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Materials chemistry involves the use of chemistry for the design and synthesis of materials with interesting or potentially useful physical characteristics, such as magnetic, optical, structural or catalytic properties. It also involves the characterization, processing and molecular-level understanding of these substances.
X-ray diffraction analysis typically affords the static 3D structures of given compounds or materials, but to understand chemical processes, the visualization of fast structural changes is desirable. Time-resolved femtosecond crystallography has now been used to monitor the structural dynamics of a photoactive metal–organic framework.
Using liquid gallium as an atomically smooth substrate enables the deposition of single-crystal layers of conducting two-dimensional metal–organic frameworks.
Room-temperature phosphorescence usually occurs immediately after the removal of excitation. Here the authors achieve combined instant and delayed phosphorescence through introduction of phosphines into carbazole emitters.
Room-temperature phosphorescence is usually inefficient in purely organic material. Here, the authors achieve near-unity phosphorescence efficiency with color tunability in adaptive host-guest materials through use of hyperconjugation.
Organic mechanoluminescent materials have potential in a range of applications, but it can be challenging to achieve long-lived emission. Here, the authors report isostructural doping as a strategy to achieve multicolour and high efficiency organic mechanoluminescence, applied in stress sensing.
The design of synthetic systems that can sense chemical gradients and respond with directional motility and chemical activity is of interest. Here, the authors realize and control such behaviors in a synthetic system by tailoring multivalent interactions of adenosine nucleotides with catalytic microbeads.
X-ray diffraction analysis typically affords the static 3D structures of given compounds or materials, but to understand chemical processes, the visualization of fast structural changes is desirable. Time-resolved femtosecond crystallography has now been used to monitor the structural dynamics of a photoactive metal–organic framework.
Using liquid gallium as an atomically smooth substrate enables the deposition of single-crystal layers of conducting two-dimensional metal–organic frameworks.
An article in Nature Communications describes a straightforward strategy to synthesize chemically recyclable polytrithiocarbonates with diverse structures.
An article in Nature presents large-area, high-performance intrinsically stretchable electronics thanks to innovation in materials selection, fabrication processes, device engineering and circuit design.
Irreproducible synthetic methods consume time, money, and resources. Here, we highlight the steps Nature Synthesis takes to help authors make their synthetic procedures as reproducible as possible.