Search

Atomic-level catalyst design faces challenges in methane activation and selective C–C coupling. Here, Ru atoms anchored on graphdiyne enhance methane oxidation, achieving high selectivity and yield for valuable C₂ liquid oxygenates.

Brief ultrasound to human frontal eye fields, but not motor cortex, rapidly biases eye movement contralaterally in a perceptual choice task. The size of this effect scales with individual baseline FEF inhibitory tone.

Proton-exchange membrane water electrolysers rely on iridium to catalyse their anodic reaction, and while ruthenium is a less costly alternative due to its similar activity, it is not as stable. Now, a hierarchical machine-learning catalyst discovery workflow, termed mixed acceleration, is put forward to predict catalyst synthesis, activity and stability, and identify promising RuO_x-based water oxidation catalysts.

Even though the application of co-solvents in glycosylation protocols is well-established, the understanding of their impact on the glycosylation mechanism as well as the reaction intermediates formed upon their addition, remains incomplete. Here, the authors report the application of relaxation and exchange NMR techniques to establish that acetonitrile and tetrahydrofuran form covalent glycosyl-nitrilium and glycosyloxonium ions, respectively.

Selectivity in carbene insertion reactions promoted by Ru(II)porphyrinates is achieved only upon careful control of substrate stoichiometry. Here, the authors demonstrate that endotopic catalysis and formation of mechanical bonds enables carbene insertions to occur selectively and in quantitative yield regardless of substrate stoichiometry.

The authors report the discovery of charge order with onset temperature of 800 K in the kagome superconductor YRu₃Si₂. In addition, they observe time-reversal symmetry breaking below 25 K, field-induced magnetism below 90 K and bulk multi-gap superconductivity below 3.4 K.

Derivatization of azaarenes can create molecules of biological importance, but reductive functionalization of weakly reactive azaarenes remains a challenge. Here the authors show a dearomative, diastereoselective annulation of azaarenes, via ruthenium(II) reductive catalysis.

N₂ reduction to ammonia typically requires transition metal catalysts, proceeding via a strong metal–nitrogen interaction. Now a Ba–Si orthosilicate oxynitride–hydride has been shown to function as a transition-metal-free catalyst for ammonia synthesis through an anion-vacancy-mediated mechanism, where electrons at the vacancy sites facilitate N₂ activation.

Copper-based catalysts are promising for electroreduction of carbon monoxide to multi-carbon products, yet further improvements in selectivity, productivity and stability are still needed. Here the authors show that doping copper with silver and ruthenium boosts its performance towards synthesis of n-propanol—a useful fuel.

The spontaneous recombination of photogenerated radicals surrounded by solvent molecules is an important energy-wasting elementary step in photoredox reactions. Now the decisive role that cage escape plays in these reactions is shown in three benchmark photocatalytic reactions, with quantitative correlations observed between photoredox product formation rates and cage escape quantum yields.

Ca₃Ru₂O₇ is a layered ruthenate, which undergoes a spin-reorientation transition where the spins rotate 90 degrees between two anti-ferromagnetic states. Despite extensive study, the driver of this transition has proved elusive. Here, using neutron and resonant x-ray scattering, Dashwood et al. show that this transition is driven by lattice strain.

This study reports on a closed-loop approach combining multiscale simulations, interpretable machine learning, experiments and techno-economic analysis for systematic plasma catalyst design, showing that alloys from noncritical minerals can potentially replace costly noble metals such as ruthenium for hydrogen production from ammonia decomposition under plasma conditions.

Frontal polymerization spin mode dynamics is used to autonomously fabricate patterned crystalline domains in poly(cyclooctadiene) with multiscale organization.

Darwinian evolution has shaped life on our planet through natural selection. Here, the authors report on the combination of self-replication, mutation and protometabolism in an out-of-equilibrium abiotic chemical system that can lead to natural selection for protometabolic activity.

Strain engineering has been proposed as a promising strategy for manipulating the electronic properties of graphene. This scanning tunnelling microscopy study demonstrates the feasibility of controlling strain patterns in graphene down to the nanoscale.

Recent theoretical studies indicate that the Kitaev model may be realized in framework materials exhibiting extended superexchange pathways. Here the authors report experimental evidence showing that the material requirements for a Kitaev quantum spin liquid are satisfied in a inorganic framework material.

Cathodes for Li-ion batteries operate mainly via an insertion–deinsertion redox process involving cationic species but this mechanism does not account for the high capacities displayed by Li-rich layered oxides. The reactivity of high-capacity Li₂Ru_1−ySn_yO₃ materials is now shown to be associated with a reversible redox process related to a reductive coupling mechanism.

Although Li-rich layered oxides are attractive electrode materials for batteries, they suffer from voltage decay on cycling. A correlation between trapped metal ions in interstitial tetrahedral sites and voltage decay is established, which could prove useful for developing high-capacity electrodes without decay.

The J2 antibody is widely used for detecting double-stranded RNAs. Here, Bou-Nader et al. define its nucleic acid specificity and recognition mechanism by solving its co-crystal structure bound to dsRNA, establishing a framework for its reliable use in RNA detection.

The site-selective functionalization of C(sp²)–H bonds is a powerful strategy for the synthesis of structurally diverse compounds with broad applicability. Here the authors show ruthenium-catalysed regiodivergent methods for the installation of silyl synthetic handles at both ortho and meta sites within arenes.

CD44 expressed by fibroblastic reticular cells in secondary lymphoid organs regulates trafficking of dendritic cells, and thus has an essential role in the priming of T cells and the adaptive immune response.

Chen and colleagues report that the third enzyme in the oxidative pentose phosphate pathway (PPP), 6PGD, controls cancer cell proliferation by regulating LKB1–AMPK signalling. Inhibitors of 6PGD decrease tumorigenesis in mouse xenografts.

It is important as well as challenging to in situ probe redox mechanisms occurring at battery electrodes. Here, the authors develop an in situelectron paramagnetic resonance imaging technique and provide measurements on the nucleation growth of the anionic and cationic redox species at a battery electrode.

The alloying of graphene and hexagonal boron nitride results in tunable electronic properties that can be used for solid state devices. Lu et al. identify atomic-scale mechanisms of alloying boron–carbon–nitrogen on ruthenium as a model system, which allow for potentially greater control of properties.

Engineering the phase of metal nanocrystals while simultaneously achieving shape-controlled synthesis can enable new and desirable properties. This Review highlights the synthetic strategies for generating Ru nanocrystals with different crystal phases and surface structures, and outlines their implementation in catalytic applications.

Scanning tunnelling microscopy of doped RuCl₃ shows distinct charge orderings at the lower and upper Hubbard bands, which can be attributed to a correlation-driven honeycomb hole crystal composed of hole-rich Ru sites and a rotational-symmetry-breaking paired electron crystal composed of electron-rich Ru–Ru bonds.

Photoinduced electron transfer in solvated molecular assemblies occurs on the ultrafast timescale before full electronic and geometric relaxation take place. Here Canton et al.monitor this out-of-equilibrium process in a donor–acceptor bimetallic assembly using an X-ray free-electron laser.

The endoplasmic-reticulum (ER) transmembrane protein IRE1 mitigates ER stress through kinase-ribonuclease and scaffolding activities. However, a significant nonenzymatic IRE1 dependency has been shown in cancer. Here, the authors design a proteolysis-targeting chimera (PROTAC) to fully disrupt cellular IRE1 protein, selectively blocking growth of IRE1-dependent cancer cells.

The thermal stability impedes the application of nanoscale magnetic tunnel junctions in electronic and spintronics devices. Here the authors achieved current-induced magnetization switching in magnetic tunnel junctions smaller than 10 nm with sufficient thermal stability due to the shape anisotropy without adding new material systems.

Ammonia-fed protonic ceramic fuel cells could be a more sustainable alternative than their hydrogen-fed counterparts. In this work, the authors couple an reversible ammonia catalyst with a protonic ceramic electrochemical cell, enabling cracking of ammonia into H₂ and N₂ for fuel-cell mode operation, as well as synthesis of ammonia from H₂O and N₂ in electrolysis mode operation.

This study demonstrates the capability of deep learning protein design models in generating functionally validated β-strand pairing interfaces, expanding the structural diversity of de novo binding proteins and accessible target surfaces.

Despite the widespread utility of ruthenium catalysts, many protocols for their use require high temperatures or light irradiation. Now, the synthesis of an air- and moisture-stable ruthenium precatalyst has been reported. This versatile catalyst drives an array of transformations and enables rapid screening and optimization of reactions, revealing previously unknown in situ generated ruthenium complexes.

The Kondo effect from magnetic impurities has been proposed as a probe of fractionalized excitations in a topological quantum spin liquid. Lee et al. experimentally demonstrate the Kondo effect in a Kitaev candidate material α-RuCl3 with dilute Cr impurities.

A label-free, DNA-based proximity ligation assay that uses ligatable staple pairs enables the longitudinal quantification of DNA origami structural stability dynamics in vivo, with single-helix resolution for both wireframe and lattice designs.

A ruthenium–disulfide catalyst is presented that is effective in generating compounds of medical and industrial utility (alcohols that contain a phenol, an aldehyde, or a carboxylic acid) by room-temperature, inexpensive, high-yielding cross-metathesis.

There is substantial research into hydrogen energy storage and transport. Here, the authors show that hydrogen can be stored in aqueous formaldehyde solution, with a hydrogen capacity potentially greater than for formic acid, and that the catalytic hydrogen release can be performed under relatively mild conditions.

Ribonucleoside monophosphates are incorporated by DNA polymerases into double-stranded DNA. Here, the authors use ribose-seq and Ribose-Map techniques to reveal that signatures and patterns of ribonucleotide incorporation in yeast mitochondrial and nuclear DNA show preference for cytosine and guanosine preceded by deoxyadenosine.

A cell surface reporter that binds to a fluorine-18-labelled radioligand enables the monitoring of CAR T cells and gene therapy vectors in preclinical models using PET imaging.

Small-angle neutron scattering experiments of the layered antiferromagnet Ca₃Ru₂O₇ reveal a metamagnetic spin texture that is indicative of an extraordinary coexistence of spin orders belonging to different symmetries.

The performance of nanostructured metal catalysts in acetylene hydrochlorination is governed by an interplay of nuclearity, coordination and host effects. The central activity descriptor is identified as the acetylene adsorption energy.

The Taiwan Precision Medicine Initiative recruited and genotyped more than half a million Taiwanese participants, almost all of Han Chinese ancestry, and performed comprehensive genomic analyses and developed polygenic risk score prediction models for numerous health conditions.

Antiferromagnets (AFMs) are prospective for future spintronic devices, owing to their speed and insensitivity to perturbations. Using a combination of electronic and magnetic dichroism measurements, the authors demonstrate reversible current-induced switching of the Néel vector in AFM PtMn.