Chemistry news, research and opinions

The science of the perfect cake

Nina Notman opens her lab notebook to find a recipe fit for a queen

Moderna and Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccines add more encouraging data

Pfizer–BioNTech reach safety threshold for emergency authorisation, while Moderna’s data peek suggests 95% efficacy

Martin Gouterman: the gay man behind the four-orbital model

By Abhik Ghosh

Abhik Ghosh tells the story of a porphyrin chemist who was a leading figure in Seattle’s gay rights movement of the 1960s

Tyre compound driving mystery salmon deaths identified after years of chemical detective work

2020-12-03T19:01:00+00:00

Previously unknown substance washes from roads to spawning streams – and likely has wide impact on aquatic ecosystems

Survey reveals chemists around the world have been hit hardest by the pandemic

2020-12-02T15:26:00+00:00

47% of chemists have been ‘extremely’ or ‘very’ affected by Covid-19

Brexit may put some chemicals out of GB’s Reach

2020-12-02T09:25:00+00:00

Industry fears divergence of UK and EU regulations could spell disaster for trade

UK grants Pfizer–BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine emergency approval

2020-12-02T12:54:00+00:00

Regulators around the world working towards accelerated decisions on vaccine data

RSC approves policy allowing researchers to change names on papers

2020-12-01T14:44:00+00:00

New protocol allows researchers to update names on previously published work

Refinement method uses quantum calculations to detail intricacies in crystal structures

2020-12-03T15:24:00+00:00

Technique tackles disordered structures and compounds containing heavy elements

Is there phosphine on Venus?

2020-12-03T09:58:00+00:00

A software glitch and a new analysis of 50-year-old data are all helping to answer the question

NMR monitors MOF assembly process

2020-12-02T14:13:00+00:00

Technique adapted to interrogate nucleation and growth mechanism

How to solve a ‘nasty’ compound’s structure with a million-Euro synchrotron

2020-12-02T09:30:00+00:00

Chemists overcomes challenges of handling explosive and toxic nitrogen to investigate its structure using Germany’s most expensive x-ray source

Snail slime central to sustainable strategy for making wound-healing gold nanoparticles

2020-12-01T09:34:00+00:00

Nanoparticles made using mucus could be developed into acne treatments

Pharmaceutical impurities: Combatting pharma’s elusive threat

Sponsored by Toronto Research Chemicals, by Sumeet Gullaiya

Image shows signposts indicating the multitude of directions the pharma industry will go

Welcome to the forefront of pharma

Supplied by Notch Communications, by Peter Brown, Jane Denny

The future is bright: protecting innovation during uncertain times

Sponsored by Life Science Integrates, by Samuel Thangiah, samuel

Faster pharma: Catalytic innovation combats precious metals supply chain pain

AI and digital simulation for better medicines, made faster

Sponsored by Research Center Pharmaceutical Engineering, by Johannes Khinast, Thomas Klein

Viewing rolling farmland through a window

Transparency is a precondition for sustainability

Informatics streamlines herbicide data management

Sponsored by Collaborative Drug Discovery

Image shows chemist before a molecule design background

New frontiers in synthetic chemistry conference

Speeding up your innovation cycle

Sustainable polymers and green analytical chemistry

Sponsored by Waters Corporation

Pharmaceutical impurities: Combatting pharma’s elusive threat
Welcome to the forefront of pharma
The future is bright: protecting innovation during uncertain times
Faster pharma: Catalytic innovation combats precious metals supply chain pain
AI and digital simulation for better medicines, made faster
Transparency is a precondition for sustainability
Informatics streamlines herbicide data management
New frontiers in synthetic chemistry conference
Speeding up your innovation cycle
Sustainable polymers and green analytical chemistry

Voice of the Royal Society of Chemistry

Books and a computer – learning concept image

Chemistry pedagogy for a modern world

Voice of The Royal Society of Chemistry

LGBT+ inclusivity – Building a better chemistry culture

Voice of The Royal Society of Chemistry

Celebrating Black History Month

Voice of The Royal Society of Chemistry

Trust in peer review

Voice of The Royal Society of Chemistry

Chemistry pedagogy for a modern world
LGBT+ inclusivity – Building a better chemistry culture
Celebrating Black History Month
Trust in peer review

Significant figures

Celebrating science's forgotten heroes

Martin Gouterman: the gay man behind the four-orbital model
Stefanie Horovitz – the woman behind the isotope
Marguerite Perey and the last element in nature
Ghanaian biochemistry TV star Marian Addy
Barbara Low, penicillin and the protein pi helix
Alice Ball’s treatment for leprosy
Eunice Foote: the mother of climate change
Jimmy Robinson and the atom bomb elements
The indomitable Toshiko Mayeda
Theodora Greene’s protecting groups

Chemistry for all?

By Rachel Brazil

Rachel Brazil reports on the RSC’s five-year project to see whether students from disadvantaged backgrounds can be encouraged to study chemistry

Engineering a handshake for proteins

By Ian Le Guillou

Once considered undruggable, chemists are beginning to grasp protein–protein interactions, according to Ian Le Guillou

Can sustainable aviation fuels give us guilt-free flying?

By Angeli Mehta

Angeli Mehta finds out if we can make jet fuel sustainably – and cheaply

How Crispr went from niche to Nobel

By Katrina Krämer

Katrina Kramer tells the story of how Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna developed the gene editing tool that won them the 2020 Nobel prize in chemistry

Enhanced understanding of lithium ion battery chemistry through isothermal calorimetry

Sponsored by Waters Corporation

Emerging strategies in covalent inhibition

UK grants Pfizer–BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine emergency approval

Brexit may put some chemicals out of GB’s Reach

By Vanessa Zainzinger

Oxford–AstraZeneca vaccine joins others with promising interim data

By Anthony King

Taking plastic out of performance paper coatings

By Rachel Brazil

Regulatory panel unconvinced by Alzheimer’s antibody evidence

By Anthony King

How to protect your intellectual property

By Rachel Brazil

A great idea is just the first step on a long road

Can we do better than peer review?

By Rachel Brazil

Experimenting with better ways to assess researchers

Translating snail venom research from beach to bench and beyond

By Catherine Hodges

Meet Mandë Holford, an interdisciplinary scientist following tangents that arise when exploring the molecular-level workings of venom peptides

How the products of fire control the formation of snow

By Alexander Whiteside

Nadine Borduas-Dedekind brings an organic chemist’s arrow-pushing insight to reactions in the atmosphere

Beautiful molecules ring up with a purpose

By Jennifer Newton

How Stephen Goldup used his experience in organic synthesis to find a supramolecular niche

Thomas Hartung: ‘I am not a funny guy’

The world-renowned toxicologist talks about animal models, his dog and diminishing trust in experts

Kelly Chibale: ‘No leader should be feared’

The founder of the H3D drug discovery centre in South Africa on leadership and flying with Jürgen Klopp

Electrochemistry on an industrial scale

By Chemjobber

Sizzling temperatures and millions of tons

Vaccines on track

By Phillip Broadwith

Early data provide hope of several effective options

Baking – it’s a chemistry thing

By Neil Withers

Anyone can bake, but can everyone do chemistry?

You can’t measure a mentor solely by gender

By Emma Pewsey

A mentoring relationship is inherently personal and unique

Comprehensive 2D liquid chromatography for polymer applications

Sponsored by Waters Corporation

The theory and practice of green analytical chemistry

Sponsored by Waters Corporation

Testing for mosquito repellent residue

Sponsored by Honeywell Research Chemicals

Weighing in a filtered fume hood?

Analysis of fentanyl in human urine

Compact mass spectrometry: a complete reaction monitoring solution

The COVID-19 pandemic and the future

2020-10-15T12:00:00+01:00

This series of Chemistry World reports is part of a forth coming e-bookand hardback to be published by the Royal Society of Chemistry. The book was motivated by a desire on the part of the editors and the authors to produce a body of information on the new and deadly coronavirus about which the world was largely uninformed and for which it was totally unprepared.

Listen to our podcasts

Maltodextrin
By Anna Ploszajski
A sweet compound that provides ample energy for extreme endurance events
Ionic liquids
By Katrina Krämer
Liquid salts, ionic melts, fused salts, or ionic glasses – call them what you like, these much-hyped solvents show great promise
Chlorhexidine
By Michael Freemantle
An antimicrobial compound that kills bacteria and viruses quickly – found in some of the most colourful antiseptic solutions

Reviews

Sticking Together: The Science of Adhesion
This book will answer everything you ever wanted to know about how things stick to other things – from geckos to PVA adhesive
Toxic: A History of Nerve Agents, From Nazi Germany to Putin’s Russia
A comprehensive and timely book covering events from 1931 to 2018
Biography of Resistance: The Epic Battle Between People and Pathogens
A book illustrating a global health threat more daunting than Covid-19: growing antibiotic resistance
Giving the Devil his Due: Reflections of a Scientific Humanist
‘The counter to bad ideas is good ideas. The rebuttal to pseudoscience is better science.’
Written in Bone: Hidden Stories in What We Leave Behind
A forensic anthropology pageturner filled with cases ranging from historic excavations to recent murder investigations
Spinach on The Ceiling: The Multifaceted Life of a Theoretical Chemist
Martin Karplus’ autobiography offers deep insights into his scientific work but few personal touches