ACS Central Science invites authors to share compelling stories that trace research from fundamental insight into real world application.

The increasing structural complexity of heterocycles in pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, and functional materials continues to challenge synthetic design, particularly when step economy, scalability, a...

Medicinal chemistry campaigns routinely require access to series of saturated nitrogen heterocycle (SNH)–based analogs that place nitrogen at different positions to probe structure-activity relationsh...

This In Focus article illustrates how curiosity-driven fundamental research in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) gave rise to transformative technologies, including modern spectroscopy and magnetic resonance imaging. By tracing this pathway from basic discoveries to broad societal and economic impact, the article serves as a resource emphasizing the essential role of sustained investment in fundamental scientific research.

Asymmetric catalysis is the most sustainable means of achieving efficient production of enantioenriched compounds, which are valuable to the pharmaceutical industry and advanced functionalized materials. The field has undergone considerable development since its inception about 60 years ago. The development of new chiral ligands or organocatalysts or the discovery of new reactions all led to spectacular progress in terms of activity and enantioselectivity. In this context, this Outlook article aims to highlight major advances that demonstrate the central role of asymmetric catalysis in sustainability, with the examples discussed representing a selection shaped by the authors’ scientific perspective and sensitivity. This includes recent innovations in catalyst recycling, the use of less precious and less toxic metals in asymmetric organometallic catalysis, as well as the control of the positioning of catalytic sites, to further improve their efficiency. The development of asymmetric electrocatalysis and photocatalysis as well as of mechanochemistry and continuous flow chemistry is also discussed. Finally, the complexity and step-economy issues are raised with the presentation of relevant examples of asymmetric multicatalytic processes and new challenging transformations that include late-stage functionalization reactions, molecular edition or reactions targeting the creation of axial, planar or helicoidal chirality.

The convergence of generative artificial intelligence (AI) platforms and automated laboratory systems is ushering in a new era of drug discovery, in which a plain-language prompt can initiate a fully ...

Hanahan revisits the evolving framework of cancer hallmarks, synthesizing 25 years of conceptual refinement into a multidimensional view of tumor biology. This review highlights how aberrant capabilit...

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Mit rund 300 Millionen Euro an eingeworbenen Drittmitteln konnte die Universität 2024 als das drittmittelstärkste Jahr ihrer Geschichte verbuchen.

In this work, we show that the innate reactivity of the photoexcited state of a Mn-hydride complex can be harnessed to design the activation of the H2 molecule for catalytic applications. Such activation of molecular hydrogen by a photoexcited heavier 5d metal (Ir) complex has recently been achieved; however, it has been realized with an earth-abundant and lighter 3d metal complex. Here, we demonstrate that an in situ-generated Mn–H complex of an abnormal N-heterocyclic carbene can activate molecular hydrogen upon photoexcitation. The key to this approach lies in the fact that ground-state manganese hydride absorbs light to undergo homolytic cleavage, generating a metalloradical (Mn·) and a hydrogen atom. This, in turn, enables the formation of an O–H bond upon reaction with an aldehyde. Simultaneously, the generated Mn· can activate the H2 molecule, reproducing the Mn–H species in its ground state along with a hydrogen atom. The trapping of important intermediates, such as Mn· species and associated radical intermediates, using spectroscopic techniques confirms the mechanistic proposal involving the excited state of the Mn complex.

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The structural prominence of indole-based sulfur-containing compounds in pharmacologically relevant substances stems from their versatile biofunctional capabilities. Despite their significance, the st...

An approach that combines single-nucleus RNA sequencing and multiplexed perturbation identifies genes that enable the biosynthesis of direct precursors of the anti-cancer drug Taxol, whose curren...