An illustration showing a blackboard with aromatic compounds written on it

The search for the grand unification of aromaticity

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Researchers have been trying to find a full definition of aromaticity for almost two centuries, and yet keep discovering new types. Katrina Krämer asks when chemists will get to the bottom of this elusive concept. 

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Machine learning delivers ‘human genome’ moment for proteins

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Protein structure prediction tools AlphaFold and RoseTTAFold take the latest steps towards maturity and make their software open source

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What is aromaticity?

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Assessing a concept that has become messy

News

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Fire in Russian chemical plant kills one, injures six

2021-08-05T12:04:00+01:00

Government to investigate a fatal fire at military production facility in southern Russia

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Nobel laureates accuse China of attempting to censor Taiwanese chemist

2021-08-04T13:30:00+01:00

The US National Academy of Sciences came under pressure to revoke the invite of chemistry laureate Yuan Lee to a climate summit

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Deadly liquid nitrogen leak at US poultry plant prompts $1m in fines

2021-08-02T15:56:00+01:00

Georgia chicken processing facility, its gas supplier and cleaners failed to implement safety procures that could have saved six lives

A photo showing a white blonde woman in a white lab coat. She's standing with her back to the camera in front of a lab bench, holding a clipboard on her left hand, inspecting at a wall full of shelves of glassware and other lab equipment

UK’s innovation strategy reiterates ambitious science funding targets

2021-08-02T09:49:00+01:00

The country’s aim to spend a record £22 billion on research each year will go alongside immigration reforms and an agency for blue skies research

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Pfizer backs protein degrader drugs with Arvinas deal

2021-07-30T14:27:00+01:00

$1bn investment to commercialise breast cancer treatment

Research

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Giant crystal lattice is mesoporous but not a MOF

2021-08-05T13:14:00+01:00

Non-covalent network has the largest unit cell among non-MOFs

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There was more than simple oxygen depletion to ancient mass extinction event

2021-08-05T08:30:00+01:00

Thallium isotopes reveal that rapid swings in ocean oxygenation preceded the events that wiped out 90% of species 250 million years ago

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Heavy-atom quantum tunnelling catalysed with Lewis acids

2021-08-04T14:02:00+01:00

Lewis acid–base interactions found to increase quantum tunnelling rates of rearrangement reaction

Orange round shapes in five circles, some encompassed in green squares with an L and an R

Machine-learning tool performs stereochemical assignments on SPM images

2021-08-03T13:14:00+01:00

Identifying chiral centres on SPM images with machine-learning tools only takes a few hours and could save researchers time

A closeup photo of a droplet with a golden metallic sheen to it

First fleeting glimpse of metallic water

2021-08-02T13:30:00+01:00

Electron doping briefly turns water into golden metal

Voice of the Royal Society of Chemistry

Recycling Webinar image index

Is chemical recycling of plastics the future?

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Nature and mental wellbeing – Building a better chemistry culture

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Should we design biodegradable plastics?

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Progressive plastics webinars

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  • Is chemical recycling of plastics the future?

  • Nature and mental wellbeing – Building a better chemistry culture

  • Should we design biodegradable plastics?

  • Progressive plastics webinars

Significant figures

Celebrating science's forgotten heroes

An illustrated portrait of Kathleen Culhane Lathbury

Kathleen Culhane Lathbury – an industrial pioneer

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Mabel FitzGerald and the mystery of oxygen sensing

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Polly Porter, crystallography pioneer

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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

  • Kathleen Culhane Lathbury – an industrial pioneer

  • Mabel FitzGerald and the mystery of oxygen sensing

  • 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

More...

Features

A composite of old photos of scientists involved in insulin

One hundred years of insulin

By

Mike Sutton looks at the journey the diabetes treatment took from the Toronto miracle to mass-production – via a controversial trip to Stockholm

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The long road to sustainable lithium-ion batteries

By

Lithium-ion batteries could save the planet from petrol-driven cars, but do the batteries themselves live up to their sustainable reputation? Katharine Sanderson investigates efforts to make batteries better

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Supermetals versus superbugs

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With pathogenic bacteria rapidly overcoming our arsenal of organic antibiotics, James Mitchell Crow asks if it is time to revisit metal-based antimicrobials

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The rise of ferrofluids

By

Magnetic liquids are taking off, Hayley Bennett reports, but not as their inventor once imagined

Upcoming webinars

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Is chemical recycling of plastics the future?

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Moving beyond spreadsheets: rational design of materials using advanced informatics and machine learning

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Streamlining small-molecule discovery chemistry with Torx

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The era of data analytics: What it takes to succeed beyond the hype

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  • Is chemical recycling of plastics the future?

  • Moving beyond spreadsheets: rational design of materials using advanced informatics and machine learning

  • Streamlining small-molecule discovery chemistry with Torx

  • The era of data analytics: What it takes to succeed beyond the hype