All Chemistry World articles in July 2025
In this issue we’re marking two important anniversaries: 200 years since Michael Faraday first isolated benzene and 100 years since Cecilia Payne made her discovery that our sun is a ball of incandescent hydrogen and helium. Plus our usual news, research and opinion from across the chemical sciences.
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ResearchEngineered microbe could clean up persistent oil pollution hotspots
Bacterium can break down five hydrocarbon pollutants into harmless compounds
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ResearchBridging the gap between Hammett parameters and the electronic structure of aromatic systems
Occupation of effective atomic orbitals used to quantify and predict Hammett parameters
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NewsERC increases funding offer to support scientists moving to Europe
Move is part of global efforts to attract researchers dismayed by the funding chaos in the US
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Research3D printing deep in the body using ultrasound could deliver drugs, heal wounds
Biocompatible inks allowed polymers to be printed in animals without harming them
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NewsPFAS regulations for US drinking water are being dismantled after just a year
EPA delays enforcement of levels set for PFOA and PFOS, and rescinds them for four other PFAS
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ResearchSuper-shielded carbene is stable in liquid water
Researchers claim to have validated a decades-old hypothesis formulated by Ronald Breslow by generating a carbene in an aqueous environment
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NewsA year on from the announcement of the dichloromethane ban, US research labs brace for change
Trump administration appears to be backing the Biden rule so universities are moving to comply
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ResearchBlown up brain cells’ connections and chemistry traced at incredible molecular resolution
Microscopy on tissue swollen to 16 times its normal size can help unravel neural structures
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NewsCampaign launched to get Lego periodic table playset out there
Spanish scientist wants people to vote for his spiral table to get Lego to bring it to life
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OpinionCan scientific curiosity and pressure to work long hours be balanced with well-being?
Younger researchers must beware the trap that sees their scientific fervour take over their lives
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NewsUK government announces 10-year budgets for R&D
Policy details to be announced at next spending review
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ResearchThere is unexpected chemistry going on in lithium deposits
After decades understanding pH controls boron speciation in seawater and other saline waters it turns out the opposite is true with lithium brines
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ResearchNanocomplex becomes a master of shape-shifting to target tumour cells
Switching from nanofibres in the blood to virus-like particles in a tumour environment brings drugs to where they are needed
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ResearchSelective C–H bond fluorination enables conformational reporting in a complex natural product
Radical fluorination leaves extant functional groups intact
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NewsClarivate to exclude retracted content when calculating impact factor
Move will ‘pre-emptively guard’ against distortions to journal metric
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ResearchPolymer membrane separates hydrocarbons, offering alternative to distillation
Microporous membrane enables energy efficient chemical separations
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NewsUniversity of Akron calls off plan to merge chemistry-related programmes
‘Retrenchment’ strategy to combine polymer science with chemical engineering and chemistry is averted, following voluntary layoffs
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ResearchDesigner protein switches conformations like a natural one
Researchers design, produce and test a synthetic protein with a dynamic structure
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NewsUS government to ‘aggressively revoke’ Chinese students’ visas
Serious concerns raised over plan to cancel the visas of students from China studying in ‘critical fields’
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ResearchLiquid carbon characterised in the lab for the first time
When targeted by a high-energy laser that generates pressures over one million atmospheres, carbon samples melt at around 6700K