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Exploration of the chemistry of allylic, benzylic, propargylic and allenylic oxonium ions is lacking despite the latest developments in onium ion chemistry. Now, a unified approach for the synthesis and NMR spectroscopic characterization of these unusual species is reported, helping to understand their reactivity.

Estimating respiratory infection rates in the community is challenging as testing is usually limited to people with more severe infections. Here, the authors develop a statistical method to estimate infection rates using data from a community survey that performed lateral flow testing in England and Scotland in 2023-24.

Chronic stress disrupts the brain vasculature and contributes to mood disorders, but mechanisms of resilience remain unclear. Here, the authors show that enriched environments increase astrocytic Fgf2 to prevent stress-induced vascular alterations and depressive behavior with relevance to human depression.

We present a synthetic method that transforms complex pyrimidine-containing structures into iminoenamines and then uses de novo heterocycle synthesis to obtain substituted pyrimidine and 1,2-azole analogues.

Bench-stable fluoroalkylphosphine reagents are used to form C–CF₂X bonds in a one-pot process, reliably fluoroalkylating pyridine building blocks and drug and agrochemical intermediates.

Biaryls are privileged structural motif used in the discovery and design of therapeutics with high affinity and specificity for a broad range of protein targets. Herein, the authors develop a robust strategy for para-C–H arylation of arenes with a range of (het)aryl iodides, including bioactive molecules.

A method based on boron-mediated assembly is described for the synthesis of tetrasubstituted alkenes, molecules with four substituents around the central C=C bond, with complete control over the double-bond geometry.

A highly enantio- and diastereoselective route to complex indanes via a 5-endo-trig Michael reaction catalysed by a chiral ammonium salt is described. The preference for this formally disfavoured cyclization over a formally favoured alternative shows that geometric and stereoelectronic constraints may not be decisive in the observed outcome of irreversible ring closing reactions.

The Grignard reaction represents one of the most powerful carbon-carbon bond forming reactions and is the subject of continual study. Here, the authors report a halide effect on the diastereoselectivity of 1,2-addition reactions to β-hydroxy ketones involving Grignard reagents, serving as a foundation for the rapid production of C4’-modified nucleosides with diversifiable positions at the nucleobase and C4’.

The catalytic enantioconvergent nucleophilic fluorination of alkyl halides using inexpensive alkali metal fluorides is a persistent challenge. Now this has been achieved by synergistic hydrogen bonding phase-transfer catalysis combining a chiral bis-urea hydrogen bond donor and an onium salt.

This study highlights a protocol that converts various perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), including fluoroplastics, into valuable fluorochemicals through a solvent-free mechanochemical process, thereby enabling fluorine recovery and contributing to a sustainable circular fluorine economy.

An organic photoredox catalyst system efficiently reduces C–F bonds, generating carbon-centred radicals for hydrodefluorination and cross-coupling reactions, enabling the general use of organofluorines as synthons and breaking down environmentally damaging forever chemicals.

Arynes are often generated using strong bases or fluoride sources, limiting functional group tolerance. Now, stable triaryloxonium salts are transformed into arynes and subsequently trapped using cycloaddition reactions by treatment with potassium phosphate at room temperature. This functional group-tolerant method proceeds by an elimination, unimolecular, conjugate base-like elimination mechanism to form the aryne.

High selectivity is essential in the enzymatic biosynthesis of complex natural products. Now, the discovery of multiple sequential bifurcations on the reaction path towards the formation of a diterpenoid shows how dynamics affect selectivity, and suggests how enzymes may steer reactions towards a specific product.

The severity of SARS-CoV-2 infection varied over the course of the pandemic due to factors such as changes in variant characteristics and population immunity from previous infection or vaccination. Here, the authors estimate infection hospitalisation and infection fatality rates in England over time from the start of the pandemic until March 2023.

Many natural products exist as families of structurally similar molecules, and therefore developing skeletal modifications of common intermediates offers flexible and powerful approaches for target synthesis. Here, the authors report a single-atom insertion into the framework of the benzenoid subfamily, providing access to the troponoid congeners.

A major drive in current chemistry research is to develop asymmetric versions of widely used carbon–carbon bond-forming reactions, such as Suzuki-Miyaura cross-couplings. Now, the origins of diastereo- and enantioselectivity in a Rh-catalysed cross-coupling of boronic acid and racemic allyl halides have been established.

Finding stable radical compounds for redox flow batteries is a challenging molecular design task. Sowndarya et al. combine an AlphaZero-based framework with a surrogate objective function trained on quantum chemistry simulations to generate suitable radical candidates that are stable. The approach promises to contribute to the development of low-cost, reliable energy storage technologies.

The biogenesis and stereochemical origin of many natural products remain unknown. Now the biosynthetic pathway of brevianamide A is elucidated. An isomerase is discovered that can catalyse pinacol rearrangement without a cofactor and determine the stereochemistry of the bicyclo[2.2.2]diazaoctane ring.

The design, synthesis and characterization of a helically chiral triaryloxonium ion is reported, which is an example of a chiral non-racemic and configurationally stable molecule in which the oxygen atom is the sole stereogenic centre.

The complete biosynthesis of the fungal indole alkaloid malbrancheamide, which culminates in an intramolecular [4+2] hetero-Diels–Alder cyclization to produce the bicyclo[2.2.2]diazaoctane scaffold, has now been discovered. Chemical synthesis and protein structural analysis were used to provide mechanistic insight into this enzyme-dependent diastereo- and enantioselective cycloaddition.

Mpox cases without known travel links to endemic countries began to be detected in the UK in mid-2022. In this study, the authors characterise the severity of mpox cases in the UK and estimate the overall infection hospitalisation risk at ~4%.