A framed portrait of Polly Porter

Polly Porter, crystallography pioneer

By Marelene Rayner-Canham, Geoff Rayner-Canham

Marelene and Geoff Rayner-Canham examine one of Dorothy Hodgkin’s mentors, who never studied at school or university

An image showing the Forbidden City

How Covid gave the world a lesson in tackling air pollution

By

The pandemic has given atmospheric chemists the opportunity to study pollution and carbon emissions like never before

An image showing a driver using a breathalizer

Drink, drugs and disease: the chemistry of breath tests

By

From roadside tests to diagnosing Covid-19, Clare Sansom looks at how breathalysers have developed

News

An image showing fire

Fatal explosion at US paint and polymers plant

2021-04-19T14:30:00+01:00

One dead and nine others injured as building partially collapsed after explosion and fire

A photo of four plastic baby spoons each with a different food on the end

US food agency targets ‘toxic elements’ in baby food

2021-04-15T13:51:00+01:00

Strategy will focus on lead, mercury, arsenic and cadmium 

An image showing the Sinochem logo

Government clears merger of SinoChem and ChemChina

2021-04-15T09:21:00+01:00

China’s chemicals giants will unite under a state-run holding company

An image showing the reception of a UK chemistry department

Universities pass UK research assessment stress test during tough times

2021-04-14T13:58:00+01:00

Pandemic hampered submissions for REF but extension provided breathing space institutions needed

An image showing Joe Biden

Biden’s science budget for 2022 pleases US research community

2021-04-13T13:30:00+01:00

White House requests big funding increases for research agencies

Research

An image showing hybrid active orbitals

Exotic bond takes computational chemists by surprise

2021-04-19T11:15:00+01:00

New results could help to solve the dispute around the strange Na–B bond in NaBH3–

An image showing the Ulvetanna Peak in Antarctica

Geochemists uncover evidence of massive Antarctic meteorite explosion 430,000 years ago

2021-04-16T08:30:00+01:00

Airburst event spread material across most of Antarctica

An image showing the Dy3C2 cluster

Three-centre single-electron bond caught in a cage

2021-04-16T08:03:00+01:00

Fullerene cage stabilises bond never before seen in lanthanide chemistry

A diagram of charged particles crossing membranes during electrolysis

Ion trapping desalination membrane fishes out valuable materials

2021-04-15T18:02:00+01:00

Selectively trapping toxic or useful ions could reduce toxicity of brine waste and offset costs

An image showing polyurethane-like material

Greener plastic made from leftover fish guts and bones

2021-04-15T13:52:00+01:00

Canadian researchers make a polyurethane-like polymer from oils

Voice of the Royal Society of Chemistry

Yellow and orange cosmos flowers with blue sky in the background

Nature and mental wellbeing – Building a better chemistry culture

Voice of

An illustration showing different uses for plastics, alongside plastics being recycled

Should we design biodegradable plastics?

Voice of

Books and a computer – learning concept image

Chemistry pedagogy for a modern world

Voice of

London Pride March 2017

LGBT+ inclusivity – Building a better chemistry culture

Voice of

  • Nature and mental wellbeing – Building a better chemistry culture

  • Should we design biodegradable plastics?

  • Chemistry pedagogy for a modern world

  • LGBT+ inclusivity – Building a better chemistry culture

Significant figures

Celebrating science's forgotten heroes

A framed portrait of Polly Porter

Polly Porter, crystallography pioneer

An illustrated portrait of Mary Sherman Morgan

Mary Sherman Morgan: The best kept secret in the space race

A framed portrati of Julia Lermontova

Julia Lermontova: an early pioneer

An illustrated portrait of Margarita Salas

Margarita Salas: the marquesa of molecular biology

A framed portrait of Sylvia Stoesser

Sylvia Stoesser – the first female chemist at Dow

An image showing a framed portrait of Martin Gouterman

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

A photo in a frame of Stefanie Horovitz

Stefanie Horovitz – the woman behind the isotope

An illustrated portrait of Marguerite Perey

Marguerite Perey and the last element in nature

A framed portrait of Marian Addy

Ghanaian biochemistry TV star Marian Addy

An image showing a frament portrait of Barbara Low

Barbara Low, penicillin and the protein pi helix

  • Polly Porter, crystallography pioneer

  • Mary Sherman Morgan: The best kept secret in the space race

  • Julia Lermontova: an early pioneer

  • Margarita Salas: the marquesa of molecular biology

  • Sylvia Stoesser – the first female chemist at Dow

  • 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

More...

Features

An image showing a diseased leaf

The growing problem of pesticide resistance

By

Weeds and other plant pests can no longer be controlled by chemicals as easily as they could. Bárbara Pinho talks to the scientists finding solutions

An image showing a tattooed arm

Smart tattoos are keeping tabs on our health

By

Nina Notman takes a snapshot of the burgeoning field of health and fitness monitoring tattoos and patches

An image showing botanical illustrations of wheat, pea, clover and leek

Getting to the root of soil nitrogen

By

The farming industry’s reliance on nitrogen compounds is altering the environment, but Ian Le Guillou finds a better understanding of the interplay between plants and microbes could help to reduce the impact

An image showing a chemical plant photographed with a tilt-shift lens, which gives the impression that the viewer is looking at a miniature plant

Flow chemistry surges forward

By

The long-discussed technique could help make pharma manufacturing more distributed, finds Andy Extance, and create opportunities for chemists with the right skills

Upcoming webinars

An illustration showing different uses for plastics, alongside plastics being recycled

Should we design biodegradable plastics?

Voice of

Abstract image of points of light

Computational acceleration of novel organic electronic materials development

Sponsored by

Yellow and orange cosmos flowers with blue sky in the background

Nature and mental wellbeing – Building a better chemistry culture

Voice of

Big data blue stylistic graph

Statistics versus machine learning: should we all learn artificial intelligence?

Sponsored by

  • Should we design biodegradable plastics?

  • Computational acceleration of novel organic electronic materials development

  • Nature and mental wellbeing – Building a better chemistry culture

  • Statistics versus machine learning: should we all learn artificial intelligence?