analytical-chemistry-methods-development

Nature Communications, Published online: 15 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-74546-3 The authors report an N-heterocyclic carbene-catalyzed radical Smiles-type rearrangement which selectively produces 1,4-difunctionalized arenes.

Nature Communications, Published online: 15 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-74317-0 1,n-Difunctionalized alkyl linchpins are valuable synthetic intermediates, but current routes suffer from poor step economy and limited functional group tolerance. Here, the authors report a radical-mediated bidirectional C–C bond cleavage strategy that transforms cyclic ketones into diverse functionalized linch…

Nature Communications, Published online: 15 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-74349-6 An oxidant-free electrocatalytic system with an I-BiOI@CC anode is developed for phenolic polymerization via iodinemediated proton-coupled charge transfer, converting pollutants into recoverable solids with 97.1% selectivity and low toxicity.

Nature Communications, Published online: 15 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-74410-4 Efficient carbon dioxide reduction to multi-carbon products in acidic media is hindered by competing hydrogen evolution. Here, the authors report a hybrid catalyst that regulates proton transfer to drive highly selective multi-carbon formation at high current densities.

For more than a hundred years, chemists have been building complex molecules step by step--bond by bond, atom by atom. But what if, instead of painstakingly reassembling molecules, they could be directly "rewritten"? This is exactly what a research team led by organic chemist Nuno Maulide from the University of Vienna has now achieved.

Life exists because elements combine to form complex organic molecules. Astrochemistry studies this process, trying to understand how nature creates carbon-based molecules critical for life. One source for these types of molecules is the outflows emitted by protostars. Protostars grow by accreting gas, and while they do so, they also emit energy. Protostars haven’t begun […]

Nature Communications, Published online: 15 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-74369-2 Catalyst fouling hinders oxidation-driven polymerization of organic pollutants. This study shows a facet-programmed BiOI/H2O2 system generating I2 in situ to drive solution-phase polymerization, eliminating fouling while enabling resource recovery.

This study aimed to adapt and validate the QuEChERS method for extracting and purifying 19 persistent organic pollutants—11 organochlorine compounds and 8 polychlorinated biphenyls—for GC–MS (CNI mode) analysis in bird liver samples. After extraction with acetonitrile and salt phase separation, the extract was reconstituted in hexane and cleaned using sulfuric acid. Linearity was ≥0.9, and precis…

Scientific Reports, Published online: 15 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41598-026-47290-3 Chemical composition of essential oil from Lavandula dentata L. to control citrus aphids selectively

A new catalyst design could significantly improve the conversion of CO2 into methanol, an important fuel and chemical feedstock. Researchers separated key reaction steps across different catalyst sites, avoiding a long-standing trade-off between speed and efficiency. The result was about three times more methanol production than standard commercial catalysts.

Researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) have developed a computation-guided strategy to produce urea more efficiently from carbon dioxide and nitrate. By combining large language models, density functional theory calculations and experiments, the approach identified a cadmium-modified iron oxide catalyst that maintains high urea selectivity at practical current densities. Urea…

Researchers at the University of Birmingham have developed a new low-temperature approach to hydrogen production that could make the clean fuel cheaper and more practical to generate. The technique could be used both in large centralized facilities and in smaller local systems that take advantage of waste heat from major industrial operations. Hydrogen is the […]

As our world’s population grows, so does the demand for ammonia—a key ingredient in fertilizer. The International Renewable Energy Agency estimates that ammonia production must quadruple by 2050 to feed the increase in global population. The current gold standard process for producing ammonia is energy-intensive and a major contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions. Invented […]

A cheap crystal of four common elements produces clean hydrogen from water at temperatures hundreds of degrees lower than older methods need.

Nature Communications, Published online: 13 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-74387-0 Okara, a major by-product of soybean processing, is generated at an estimated 140 million tonnes annually, with landfill disposal contributing to pollution and the loss of valuable organic resources. Conventional aerobic composting is land-intensive, slow, and associated with substantial greenhouse gas emissions…

Nature Communications, Published online: 13 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-74224-4 The design and synthesis of molecules featuring both boron and silicon moieties hold significant promise for delivering unique reactivity patterns and material properties. Herein, the authors report a titaniumcatalyzed selective hydroboration of the C(sp3)–Si bonds in silacyclobutanes for the synthesis of boryl-…

Nature Communications, Published online: 13 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-74101-0 Predicting transition states of chemical reactions is demanding. A generative flow model in distance geometry space, dubbed TS-DFM, is proposed, achieving higher structural accuracy and better generalizability than Cartesian-based approaches.

Nature Communications, Published online: 13 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-74340-1 Lithium metal batteries face challenges with dendritic growth. Here, authors employ in situ TEM to reveal how specific electrolyte anions dictate lithium nucleation and interphase architecture, establishing design principles for suppressing dendrites and enabling stable lithium deposition.