Journal of the American Chemical Society

The study reveals that when one macrocyclic molecule captures a guest molecule, this event influences neighboring host molecules and promotes further guest capture.

Researchers from Tohoku University have developed a new kind of filter that overcomes a long-standing challenge, creating a special material that makes separating CO2 from other gases both fast and highly accurate.

Studying molecules in liquid solution is notoriously difficult. However, this just got easier thanks to a new X-ray technique developed by an international group of scientists. The technique can capture ultrafast molecular changes in extremely dilute liquid samples.

Metal–amide chemistry provides a rational approach to controlling heavy-pnictogen reduction, paving the way for safer and more scalable semiconductor quantum dots.

A tiny change to the arrangement of organic molecules in nanoparticle systems can result in a massive change to material properties. By synthesizing gold nanoparticles coated with two different types of organic molecules, a research team has uncovered new insights into this phenomenon.

For many years, designing synthetic polymer systems has been inspired by the hierarchical self-assembly of folded proteins into functional nanostructures. However, extending folding-based design principles to small synthetic molecules has remained elusive. In particular, luminescent molecules with complex three-dimensional structures were considered difficult to assemble. Now, researchers from Japan demonstrate that such molecules can undergo folding-mediated self-assembly to form highly ordered nanotubes. These structures exhibit unique multidirectional energy transport, highlighting their potential for advanced optoelectronic applications.

By placing single-atom-thick adlayers of p-block metals on commonly employed gold electrodes (d-block), a research team at National Taiwan University has successfully quantified the "interfacial hopping integral" between molecules and electrodes. This new model establishes a universal descriptor to predict conductance trends in single-molecule junctions, resolving long-standing variations in molecular measurements.

A single atom can make all the difference. Researchers at Tohoku University have shown that subtle changes in the nitrogen coordination around cobalt dramatically reshape oxygen reduction reaction performance, a cornerstone process for fuel cells and clean chemical production. These insights provide a powerful blueprint for designing next-generation single-atom catalysts to accelerate the transition to sustainable energy.

We all want cheap, long-lasting, green, and efficient energy. Researchers are helping to make this dream a reality with a new distortion-resistant material that greatly improves these aspects of a battery’s cathode.

In our recent JACS paper, we demonstrate that AI-designed ubiquitin-fold proteins achieve extraordinary stability not by tightening their hydrophobic cores, but by reorganizing surface charges to program a structured hydration shell. Using solution NMR and molecular dynamics simulations, we decode this “hydration shield” as a sequence-encoded and engineerable mechanism for extreme protein resilience.

Researchers at Tohoku University developed a wastewater treatment method to help clear pollution caused by toxic, non-biodegradable dyes. The method uses a 3D, sponge-like covalent organic network to purify wastewater in a sustainable manner.

Researchers have developed a new class of redox-switchable molecular mediators that activate halogen bonding to more efficiently and selectively drive carbon–nitrogen bond formation.

- A joint research team from DGIST and Sungkyunkwan University unlocked the secrets of semiconductor material growth using AI... Expecting new display and sensor technologies - Research results published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS), one of the world's most prestigious academic journals in chemistry

Carbon-based batteries could become safer, more durable, and more powerful by following this new method that fundamentally redesigns how fullerene molecules are connected.

Researchers at Tohoku University found the key to taming electrochemical reactions so they don’t produce rogue byproducts instead of valuable fuels.

Researchers from The University of Osaka created a reagent for important building-block molecules with an abundant main-group element, gallium. These early findings show that an organic gallium compound can display transition-metal-like reactivity under light irradiation. Using common main-group elements like gallium offers a new way to make sustainable catalysts that do not need expensive transition metals, which are environmentally damaging and vulnerable to supply disruption.

What if a surface could instantly switch from sticky to slippery at the push of a button? By using electricity to control how ions and water structure at the solid liquid interface of self-assembled monolayers of aromatic molecules, researchers at National Taiwan University have created a molecular-scale adhesion switch that turns attraction on and off.

Researchers at the Nano Life Science Institute (WPI-NanoLSI), Kanazawa University, report in the Journal of the American Chemical Society the use of three-dimensional atomic force microscopy (AFM) and molecular dynamics simulations to determine the structure of water in the hydration of different types of chitin nanocrystals, and how this affects their mechanical properties, reactivities, and interactions with enzymes and reactants.

The precise placement of a single silver atom can be enough to make a huge difference. Researchers found that light-emitting properties were 77 times more efficient as a result – paving the way for better optoelectronics and sensing technologies such as OLED lights.

The University of Osaka scientists have developed a safe, efficient “dump-and-stir” method to introduce ortho-carborane into various aromatic compounds using a newly designed lithium–copper reagent. This innovation overcomes the complexity and hazards of previous methods, paving the way for new applications in boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT), three-dimensional aromatic materials, and bioisosteric drug design.

By employing state-of-the-art flat histogram Monte Carlo techniques combined with thermodynamic and configurational analyses, this study reveals the complex and diverse behavior of water adsorption in metal–organic frameworks.

Researchers led by Professor Yi-Tsu Chan at National Taiwan University have created a giant molecular cage that mimics nature’s nested structures. This layered nanocage is remarkably stable and can serve as a miniature reactor for producing gold nanoparticles.

This promising new catalyst can speed up the oxygen evolution reaction to create clean energy.

Most currently used fuel cells can only operate efficiently above 500°C, but researchers found a way to essentially cut that number in half.

Tohoku University researchers discovered some new principles that aid the electrochemical conversion of nitrate waste, an unwanted byproduct of modern day ammonia production. Their discovery will advance cleaner, more sustainable forms of ammonia production.

Method has organic chemistry applications, especially in pharmaceuticals.

For many years, scientists have struggled to understand the mechanisms behind palladium/platinum catalysts for propylene electrooxidation, a sustainable means of producing valuable oxygen-containing organic compounds used in various industrial processes. Yet a research group has further clarified the matter in a recently published journal.

Scientists introduced a second molecule to achieve a donor–acceptor (push–pull) effect, aiming to enhance both the efficiency and stability of perovskite and organic solar cells.

In a significant step towards a carbon-neutral future, researchers developed an atomically precise copper nanocluster that demonstrates high stability and exceptional selectivity in electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction reactions.

Researchers from the Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo, have developed nanoscale ‘molecular flasks’ based on single molecules of bottlebrush polymers to carefully control polymerization reactions in extremely small spaces