RSC Mechanochemistry Blog

Mechanochemistry is one of the oldest areas of chemistry, but one with significant potential to contribute to a more sustainable future. In 2019 IUPAC named it as one of the ten emerging technologies in chemistry. Like every field, mechanochemistry has its own challenges and opportunities. In our ongoing Editorial series Moving Mechanochemistry Forward, we explore these challenges and opportunities to help inspire researchers and move the field forward.

“It is rare that a journal has the privilege of helping to create a new sub-branch of chemistry but, having done so, it has the obligation of helping to define the field and, optimistically, suggesting how the field might develop.”   The RSC Mechanochemistry Editorial Board

To date we have published six Editorials:

Moving mechanochemistry forward

James Batteas, Kerstin G. Blank, Evelina Colacino, Franziska Emmerling, Tomislav Friščić, James Mack, Jeffrey Moore, Maria Elena Rivas and Wilfred Tysoe

RSC Mechanochem., 2025, 2, 10-19

Shaken not stirred: procedures in mechanochemical syntheses and how to define them

James Batteas and Tomislav Friščić

RSC Mechanochem., 2025, 2, 175-177

Moving Mechanochemistry Forward: Mechanochemistry and the non-covalent bond

Adam A. L. Michalchuk and Tomislav Friščić

RSC Mechanochem., 2025, 2, 333-335

Moving mechanochemistry forward: reimagining inorganic chemistry through mechanochemistry

Felipe García, Mamoru Senna and Vladimir Šepelák

RSC Mechanochem., 2025, 2, 499-502

Moving mechanochemistry forward: programming force-induced responses into macromolecular systems

Kerstin G. Blank and Robert Göstl

RSC Mechanochem., 2025, 2, 627-630

Moving Mechanochemistry Forward: Mechanochemical Polymer Synthesis and Recycling

Jeung Gon Kim

RSC Mechanochem., 2025, Advance Article

Are you ready to contribute to the future of mechanochemistry? RSC Mechanochemistry offers you an inclusive and dedicated home for the ideas, scientific language and approaches that cut across the many disciplines mechanochemistry touches. Here we are seeking to build knowledge, as well as foster innovation and discovery at this forefront of chemistry. Whether you are seeking to understand the fundamentals of mechanochemistry, or you are excited by its applications and potential, this journal is for you. All of the content in this journal is gold open access, which means that you can read every article for free, and we are covering all publication costs until mid-2026. Find out more about the journal Read our published articles Submit your manuscript today Sign up for email alerts Follow us on social media

RSC Mechanochemistry publishes quality research in the field of mechanical forces in chemistry and the use of mechanochemistry in other disciplines. Since its launch in 2024, our Chinese authors and readers remain a core part of the journal community, and we would like to showcase the impactful research being carried out in the country.

Read our 2024 articles from China here:

Total mechano-synthesis of 2-cyclopropyl-4-(4-fluorophenyl)quinoline-3-acrylaldehyde—a pivotal intermediate of pitavastatin Jingbo Yu, Yanhua Zhang, Zehao Zheng and Weike Su RSC Mechanochem., 2024,1, 367-374
Solvent-free mechanochemical synthesis of azo dyes Lin Zhang, Qinglang Song, Yanxian Wang, Rui Chen, Yu Xia, Bin Wang, Weiwei Jin, Shaofeng Wu, Ziren Chen, Azhar Iqbal, Chenjiang Liu and Yonghong Zhang RSC Mechanochem., 2024,1, 447-451
A hybrid density functional study on the mechanochemistry of silicon carbide nanotubes Aabiskar Bhusal, Kapil Adhikari and Qian Sun RSC Mechanochem., 2024,1, 413-421
✨ Featuring work from our Editorial Board Member, Guan-Wu Wang (University of Science and Technology of China) ✨ Base-mediated trimerization of enones under solvent-free and ball-milling conditions Gang Shao, Pinhua Li, Zheng-Chun Yin, Jun-Shen Chen, Xu-Ling Xia and Guan-Wu Wang RSC Mechanochem., 2024,1, 162-166

Discover our latest research highlights from China:

Mechanochemical templated synthesis of mesoporous alumina-supported polyoxometalate catalysts toward selective oxidation of sulfides

Kang Xia, Shengtai Hou, Qiang Niu, Kosuke Suzuki and Pengfei Zhang
RSC Mechanochem., 2025,2, 394-398

Access to enzyme@porous organic framework biocomposites based on mechanochemical synthesis

Qing Chen, Zhi-Wei Li, Siming Huang, Guosheng Chen and Gangfeng Ouyang
RSC Mechanochem., 2025,2, 336-350

Mechanochemistry assisted aqueous two-phase extraction: an efficient technique to extract high-purity juglone from the bark of Juglans mandshurica

Shuang Wei, Xinbiao Zhou and Jun Xi
RSC Mechanochem., 2025,2, 680-691

Submit to RSC Mechanochemistry today! We welcome you to submit your latest research in mechanochemistry to our journal! All content in this journal is gold open access and we are covering all publication costs until mid-2026. Check out our author guidelines for information on our article types or find out more about the advantages of publishing in a Royal Society of Chemistry journal.

Keep up to date with our latest HOT articles, Reviews, Collections & more by joining our group on LinkedIn and BlueSky. You can also keep informed by signing up to our E-Alerts.

Since publishing our first articles in January 2024, RSC Mechanochemistry has continued to publish impactful research in the field of mechanical forces in chemistry and the use of mechanochemistry in other disciplines. Here we are looking back at some of the publications from our Advisory Board.

Grinding and the anisotropic environment: influences on the diastereoselective formation of Group 15 allyl complexes Lauren E. Wenger, Timothy P. Hanusa RSC Mechanochem., 2024, 1, 235-243 DOI: 10.1039/D4MR00001C
		Mechanochemical synthesis and transformation of the polymorphic double carbonates fairchildite and buetschliite, (K2Ca(CO3)2): an in situ X-ray powder diffraction study Volker Kahlenberg, Doris E. Braun, Wolfgang Schmidt, Hang Liu, Sebastian Leiting, Claudia Weidenthaler RSC Mechanochem., 2025, 2, 152-158 DOI: 10.1039/D4MR00093E
Mechanosynthesis of ruthenium trisbipyridyl complexes and application in photoredox catalysis in a ball-mill Florian Luttringer, Matthieu Lavayssiere, Enita Rastoder, Nikita Salov, Tristan Gravelet, François Quintin, Julien Pinaud, Frédéric Lamaty, Xavier Bantreil RSC Mechanochem., 2025, 2, 108-115 DOI: 10.139/D4MR00112E
		Aza-Michael addition by ball milling Leonarda Vugrin, Alen Bjelopetrović, Ivan Halasz RSC Mechanochem., 2025, 2, 184-187 DOI: 10.1039/D4MR00133H
Mechanochemical indium(0)-mediated Barbier allylation of carbonyl compounds: unexpected immiscible water additive effect for hydrophobic reagents Nuri Kim, Eun Sul Go, Jeung Gon Kim RSC Mechanochem., 2024, 1, 158-161 DOI: 10.1039/D4MR00005F
		Kinetics of primary mechanochemical covalent-bond-forming reactions Yerzhan S. Zholdassov, Ryan W. Kwok, Milan A. Shlain, Monil Patel, Mateusz Marianki, Adam B. Braunschweig RSC Mechanochem., 2024, 1, 11-32 DOI: 10.1039/D3MR00018D
Solvent influence on the mechanism of a mechanochemical metal-halide metathesis reaction Sourabh Kumar, Dillon Button-Jennings, Timothy P. Hanusa, Ashlie Martini RSC Mechanochem., 2025, Advance Article DOI: 10.1039/D4MR00136B
		Pressure as the driving force for mechanochemical reactions on the example of ion metathesis of alkali halides upon ball milling Wolfgang Schmidt, Pit Losch, Hilke Petersen, Martin Etter, Florian Baum, Jan Ternieden, Claudia Weidenthaler RSC Mechanochem., 2025, 2, 273-284 DOI: 10.1039/D4MR00104D
Conquering the impossible: mechanochemistry as a tool for tackling coordination chemistry challenges Huanxin Zhang, Nathan Davison, Erli Lu RSC Mechanochem., 2025, 2, 370-388 DOI: 10.1039/D5MR00005J
		Ball-milling for efficient synthesis of pyridine-containing iron(II) photosensitizers Enita Rastoder, Thierry Michel, Frédéric Lamaty, Xavier Bantreil RSC Mechanochem., 2024, 1, 116-122 DOI: 10.1039/D3MR00033H
Chemoselectivity switch by mechanochemistry in the base-catalysed dione-acylation Sally Nijem, Alexander Kaushansky, Svetlana Pucovski, Elisa Ivry, Evelina Colacino, Ivan Halsz, Charles Diesendruck RSC Mechanochem., 2025, 2, 419-425 DOI: 10.1039/D4MR00141A
		Synthesis of α-ketothioamides with elemental sulfur under solvent-free conditions in a mixer mill Chandan Chittapriya Sahu, Sourav Biswas, Renè Hommelsheim, Carsten Bolm RSC Mechanochem., 2024, 1, 38-42 DOI: 10.1039/D3MR00025G
Total mechano-synthesis of 2-cyclopropyl-4-(4-fluorophenyl)quinoline-3-acrylaldehyde—a pivotal intermediate of pitavastatin Jingbo Yu, Yanhua Zhang, Zehao Zheng, Weike Su RSC Mechanochem., 2024, 1, 367-374 DOI: 10.1039/D4MR000396F
		“What makes every work perfect is cooking and grinding”: the ancient roots of mechanochemistry Marianna Marchini, Giacomo Montanari, Lucia Casali, Matteo Martelli, Lucia Raggetti, Matej Baláž, Peter Baláž, Lucia Maini RSC Mechanochem., 2024, 1, 123-129 DOI: 10.1039/D3MR00035D
Reassessing mechanochemical processes in polyatomic systems for smart fabrication of nanocomposites Mamoru Senna, Adam. A.L. Michalchuk RSC Mechanochem., 2025, 2, 351-369 DOI: 10.1039/D4MR00084F

Are you ready to contribute to the future of mechanochemistry? RSC Mechanochemistry offers you an inclusive and dedicated home for the ideas, scientific language and approaches that cut across the many disciplines mechanochemistry touches. Here we are seeking to build knowledge, as well as foster innovation and discovery at this forefront of chemistry. Whether you are seeking to understand the fundamentals of mechanochemistry, or you are excited by its applications and potential, this journal is for you. All of the content in this journal is gold open access, which means that you can read every article for free, and we are covering all publication costs until mid-2026. Find out more about the journal Read our published articles Submit your manuscript today Sign up for email alerts Follow us on social media

RSC Mechanochemistry was delighted to sponsor the recent Early Career Researchers Mechanochemistry Symposium in Birmingham, UK. Organised by our Advisory Board members Debbie Crawford and Adam Michalchuk. The event featured a Dragon’s Den-style competition in which teams got to pitch their ideas to Dragons in the field of mechanochemistry.

The winning Dragon’s Den team

All Early Career Researchers and Dragons from the Dragon’s Den competition

Editor-in-Chief Tomislav Friščić talking about RSC Mechanochemistry

Since publishing our first articles in January 2024, RSC Mechanochemistry has continued to publish impactful research in the field of mechanical forces in chemistry and the use of mechanochemistry in other disciplines. Here we are looking back at some of the publications from our Editorial Board.

In situ investigation of controlled polymorphism in mechanochemistry at elevated temperature Kevin Linberg, Philipp C. Sander, Franziska Emmerling and Adam A. L. Michalchuk RSC Mechanochem., 2024, 1, 43-49 DOI: 10.1039/D3MR00019B
		In situ Raman spectroscopy for comparing ball milling and resonant acoustic mixing in organic mechanosynthesis Leonarda Vugrin, Christos Chatzigiannis, Evelina Colacino and Ivan Halasz RSC Mechanochem., 2025, Advance Article DOI: 10.1039/D5MR00016E
Polymer vessels in mechanochemical syntheses: assessing material performance Marisol Fabienne Rappen, Lars Beissel, Jonathan Geisler, Simeon Theodor Tietmeyer, Sven Grätz and Lars Borchardt RSC Mechanochem., 2024, 1, 386-392 DOI: 10.1039/D4MR000059E
		The role of the milling environment on the copper-catalysed mechanochemical synthesis of tolbutamide Kathleen Floyd, Lori Gonnet, Tomislav Friščić and James Batteas RSC Mechanochem., 2024, 1, 289-295 DOI: 10.1039/D4MR00031E
Base-mediated trimerization of enones under solvent-free and ball-milling conditions Gang Shao, Pinhua Li, Zheng-Chun Yin, Jun-Shen Chen, Xu-Ling Xiaa and Guan-Wu Wang RSC Mechanochem., 2024, 1, 162-166 DOI: 10.1039/D3MR00010A
		Mechanochemistry enabled highly efficient solvent-free deoxygenation of phosphine oxides in air Koji Kubota, Reon Hisazumi, Tamae Seoa and Hajime Ito RSC Mechanochem., 2024, 1, 250-254 DOI: 10.1039/D4MR00011K
Modeling mechanochemistry: pressure dependence of Diels–Alder cycloaddition reaction kinetics Nicholas Hopper, François Sidoroff, Juliette Cayer-Barrioz, Denis Mazuyer, Bo Chen and Wilfred T. Tysoe RSC Mechanochem., 2024, 1, 402-412 DOI: 10.1039/D4MR00063C
		Deriving kinetic insights from mechanochemically synthesized compounds using multivariate analysis (MCR-ALS) of powder X-ray diffraction data Laura Macchietti, Lucia Casali, Franziska Emmerling, Dario Braga and Fabrizia Grepioni RSC Mechanochem., 2024, 1, 106-115 DOI: 10.1039/D3MR00013C
Cyanation of aryl halides using potassium hexacyanoferrate(ii) via direct mechanocatalysis Suhmi Hwang, Phil M. Preuß, Wilm Pickhardt, Sven Grätz and Lars Borchardt RSC Mechanochem., 2024, 1, 531-535 DOI: 10.1039/D4MR00054D
		Direct arylation of gem-difluorostyrenes using in situ mechanochemically generated calcium-based heavy Grignard reagents Xihong Wang, Yamato Fukuzawa, Pan Gao, Julong Jiang, Satoshi Maeda, Koji Kubota and Hajime Ito RSC Mechanochem., 2025, 2, 256-262 DOI: 10.1039/D4MR00135D
Direct arylation of alkyl fluorides using in situ mechanochemically generated calcium-based heavy Grignard reagents Pan Gao, Julong Jiang, Yamato Fukuzawa, Satoshi Maeda, Koji Kubota and Hajime Ito RSC Mechanochem., 2024, 1, 486-491 DOI: 10.1039/D4MR00067F
		Mechanochemical synthesis of bismuth active pharmaceutical ingredients, bismuth(iii) gallate and bismuth citrate Daniel Szczerba, Jean-Louis Do, Davin Tan, Hatem M. Titi, Nicolas Geoffroy, María del Carmen Marco de Lucas, Julien Boudon, Ivan Halasz, Tomislav Friščić and Simon A. J. Kimber RSC Mechanochem., 2024, 1, 255-262 DOI: 10.1039/D4MR00008K
Mechanochemical ZIF-9 formation: in situ analysis and photocatalytic enhancement evaluation Noelia Rodríguez-Sánchez, Carsten Prinz, Ralf Bienert, Menta Ballesteros, A. Rabdel Ruiz Salvador, Biswajit Bhattacharya and Franziska Emmerling RSC Mechanochem., 2025, 2, 116-126 DOI: 10.1039/D4MR00114A
		Solvent-free zinc-mediated Béchamp reduction using mechanochemistry Koji Kubota, Asahi Nagaoa and Hajime Ito RSC Mechanochem., 2025, Advance Article DOI: 10.1039/D4MR00138A
Efficient racemization of the pharmaceutical compound Levetiracetam using solvent-free mechanochemistry Chrystal Lopes, Lucia Casali, Franziska Emmerling, Tom Leyssens, Valérie Dupray, Clement Brandel and Yohann Cartigny RSC Mechanochem., 2025, 2, 83-90 DOI: 10.1039/D4MR00103F
		Scaling theory for the kinetics of mechanochemical reactions with convective flow Tetsuya Yamamoto, Koji Kubota, Yu Harabuchia and Hajime Ito RSC Mechanochem., 2025, 2, 230-239 DOI: 10.1039/D4MR00091A

Are you ready to contribute to the future of mechanochemistry? RSC Mechanochemistry offers you an inclusive and dedicated home for the ideas, scientific language and approaches that cut across the many disciplines mechanochemistry touches. Here we are seeking to build knowledge, as well as foster innovation and discovery at this forefront of chemistry. Whether you are seeking to understand the fundamentals of mechanochemistry, or you are excited by its applications and potential, this journal is for you. All of the content in this journal is gold open access, which means that you can read every article for free, and we are covering all publication costs until mid-2026. Find out more about the journal Read our published articles Submit your manuscript today Sign up for email alerts Follow us on social media

We asked you about your favourite RSC Mechanochemistry journal cover and you did not let us down.

Our winning cover comes from Shunsuke Tanaka’s group at Kansai University and belongs to their paper titled “Wash-free” synthesis of cyclodextrin metal–organic frameworks.

Read the publication behind the cover here.

Thanks to everyone who voted!

One year ago, RSC Mechanochemistry published its very first issue. In this first year, we’ve seen some stunning cover images on our issues. As we celebrate the one-year anniversary of our first issue, we welcome you to vote for your favourite cover image.

Vote for your favourite cover here

In situ investigation of controlled polymorphism in mechanochemistry at elevated temperature	Halogen-bonded cocrystals via resonant acoustic mixing	Visualization of mechanochemical polymer-chain scission in double-network elastomers using a radical-transfer-type fluorescent molecular probe
Kevin Linberg, Philipp C. Sander, Franziska Emmerling and Adam A. L. Michalchuk	Alireza Nari, Jeffrey S. Ovens and David L. Bryce	Takumi Yamamoto, Akira Takahashi and Hideyuki Otsuka
RSC Mechanochem., 2024,1, 43-49	RSC Mechanochem., 2024,1, 50-62	RSC Mechanochem., 2024,1, 63-68
Base-mediated trimerization of enones under solvent-free and ball-milling conditions	“Wash-free” synthesis of cyclodextrin metal–organic frameworks	Unprecedented linear products by a mechanochemically activated Biginelli reaction using lawsone
Gang Shao, Pinhua Li, Zheng-Chun Yin, Jun-Shen Chen, Xu-Ling Xia and Guan-Wu Wang	Shuhei Fujita, Kazunori Kadota, Atsushi Koike, Hiromasa Uchiyama, Yuichi Tozuka and Shunsuke Tanaka	Christina L. Koumpoura, Laure Vendier, Christian Bijani, Anne Robert, Philippe Carbonnière, Jean-Marc Sotiropoulos and Michel Baltas
RSC Mechanochem., 2024,1, 162-166	RSC Mechanochem., 2024,1, 153-157	RSC Mechanochem., 2024,1, 167-175
Mechanochemical synthesis of Zn-bionanohybrids: size effect at the nanoscale to improve their enzyme-like activity	Mechanochemical synthesis of β-cyclodextrin urea derivatives under reactive CO2 atmosphere by Staudinger aza-Wittig reaction	Elucidating tribochemical reaction mechanisms: insights into tribofilm formation from hydrocarbon adsorbates coupled with tribochemical substrate wear
Carla Garcia-Sanz, Laura Guijarro, Mirosława Pawlyta and Jose M. Palomo	Sawssen Nasri, Maxime Lestoquoy, Anne Ponchel, Eric Monflier and Stéphane Menuel	Yu-Sheng Li, Fakhrul H. Bhuiyan, Jongcheol Lee, Ashlie Martini and Seong H. Kim
RSC Mechanochem., 2024,1, 219-227	RSC Mechanochem., 2024,1, 228-234	RSC Mechanochem., 2024,1, 328-341
Solvent-free mechanochemical synthesis of azo dyes	Exploring polymorphism, stoichiometric diversity and simultaneous existence of salt and cocrystal during cocrystallization using mechanochemistry
Lin Zhang, Qinglang Song, Yanxian Wang, Rui Chen, Yu Xia, Bin Wang, Weiwei Jin, Shaofeng Wu, Ziren Chen, Azhar Iqbal, Chenjiang Liu and Yonghong Zhang	Diptajyoti Gogoi, Kalyan J. Kalita, Nishant Biswakarma, Mihails Arhangelskis, Ramesh Ch Deka and Ranjit Thakuria
RSC Mechanochem., 2024,1, 447-451	RSC Mechanochem., 2024,1, 452-464

Welcome to the 2024 HOT article round up!

This is our first full year for the 2024 RSC Mechanochemistry HOT Article Collection to showcase all of the articles selected by our reviewers and handling editors as HOT in 2024.

We hope you enjoy reading and as always, all of our articles are open access so you can easily share your favourites online and with your colleagues.

Explore the full collection!

Visualization of mechanochemical polymer-chain scission in double-network elastomers using a radical-transfer-type fluorescent molecular probe
Takumi Yamamoto, Akira Takahashi and Hideyuki Otsuka
RSC Mechanochem., 2024,1, 63-68
DOI: 10.1039/D3MR00016H

Ball-milling for efficient synthesis of pyridine-containing iron(ii) photosensitizers
Enita Rastoder, Thierry Michel, Frédéric Lamaty  and Xavier Bantreil
RSC Mechanochem., 2024,1, 116-122
DOI: 10.1039/D3MR00033H

Mechanically induced self-propagating reactions (MSRs) to instantly prepare binary metal chalcogenides: assessing the influence of particle size, bulk modulus, reagents melting temperature difference and thermodynamic constants on the ignition time
Matej Baláž, Róbert Džunda, Radovan Bureš, Tibor Sopčák and Tamás Csanádi
RSC Mechanochem., 2024,1, 94-105
DOI: 10.1039/D3MR00001J

Mechanochemical synthesis of zinc-doped hydroxyapatite for tunable micronutrient release 
Mohamed Ammar, Ricardo Bortoletto-Santos, Caue Ribeiro, Lihua Zhang and Jonas Baltrusaitis
RSC Mechanochem., 2024,1, 263-278
DOI: 10.1039/D3MR00012E

Revealing the mechanism of reductive, mechanochemical Li recycling from LiFePO4
David Geiß, Oleksandr Dolotko, Sylvio Indris, Christian Neemann, Andrei Bologa, Thomas Bergfeldt, Michael Knapp and Helmut Ehrenberg
RSC Mechanochem., 2024,1, 349-360
DOI: 10.1039/D4MR00014E

Total mechano-synthesis of 2-cyclopropyl-4-(4-fluorophenyl)quinoline-3-acrylaldehyde—a pivotal intermediate of pitavastatin
Jingbo Yu, Yanhua Zhang, Zehao Zheng and Weike Su
RSC Mechanochem., 2024,1, 367-374
DOI: 10.1039/D4MR00036F

Rapid and efficient mechanosynthesis of alkali and alkaline earth molybdates 
Andres Lara-Contreras, Patrick Julien, Jennifer Scott and Emily C. Corcoran
RSC Mechanochem., 2024,1, 477-485
DOI: 10.1039/D4MR00042K

Submit to RSC Mechanochemistry today! Check out our author guidelines for information on our article types or find out more about the advantages of publishing in a Royal Society of Chemistry journal.

Keep up to date with our latest HOT articles, Reviews, Collections & more by joining our group on LinkedIn. You can also keep informed by signing up to our E-Alerts.