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

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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

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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

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US urged to waive Covid-19 vaccine patents

2021-04-22T09:30:00+01:00

175 former world leaders and Nobel laureates call on Joe Biden to suspend intellectual property rules

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Physical chemist tapped to head chemical safety at US environment agency

2021-04-21T14:22:00+01:00

Biden nominates Michal Freedhoff who has spent decades on Capitol Hill on chemical regulation

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Chemical weapons watchdog starts work on new chemistry and technology centre

2021-04-21T09:31:00+01:00

OPCW facility will build up its capacity in areas including analytical chemistry and chemical safety

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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 

Research

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Adding constraints to understand life’s chemical origins

2021-04-22T13:47:00+01:00

Matt Powner wants to know if there are chemical rules that govern why certain synthetic strategies are embedded in biology 

An image showing Xiulin Ruan

The whitest white paint ever is also the coolest

2021-04-20T13:30:00+01:00

New paint formulation that reflects up to 98.1% of sunlight can rival the cooling power of air conditioners

An image showing a planar tetracoordinated fluorine complex

Computational study finds fluorine in flatland

2021-04-20T08:26:00+01:00

Proposed planar clusters contain fluorine atoms and group 13 elements

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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–

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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

Voice of the Royal Society of Chemistry

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Nature and mental wellbeing – Building a better chemistry culture

Voice of

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Should we design biodegradable plastics?

Voice of

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Should we design biodegradable plastics?

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Computational acceleration of novel organic electronic materials development

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Nature and mental wellbeing – Building a better chemistry culture

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

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Molecular modeling for the medicinal chemistry toolkit

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  • 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?

  • Molecular modeling for the medicinal chemistry toolkit