Chemistry articles within Nature

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  • Letter |

    Here, a technically challenging spectroscopic experiment is described: the measurement of the muonic Lamb shift. The results lead to a new determination of the charge radius of the proton. The new value is 5.0 standard deviations smaller than the previous world average, a large discrepancy that remains unexplained. Possible implications of the new finding are that the value of the Rydberg constant will need to be revised, or that the validity of quantum electrodynamics theory is called into question.

    • Randolf Pohl
    • , Aldo Antognini
    •  & Franz Kottmann

  • News & Views |

    The discovery that the face-centred cubic form of the fullerene Cs3C60 is a superconductor, just as its body-centred cubic counterpart is, sheds light on the origin of superconductivity in organic materials.

    • Yoshihiro Iwasa

  • News & Views |

    Can small molecules in test tubes form assemblies containing different hydrophobic domains, like those found in cells? Yes, finds a study, suggesting new ways of isolating incompatible compounds in water.

    • Jan H. van Esch

  • Article |

    The backbones of all natural peptides and proteins are composed of amide bonds. In the laboratory, the construction of such bonds generally relies on dehydrative approaches, although there are alternatives. It is now shown that the activation of amines and nitroalkanes with an electrophilic iodine source can lead directly to amide products.

    • Bo Shen
    • , Dawn M. Makley
    •  & Jeffrey N. Johnston

  • News & Views |

    Amide bonds connect the amino acids in proteins and occur in many other useful molecules. An amide-forming reaction that turns the conventional approach on its head offers a practical way of making these bonds.

    • Karl Scheidt

  • Letter |

    Attosecond (10−18 s) laser pulses make it possible to peer into the inner workings of atoms and molecules on the electronic timescale — phenomena in solids have already been investigated in this way. Here, an attosecond pump–probe experiment is reported that investigates the ionization and dissociation of hydrogen molecules, illustrating that attosecond techniques can also help explore the prompt charge redistribution and charge localization that accompany photoexcitation processes in molecular systems.

    • G. Sansone
    • , F. Kelkensberg
    •  & M. J. J. Vrakking

  • Letter |

    Chemical reactions at the interior of single crystals are likely to be highly selective, but examples of single crystal to single crystal (SC–SC) transformations are uncommon. Here, a series of SC–SC transformations are reported that involve the interchange of multiple small gaseous ligands at an iridium centre in molecular single crystals of a pincer Ir(I) complex. The single crystal remains intact during these ligand-exchange reactions, which occur within the crystal and do not require prior ligand extrusion.

    • Zheng Huang
    • , Peter S. White
    •  & Maurice Brookhart

  • News & Views |

    You might think that the partial symmetry of the molecule complanadine A makes it easy to prepare, but the reverse is true. Two syntheses of this compound offer insight into how to make partly symmetrical molecules.

    • Scott A. Snyder

  • Letter |

    Stop codons in messenger RNA define when a protein sequence has been completely synthesized; such codons bind release factors (RFs), which cause the newly made protein to be released. Structures of RFs alone and in combination with the ribosome have been reported, but the energetics of the reaction in the presence of codons had not been determined. Here, molecular dynamics simulations of 14 termination complexes are used to define how termination is achieved and how the RFs distinguish different sequences.

    • Johan Sund
    • , Martin Andér
    •  & Johan Åqvist

  • Letter |

    Atomic nuclei have a shell structure that allows for 'magic numbers' of neutrons and protons, analogous to the noble gases in atomic physics. Knowledge of the properties of single-particle states outside nuclear shell closures in exotic nuclei is important for the fundamental understanding of nuclear structure and nucleosynthesis. Here, a nucleon-transfer technique has been used to measure the single-particle states of 133Sn, revealing the highly magic nature of 132Sn.

    • K. L. Jones
    • , A. S. Adekola
    •  & J. S. Thomas

  • News & Views |

    The membrane-spanning enzyme known as complex I couples the movement of electrons to that of protons as a way of converting energy. Crystal structures suggest how electron transfer drives proton pumping from afar.

    • Tomoko Ohnishi

  • News & Views |

    Spiders' webs are coated with microscopic droplets of glue, but the properties of this adhesive were unclear. It has now been found that the glue's stretchiness underpins its role in catching flies.

    • Haeshin Lee

  • News & Views |

    For many potential applications, carbon nanotubes must be chemically modified, but the reactions involved aren't easily controlled. The discovery of a reversible modification process is a step towards such control.

    • Maurizio Prato

  • News |

    Massive use of surfactant chemicals turns Gulf of Mexico into a giant experiment.

    • Daniel Cressey

  • Books & Arts |

    Vivid imagination was key to unlocking the secrets of molecular structure in the nineteenth century, finds Andrew Robinson.

    • Andrew Robinson

  • News & Views |

    An elastic polymer has been made whose molecular structure mimics that of titin, a protein found in muscle. The resulting material is tough, stretchy and dissipates energy — just like muscle itself.

    • Elliot L. Chaikof

  • News |

    Intellectual-property database could ease technology transfer.

    • Quirin Schiermeier

  • Letter |

    The accumulation of nitrate in freshwater and coastal marine ecosystems is one of the consequences of the worldwide production of artificial fertilizers. Here it is shown that nitrate accumulation in ecosystems shows consistent and negative nonlinear correlations with organic carbon availability, along a continuum from soils, through freshwater systems and coastal margins, to the open ocean. This pattern can be explained by carbon:nitrate ratios, which influence nitrate accumulation by regulating microbial processes.

    • Philip G. Taylor
    •  & Alan R. Townsend

  • Letter |

    Here, the atmosphere of the extrasolar planet GJ 436b is studied during its 'secondary eclipse'. The findings reveal the presence of some H2O and traces of CO2. The best-fit compositional models contain a high CO abundance and a substantial methane deficiency relative to thermochemical equilibrium models for the predicted hydrogen-dominated atmosphere. Disequilibrium processes such as vertical mixing and polymerization of methane may be required to explain this small methane-to-CO ratio.

    • Kevin B. Stevenson
    • , Joseph Harrington
    •  & Nate B. Lust

  • Editorial |

    Better chemical-control legislation is a good start, but scientific reform should parallel legal reform.

  • News & Views |

    Unlike its neighbours on the right-hand side of the periodic table, boron barely forms an anion. A new trick has been established that allows it to do so, enabling a highly unusual complex to be prepared.

    • Kyoko Nozaki

  • News & Views |

    Droplets of a liquid alloy on a silicon surface can rearrange the surface atoms so that they mimic the short-range ordering of atoms in the alloy. Remarkably, this effect inhibits freezing of the droplets.

    • A. Lindsay Greer

  • News Feature |

    After years of wrangling over the chemical's toxicity, researchers are charting a new way forwards. Brendan Borrell investigates how the debate has reshaped environmental-health studies.

    • Brendan Borrell

  • Letter |

    It has been thought that ocean temperatures during the early Palaeoarchaean era (around 3.5 billion years ago) were 55–85 °C. But a recent study indicated that the temperatures might be no higher than 40 °C. Here, studies are reported of the oxygen isotope compositions of phosphates in sediments from the 3.2–3.5-billion-year-old Barberton Greenstone Belt in South Africa. The findings indicate a well-developed phosphorus cycle and evolved biological activity in an Archaean ocean with temperatures of 26–35 °C.

    • Ruth E. Blake
    • , Sae Jung Chang
    •  & Aivo Lepland

  • Article |

    A quantum spin liquid is a hypothetical system of spins (such as those carried by electrons), the orientations of which continue to fluctuate even at absolute zero. Theoretical and experimental evidence for the existence of such states at the microscopic level is elusive, but these authors have modelled correlated electrons arranged on a honeycomb lattice (such as in graphene), and identified the conditions under which a microscopic quantum spin liquid would be realized in two dimensions.

    • Z. Y. Meng
    • , T. C. Lang
    •  & A. Muramatsu

  • News & Views |

    Microfluidic devices have many applications in chemistry and biology, but practical hitches associated with their use are often overlooked. One such device that optimizes catalysts tackles these issues head-on.

    • Robert C. R. Wootton
    •  & Andrew J. deMello

  • News & Views |

    Bose–Einstein condensates are ideal tools with which exotic phenomena can be investigated. The hitherto-unrealized Dicke quantum phase transition has now been observed with one such system in an optical cavity.

    • Cheng Chin
    •  & Nathan Gemelke

  • Letter |

    A major pursuit in the chemical community involves the search for efficient and inexpensive catalysts that can produce large quantities of hydrogen gas from water. Here, a molybdenum-oxo complex has been identified that can catalytically generate hydrogen gas either from pure water at neutral pH, or from sea water. The work has implications for the design of 'green' chemistry cycles.

    • Hemamala I. Karunadasa
    • , Christopher J. Chang
    •  & Jeffrey R. Long

  • Column |

    The US defence department should be at the centre of the nation's energy policy, says Daniel Sarewitz.

    • Daniel Sarewitz

  • Letter |

    Thermophilic bacteria and archaea use carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide as a starting material for making the organic substances used in cellular molecules. A central enzyme in this pathway has now been discovered, namely fructose 1,6-bisphosphate aldolase/phosphatase. This enzyme might represent the ancestral gluconeogenic enzyme.

    • Rafael F. Say
    •  & Georg Fuchs

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