Focus |

Inorganic and physical chemistry

From atoms and molecules, to supramolecular and nanoscale assemblies; from the gas phase to liquids and crystals, and matter under extreme conditions: this page highlights some of the most exciting works in physical chemistry and inorganic chemistry, aiming to explain…

N/A

Featured articles

The internal Stark effect, a shift of the spectral lines of a chromophore induced by electrostatic fields in its close environment, plays an important role in nature. Here the authors observe a Stark shift in the fluorescence spectrum of a phthalocyanine molecule…

Article | Open Access | | Nature Communications

Tracking the flow of charge in reacting molecules may provide key insight into reaction mechanisms, but is particularly challenging in liquid solutions. Here the authors, by analyzing the isotropic and anisotropic scattering signal in femtosecond time resolved X-ray…

Article | Open Access | | Nature Communications

The coordination environment has a great impact on the electronic structure, bonding and properties of metal complexes. Here the authors report a dinuclear organometallic americium complex that displays unexpectedly ionic Am−N bonding, but enhanced covalency in the…

Article | Open Access | | Nature Communications

Photoresponsive compounds have potential applications in various fields, including the development of smart materials and switches. Here the authors report a gold(I) complex that undergoes multiple photoinduced color changes upon excitation of light at specific…

Article | Open Access | | Nature Communications

High pressure can modify the chemical properties of the elements, giving rise to exotic bonding. Here the authors report the prediction of a nitrogen-rich iodine nitride compound IN6 where the iodine atom has an unusual twelve-fold coordination, stable above 100 GPa.

Article | Open Access | | Nature Communications

Studying how the ligand design influences the bonding of f-block complexes is crucial to control their properties. Here, the authors report the preparation of Bk(III) and Ce(III) complexes featuring a terpyridyl ligand; structural, spectroscopic, electrochemical,…

Article | Open Access | | Nature Communications

Two-dimensional membranes with angstrom-sized pores are predicted to combine high permeability with exceptional selectivity, but experimental demonstration has been challenging. Here the authors realize angstrom-sized pores in monolayer graphene and demonstrate gas…

Article | Open Access | | Nature Communications

Dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) greatly improves the NMR sensitivity, but its implementation in aqueous solutions is challenging. Here the authors demonstrate carbon polarization enhancement via in situ Overhauser DNP in small biomolecules in water at room temperature and high magnetic field.

Article | Open Access | | Nature Communications

The preparation of nanocages with unprecedented architectures may lead to new functions. Here the authors report the self-assembly of organic cages featuring twin cavities; the geometry and pocket size determine the molecular packing and the proton conductivity performance.

Article | Open Access | | Nature Communications

The most common oxidation state for lanthanides is +3. Here the authors use photoelectron spectroscopy and theoretical calculations to study half-sandwich complexes where a lanthanide center in the oxidation state +1 is bound to an aromatic wheel-like B82- ligand.

Article | Open Access | | Nature Communications

Core-shell designs enhance the luminescence of lanthanide-doped upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs), but the effect of shell coverage was insufficiently characterized. Here the authors demonstrate, on a series of core-shell UCNPs with various shell coverage ratios,…

Article | Open Access | | Nature Communications

Colloidal self-assembly enables bottom-up manufacture of materials with designed hierarchies and functions. Here the authors develop a facile method to construct multidimensional colloidal architectures via the association of soft block copolymer micelles with simple unvarnished hard nanoparticles.

Article | Open Access | | Nature Communications

Controlled breaking of a chemical bond by mechanical forces can provide key insight into reaction mechanisms. Here the authors, using atomic force microscopy and computations, measure the forces involved in breaking a single dative bond between a CO molecule and a ferrous phthalocyanine complex.

Article | Open Access | | Nature Communications

Aqueous solutions under nanoscale confinement exhibit interesting physicochemical properties. This work reports evidence on the spontaneous formation of two-dimensional alkali chloride crystalline/non-crystalline nanostructures in dilute aqueous solution under…

Article | Open Access | | Nature Communications

Determining the covalency of actinide chemical bonding is a fundamentally important challenge. Here, the authors report a 15N nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy study of a terminal uranium-nitride, revealing exceptional NMR properties and covalency that…

Article | Open Access | | Nature Communications

Shock-wave driven reactions of organic molecules may have played a key role in prebiotic chemistry, but their mechanisms are difficult to investigate. The authors, using time-resolved x-ray diffraction and small-angle x-ray scattering experiments, observe the…

Article | Open Access | | Nature Communications

Accurate computational prediction of atomistic structure with traditional methods is challenging. The authors report a kernel-based machine learning model capable of reconstructing 3D atomic coordinates from predicted interatomic distances across a variety of system classes.

Article | Open Access | | Nature Communications

Although N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) are a promising class of ligands for forming robust self-assembled monolayers on metals, many questions remain about their behavior on surfaces. Here, the authors address these fundamental questions—such as the factors…

Article | Open Access | | Nature Communications

Water ice exists in hugely different environments, artificially or naturally occurring ones across the universe. The phase diagram of crystalline phases of ice is still under construction: a high-pressure phase, ice XIX, has just been reported but its structure remains ambiguous.

Comment | Open Access | | Nature Communications

Zirconium-based metal–organic frameworks have defective structures that are useful in catalysis and gas storage. Here, the authors study the interplay between cluster disorder and linker vacancies in PCN-221 and propose a new structure model with tilted Zr6O4(OH)4…

Article | Open Access | | Nature Communications

The structure of water around Brønsted acid sites in zeolites is shown to influence their catalytic activity. Here the authors shed light on confinement effects in different pores zeolites/water interfaces acidic strength by means of ab-initio molecular dynamics and…

Article | Open Access | | Nature Communications