News
Gold hydrogen bonds found to be as strong as other similar textbook interactions
2+ hour, 35+ min ago (241+ words) Gold’s electronic structure and mass helps the element to form hydrogen bonds Spectroscopic analysis of gas phase gold anions bound to acetonitrile molecules has now allowed Chen and his team to better probe these interactions. ‘[The cyanide group in acetonitrile]…...
Rethinking ‘dynamic catalysis’ optimisation: chemists may have been doing it the wrong way for years
4+ day, 2+ hour ago (309+ words) Have chemists been optimising the wrong variable for years when it comes to dynamic catalysis? That’s the claim made in a new study out of the University of Houston, US. ‘A standard catalyst is “static” as it sits under fixed…...
Aston University unveils new £6 million membrane research facility
5+ day, 1+ hour ago (210+ words) Aston University has officially opened a new research facility focused on developing and studying membranes, for applications such as water purification and drug discovery. Officials hope that the lab’s open-plan design will help foster collaboration between scientists and accelerate scientific…...
Elusive crystal structure of borylnitrenes finally captured
5+ day, 20+ hour ago (137+ words) Source: © 2026 American Chemical Society The structure of the elusive borylnitrene Chemists have now captured a snapshot of a highly reactive boron-bound nitrene using in situ crystallography. This is the first time that researchers have been able to study this elusive…...
One-electron bonds may be more common than chemists thought
6+ day, 2+ hour ago (421+ words) And while it is well-known that dative bonds are weak, Martín Pendás believes his team’s one-electron perspective could help explain why. Source: © Ángel Martín Pendás/Universidad de Oviedo In ammonia borane, one electron of the bonding pair stays close to…...
Chemistry delivers £60.5 billion to the UK economy and makes local economies more resilient, says RSC report
1+ week, 50+ min ago (318+ words) The chemical sciences contributed £60.5 billion to the UK economy in 2023, a new report from the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) has found. The report reveals how chemistry supports innovation and growth across a range of sectors and industries, and calls…...
How a chance discovery overturned one of photochemistry’s oldest dogmas
1+ week, 1+ day ago (851+ words) Now the tide seems to finally be turning: Barner-Kowollik and his colleagues have to counter fewer incredulous and dismissive comments at conferences. Other researchers have started to uncover the same absorptivity–reactivity mismatch in their own experiments. And years of…...
Seveso disaster at 50: how Italy’s dioxin catastrophe transformed chemical safety
2+ week, 1+ day ago (1595+ words) Fifty years ago, an accident at a chemical plant near Milan released up to 30kg of dioxin over residential areas. The Seveso disaster would traumatise a local population and bring about health effects that are still being studied today. But the…...
What kinds of reactions do you do most?
2+ week, 5+ day ago (638+ words) Variety may be the spice of life, but there’s space for the boring but effective What kinds of reactions do you do most? I’ve been doing plenty of bench chemistry lately, but I sometimes wonder what my earlier self would…...
Building global links and growing local chemistry talent in The Gambia
2+ week, 6+ day ago (118+ words) Members of the Chemical Society of The Gambia have experienced success since joining Commonwealth Chemistry The Chemical Society of The Gambia has been suppotring members at conferences worldwide So far, 11 research works have been presented at Commonwealth Chemistry conferences. Two…...