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Asymmetric hydrophosphorylation of unsaturated compounds is a straightforward and atom-economic approach to obtaining chiral organophosphorus compounds. Herein, the authors describe a Pd-catalzyed ligand controlled regiodivergent and enantioselective hydrophosphorylation of styrenes.

The implementation of asymmetric Heck/cross coupling cascades of highly flexible haloalkene substrates remains a challenging and long-standing goal. Here the authors report an asymmetric domino Heck/Tsuji−Trost reaction of flexible vinylic halides with 1,3-dienes enabled by palladium catalysis.

Operating a self-driving lab is challenging without coding skills. Here, authors introduce IvoryOS, a drag-and-drop web interface for cross-platform workflow design and management, to enhance accessibility and transferability of self-driving labs.

Here, by analyzing 306481 microbial genomes from human-associated microbiomes, the authors reveal a largely unexplored biosynthetic landscape of ribosomal peptides (RiPPs), identifying protective peptides that obstruct pathogen biofilms and regulate gut microbiota in disease models, underscoring their significant therapeutic potential.

Characterization of the genetic architecture underlying the 7 pairs of contrasting traits studied by Mendel and the over 70 additional agronomic traits in pea (Pisum sativum) reveals their molecular details and provides tools for further studies in pea genetics, functional genomics and crop improvement.

Three-dimensional covalent organic frameworks hold great potential for diverse applications, but their structural diversity is constrained by the synthetic approaches available. Now it is shown that ‘eight-connected’ building blocks with reduced symmetry enable the synthesis of such frameworks with rare topologies and enhanced gas adsorption performance.

The construction of three-dimensional covalent organic frameworks for gas separation is challenging due to the similar physicochemical properties of the gas mixture. Here, the authors report functional three-dimensional covalent organic frameworks by fine-tunning the pore environment with pyridine units to achieve effective separation of ethane from ethylene.

Chiral α-quaternary amino and glycolic acids have found use in medicinal applications. Although their synthesis through α-alkylation is well known, synthesis via α-arylation remains challenging. Now, palladium-catalysed methods for the enantioselective α-arylation of amino acid- and glycolic acid-derived heterocycles, azlactones and 5H-oxazol-4-ones, using aryl bromides, are reported.

1,6 enynes are a useful synthetic building block, but their use asymmetric intramolecular reductive couplings with cobalt catalysts have not been well-explored. Here, the authors describe an enantioselective intramolecular reductive coupling of enynes via the combination of electrochemistry and cobalt catalysis.

Although polymers have been studied for well over a century, there are few examples of covalently linked polymer crystals synthesized directly from solution. Here, the authors demonstrate a strategy to synthesize single crystalline 1D metallo-covalent organic frameworks by combining dynamic covalent chemistry and metal-ligand coordination.

The simultaneous construction of two different types of chiralities is challenging. Here, the authors report a cationic gold-catalyzed asymmetric hydroarylation of ortho-alkynylaryl ferrocene derivatives, which enabled the simultaneous construction of axial and planar chirality.

Developments in ultrafast optical science bring the promise of being able to directly monitor atomic motions during various physical processes. Towards this end, Xu et al.present fixed-angle broadband laser-induced electron scattering as a method to image molecular structures from photoelectron spectra.

Constructing two-dimensional (2D) polymers with complex tessellation patterns is important for the fabrication of advanced materials but achieving such complexity is a great challenge. Here the authors report a tessellated 2D covalent organic framework with increased structural complexity as well as different pore structures.

Up to now, all iron-based high-T_c superconductors contain a square iron lattice. Here, Wang et al. report the observation of superconductivity in an iron honeycomb lattice accompanied with pressure-driven spin-crossover, in-plane lattice collapse and insulator-metal transition.

Porous materials with very different pore sizes and structures are commonly used for various applications. But although bicontinuous pore networks — with two interwoven yet unconnected channels — have been reported, tricontinuous structures have so far only been predicted theoretically. Now, researchers have prepared a mesoporous silica with three identical, interpenetrating channels.

While the reported methods for the synthesis of organoselenium compounds mainly employ preformed activated selenium reagents, the direct utilization of elemental selenium in the synthesis is a more attractive but challenging strategy. Here, the authors report the rapid synthesis of versatile organoselenium compounds via mechanical stimulation.

Triple-cation perovskite solar cells are more stable than formamidinium lead iodide but possess more defects. Here, grain boundary cracks and passivate interfacial defects are patched using ammonium formate which forms a stable adduct on the perovskite surface.

Electrochemical ammonia (NH₃) synthesis is a promising alternative to the Haber–Bosch process, but higher-performing systems are needed. Now, researchers realize long-term continuous NH₃ electrosynthesis and production of high fractions of gas-phase NH₃ by employing a chain ether as solvent, marking an important practical step forward.

Chinese vegetable production accounts for 1.7% of the global harvest area of crops but uses 7.8% of the chemical fertilizer and produces 6.6% of the crop-sourced greenhouse gas emissions of the global agricultural sector. An innovative management programme offers opportunities for producing more vegetables with lower environmental impacts.

Genomic and phenomic screens of 827 wheat landraces from the A. E. Watkins collection provide insight into the wheat population genetic background, unlocking many agronomic traits and revealing haplotypes that could potentially be used to improve modern wheat cultivars.

Large-area single-crystal high-index copper and nickel foils with several types of facet are fabricated using mild pre-oxidation of the metal foil surface followed by annealing in a reducing atmosphere.

The biogeochemical roles of the plastisphere regulating N cycling are elusive. This study reveals the plastisphere as an emerging nitrifying niche, featured by distinct shifts in nitrifiers and potential substrate exchanges compared to seawater.

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) have remained difficult to grow as single crystals. Now, amphiphilic amino-acid derivatives that assemble in micelles in aqueous solutions have been shown to promote the growth of a variety of imine-bridged COFs into single crystals, in a step-by-step fashion, within their hydrophobic compartment.

Improving plasticity in non-oxide ceramics while maintaining their high-temperature strength is challenging. Here, the authors report an enhancement of plasticity in B₄C owing to the boundary non-stoichiometry. The results show excellent strength maintenance before the onset of plasticity.

Little attention has been paid to the fundamental mechanism of molecular self-assembly into crystallised films or wires on surfaces. Here the authors use real time in-situ scanning probe microscopy to monitor the growth trajectories of organic semiconducting films as they crystallize from an amorphous solid state under ambient conditions.

Here the authors have developed a superconducting microwave frequency comb that is fully integrated, easy to manufacture, and operates with ultra-low power consumption, and could significantly advance microwave photonics and quantum processor integration.

The mechanisms of stalled fork degradation in BRCA1/2-deficient cells remain unclear. UFL1, an UFM1-specific E3 ligase, was found to catalyze PTIP UFMylation at lysine 148, promoting stalled fork degradation by the MRE11 nuclease.

The mechanisms of the partial reproductive isolation between the two subspecies of rice remains obscure. Here, the authors show that the two adjacent genes form a killer-protector system to induce hybrid male sterility and reproductive isolation between indica and japonica.

Controlling O₂ reduction pathways can help optimize catalytic activity and product selectivity. Here the authors report facile manipulation of 2e^‒ /4e^‒ pathways on Pt-coordinated motifs by varying the Pt site density or the coordination environment.

Boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) is a type of radiotherapy that induces cell damage through a localized nuclear reaction. Here the authors describe the design of a carborane-based covalent organic framework as a boron capsule loaded with immune adjuvants for concurrent BNCT and immunotherapy, promoting anti-tumour immune responses in preclinical cancer models.

Nonlinear optical crystals suitable for the UV spectral region could simplify short-wavelength generation and make it more efficient. Here, the authors design and demonstrate that one of two asymmetric borate polymorphs exhibits promising optical and mechanical properties for generating UV light.

Recently, the asymmetric bifunctionalization of alkenes has received much attention but the development of enantioselective alkoxyalkenylation has posed a considerable challenge and has lagged largely behind. Here, the authors report a palladium-catalyzed enantioselective alkoxyalkenylation reaction, using a range of primary, secondary, and tertiary γ-hydroxyalkenes with alkenyl halides.

Crystal size effects are of vital importance to understand various properties and functions of a material but have not been reported for Covalent Organic Frameworks (COFs). Here, the authors report a crystal-size-controlled synthesis of two COFs and look into different crystal size effects.

A three-dimensional continuous rotation electron diffraction method allows atomistic characterization of the chemistry of curved layered cathode materials.

Two-dimensional MOFs can possess porosity and electrical conductivity but are difficult to grow as single crystals. Here, by balancing in-plane and out-of-plane interactions, single crystals of sizes up to 200 µm are grown, allowing in-plane transport measurements and atomic-resolution analysis.

Full utilization of ZSM-5 shape-selectivity is restricted by crystal external surface acid sites and co-existence of two different sized channels. Here, the authors synthesize reverse Al zoned ZSM-5 with sinusoidal channel preferentially opened to its inert external surface to achieve 99.3% p-xylene selectivity.

Molecular structures are imaged with sub-ångström precision and exposure times of a few femtoseconds.

With extralarge pores, zeolites could catalyse reactions between larger molecules. Here a zeolite with the largest pores to date is synthesized, about 25 ångstroms across; the structure is also chiral, which is useful in the separation of enantiomorphic molecules. The synthesis is done by crystallization of a gel of germanate and silicate dissolved in a bulky organic molecular template, using high-throughput techniques.

The concept of apparent symmetry rising, opposite to symmetry breaking, was proposed to illustrate the unusual phenomenon that the symmetry of the apparent morphology of the multiply twinned particle is higher than that of its crystal structure. Here the authors develop a strategy of co-crystallization-driven self-assembly of amphiphilic block copolymers and the inorganic clusters to achieve apparent symmetry rising of nanoparticles under mild conditions

Adducts of dimethyl sulfoxide and hydrobromic acid demonstrate efficient p-doping of various organic semiconductors and compatibility with other counterions used to improve stability and other performance parameters of organic-based optoelectronic devices.

Analysis of dendrite initiation, owing to filling of pores with lithium by means of microcracks, and propagation, caused by wedge opening, shows that there are two separate processes during dendrite failure of lithium metal solid-state batteries.