Chemical Society Reviews

Polyfluoroarenes have been known for a long time, but they are most often used as fluorinated building blocks for the synthesis of aromatic compounds. At the same time, due to peculiar fluorine effect, they have unique properties that provide applications in various fields ranging from synthesis to materials science. This review summarizes advances in the radical chemistry of polyfluoroarenes, which have become possible mainly with the advent of photocatalysis. Transformations of the fluorinated ring via the C-F bond activation, as well as use of fluoroaryl fragments as activating groups and hydrogen atom transfer agents are discussed...

Millions of electric vehicles (EVs) on the road are powered by lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) based on nickel-rich layered oxide (NRLO) cathodes, and they suffer from a limited driving range and safety concerns. Increasing the Ni content is a key way to boost the energy densities of LIBs and alleviate the EV range anxiety, which are, however, compromised by the rapid performance fading. One unique challenge lies in the worsening of the microstructural stability with a rising Ni-content in the cathode. In this review, we focus on the latest advances in the understanding of NLRO microstructures, particularly the microstructural degradation mechanisms, state-of-the-art stabilization strategies, and advanced characterization methods...

High power conversion efficiency (PCE) and long-term stability are essential prerequisites for the commercialization of polymer solar cells (PSCs). Small-molecule acceptors (SMAs) are core materials that have led to recent, rapid increases in the PCEs of the PSCs. However, a critical limitation of the resulting PSCs is their poor long-term stability. Blend morphology degradation from rapid diffusion of SMAs with low glass transition temperatures ( T g s) is considered the main cause of the poor long-term stability of the PSCs...

Membrane-based separation is one of the most energy-efficient methods to meet the growing need for a significant amount of fresh water. It is also well-known for its applications in water treatment, desalination, solvent recycling, and environmental remediation. Most typical membranes used for separation-based applications are thin-film composite membranes created using polymers, featuring a top selective layer generated by employing the interfacial polymerization technique at an aqueous-organic interface. In the last decade, various manufacturing techniques have been developed in order to create high-specification membranes...

Given the critical importance of novel ligand development for transition-metal (TM) catalysis, as well as the resurgence of the field of organosilicon chemistry and silyl ligands, to summarize the topic of X-type silyl ligands for TM catalysis is highly attractive and timely. This review particularly emphasizes the unique σ-donating characteristics and trans -effects of silyl ligands, highlighting their crucial roles in enhancing the reactivity and selectivity of various catalytic reactions, including small molecule activation, Kumada cross-coupling, hydrofunctionalization, C-H functionalization, and dehydrogenative Si-O coupling reactions...

Alcohol is ubiquitous with unparalleled structural diversity and thus has wide applications as a native functional group in organic synthesis. It is highly prevalent among biomolecules and offers promising opportunities for the development of chemical libraries. Over the last decade, alcohol has been extensively used as an environmentally friendly chemical for numerous organic transformations. In this review, we collectively discuss the utilisation of alcohol from 2015 to 2023 in various organic transformations and their application toward intermediates of drugs, drug derivatives and natural product-like molecules...

Oral diseases are prevalent but challenging diseases owing to the highly movable and wet, microbial and inflammatory environment. Polymeric materials are regarded as one of the most promising biomaterials due to their good compatibility, facile preparation, and flexible design to obtain multifunctionality. Therefore, a variety of strategies have been employed to develop materials with improved therapeutic efficacy by overcoming physicobiological barriers in oral diseases. In this review, we summarize the design strategies of polymeric biomaterials for the treatment of oral diseases...

Advancements in nanochemistry have led to the development of engineered gold nanostructures (GNSs) with remarkable potential for a variety of dental healthcare applications. These innovative nanomaterials offer unique properties and functionalities that can significantly improve dental diagnostics, treatment, and overall oral healthcare applications. This review provides an overview of the latest advancements in the design, synthesis, and application of GNSs for dental healthcare applications. Engineered GNSs have emerged as versatile tools, demonstrating immense potential across different aspects of dentistry, including enhanced imaging and diagnosis, prevention, bioactive coatings, and targeted treatment of oral diseases...

Living organisms in nature have undergone continuous evolution over billions of years, resulting in the formation of high-performance fracture-resistant biomineralized tissues such as bones and teeth to fulfill mechanical and biological functions, despite the fact that most inorganic biominerals that constitute biomineralized tissues are weak and brittle. During the long-period evolution process, nature has evolved a number of highly effective and smart strategies to design chemical compositions and structures of biomineralized tissues to enable superior properties and to adapt to surrounding environments...

With the explosion of digital world, the dramatically increasing data volume is expected to reach 175 ZB (1 ZB = 1012 GB) in 2025. Storing such huge global data would consume tons of resources. Fortunately, it has been found that the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) molecule is the most compact and durable information storage medium in the world so far. Its high coding density and long-term preservation properties make itself one of the best data storage carriers for the future. High-throughput DNA synthesis is a key technology for "DNA data storage", which encodes binary data stream (0/1) into quaternary long DNA sequences consisting of four bases (A/G/C/T)...

Supramolecular vessels emerged as tools to mimic and better understand compartmentalisation, a central aspect of living matter. However, many more applications that go beyond those initial goals have been documented in recent years, including new sensory systems, artificial transmembrane transporters, catalysis, and targeted drug or gene delivery. Peptides, carbohydrates, nucleobases, and steroids bear great potential as building blocks for the construction of supramolecular vessels, possessing complexity that is still difficult to attain with synthetic methods - they are rich in functional groups and well-defined stereogenic centers, ready for noncovalent interactions and further functions...

The theoretically infinite compositional space of high-entropy alloys (HEAs) and their novel properties and applications have attracted significant attention from a broader research community. The successful synthesis of high-quality single-phase HEA nanoparticles represents a crucial step in fully unlocking the potential of this new class of materials to drive innovations. This review analyzes the various methods reported in the literature to identify their commonalities and dissimilarities, which allows categorizing these methods into five general strategies...

Sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) are experiencing a large-scale renaissance to supplement or replace expensive lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) and low energy density lead-acid batteries in electrical energy storage systems and other applications. In this case, layered oxide materials have become one of the most popular cathode candidates for SIBs because of their low cost and comparatively facile synthesis method. However, the intrinsic shortcomings of layered oxide cathodes, which severely limit their commercialization process, urgently need to be addressed...

Iron-based materials with significant physicochemical properties, including high theoretical capacity, low cost and mechanical and thermal stability, have attracted research attention as electrode materials for alkali metal-ion batteries (AMIBs). However, practical implementation of some iron-based materials is impeded by their poor conductivity, large volume change, and irreversible phase transition during electrochemical reactions. In this review we critically assess advances in the chemical synthesis and structural design, together with modification strategies, of iron-based compounds for AMIBs, to obviate these issues...

Over the last 15 years, squaramide-based receptors have attracted the attention of supramolecular chemists working in the field of anion recognition. Herein, we highlight examples of squaramide-based receptors that are able to bind, sense, extract and transport anions.

Degradable biomedical elastomers (DBE), characterized by controlled biodegradability, excellent biocompatibility, tailored elasticity, and favorable network design and processability, have become indispensable in tissue repair. This review critically examines the recent advances of biodegradable elastomers for tissue repair, focusing mainly on degradation mechanisms and evaluation, synthesis and crosslinking methods, microstructure design, processing techniques, and tissue repair applications. The review explores the material composition and cross-linking methods of elastomers used in tissue repair, addressing chemistry-related challenges and structural design considerations...

Self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) represent highly ordered molecular materials with versatile biochemical features and multidisciplinary applications. Research on SAMs has made much progress since the early begginings of Au substrates and alkanethiols, and numerous examples of peptide-displaying SAMs can be found in the literature. Peptides, presenting increasing structural complexity, stimuli-responsiveness, and biological relevance, represent versatile functional components in SAMs-based platforms. This review examines the major findings and progress made on the use of peptide building blocks displayed as part of SAMs with specific functions, such as selective cell adhesion, migration and differentiation, biomolecular binding, advanced biosensing, molecular electronics, antimicrobial, osteointegrative and antifouling surfaces, among others...

Mitochondria are essential for a diverse array of biological functions. There is increasing research focus on developing efficient tools for mitochondria-targeted detection and treatment. BODIPY dyes, known for their structural versatility and excellent spectroscopic properties, are being actively explored in this context. Numerous studies have focused on developing innovative BODIPYs that utilize optical signals for imaging mitochondria. This review presents a comprehensive overview of the progress made in this field, aiming to investigate mitochondria-related biological events...

Hydrogen-bonded porous frameworks (HPFs) are versatile porous crystalline frameworks with diverse applications. However, designing chiral assemblies or biocompatible materials poses significant challenges. Peptide-based hydrogen-bonded porous frameworks (P-HPFs) are an exciting alternative to conventional HPFs due to their intrinsic chirality, tunability, biocompatibility, and structural diversity. Flexible, ultra-short peptide-based P-HPFs (composed of 3 or fewer amino acids) exhibit adaptable porous topologies that can accommodate a variety of guest molecules and capture hazardous greenhouse gases...

Self-indicating polymers have emerged as a promising class of smart materials that possess the unique ability to undergo detectable variations in their physical or chemical properties in response to various stimuli. This article presents an overview of the most important mechanisms through which these materials exhibit self-indication, including aggregation, phase transition, covalent and non-covalent bond cleavage, isomerization, charge transfer, and energy transfer. Aggregation is a prevalent mechanism observed in self-indicating polymers, where changes in the degree of molecular organization result in variations in optical or electrical properties...