Atoms and bonds
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ResearchMetal crystals reveal long-held secret behind their ultrafast growth
Hidden pre-organisation means supercooled silver crystals can grow at a rate of up to 100 metres per second
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FeatureThe nuclear option
Using radioisotopes to image inside patients’ bodies – nuclear medicine – is under threat from ageing reactors. James Mitchell Crow discovers the new science trying to fix the problem
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ResearchSimple propeller molecule builds complex porous material
Symmetric compound self-assembles into holey lattice that can self-heal and store gases
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NewsUltracold molecules are poised to unearth chemistry’s foundations
Molecules close to absolute zero will soon help chemists unravel the toughest questions about why reactions occur at all
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ResearchClassic multicomponent reaction finally gets chiral touch
59 years after its discovery, the Ugi reaction becomes enantioselective with the help of a chiral phosphoric acid
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![A structure showing that the weakly bonded hydrogen of [P4H]+ sits on the edge of the P4-tetrahedron](https://d1w9csuen3k837.cloudfront.net/Pictures/100x67/7/8/5/138785_c8sc03023e-f5.jpg)
ResearchSuperacid helps scientists solve protonated white phosphorus structure
Findings set to fuel phosphorus activation research
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ResearchHydrogen bonds help porphyrin bend aromaticity rules
Molecule undergoes unprecedented topology switch from Möbius aromatic to Hückel anti-aromatic when immersed in polar solvent
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ResearchMacrocycles power up carbon nanotubes
Interlocked molecules tune the electronic properties of nanotubes, allowing researchers to control their catalytic activity
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ResearchBeryllium double bond predicted
Proposed Be–Be bond would be first double bond between s block elements using only π electrons
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ResearchChemists weave granny and triple trefoil knots
Interwoven grids folded into mechanically interlocked molecules, including a super-coiled three-trefoil
