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Clathrate hydrates are crystalline solids physically resembling ice, in which small molecules (typically gases) are trapped inside cages of hydrogen bonded, frozen water molecules. Here authors present the rapid formation of hydrogen clathrates by using activated carbon substrates.

Nitrogen oxides are major air pollutants; capture and abatement technologies exist but they typically involve toxic species or precious-metal catalysts. Now, a metal–organic framework has been shown to store NO₂ dimers selectively, and to separate NO₂ from other gases under wet conditions. Treatment with water in air leads to conversion of NO₂ into HNO₃—an important feedstock for fertilizer production—with full recovery of the host.

Benzene is a genotoxic carcinogen with no safe level of exposure. Here, by creating and decorating a structural defect in a metal–organic framework to form MIL-125-Zn, a benzene uptake of 7.63 mmol g^–1 at 1.2 mbar is observed due to binding to Zn(II) sites.

The development of new methodologies to convert plastics into fuels without relying on noble metal-based catalysts is desirable. Now it is shown that a layered self-pillared zeolite enables the conversion of polyethylene to gasoline with a selectivity of 99% and yields of >80% without the need to use external hydrogen.

This work focuses on clathrates, ice-like structures incorporating H₂ molecules in their cages. In bulk, pure H₂ clathrates only form in harsh conditions. Here, the formation of pure H₂ clathrate hydrate in confined space of a porous silica is demonstrated at much reduced pressures compared to the bulk H₂ clathrate.

Although hydrogen gas could serve as a promising future fuel, its high-capacity storage is a challenge. Now, a nanoporous magnesium borohydride framework is shown to store hydrogen as densely packed penta-dihydrogen clusters having well-defined orientations and directional interactions with the framework.

Achieving highly selective separation of olefin/paraffin is a significant challenge in the chemical industry. Here the authors present polydopamine-derived carbons with tailorable sub-5 Å micropores probed by a series of gas molecules that can realize precise size-sieving of olefin from paraffin.

Haldane topological solids usually have spin-1 chains in 3D structures. Here authors present Ni(4,4′-bipy)(ox) (NiBO), a planar MOF with Haldane topological properties and promising quantum applications, as shown by advanced techniques and quantum Monte Carlo studies.

Lower olefins are mainly produced from fossil resources and the methanol-to-olefins process offers a new sustainable pathway. Here, the authors show a new zeolite containing tantalum and aluminium centres which shows simultaneously high propene selectivity, catalytic activity, and stability for the synthesis of propene.

Synthetic design of crystalline porous materials is important for applications such as catalysis and adsorption. Here, the authors demonstrate a platform for the development of crystalline porous materials with a variety of organic ligands and metallic clusters, and control of their gas sorption properties.

Production of olefins from biomass-derived γ-valerolactone could lead to sustainable chemical processes, but catalysts suffer from deactivation due to water. Here, a MFI-type zeolite doped with Nb(v) and Al(iii) shows >99% yield at 320 °C and catalyst stability over 180 hours.

The development of precious-metal-free catalysts to promote the sustainable production of fuels and chemicals from biomass challenging. Here the authors report a unique core-shell structured Co@CoO catalyst which exhibits excellent performance in the hydrogenolysis of biomass-derived compounds.

Transition metal complexes that display slow magnetic relaxation show promise for information storage, but our mechanistic understanding of the magnetic relaxation of such compounds remains limited. Here, the authors spectroscopically and computationally characterize the strength of spin–phonon couplings, which play an important role in the relaxation process.

Lignin is cheap and abundant, and potentially a major source of aromatic compounds. Here the authors show selective production of arenes via hydrodeoxygenation of lignin over Ru/Nb₂O₅, and mechanistically show the strong influence of the Nb₂O₅support on phenolic bond dissociation energies.

In some cases, hydrogen adsorption close to its boiling temperature shows unusually high monolayer capacities, but the microscopic nature of this adsorbate phase is not well understood. Now, H₂ adsorbed on a well-ordered mesoporous silica surface has been shown to form a 2D monolayer with very short H₂···H₂ intermolecular distances and a density more than twice that of bulk-solid H_2.

High and reversible nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) uptake, and low-concentration NO₂ removal from gas mixtures, is observed in a metal–organic framework. The NO₂ is bound within the pores by cooperative supramolecular interactions.

By exploiting the geometric frustration of a kagome crystal lattice, it is possible to enhance electron localisation and engineer exotic electronic structures such as electronic flat bands. Here, the authors use inelastic neutron scattering to investigate the evolution of spin excitations modes for FeSn and CoSn, finding that an anomalous flat mode actually arises from the material used to fix the sample to the aluminium holder for analysis instead of the expected magnetic flat bands.