Trends in Chemistry

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💗The February 2026 issue of Trends in Chemistry is out now!
Our cover highlights the Review from Sarah Park and colleagues on chiral reticular frameworks as emerging spin filters.
Read all the articles in our latest issue here: www.cell.com/trends/chemi...

Molecularly imprinted functional monomers: from tradition to customization Molecularly imprinted polymer (MIPs) possess exceptional molecular recognition capabilities, making them highly valuable for applications in separation, sensing, environmental monitoring, and biomedicine. Functional monomers play a central role in determining MIP performance; yet MIPs prepared using traditional functional monomers often suffer from poor selectivity and limited capabilities, which severely restricts the efficacy of MIPs in highly complex systems. Recent advances in computational chemistry, machine learning, and biomimetic strategies have enabled the rational design of customized monomers with improved affinity, responsiveness, and environmental compatibility. Despite these developments, the field lacks a systematic overview of the paradigm shift in functional monomers design – particularly how interdisciplinary integration can overcome the limitations of conventional approaches – and a coherent research framework remains undefined. This review systematically traces the development of functional monomers, emphasizing key structure–function relationships and design principles. It explores how customized monomers drive innovation in fields like trace contaminant detection, chiral separation, and smart drug delivery. Continued interdisciplinary advances are expected to usher MIPs into a new era of intelligent, sustainable design.

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Artists choice - it was clearly a very cool cover!

📆The January 2026 issue of Trends in Chemistry is online now!
www.cell.com/trends/chemi...
The cover highlights the Opinion article from Bruce Lipshutz, looking at Pd vs Ni cross-coupling reactions in terms of synthetic efficiency and sustainability.
Cover art credit: Peter Allen, Second Bay Studios

Lighting the future: 3D printing of smart and sustainable materials Light-based 3D printing has revolutionized the way manufacturing is performed, by enabling the fabrication of highly precise and customizable 3D architectures with unprecedented levels of accuracy and design freedom. Beyond significant technological progress, recent years have seen considerable advances in the design of innovative materials that feature smart characteristics and address sustainable aspects such as biobased content and circularity. However, smart and sustainable material development are typically pursued separately, slowing progress in achieving systems that simultaneously fulfill both criteria. This review summarizes recent highlights and developments in both material design fields, laying the foundation for a holistic design strategy for next-generation materials.

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Online now: Divergent heterocycle synthesis enabled by switchable reaction of azobenzenes with alkynes

Online now: Cooperative boron-copper catalysis unlocks alkyl radicals from amines

Online now: Catalytic enantioselective activation of unreactive C–N/C–O bonds

Main-group mimics of transition-metal carbonyl redox chemistry Chu, Munz, and coworkers reported that a sterically encumbered ketene derived from a cyclic (alkyl)(amino)carbene and CO can access three oxidation states. These single-electron redox events mimic transition-metal carbonyl behavior. Notably, the ketene radical anion reacts with CO to form an oxalyl radical, demonstrating transition metal-free C–C coupling of CO.

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Chiral reticular frameworks as emerging spin filters Chiral induced spin selectivity (CISS) is a phenomenon wherein chiral materials preferentially transmit electrons of one spin over the other. Although interest in CISS is high and growing, its implementation in reticular frameworks, such as metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) and covalent organic frameworks (COFs), remains nascent. This review highlights advances in chiral reticular frameworks exhibiting CISS, emphasizing their intrinsic advantages rooted in modularity, tunability, and crystallinity. We examine reported examples across MOFs, COFs, and related crystalline systems, identify features correlated with high spin selectivity, and propose tentative design principles. By surveying this emerging intersection of reticular chemistry and chirality-induced spin selectivity, we aim to stimulate further exploration of chiral frameworks as next-generation spin filters.

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🕊️🧬A Special Issue of Trends in Chemistry in online now!
www.cell.com/trends/chemi...
Our Dec 2025 issue is joint with @cp-cellrepphyssci.bsky.social on The Chemistry of Nucleic Acids, highlighting the innovations and thought leadership on nucleic acid research in the physical/chemical sciences.

Happy to share our review article @cp-trendschem.bsky.social on modified aptamers. Congrats to all authors!
@pasteur.fr @ipdbsc.bsky.social @cnrs.fr
doi.org/10.1016/j.tr...

[3+n]-Syntheses of carbocycles and heterocycles During the past decade, metallovinyl carbenes derived from vinyldiazo compounds have emerged as facile dipolar sources of three-carbon synthons for cycloaddition reactions. Unlike traditional dipolar species that are limited to [3+2]-cycloaddition, metallovinyl carbenes are capable of [3+n]-cycloaddition, where transformations with n = 1, 2, and 3 are now abundantly demonstrated. The vinyldiazo compounds, the reacting n-dipoles, and the catalysts all play a role in determining the effectiveness of the cycloaddition process, with siloxyvinyldiazo compounds being optimum, the n-dipoles being highly variable, and dirhodium(II) and copper(I) catalysts providing the highest yields and selectivities among those surveyed. This brief opinion article provides basic strategies for [3+n]-cycloaddition transformations of vinyldiazo compounds and outlooks for their future developments involving carbene chemistry with versatile precursors.

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Expanding the chemical repertoire of aptamers Aptamers offer distinct advantages over conventional small molecules or antibodies due to their high affinity and specificity. Additional benefits, including small size and ease of modification, further enhance their biomedical potential. Nonetheless, their interaction capabilities remain constrained by the limited chemical diversity of natural nucleobases, restricting the repertoire of targets accessible in vitro and in vivo. This review highlights strategies to overcome these limitations by expanding the chemical diversity of aptamers, including sugar, backbone, and nucleobase modifications, as well as selection approaches for their identification. We discuss structural insights into modified aptamers and explain their potential in practical applications. Finally, key challenges are identified that must be addressed to fully achieve the therapeutic and diagnostic utility of chemically modified aptamers.

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Online now: Palladium versus Earth-abundant metals: comparisons from the synthetic and environmental perspectives for Suzuki–Miyaura cross-couplings and aminations

Online now: Harnessing single atom sites in plasmonic catalysis

Online now: Monophasic Pd-catalysed O-arylation of phenols

Recent innovations and assessment of ammonia synthesis at an industrial scale The industrial synthesis of ammonia has traditionally relied on the energy-intensive Haber–Bosch process, which accounts for a significant share of global CO2 emissions. Recent innovations are reshaping this landscape by integrating low-carbon hydrogen sources, next-generation catalysts, plasma-assisted techniques, and electrified modular reactors capable of operating under milder conditions. This article provides a comprehensive overview of these technological breakthroughs and offers a quantitative assessment of their technology readiness levels to enable fair benchmarking and informed decision-making by stakeholders. We also discuss key techno-economic considerations, scale-up challenges, and opportunities to align ammonia synthesis with renewable energy and carbon management strategies. Collectively, these developments mark a pivotal shift toward a cleaner and more resilient ammonia production ecosystem.

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Jess is heading to Boston next week for MRS Fall 2025 🧪
Get in touch if you want to share your ideas about the latest trends in materials chemistry; it's also a great opportunity to find out more about the chemistry/materials publishing opportunities at Cell Press! #F25MRS

Triple-stranded porphyrin nanobelts: ideal quantum rings Synthesis of multilayered carbon nanobelts constitutes a long-standing challenge. A recent breakthrough by Anderson et al. reports the precise synthesis of a family of triple-stranded porphyrin nanobelts with highly delocalized nonalternant topologies that embody an ideal quantum ring. This work represents a pivotal achievement in molecular nanocarbon science.

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Online now: Switchable allyl-propargyl cross-couplings

Machine learning for probing polymer and polyelectrolyte brushes Polymer and polyelectrolyte (PE) chains adopt brush-like conformations when densely grafted on solid surfaces or backbones of other polymer chains. In this forum article, we highlight recent advancements and explore emerging directions in applying machine learning (ML) techniques to uncover new applications and fundamental insights in polymer and PE brush-grafted systems.

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They’re better, connected: linking up polymer nanoparticles Nanoparticles constructed from polymers already find widespread use in catalysis, drug delivery, and sensing contexts. However, almost all current applications do not consider how nanoparticles could behave when connected together. Herein I explore emerging approaches to use polymer nanoparticles as building blocks for developing both physically connected and chemically communicating systems.

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Design, synthesis, and control of transient supramolecular assemblies Nature has inspired the development of synthetic chemical systems, in which transient supramolecular species emerge with unique properties that can be spatiotemporally controlled at the expense of external energy sources. Herein, we highlight recent advances organized in three sections according to the (de)activation modes that trigger transient assemblies.

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Our mini-review on DNA-scaffolded catalysis is out today in @cp-trendschem.bsky.social! It's an interesting look at this unique intersection of catalysis, DNA nanotechnology and supramolecular chemistry. Give it a read! #chemsky doi.org/10.1016/j.tr...

⚡The latest issue of Trends in Chemistry is online now!
The cover shines a spotlight on two articles in this month's issue covering electrochemistry for complex molecule synthesis.
Read the full issue: www.cell.com/trends/chemi...

AI-accelerated screening of mechanophores The design and synthesis of mechanophores remain a central pursuit in modern polymer mechanochemistry. Nevertheless, the discovery of novel mechanophores frequently relies on empirical trial-and-error approaches. In a recent advance, Kulik and colleagues leveraged machine learning (ML) to establish a universal framework for the high-throughput identification of mechanophores with superior reactivity.

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Bio-electrified hydrocarbons from cascading conversion of biowaste Advanced biofuels in the form of liquid hydrocarbons offer a pathway to decarbonize long-distance heavy transport. Integrating biological acidification with electrocatalytic Kolbe-type decarboxylation provides a promising route for selectively producing linear hydrocarbons from biowaste. However, such cascading systems face challenges including suboptimal carbon utilization, limited product selectivity, and energy-intensive separations. This paper explores microbial chain elongation for generating medium-chain carboxylic acids (MCCAs) from biowaste, alongside CO2 reduction to supply biocompatible electron donors and improve carbon efficiency. Particular attention is placed on waveform-controlled electrosynthesis, which enables selective upgrading of MCCAs into alkanes and alkenes under mild conditions. Framed within a circular bioeconomy, key mechanistic, engineering, and techno-economic gaps are identified to advance bio-electrified hydrocarbons as competitive drop-in fuels.

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Borenium catalysis beyond Lewis acids Boron catalysts are emerging as key players in catalysis, enabling challenging chemical transformations. Boron catalysis can circumvent the issue of metal residues in drug-molecule synthesis, which is particularly beneficial for the pharmaceutical industry. This Forum highlights recent advances in borenium catalysis, focusing on enhanced Lewis acidity and new catalytic modes.

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