Physical chemistry
The latest chemistry news and research on physical chemistry, including quantum and theoretical, bonding, computational and surfaces and interfaces, from the Royal Society of Chemistry's magazine, Chemistry World
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WebinarWalter Kohn: from kindertransport and internment to DFT and the Nobel prize
Join us on 25 November as we explore the legacy of Walter Kohn, the 1998 joint winner of the Nobel prize in chemistry
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NewsThe chemistry community should ban drawing chemical structures with generative AI, chemists warn
AIs like Microsoft’s Copilot, Google’s Gemini and OpenAI’s ChatGPT still make serious errors rendering structural formulae
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ResearchElectron transfer plays an underappreciated role in battery charging cycles
Ion transfer alone does not explain charging and discharging rates of lithium-ion batteries
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NewsThe 2025 Nobel prize in chemistry as it happens – live
Join us as we provide analysis and commentary in the run up to the announcement of the biggest prize in chemistry
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NewsMacroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling wins Nobel prize in physics
John Clarke, Michel Devoret and John Martinis honoured for their observations of quantum effects in a superconducting electric circuit
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OpinionAI tools for chemistry aren’t the end, they are a means to a beginning
Is there life after death for the fields that fall to AI?
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OpinionKarl Mueller: ‘I realised I had matured when I started giving away my best ideas’
The director of Ames National Laboratory in the US discusses getting hooked on chemistry via parental inspiration and a benchtop NMR
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OpinionThe simple machine that visualised atomic orbitals
In 1931, Harvey Elliott White developed a device that traced out the shapes of electron clouds by approximating solutions to the Schrödinger equation
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ResearchElectron irradiation converts hydrocarbon crystals into nanodiamonds
Flawless nanodiamond synthesis that wasn’t thought possible accomplished by transforming adamantane
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ResearchFirst valence electron measurements capture fleeting reaction process
Femtosecond timescale x-ray laser measurements study how a hydrogen atom breaks off an ammonia molecule
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ResearchDiscovery of unusual iodine–silver bond opens up new possibilities for coordination chemistry
Crystallographic studies reveal that the bond is similar in length to typical metal–metal bonds
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ResearchElectrochemistry offers ‘modest’ boost to deuterium fusion reaction
Electrochemical cell used to increase density of deuterium fuel
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ResearchWay to unlock polaritons’ ‘magic power’ discovered
Controlling polaritonic chemistry could lead to better solar cells – or even lightsabers
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ResearchModelling suggests waste heat from AI data centres could power carbon capture and water purification
Analysis considering thermodynamics, economics and emissions shows how AI could flip its environmental footprint to become both water-positive and carbon-negative
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ResearchAntibiotics designed with the help of AI attack bacteria in entirely new ways
Two new compounds display potent activity against deadly drug-resistant bacteria
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NewsWhat are the top journals in chemistry right now?
Following the recent release of journal impact factors, we round up the leading journals across 10 chemistry fields
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OpinionQuantum deception attempts turning water into wine
The effect lasts only a few picoseconds but demonstrates a way to manipulate the optical properties of materials
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ResearchNobelium becomes heaviest element with identified compounds
Complexes containing hydroxide, water and dinitrogen ligands detected as researchers probe chemistry on the edge of the actinide series
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ResearchGold samples heated to 19,000K without losing their crystalline structure
Ultrafast lasers used to superheat gold films faster than they can melt