Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

In Your Element

Filter By:

  • Sophie Beeren discusses the development of cyclodextrins, moving from laboratory curiosities to common ingredients in daily products, active pharmaceutical ingredients and building blocks for supramolecular chemistry.

    • Sophie R. Beeren
    In Your Element
  • Lidan Xing and Kang Xu explain how bis(sulfonyl)imide salts use fluorine, with its extreme stability and electronegativity, to balance solubility and stability for developing advanced battery chemistries.

    • Lidan Xing
    • Kang Xu
    In Your Element
  • Benjamin N. Bhawal examines the enigmatic history of ribose in chemistry, its multifaceted structure, and its role in the origin of life and the design of future therapeutics.

    • Benjamin N. Bhawal
    In Your Element
  • Yasuhisa Mizutani marvels at how effectively nature utilizes the π-conjugated system of retinal in proteins.

    • Yasuhisa Mizutani
    In Your Element
  • Thomas Schlatzer and Véronique Gouverneur discuss why the chemistry of calcium fluoride is challenging, and how imaginative thinking based on fundamental principles can create positive change for the fluorochemical industry.

    • Thomas Schlatzer
    • Véronique Gouverneur
    In Your Element
  • Nina M. Allen, Guilherme A. Marczak Giorio and M. Carmen Galan discuss how select napthalene diimides, such as QN-302, have been developed into DNA G-quadruplex (G4) ligands with downstream anticancer activity.

    • Nina M. Allen
    • Guilherme A. Marczak Giorio
    • M. Carmen Galan
    In Your Element
  • Davide Zanetti, Cristian De Luca, and Davide Bonifazi discuss the resurgence of peri-xanthenoxanthene from a forgotten dye into a versatile organic semiconductor and sustainable photocatalyst, emphasizing its importance in photoredox catalysis.

    • Davide Zanetti
    • Cristian De Luca
    • Davide Bonifazi
    In Your Element
  • Moses Dike and Shudipto Konika Dishari explore lignin’s historic journey alongside human civilization and showcase its game-changing potential to drive sustainability without compromising performance.

    • Moses Dike
    • Shudipto Konika Dishari
    In Your Element
  • Qinglong Shi and Juntao Ye discuss the history, structure, and reactivity of flavin mononucleotide in natural and non-natural reactions.

    • Qinglong Shi
    • Juntao Ye
    In Your Element
  • Zoe Hoffpauir and Audrey Lamb outline the history and prospects of riboflavin, also known as vitamin B2, a molecule found in food that is required for the formation of coenzymes involved in metabolic processes.

    • Zoe A. Hoffpauir
    • Audrey L. Lamb
    In Your Element
  • Elena De Vita and Rebecca Page reflect on the unique properties of phosphate, an essential building block with versatile functions in living systems. Modulating protein phosphorylation is an effective therapeutic strategy, with emerging approaches highlighting the continuous development in this area of drug discovery.

    • Elena De Vita
    • Rebecca Page
    In Your Element
  • Niki Mavragani and Muralee Murugesu discuss the discovery, structure and properties of Mn12, a prototypical single-molecule magnet.

    • Niki Mavragani
    • Muralee Murugesu
    In Your Element
  • Paulina Krzyszowska and Ewa Pacholska-Dudziak recap the history of porphyrins, their biological relevance, and discuss examples of their use in modern applications.

    • Paulina Krzyszowska
    • Ewa Pacholska-Dudziak
    In Your Element
  • Marinda Westerveld and Rita Petracca describe the current understanding of the biosynthesis of crotonyl-coenzyme A.

    • Marinda Westerveld
    • Rita Petracca
    In Your Element
  • Jakob Farnung and Brenda Schulman detail chemical diversification that endows the protein ubiquitin with many important cellular functions.

    • Jakob Farnung
    • Brenda A. Schulman
    In Your Element
  • Adam Noble discusses the diverse uses of eosin Y over its 150-year history, from its origin as a dye and pigment used by post-impressionist masters to its versatile reactivity as a catalyst in visible light photochemistry.

    • Adam Noble
    In Your Element
  • When one says the word alcohol to a non-chemist, it is typically in reference to ethanol, the first alcohol discovered. Chi Chen, Mahlet Garedew, and Stafford W. Sheehan toast ethanol’s past, present, and future.

    • Chi Chen
    • Mahlet Garedew
    • Stafford W. Sheehan
    In Your Element
  • Nitric oxide is at the heart of myriad environmental and biological processes. Pokhraj Ghosh and Timothy Warren explore the molecular interconnections and wide-ranging impacts of this molecule which is critical for the health of our planet.

    • Pokhraj Ghosh
    • Timothy H. Warren
    In Your Element
  • A. Ken Inge pores over the history and applications of bismuth subsalicylate, from dispelling digestive distress to breaching bacterial biodefences.

    • A. Ken Inge
    In Your Element
  • In molecular biology, few molecules have had as profound an impact as Cas9. Madeleine King, Kayla Perry, Mitchell McAndrew and Audrone Lapinaite discuss how this multifunctional molecular tool of genetic engineering is revolutionizing multiple fields.

    • Madeleine B. King
    • Kayla N. Perry
    • Audrone Lapinaite
    In Your Element

Search

Quick links