Review Articles

Light-responsive chemical modifications enable precise, stimuli-controlled reconfiguration of DNA nanostructures, enhancing stability, programmability and functional versatility. These advances expand applications in diagnostics, delivery, data storage and nanoscale engineering. Emerging design strategies and new photochemical tools driving the field forward are highlighted.

The fluorochemical industry is extensive, but fundamentally unsustainable. In this Review, we highlight synthetic methods for recycling fluorocarbons, with a focus on methods that can be applied for industrially relevant fluorochemicals including refrigerants and fluoropolymers.

This Review introduces methods for enhancing the targeting ability of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), reviews their applications when modified with different types of targeting molecules and provides guidance for the next-generation MOFs to achieve accurate cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Under confinement, matter shows different structures and behaviours, which are particularly pronounced at the ångström scale. This Review focuses on the new structures and properties of matter under such ångström-scale 2D confinement.

This Review discusses the lifespan failure chemistry of lithium metal batteries beyond 600 Wh kg⁻¹, highlighting the challenges in assessing active Li loss. We correlate material degradation, cell parameters, cell assembly and operating conditions to the overall performance and failure of a lithium metal battery.

The impact of atomic substitution in sodium-layered oxides and how substitutions affect the properties and performances of battery materials are discussed, with the aim of improving sodium-layered oxides and accelerating the commercialization of sodium-ion batteries.

State-of-the-art approaches for modelling electrified solid–electrolyte interfaces are critically discussed, highlighting key challenges in incorporating thermodynamic open-boundary conditions, large electrostatic potentials and their dynamic fluctuations into realistic ab initio simulations.

Ion migration plays a crucial role in perovskite solar cells. This Review covers its mechanisms, impact on device performance and degradation, measurement techniques, and emerging strategies towards controlling ion migration.

The development of DNA-based machines is transforming fields such as drug delivery and biosensing. Here, design strategies are discussed and key performance metrics — speed, force generation, efficiency and autonomy — are examined to provide insights into the future of DNA nanotechnology.

This Review explores how ionizing radiation triggers drug release via water radiolysis, detailing reactive species, drug activation mechanisms and strategies for designing radiation-sensitive prodrugs and nanocarriers to enhance chemoradiation therapy with reduced systemic toxicity.

Proteolysis targeting chimeras (PROTACs) are an emerging platform in drug discovery with the potential to unlock novel pharmacology and tackle undruggable targets. This Review highlights learnings from the first cohort of clinical-stage PROTACs, which use short, ring-rich linkers, often complemented with one basic centre, to achieve good bioavailability and metabolic stability.

Epoxides, which readily undergo C–O bond cleavage, also undergo skeletal rearrangements via C–C bond activation. This Review discusses modes of epoxide C–C bond cleavage and their applications, highlighting the mechanistic features which lead to selective bond scission.

The roles of organic A-cations in halide perovskite photovoltaics are discussed from a molecular point of view by considering their chemical, lattice and electronic interactions. Prospects for future research directions, opportunities and challenges are also presented.

Unsymmetric coordination environments are prevalent in metalloenzymes. By contrast, most synthetic homogeneous catalysts rely on symmetric ligand frameworks. This Review highlights biological unsymmetric bimetallic centres along with their roles in catalysis and illustrates how intentionally incorporated unsymmetry in synthetic systems mimics nature’s strategies for achieving cooperative and complementary reactivity.

Light-responsive molecular systems, capable of interconverting between isomers using light, can be integrated into biological membranes to mimic and control their dynamic behaviour. This Review discusses the key design principles and experimental challenges while discussing and highlighting recent advances.

Integrative catalytic pairs are poised to redefine the boundaries of heterogeneous catalysis through programmable synergy and spatial precision. This Review outlines current advances and identifies key challenges towards realizing next-generation catalysts with molecular-level control.

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells are a promising and effective cancer therapy but are difficult to regulate once implanted. This Review covers an emerging wave of small-molecule-based systems developed to control, augment and direct CAR T cell therapeutics.

Catalytic methods for converting bio-derived feedstocks into lactones are reviewed, emphasizing scalable, energy-efficient processes. Free energy analysis guides process design and pathway selection, whereas literature highlights accessible lactone precursors from various metabolic and chemo-catalytic pathways.

This Review discusses the advancements and challenges of in situ and operando techniques for deciphering electrochemical organic oxidation reactions, focusing on the structural evolution of catalysts, adsorbed intermediates, transient product species, and the prospects for enhancing mechanistic understanding and catalyst development.

Super-resolution microscopy techniques can break conventional optical diffraction limits, but their performance can only be optimized by using probes with appropriate biophysical and photophysical properties. This Review highlights how transition metal complexes are being designed to meet these challenges.