https://phys.org/chemistry-news/ en-us The latest news stories on chemistry, biochemistry, polymers, materials science from Phys.org A team led by chemist Frank Glorius, a professor at the Institute of Organic Chemistry at the University of Münster, has developed a new light-driven reaction sequence. In this triple catalysis, one reaction step triggers the next like three dominoes in a row, toppling one after the other. The molecular transformations occur sequentially in a single reaction vessel. Such one-pot synthesis is considered an ideal process because it is particularly resource- and energy-efficient. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-visible-triggers-cascade-3d-drug.html Biochemistry Fri, 10 Jul 2026 14:40:02 EDT news702907999 A research team synthesized and determined the structure of a borate-linked 3D crystalline covalent organic framework, TCTP-COF, via electron diffraction for the first time. These findings will help scientists determine the structure-property relationships for other 3D COFs and facilitate their tuning for advanced applications. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-3d-cof-tune-porous-materials.html Materials Science Fri, 10 Jul 2026 14:00:08 EDT news702806692 Danqing Liu from Eindhoven University of Technology explores how interactions with digital systems can be improved through the sense of touch. To achieve this, she develops advanced liquid crystal polymers that respond to light. Her work has recently been published in two scientific journals, Science Advances and Matter & Light. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-artificial-human-gestures-memory-written.html Polymers Fri, 10 Jul 2026 12:40:03 EDT news702897186 Brown University chemists have provided direct evidence that upends the textbook explanation of how triple chemical bonds work in heavy elements. In a study published in Science, the researchers show evidence that when atomic nuclei are sufficiently heavy, the principles described in Einstein's theory of relativity change the structure of triple bonds—blurring the lines between the two separate types of bonds involved in textbook triple bonding. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-carbonbismuth-bonds-reveal-blurs-textbook.html Materials Science Thu, 09 Jul 2026 18:20:07 EDT news702832022 Ever wondered where your plastics end up? A PET bottle can be washed, shredded, melted and given a second life. But most everyday items—toys, mattresses, car seats—are made from different plastics that refuse to mix when melted, producing unusable, contaminated material. Sorting is difficult and expensive, so most mixed plastic waste ends up burned or buried, and the materials are lost for good. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-catalyst-plastic-recyclable-chemical.html Polymers Thu, 09 Jul 2026 18:00:06 EDT news702801769 The construction sector faces two problems at once: it emits large amounts of CO₂ and produces vast quantities of concrete waste. But what if part of that waste could be used to trap carbon instead of ending up as rubble? https://phys.org/news/2026-07-neutron-imaging-reveals-limits-storage.html Analytical Chemistry Thu, 09 Jul 2026 17:20:01 EDT news702823646 Natural rubber is widely used in tires, transport, construction, health care and industrial products because of its elasticity, resilience and durability. To improve performance, rubber manufacturers often add silica fillers and processing oils. These oils help reduce viscosity, improve processing and support filler dispersion. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-palm-oil-greener-aid-natural.html Polymers Thu, 09 Jul 2026 15:40:01 EDT news702822096 Researchers at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, have developed a new method that makes the oxidation of alcohols easier to control and more sustainable. Alcohol oxidation is important both for synthetic chemistry and sustainable energy applications. Thermal processes are usually used for this purpose; in other words, the activation energy that must be overcome for the reaction is supplied in the form of heat, and oxidation takes place using oxygen under pressure. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-sustainable-alcohol-oxidation.html Materials Science Thu, 09 Jul 2026 15:00:07 EDT news702822045 Solid-state batteries are often viewed as a promising path toward safer and more powerful energy storage. However, one key question has remained difficult to answer: How does lithium actually move inside the solid materials during charging and discharging? Unlike liquid batteries, where ions can move more freely, solid-state batteries depend on lithium passing through dense solid particles and across complex interfaces. This makes their internal behavior hard to observe and even harder to control. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-fast-irreversible-lithium-migration-solid.html Analytical Chemistry Thu, 09 Jul 2026 13:40:07 EDT news702816083 Catalysts are the hidden engines of modern manufacturing, directly involved in more than 80% of chemical processes. However, catalyst development is highly complex because performance is governed by the interplay of the catalyst, local operating conditions, reactant composition and product formation. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-high-throughput-catalysts-revealing-hidden.html Analytical Chemistry Thu, 09 Jul 2026 13:20:09 EDT news702814730 Researchers have developed a new 3D printing technique that allows the printing of whole objects while controlling the temperature of the chemical reaction to stabilize the process. Academics in the University of Nottingham's Faculty of Engineering, in collaboration with the University of California, Berkeley, have developed an enhancement for a type of 3D printing called Volumetric Additive Manufacturing (VAM), which can create whole objects in seconds to minutes. The research has been published in Nature Communications. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-technique-3d.html Polymers Thu, 09 Jul 2026 12:30:01 EDT news702815674 Oil refining is necessary for transforming raw, unusable crude oil into valuable goods like gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and petrochemical feedstocks. However, the usual distillation process is energy-intensive, spurring researchers to find better, more efficient ways of refining oil. A new study published in Science describes a potential solution to this problem in the form of a specialized membrane. So far, these membranes are proving to be a scalable and highly plausible industrial technology, and testing has shown promising results for significantly reducing the energy needs of oil processing. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-nextgeneration-membranes-refine-crude-oil.html Materials Science Thu, 09 Jul 2026 11:20:02 EDT news702814462 Cells sitting side by side in the same tissues are not identical. Each cell carries its own subtly different chemical signature—a hidden individuality that can reveal how diseases take root and spread. Now, researchers from the University of Osaka have developed a technique sensitive enough to capture this cell-by-cell diversity within tissues with unprecedented precision and stability. Their study is published in the journal Analytical Chemistry. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-probe-alzheimer-linked-lipids-cell.html Biochemistry Wed, 08 Jul 2026 21:20:02 EDT news702724793 If you're looking for hydrogen on the elemental chart, it won't take you long to find it. It is right there at the beginning, the lightest possible material. One electron, one proton—that's it. Simple, minimalistic, the Marie Kondo of the elemental chart, but with enormous potential in terms of possible technological applications. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-hydrogen-tracking-absorption.html Materials Science Wed, 08 Jul 2026 19:40:01 EDT news702737305 When engineers think about protective materials, like those used in packaging and support, they usually think about strength, stiffness and durability. But what if those same materials could also sense their external environment? https://phys.org/news/2026-07-sea-stars-materials.html Materials Science Wed, 08 Jul 2026 14:20:08 EDT news702737590 Pineapple leaf fiber has long been valued in parts of Southeast Asia for traditional uses, including basketry in Malaysia and Thailand and textile applications in the Philippines. Its high cellulose content and ready availability as an agricultural residue have also made it attractive as a reinforcement for polymer composites. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-simple-treatment-pineapple-leaf-fibers.html Polymers Wed, 08 Jul 2026 13:40:01 EDT news702724416 Hydrogels are squishy, biofriendly materials made mostly of water and a bit of polymer. The Jell-O-like substance is available in the form of medical patches, sprays and glues, and can be stuck to the skin or implanted in the body to dress wounds, affix implants, and encapsulate and release medicine over time. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-breathable-hydrogel-ecg-steady-workouts.html Materials Science Wed, 08 Jul 2026 11:00:05 EDT news702574394 Controlling light within microscopic spaces is crucial for next-generation optical devices such as photonic integrated circuits and localized sensors. Microspheres formed of luminescent π-conjugated polymers act as optical resonators that confine and amplify light via whispering gallery modes (WGMs), and they are promising candidates for microscale organic lasers and photonic applications. However, conventional microsphere resonators are geometrically isotropic and emit isotropic light, making directional control of emissions challenging. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-saturn-laser-emission-chiral-polymeric.html Polymers Tue, 07 Jul 2026 20:20:01 EDT news702638907 Computers have made it easier than ever before to design the perfect material for a given problem: Scientists can create a virtual version and simulate how that material will behave. Building these atomically precise simulations, however, typically requires deep expertise in computational chemistry. At the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, researchers have developed a kind of shortcut, streamlining scientific workflows using artificial intelligence (AI). https://phys.org/news/2026-07-ai-framework-battery-combustion-materials.html Analytical Chemistry Tue, 07 Jul 2026 16:00:01 EDT news702654727 With careful recipe and process design, non-alcoholic beer can be made more resistant to foodborne pathogens, according to a new study that provides practical guidance on pH, carbonation and hops. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-carbonation-ph-safer-alcoholic-beer.html Biochemistry Tue, 07 Jul 2026 15:00:03 EDT news702647035 Quantum states can be precisely controlled with the help of tiny carbon rings measuring only a few nanometers in size. This is made possible by a class of rarely used electromagnetic dipoles called toroidal moments. Using computer simulations, physicists at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) have now found a way to generate and control these nanostructures without any loss. The findings are published in npj Computational Materials and create new opportunities for quantum computer technology. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-tiny-carbon-enable-quantum.html Analytical Chemistry Tue, 07 Jul 2026 13:00:08 EDT news702638994 Researchers at the Nano Life Science Institute (WPI-NanoLSI) at Kanazawa University, the Institute for Molecular Science and SOKENDAI have uncovered the hidden mechanism behind a molecular switch—a molecule that can change between different structural states in response to a chemical signal. Their study, published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, reveals how molecules can gradually switch between alternative states, a process that could help scientists design future molecular machines, smart materials and molecular information technologies. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-molecules-motion-future-molecular-machines.html Materials Science Tue, 07 Jul 2026 09:40:06 EDT news702630538 The research group of Professor Kotohiro Nomura, Tokyo Metropolitan University, in cooperation with the research groups of Senior Researcher Hiroshi Hirano and Director Seiji Higashi of the Osaka Research Institute of Industrial Science and Technology, and Associate Professor Hiroki Takeshita of The University of Shiga Prefecture, has developed biobased poly(ester amide)s from inedible biorenewables that can be easily chemically recycled and exhibit better mechanical (tensile) properties in film than commodity plastics. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-biobased-polymers-excellent-tensile-properties.html Polymers Tue, 07 Jul 2026 00:00:02 EDT news702538064 RMIT University researchers have tested a more effective way to capture microplastics from wastewater, using a combination of microbubbles and nanobubbles to achieve removal rates of more than 90%. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-approach-boosts-microplastic-wastewater.html Materials Science Mon, 06 Jul 2026 11:40:05 EDT news702552140 Researchers have found an ingenious way to make soft robots and wearable technology more than three times more powerful by harnessing the surface tension of a tiny liquid metal droplet smaller than a raindrop. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-scientists-smart-supercharge-soft-robotics.html Materials Science Mon, 06 Jul 2026 10:40:05 EDT news702550645 Nitrenes are the ghosts of synthetic chemistry, formed in an instant and gone just as quickly, rearranging into something entirely different. These highly reactive intermediates are widely used in synthesis, yet remain notoriously difficult to study because they rapidly transform into more stable structures through a process called 1,2-migration. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-chemists-capture-elusive-borylnitrene-crystal.html Analytical Chemistry Mon, 06 Jul 2026 09:00:10 EDT news702543159 Water is the most abundant liquid on Earth's surface, and it is highly anomalous compared with other liquids because it expands upon freezing. The anomalies in water have been linked to how its microscopic structure changes with temperature and pressure. However, there is no systematic scheme for characterizing these structural changes. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-ai-systematic-framework-molecular-liquid.html Analytical Chemistry Mon, 06 Jul 2026 05:00:07 EDT news702287022 In the world of market competition, having the best and brightest package could send company sales into the millions. On the other hand, the amount of colored plastic waste increases, adding to the growing challenge of recycling it. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-plastic-recycling-downgrading.html Polymers Thu, 02 Jul 2026 18:30:04 EDT news702230521 Researchers at the University of Bayreuth and Forschungszentrum Jülich have demonstrated that specific light-sensitive enzymes—so-called sensor histidine kinases (SHKs)—transmit their signal through a light-controlled change in asymmetry. With their new study, the researchers contribute to a better understanding of a central mechanism of bacterial signal processing. This may help develop new tools for biomedicine or biotechnology. The findings are reported in the journal Science Advances. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-flips-bacterial-enzyme.html Biochemistry Thu, 02 Jul 2026 16:00:01 EDT news702217862 Solar cells and photocatalysts can be surprisingly inefficient. Despite light consisting of many wavelengths, the range that even highly efficient devices use is limited. Other wavelengths, especially long wavelengths, simply pass through the material without being used as energy. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-acceptor-molecule-upconverts-energy-green.html Analytical Chemistry Wed, 01 Jul 2026 16:40:02 EDT news702134701