Synthesis as a research area encompasses the development and optimization of methods to construct complex entities from simpler precursors, typically in chemistry, materials science, and related disciplines. It focuses on designing reaction pathways, controlling selectivity, yield, and functional group compatibility, and enabling the scalable preparation of target molecules or materials with defined structures and properties. This area includes methodological innovation (e.g., new catalytic systems, green and sustainable protocols, automated or high-throughput synthesis) and integrates analytical, mechanistic, and computational tools to refine synthetic routes. Synthesis research underpins the creation of pharmaceuticals, functional materials, and molecular probes essential for experimental science.
In biological systems, especially for protein molecules, the formation of nanotubular structures is often guided by molecular folding. The folding process organizes interaction sites and enables the formation of complex architectures ...
Nanophysics
Apr 20, 2026
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7
While the Netherlands was in lockdown because of the coronavirus, Ph.D. candidate Koen Rijpkema began his research into the same virus. In the lab, he developed molecules that can inhibit an important viral enzyme.
Biotechnology
Apr 16, 2026
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8
Scientists at the VIB–VUB Center for Structural Biology have uncovered a counterintuitive principle that could reshape how membrane proteins are designed from scratch: Sometimes, making a protein less stable helps it fold ...
Biotechnology
Apr 13, 2026
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8
Compounds in psychedelic drugs like DMT, psilocybin, and psilocin are naturally produced in certain plants, fungi, and animals, and have a long history of use in spiritual and therapeutic contexts. Now, a considerable amount ...
New research has discovered that the molecular machines responsible for copying our DNA have a surprising hidden talent—an ability to create entirely new and highly sophisticated DNA sequences from scratch. The study, led ...
Biotechnology
Apr 1, 2026
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103
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it," goes the old adage, which Rice University professor James Chappell completely ignored in a recent Nature Communications publication. In the study, Chappell describes an innovation in plasmids, ...
Cell & Microbiology
Mar 26, 2026
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68
Researchers from the University of Jyväskylä and Aalto University have developed a new method based on laser modification, which allows metal-organic materials to be grown locally one molecule-thick layer at a time. The method ...
Nanomaterials
Mar 25, 2026
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78
The longest chains of the conductive polymer poly(p-phenylene; PPP) produced to date are just under one micrometer (thousandth of a millimeter) long—almost an order of magnitude longer than previously possible. A research ...
Nanophysics
Mar 16, 2026
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42
Every chemical reaction faces a barrier: For substances to react with one another, it is first necessary to supply energy. In many cases, this energy barrier is low—such as when striking a match. For many key reactions in ...
Nanomaterials
Mar 4, 2026
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37
Chinese researchers have developed a photocatalytic membrane reactor that dramatically improves the synthesis of imines—a class of compounds essential to the production of pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, and advanced synthetic ...
Bio & Medicine
Mar 2, 2026
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