Katrina Krämer
After finishing my A-levels, I wanted to study arts or languages, but then decided that being a chemist in a white coat was definitely cooler.
So I went on and spent ten years studying chemistry in Germany, Spain and the UK, before realising that not working in a lab can also be fun. After one year in the Royal Society of Chemistry’s graduate trainee scheme, I joined Chemistry World first as editorial assistant and now as science correspondent.
My favourite CAS number is 102-54-5.
- Research
Explainer: why has asymmetric organocatalysis won the chemistry Nobel prize?
In a rather unexpected move by the Nobel committee, this year’s prize in chemistry has been awarded to Benjamin List and David MacMillan
- Research
Record NMR shift in metal-bound phosphorus
Second record for iron complex as chemical shift beyond –10,000ppm discovered in phosphorus atoms directly bound to the metal
- Research
First fluoronium crystal solves structure controversy
X-ray analysis of elusive cation finally proves it to be a symmetric near-covalent structure, not a carbocation
- Research
Flip battery sideways for NMR studies
By turning button batteries on their side they can be studied by nuclear magnetic resonance without removing their metal casing
- Research
Actinide aromaticity defies predictions
First σ-aromatic thorium cluster extends σ aromaticity to periodic table’s heaviest elements
- Research
Transient quantum fluctuations tune polymer self-assembly
Chemists use to the universe’s random electromagnetic fluctuations to profoundly change a compound’s supramolecular organisation
- Research
Metal sandwich stabilises first benzene triplet-state aromatic
Benzene diradical dianion is the first monocyclic molecule that’s Baird aromatic in the ground state
- Feature
The search for the grand unification of aromaticity
Researchers have been trying to find a full definition of aromaticity for almost two centuries, and yet keep discovering new types
- Podcast
Book club – Science in Black and White by Alondra Oubré
Exposing racially biased research by delving into the nature versus nurture debate
- Research
Gold double helix assembles with DNA-like precision
DNA construction principles create first ever double-helical gold nanocluster assembly
- Research
Historical lead from petrol still poisons London’s air 20 years after its ban
Two decades after leaded petrol was banned in the UK, the toxic metal still hangs around London’s dusty roads – and it’s not going away
- Podcast
Book club – Vampirology by Kathryn Harkup
A scientific investigation of vampires’ lust for blood and weakness to garlic
- Research
Potassium’s electrons slowly transform into anions under pressure
Electride transition solves the mystery of how a liquid can be denser than a close-packed solid
- Research
Deepest ocean trenches hold vast amounts of mercury
Despite only comprising 1% of deep sea areas, sediments in Pacific Ocean trenches contain up to 30% of marine mercury
- News
Publishers grapple with an invisible foe as huge organised fraud hits scientific journals
Hundreds of fake research manuscripts from paper mills have flooded biochemical and biomedical journals in recent years. But how do you stop large-scale fraud barely anything is known about?
- Research
Bamboo bats could beat traditional willow at affordable cricket
While bamboo bats break cricket traditions, it might make the sport more accessible to its growing fanbase
![An image showing a [M2(BzN6-Mes)]n− complex](https://d2cbg94ubxgsnp.cloudfront.net/Pictures/100x67//4/0/8/514408_index_128835.jpg)
