Conventional adsorbents fall short in addressing the urgent challenge of PFAS contamination in water. COFs offer structural tunability and high selectivity, making them promising candidates for PFAS removal. This review highlights recent advances in using COFs for removing persistent “forever chemicals” (PFASs) from water. It categorizes key adsorption mechanisms and provides structure-property insights to guide the future design of high-performance, scalable, and sustainable COF-based remediation systems.

Mechanism-driven tailoring of azomethine imines (AMIs) optimized the pH-sensitive bioorthogonal ligation with isonitriles. Fine-tuning the electrophilicity and Brønsted basicity achieved a more than 100-fold increase in reaction rate compared with the first-generation AMIs, without compromising stability, chemoselectivity, or pH dependence. The efficiency and benefits of the AMI-isonitrile ligation were demonstrated by selective protein labeling under physiologically relevant conditions and the preferential labeling of live cells at acidic versus neutral pH.

A novel pyridyl-imine-linked 2D COF, i.e., TPDA-BiPy-COF, was designed and synthesized with accessible nitrogen sites to act as a good photocatalyst. To enhance the photocatalytic activity, Ni(II) centers were inserted between pyridyl-imine active sites, i.e., Nimine-Ni-Nbipyridine, leading to efficient charge separation and electron transfer. The resulting TPDA-BiPy@NiX₂ COF exhibited exceptional photocatalytic hydrogen evolution activity (34.13 mmol g−1 h−1) without any cocatalysts and enabled a visible-light-driven C–S cross-coupling reaction, offering a sustainable platform for dual photocatalytic applications in energy and organic synthesis.

The study elucidates the complex reaction environments during the depolymerization of PET with NaOH in ball mills, based on microscopically resolved analysis of well-defined single impacts. By correlating models of localized energy input with spectroscopic studies of the resulting amorphization and extent of depolymerization, it identifies the kinetically relevant phenomena.

This study introduces bench-stable sulfodiimides that release sulfenylnitrenes upon exposure to blue light, enabling late-stage nitrogen incorporation into N-heterocycles. The mild and additive-free method expands skeletal editing tools for the synthesis of complex molecules.

Molecular machine properties such as speed, efficiency, power, and torque depend upon particular features of structure, mechanism, and chemistry. The graphical abstract shows a Top Trumps-style representation of key performance indicators, illustrating how the first generation of synthetic catalysis-driven small-molecule machines compare with their biomolecular analogs. The understanding of how molecular machine design affects properties should aid technological advancements and a deeper understanding of the fundamental principles that link physics, chemistry, and biology.

Nature Synthesis - Hydrogenation using ammonia-borane

This study presents a novel modular train-style nanorobot for targeted colorectal cancer therapy. The nanorobot integrates tumor targeting, deep penetration, and catalytic therapy, inducing cuproptosis and modulating the immune microenvironment. In preclinical models, it demonstrates effective tumor infiltration, metabolic reprogramming, and immune activation. An oral nanorobot capsule enhances patient compliance while maintaining therapeutic efficacy. This innovative platform offers a promising strategy to overcome the physical and immunological barriers of colorectal cancer treatment.

CO2 hydrogenation to methanol by trinuclear Zn1Cu2 sites. Methanol space-time yield of 14.3 mmol/gcat/h at a selectivity of 90.7%.

Biomimetic strategies have been extensively applied in protein modifications to mimic post-translational modifications in nature. Reported herein, a biomimetic oxidative deamination of native lysine residues allows for the lysine bioconjugation in peptides and proteins with unprecedented biocompatibility and chemoselectivity.

Although the asymmetric synthesis of enantioenriched carborane derivatives has been disclosed, the homochiral carborane-fused polyarene remains synthetically elusive. In the September issue of Cell Reports Physical Science, Mu and co-workers report the modular synthesis of various boraphenanthrenes containing carborane blocks. Mechanistic studies show that the key steps are the transfer of axial chirality and an unusual 1,2-boron migration.

In the July 17 issue of Science, Lu et al. disclose a strategy for converting abundant pyrrolidines into tetrahydropyridazines via a nitrogen-atom insertion process with O-diphenylphosphinyl hydroxylamine as the nitrogen source, providing a powerful platform for the rapid construction of a variety of nitrogen-containing diazacycles and the late-stage derivatization of drug-like molecules.

A dual-affinity C–H σ-dopant is developed as an n-type dopant that can improve the interactions with conjugated backbones and alkyl side chains of conjugated polymers. Doped polymers demonstrate enhanced microstructure ordering and increased conductivities up to 83 S cm−1, a performance improvement of 40%–240% compared with previous dopants.

Manipulation of the rate constants in a reversible reaction network by a primitive catalyst (ReO4−) greatly enhanced the M6L4 SP yield. In contrast, NO3−, which has higher catalytic activity than ReO4−, did not lead to such a high yield. ReO4− differs from NO3− in that ReO4− alters the acceleration of the ligand exchanges in response to the coordination ability, which efficiently converted a species trapped without the catalyst into SP.

The enzymatic assembly of the unusual peptide antibiotic closthioamide involves ribosome-independent amide formation by a papain-like ligase, CtaG. Biochemical, mutational, and structural analyses show that CtaG catalyzes a non-canonical distal peptide chain elongation via a ping-pong mechanism using two distinct peptidyl carrier proteins.

This review comprehensively illuminates the latest advancements in stabilizing persistent organic radicals using N-heterocyclic carbenes. Understanding the chemical reactivity of these systems is framed by a detailed examination of how their distinct electronic and steric attributes enable radical stabilization and control spin delocalization. The profound implications for redox-active materials, photocatalysis, and electronic devices are highlighted, offering critical insights into advanced material design and fundamental chemical reactivity.

Progress in enzymology is enabled by the development of high-throughput platforms for kinetic measurements. Presented herein is a method for one-shot ultra-high-throughput quantification of enzymatic kinetics using mRNA display and next-generation sequencing. The technique was leveraged to quantify kcat/KM values for 2.86 × 105 peptide substrates of a promiscuous dehydroamino acid reductase.

Nitrogen stereocenters typically undergo rapid nitrogen inversion under ambient conditions, rendering their stereoselective construction very challenging. This study reports an unexplored approach using dynamic kinetic resolution (DKR) via enantioselective Pd-catalyzed C–H olefination to selectively form stable chiral nitrogen centers from rapidly inverting precursors. Enantioenriched tribenzo[b,d,f]azepines and dibenzo[b,f]azepines can be prepared using this method, with some products exhibiting high circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) performance. These compounds may have applications in materials for display technologies.

We have developed a broadly applicable and modular synthetic approach for fluoroalkyl-substituted cyclopropenes, utilizing fluoroalkylacylsilanes as carbynyl cation equivalents. The success of this reaction is attributed to the efficient photocatalytic fluoroalkyl siloxycarbene-mediated [2 + 1] cycloaddition with alkynes, followed by acid-catalyzed C–O bond functionalization, facilitated by the leaving group ability of the siloxyl group. The reactions exhibit a wide substrate scope, resulting in convenient access to diversified fluoroalkyl-substituted cyclopropenyl ethers, arenes, alkanes, thioethers, amines, and azides.

The flat, internal β-barrel surface of an engineered α-hemolysin pore can support substantial stereoselectivity. This finding expands the designable chemical space of catalysts and provides insights into the origin of selective enzymes.

The programmable design and synthesis of topologically complex architectures through rational ligand engineering open new avenues for exploring the effects and potential applications of entanglements across chemistry, physics, and biology. In this issue of Chem, Fujita, Sawada, and co-workers extend the folding-and-assembly approach to construct an M60L60-entangled capsid featuring 60 crossings.

Adenosine is a key regulator of the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. In the August issue of Cell Biomaterials, Chen et al. introduce a synergistic tumor immunotherapy: magnetothermal immunotherapy. Using external magnetic control, this approach enhances immune activation by promoting ATP release while preventing its conversion to immunosuppressive adenosine. This synergistic nanotherapy offers a promising new strategy for cancer immunotherapy.