Esther Johnston

New Reviews in Chemical Science this week! 👇
* Perovskite nanocrystals
* Flexoelectric catalysis
* Tandem photovoltaics
* Thermoelectric materials
* Synthesis of higher order stereocenters.

🤠 ChemSci Review Round-up!
Browse the new Reviews in Chemical Science this week.

And read all our recent Reviews and Perspectives here: pubs.rsc.org/en/jour...

A personal shout-out from me for this excellent cover image! I love that it represents the first author of the paper with his large and loving family. 😍

doi.org/10.1039/D5SC...

See the most impactful papers in Chemical Science in your topic area from last year in our subject-specific collections below! 👇

A promotional graphic for the Royal Society of Chemistry’s journal Chemical Science. The background shows stylized molecular structures and a DNA double helix in glowing yellow, blue, and red tones. Text on the left reads: “Chemical Science – 15th anniversary reflections. Author commentaries reflecting on some of the earliest Chemical Science articles.” A badge on the right says “Diamond Open Access.” At the bottom, text reads: “Browse the collection.”

Our new Reflections series celebrates our 15th anniversary and some of the earliest manuscripts published in Chemical Science, with leading authors giving a perspective on how the field has changed in the years since.

Explore the Reflection pieces, for free, here:
rsc.li/ChemSciReflec...

Diagram showing the structure of ammonia monooxygenase (AMO) from Nitrosospira briensis. The left panel depicts the enzyme in native membranes with three labeled copper-binding sites: CuB (periplasmic), CuC, and CuD (transmembrane), and a lipid molecule positioned between CuC and CuD. The right panel zooms in on the AMO active site, highlighting the CuC and CuD sites separated by approximately 8.0 Å, with the lipid molecule spanning between them. Copper ions are shown as cyan spheres, and the lipid is illustrated in pink.

This week's Chemical Science Pick of the Week #ChemSciPicks is from Professor Amy C. Rosenzweig (Northwestern University): "Simultaneous occupancy of CuC and CuD in the ammonia monooxygenase active site"

Read for free at: doi.org/10.1039/D5SC...

🎄On the 11th day of Christmas, Hai-Yan Hu, Yan-Fang Zhu, and Yao Zhao et al. gave to us, a paper on sodium!

“Periodic Law-Guided Design of Highly Stable O3-Type Layered Oxide Cathodes for Practical Sodium-Ion Batteries”

Read it for free here: doi.org/10.1039/D4SC...

🎄On the 10th day of Christmas, Erwin Reisner et al. gave to us, a paper on gases and light!

“Adapting gas fermenting bacteria for light-driven domino valorization of CO2”

Read it for free here: doi.org/10.1039/D5SC...

Cover image from Véronique Michelet et al., Chem. Sci., 2025,16, 17611-17620, https://doi.org/10.1039/D5SC05338B

HNY from Chemical Science! We wish you all a successful and peaceful 2026!

Thank you to all of our readers, authors, and reviewers for making 2025 a huge success! We were delighted by the excellent papers in our 15th anniversary collections and we're excited for 2026!

#ChemSky #HNY #2026

🎄On the 9th day of Christmas, Yoichi Kobayashi et al. gave to us, a paper on fluorine!

“Photocatalytic defluorination of perfluoroalkyl substances by surface-engineered ZnO nanocrystals”

Read it for free here: doi.org/10.1039/D5SC...

🎄On the 8th day of Christmas, Kazunari Domen et al. gave to us, a paper on oxygen!

“Z-scheme overall water splitting on photocatalyst sheet mediated by carbon nanotubes using oxysulfide photocatalyst responsive to long wavelengths”

Read it here: doi.org/10.1039/D5SC...

🎄On the 7th day of Christmas, Anindita Das et al. gave to us, a paper on N!

“Crystallization-driven 2D assemblies from a phenothiazine-conjugated poly(l-lactide): redox-responsive tunable emission, white-light harvesting and surface-enabled NP decoration”

Read it here: doi.org/10.1039/D5SC...

Structural and electronic modulations of lytic polysaccharide monooxygenase (LPMO) upon chitin binding: insights from X-ray spectroscopy Lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases (LPMOs) play a critical role in the depolymerization of recalcitrant polysaccharides, such as chitin, making them of interest in biotechnological applications. Thes...

Structural & electronic modulations of copper enzyme lytic polysaccharide monooxygenase upon chitin binding (via @chemicalscience.rsc.org)
doi.org/10.1039/D5SC...

🎄On the 6th day of Christmas, Vivek Polshettiwar et al. gave to us, a paper on carbon!

“Synthesis of Synergistic Catalysts: Integrating Defects, SMSI, and Plasmonic Effects for Enhanced Photocatalytic CO2 Reduction”

Read it here: doi.org/10.1039/D5SC...

Featured in: rsc.li/chemsci-commu...

🎄On the 5th day of Christmas, R. Graham Cooks et al. gave to us, a paper on boron!

“Accelerated Click Reactions using Boronic Acids for Heterocyclic Synthesis in Microdroplets”

Read it for free here: doi.org/10.1039/D5SC...

Featured in: rsc.li/chemsci-commu...

🎄On the 4th day of Christmas, Andrès Reyes et al. gave to us, a paper on beryllium!

“Watch out electrons!: Positron Binding Redefines Chemical Bonding in Be2”

Read it for free here: doi.org/10.1039/D5SC...

Featured in: rsc.li/chemsci-commu...

🎄 On the 3rd day of Christmas, Jin Han and Ya You et al. gave to us, a paper on lithium!

“Stabilizing electrode-electrolyte interface for high-voltage Li||LiCoO2 cells by dual electrolyte additives”

Read it for free here: doi.org/10.1039/D5SC...

Featured in: rsc.li/sc-15li25

🎄 On the 2nd day of Christmas, Yanhua Li and Na Li et al. gave to us, a paper on gases!

“Gas-mediated cancer therapy: advances in delivery strategies and therapeutic mechanisms”

Read it here: doi.org/10.1039/D5SC...

Featured in: rsc.li/chemsci-commu...

Stay tuned over the 12 days of Christmas for more holiday-themed article picks from our 15th anniversary collections! 🎄
rsc.li/chemsci-commu... and rsc.li/sc-15li25

Merry Xmas from @chemicalscience.rsc.org🎄On the 1st day of Christmas, Yangfan Lu and Hongwen Huang et al. gave to us, a paper on hydrogen!

“Understanding the strain effect in alkaline hydrogen oxidation reaction over well-defined Ru surfaces: insights into catalyst design” doi.org/10.1039/D5SC...

Graphical abstract for “A Tetraazanaphthalene Radical-Bridged Dysprosium Single-Molecule Magnet with a Large Coercive Field” by Selvan Demir et al.

🎁 It’s Day 24 of ChemSci Advent! Celebrate our 15th anniversary year with us and unwrap “A Tetraazanaphthalene Radical-Bridged Dysprosium Single-Molecule Magnet with a Large Coercive Field” by Selvan Demir et al.!

Read it for free here: pubs.rsc.org/doi/D5SC05358G

Graphical abstract for “Catalytic stereoselective synthesis of all-carbon tetra-substituted alkenes via Z-selective alkyne difunctionalization” by Magnus Rueping et al.

🎁 It’s Day 23 of ChemSci Advent! Celebrate our 15th anniversary year with us and unwrap “Catalytic stereoselective synthesis of all-carbon tetra-substituted alkenes via Z-selective alkyne difunctionalization” by Magnus Rueping et al. from KAUST!

Read it for free here: pubs.rsc.org/doi/D5S...

🎁 It’s Day 22 of ChemSci Advent! Celebrate our 15th anniversary year with us and unwrap “Rational Design of the Linkers in Targeting Chimeras” by Jinyi Xu and Quanyin Hu et al.!

Read it for free here: pubs.rsc.org/doi/D5S...

🎁 It’s Day 21 of ChemSci Advent! Celebrate our 15th anniversary year with us and unwrap “Data-Driven Recommendation of Agents, Temperature, and Equivalence Ratios for Organic Synthesis” by Connor Coley et al. from MIT!

Read it for free here: pubs.rsc.org/doi/D5S...

🎁 It’s Day 20 of ChemSci Advent! Celebrate our 15th anniversary year with us and unwrap “Sulfenate Anion Catalyzed Enantio- and Diastereoselective Aziridination” by Javier Adrio and Patrick Walsh et al.!

Read it for free here: pubs.rsc.org/doi/D5S...

This cover gets my personal shout-out for favourite cover of the year in @chemicalscience.rsc.org, and I'm so glad we got it right before Christmas! It looks like a Christmas card! My favourite part is that the boat is flying the flags of the cities the authors' universities are in.

🎁 It’s Day 19 of ChemSci Advent! Celebrate our 15th anniversary year with us and unwrap “Aminocatalytic enantioselective [2 + 2] cycloaddition of Bicyclo[1.1.0]butanes and α,β-unsaturated aldehydes” by Karl Anker Jørgensen et al.!

Read it for free here: pubs.rsc.org/doi/D5S...

🎁 It’s Day 18 of ChemSci Advent! Celebrate our 15th anniversary year with us and unwrap “Synergistic C-H Bond Activation Across Molybdenum-Iridium Multiply Bonded Complexes: a Cascade of Transformations” by Clément Camp et al.!

Read it for free here: pubs.rsc.org/doi/D5S...

🎁 It’s Day 17 of ChemSci Advent! Celebrate our 15th anniversary year with us and unwrap “Effect of size, charge, and spin state on Hückel and Baird aromaticity in [N]annulenes” by Miquel Solà et al. from Universitat de Girona!

Read it for free here: pubs.rsc.org/doi/D4S...

Graphical abstract for "Revealing the Kinetic Limits of Sodiation and Lithiation at Hard Carbon Using the Diluted Electrode Method" by Shinichi Komaba et al.

This week's Chemical Science Pick of the Week is from Professor Shinichi Komaba (Tokyo University of Science, Japan) et al.

"Revealing the Kinetic Limits of Sodiation and Lithiation at Hard Carbon Using the Diluted Electrode Method"

Read it here for free: doi.org/10.1039/D5SC...