Nature Chemistry

Nature Chemistry, Published online: 04 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41557-026-02125-6 Promiscuous interactions underpin natural protein evolution, but ways to harness such promiscuity to design new functions remain underexplored. Now it is shown that mapping this promiscuity with geometric precision in a de novo protein can guide its redesign into a fluorophore binder and an efficient enzyme approachin…

Nature Chemistry, Published online: 04 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41557-026-02115-8 The properties of metal–organic framework glasses can be modulated by additives, but understanding how they modify the glass network is challenging. Now, alkali-modifier sites in MOF glasses have been identified, and the impact of both modifier content and identity on the processing temperatures and hierarchical poros…

Nature Chemistry, Published online: 30 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41557-026-02098-6 CO2 insertion into metal-alkoxide bonds is a well-established strategy, but detailed mechanistic studies are lacking. Now the effect of CO2 pressure on CO2 insertion for epoxide–CO2 copolymerization has been explored using a range of catalysts, providing new mechanistic insights as well as testing protocols for mono…

Nature Chemistry, Published online: 27 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41557-026-02127-4 Mapping binding sites using photoaffinity labelling (PAL) is highly valuable but challenging for probe and drug discovery campaigns. Now a chemoproteomic approach has been developed that incorporates cleavable silyl ether linkages into PAL probes to pinpoint and quantify the precise sites where small molecules engag…

Nature Chemistry, Published online: 24 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41557-026-02120-x Cyclic peroxides are highly reactive oxygen-containing species that play important roles in chemical synthesis. Now, the reaction between diazoboranes and triplet oxygen affords a family of cyclic dioxaboriranes, including both neutral and anionic variants. Neutral species behave as electrophilic oxygen-atom donors,…

Nature Chemistry, Published online: 24 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41557-026-02135-4 The synthesis of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) featuring wide mesopores or specific topologies often relies on the use of additional ligands known as centring structure-directing agents (cSDAs). Now a single-crystal to single-crystal post-synthetic strategy for removing these cSDAs is reported, preserving MOF crys…

Nature Chemistry, Published online: 24 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41557-026-02100-1 The formation of functional linkages through click reactions is rare, and existing catalytic options do not provide a cleavable connector. Now a Cu(I)-catalysed click reaction (CuAKA) has been developed that is mutually orthogonal to CuAAC, operates in aqueous media and forms linkages that can be cleaved in <100 µM …

Nature Chemistry, Published online: 23 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41557-026-02128-3 Porous materials offer new opportunities to break azeotropes, enabling energy-efficient separations that are otherwise challenging with conventional distillation methods. Now an ionic metal‒organic framework featuring potassium-ion cluster gates has enabled the separation of methanol and dimethyl carbonate, deliveri…

Nature Chemistry, Published online: 23 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41557-026-02133-6 Overall water splitting using one-step excitation holds great promise as a green hydrogen production technology, but precisely loading multiple inorganic cocatalyst species on photocatalysts offers only mixed success. Now it has been shown that a single, conductive, two-dimensional metal–organic framework can serve …

Nature Chemistry, Published online: 23 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41557-026-02131-8 Molecular frameworks featuring perovskite-related topologies rarely exhibit strong magnetic correlations and high-temperature magnetic order. Now it has been shown that the cubic molecular framework Cr(pyrazine)3 exhibits persistent compensated ferrimagnetism with oxide-strength magnetic coupling and nearly zero net…

Nature Chemistry, Published online: 23 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41557-026-02121-w Optical manipulation of proteins is central to modulating and characterizing biomolecular functions in cell biology, but tools based on natural proteins are difficult to reconfigure for desired photochemical and binding properties. Now, the design of photoresponsive molecules and selection of artificial protein bind…

Nature Chemistry, Published online: 23 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41557-026-02139-0 Non-canonical amino acids are important building blocks for natural products but finding them is nontrivial. Now, transfer RNA deacylases have proved their utility as markers for biosynthetic gene clusters producing non-canonical amino acids, thereby accelerating the discovery of atypical natural products.

Nature Chemistry, Published online: 22 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41557-026-02137-2 Selective C–F functionalization of polyfluoroarenes remains a considerable challenge, particularly for controlled and sequential substitution. Now it has been shown that reactivity-tunable pyridine-boryl radicals enable sequential and versatile C–F transformations through a link-and-lose pathway, allowing hydro- and…

Nature Chemistry, Published online: 22 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41557-026-02130-9 The oxygen evolution reaction remains a bottleneck for renewable fuels research. Now, temperature-dependent electrochemistry and operando X-ray characterization demonstrate that both catalyst restructuring and solvent ordering dictate reaction kinetics, offering new insights for engineering electrode–electrolyte int…

Nature Chemistry, Published online: 21 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41557-026-02149-y To control the magnetic anisotropy of single-molecule magnets, precise engineering of the ligands is crucial. Now, homoleptic bis(stannolediide) complexes are synthesized with trivalent terbium, as well as trivalent and divalent dysprosium, expanding the series of axially coordinated lanthanide single-molecule magne…

Nature Chemistry, Published online: 20 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41557-026-02123-8 Classical understanding of aromaticity has been challenged by its emergence in rings featuring only metal atoms. Now, diuranium and dithorium inverse sandwich complexes featuring a central cyclo-Bi33− unit have been synthesized. These tribismuth rings exhibit exalted diamagnetism and are σ-aromatic, in contrast to t…

Nature Chemistry, Published online: 17 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41557-026-02132-7 The vinylcyclopropane–cyclopentene (VCP–CPent) rearrangement is a fundamental method for constructing five-membered carbocycles from vinylcyclopropanes. Now an enantioconvergent VCP–CPent rearrangement has been developed, enabling the conversion of racemic VCP into chiral cyclopentene products. Vessel-controlled che…

Nature Chemistry, Published online: 17 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41557-026-02136-3 Single-crystalline two-dimensional poly(arylene vinylene) frameworks are emerging as promising materials for electronic and photocatalytic applications. Now, a Mannich-elimination strategy enables their synthesis via topological conversion of imine covalent organic frameworks. Preserving lattice order during the lin…

Nature Chemistry, Published online: 17 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41557-026-02134-5 Vinylcyclopropane-cyclopentene rearrangements provide access to five-membered carbocycles, yet enantioselective variants have largely been confined to electronically activated substrates. Now, a rhodium-catalysed enantioselective rearrangement of gem-difluorocyclopropanes proceeds with a striking chemodivergence, de…

Nature Chemistry, Published online: 16 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41557-026-02122-9 The mechanism underlying the formation of ionophore polyethers—polyketide-derived natural products containing tetrahydrofuran and tetrahydropyran rings—has been elusive. Now structural and biochemical analyses reveal that a C26 linear precursor undergoes four successive cyclizations within the single active site of …