artist

Research

Prehistoric humans hunted with poisoned arrows thousands of years earlier than thought

Deadly plant alkaloids discovered on 60,000-year-old arrowheads

Careers

How to make academic service activities count

Five tips for tackling commitments effectively

Sponsored

Alexandra Navrotsky

Alexandra Navrotsky: ‘I don’t think you attract people to science by big initiatives’

The nanogeoscientist on the importance of people to good science, the recent turnaround on diversity, equity and inclusion and why she will never be a professional artist

Meeting

How to make academic service activities count

Five tips for tackling commitments effectively

A worker at a water treatment plant in Zimbabwe

Deaths of municipal technicians in Zimbabwe from noxious gases linked to lack of chemistry expertise

An inability to pay good wages has seen technical talent leave the country with poorly-trained employees put at risk

Jennifer Kingston

Building the future of separation science

Jennifer Kingston was awarded the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Technical Excellence Prize, which honours the vital role of technical staff in the chemical sciences community