Sarah Rainford, Deputy Editor – Chemical Science Blog

Author Archive

Chemical Science Reviewer Spotlight – December 2021

16 Dec 2021

To further thank and recognise the support from our excellent reviewer community, we are highlighting reviewers who have provided exceptional support to the journal over the past year.

This month, we’ll be highlighting Tarun Panda, Sofia Pauleta, Anmin Zheng and Natalia Shustova. We asked our reviewers a few questions about what they enjoy about reviewing, and their thoughts on how to provide a useful review.

Tarun Panda, IIT Hyderabad, India. Tarun’s research interests include the development of well-defined earth-abundant and environmentally benign metal complexes using non-cyclopentadienyl-based ligands and their utilization as homogeneous catalysts in various organic transformations under ambient reaction conditions.

Sofia Pauleta, Nova University Lisbon, Portugal. Sofia’s research focuses on the characterisation of molecular systems involved in responses to microbial stress to metals and hydrogen peroxide, and on the application of spectroscopic techniques for the characterisation of (metallo)enzymes.

Anmin Zheng, Chinese Academy of Science, China. Anmin’s research focuses on studying the structure and reaction mechanisms of solid acid catalysts by means of experimental solid-state NMR and theoretical quantum chemical calculations.

Natalia Shustova, University of South Carolina, USA. Natalia’s research focuses on the design, photophysics, and electronic properties of hybrid materials including metal- and covalent-organic frameworks for their utilisation in catalysis, logic-gate development, nuclear waste sequestration and separation, and optoelectronics.

What encouraged you to review for Chemical Science?

Anmin Zheng: Chemical Science has a great reputation in the chemical and physical sciences, and publishes leading edge papers with a deep and novel understanding of chemical transformation processes and reaction mechanisms. During the review process, I really enjoy learning about these new discoveries across a broad range of multidisciplinary research.

Natalia Shustova: The emergent research topics, high-quality publication material, constructive communication with the Associate Editors, and the transparency of the reviewing process to the scientific community.

What do you enjoy most about reviewing?

Sofia Pauleta: Reading high quality research first-hand and being able to provide a critical analysis of research work to authors. It can be seen as a scientific discussion. Peer review is essential in order to validate the high impact science that is being considered.

Tarun Panda: By reviewing a manuscript, I mostly enjoy learning about how contemporary researchers work with novel ideas that have the potential to shape future developments in the chemical sciences. It’s a great feeling when reading a manuscript ahead of it being published.

Do you have any advice to our readers seeking publication in Chemical Science on what makes a good paper?

Natalia Shustova: I believe that a concise and informative abstract is the first “gate” which should be open for efficient presentation of the publication for a general audience. As a second important component, I would highlight the inclusion of illustrative material that can tell a story even without a detailed textual description of the presented content.

Anmin Zheng: In addition to innovative, eye-catching images, in-depth analysis and precise expressions are also very important for the acceptance of a manuscript.

What has been your biggest learning point from reviewing?

Tarun Panda: I always find an opportunity to improve my skills while reviewing a manuscript, learning not to make similar mistakes. Furthermore, it gives me a flavor of the advanced level of research that is being conducted around the globe.

What are you looking for in a paper that you can recommend for acceptance in Chemical Science?

Sofia Pauleta: Outstanding research, coherent and complementary data, and novelty in the research performed (in the subject and methodology used).

Tune in next month to meet our next group of #ChemSciReviewers!

If you want to learn more about how we support our reviewers, check out our Reviewer Hub.

Interested in joining our ever-growing reviewer community? Send us your CV and a completed Reviewer Application Form to becomeareviewer@rsc.org.

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Associate Editor highlight – interview with Professor Tanja Junkers

18 Nov 2021

Professor Tanja Junkers is a polymer chemist. Her research group work to control and manipulate the structure of polymers in any possible way with the aim to create sophisticated materials that can mimic materials made by Nature. Tanja’s group now also explore machine learning and how this can be utilised to advance chemistry and chemical synthesis itself.

What excites you most about your area of research and what has been the most exciting moment of your career so far?

If I think about what brings me joy in my work, it is actually the small things, like when an experiment actually confirms that my predictions were right, or – not so small – when one of my PhD students graduates successfully. That makes me proud! It’s all these little moments that make my research worthwhile.

What do you feel has been the most important development with your area of research since your publication in Chemical Science in 2015?

There are so many! It’s hard to pick a favourite, but I would probably say that within my very specific area of research, an important development is that we now have the ability to control the shape of the molecular weight distribution of a polymer. This is something that has just emerged in the last few years, and it provides so many new possibilities. It is a whole new dimension that’s opening up at the moment, and it is an important thing for us to be able to do as chemists if we want to bridge the synthetic gap between the materials that we can develop in the lab and those that nature creates. It has a tremendous influence, so I’m really excited about this development.

Why do you feel that researchers should choose to publish their work in Chemical Science?

Chemical Science is the flagship chemistry journal of the Royal Society of Chemistry, which I see as being in the same league as Angew or JACS. Whenever I talk to colleagues and they ask me, would you choose Journal of the American Chemical Science or would you choose Chemical Science, I always point them to the fact that Chemical Science is Diamond Open Access!

The Diamond Open Access service that Chemical Science offers is what makes the real difference. I feel very strongly about open access. As scientists, our research should not be exclusive. The majority is funded by taxpayer’s money. I therefore feel that it is our duty to make our research openly available to all, including non-scientists who may not completely understand what we are doing but should have the opportunity to read it. It is also our duty to make our content as accessible to a general reader as possible.

Of course, I know that you can’t change the system overnight. You must work with what is currently available, and I do feel that the community is headed in the right direction. Long-term, I believe that we must find a way to publish Open Access as standard.

What are you most looking forward to when acting as Associate Editor for the journal?

I see this as a great opportunity to gain experience myself. I’ve learnt a lot during my time with Polymer Chemistry and I’m pretty sure I’m going to learn even more at Chemical Science. As it is a general chemistry journal, rather than a focused polymer journal, I will need to carry out my own research on new ideas and topics in the literature that I wouldn’t have needed to research before.

Mostly I’m looking forward to seeing some really cool science!

What impact do you feel your area of research can make over the next 10 years?

This is where I think that machine learning and the whole concept of digitisation will really have an impact. Currently, the utilisation of machine learning in my area of research is not widespread, but it is becoming more commonplace. I’m an advocate for the incorporation of machine learning. Chemists, on the whole, are very traditional, and chemistry is basically still carried out the same as it was 150 years ago. I think that’s about to change. We are finally going to see digitisation of the chemical sciences, and that will change the way we do chemistry fundamentally.

For Chemical Science, it is important that we have an open and inclusive board. How do you feel we are advancing in this area?

Progress is being made! Though I sometimes wonder if people define inclusivity in the right way. People usually think mostly about race and gender equity, which, of course, is very, very important, but I think we also need to think about other aspects of inclusivity.

One thing that I often think about is the dominance of the Western world in science, which is of course connected to money. If you go to a smaller university in a poorer country, researchers based there can’t always carry out the most impactful chemistry because they don’t have the financial means to, or they don’t have access to the right information. This makes it difficult to promote inclusivity, because it is harder for these institutes and researchers to compete with others from larger institutes with greater funding. These researchers have incredible ideas and are incredible scientists, but don’t always have the means to carry out what we in the ‘developed’ world deem cutting edge research. This is something that we must work on and acknowledge more.

I also think that this a question that should really be answered by the more stereotypical chemist in higher positions. We will only reach our diversity and inclusion targets if those who are in these higher positions are on board and advocate for increased diversity and inclusivity. It’s easy for those from a minority background to say that things should be more integrated. For example, I can say that of course trans people should be much more visible because I have a personal interest in that, but it’s a totally different thing if a person who is not personally affected actually makes the call for more inclusion and diversity. Therefore, I think this question should really be directed to people who belong to the traditional majority.

On a good note, this is why I like the Royal Society of Chemistry. I know that, as an organisation, the Royal Society of Chemistry is really trying to promote inclusion and diversity. Of course everyone knows that women, for example, have less opportunities in the chemical sciences, but actually publishing a study [through the gender bias report] which the community can refer to and which highlights the statistics is really, really important.

Submit to Chemical Science 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.

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Associate Editor highlight – interview with Professor Graeme Day

12 Oct 2021

Professor Graeme Day joined the Chemical Science Editorial Board in 2021. To celebrate this occasion, we met virtually with Graeme to discuss his area of research and how he hopes to see his field progress in the next 10 years.

Graeme’s research focuses on the development of computational approaches for predicting the structures and properties of materials, focussing mainly on organic molecular crystals and their applications in a range of areas from pharmaceuticals to organic electronics. Graeme’s research group have also started to explore the use of machine learning methods for exploring chemical space to find new molecules with exceptional properties.

What excites you most about your area of research and what has been the most exciting moment of your career so far?

Being able to predict the structure of a new material computationally, with the structure then going on to be found experimentally, is very exciting. Going back about 20 years, this is not something that was thought to be possible! The idea that I have seen the crystal structure of a molecule, possibly before that molecule has ever been synthesised, is pretty cool. I feel lucky that we can collaborate and combine our computational work with the experimental work from other groups to uncover new materials. It’s exciting to think about all of the possibilities of these kinds of structure and property prediction methods.

With regards to the most exciting moment of my career, it is difficult to pinpoint one moment. However, in 2004, I was able to take part in my first blind crystal structure prediction test as an independent researcher. This was exciting! Being the only entrant to correctly predict one of the targets gave me a lot of confidence that I had valuable ideas and methods to bring to the field. The field has moved forward dramatically since 2004, but we still use some of the methods that I was working on back then.

What has been the most challenging moment of your career so far?

It’s probably the supervision of a research group that I have found the most challenging, but also very rewarding. Within a few years, I went from carrying out a lot of the research on my own, to receiving an ERC grant and being able to recruit a group of ten or so researchers. I had a very short period of time to learn how to make that transition and accept that I would spend more time discussing results, with less time doing hands-on research. Thankfully, I’ve had the opportunity to work with lots of great people and I hope that they have enjoyed their time in my research group.

Which of your Chemical Science publications are you most proud of and why?

That’s a tough one. Looking back, I’m quite proud of the range of work that we have published in Chemical Science, from fundamental questions about crystal packing, prediction of co-crystallisation, and machine learning applications for structure prediction. I really liked our 2014 contribution, which investigated the conformational preferences of molecules in their crystal structures. This work has important implications for crystal structure prediction.

However, it’s probably our 2020 paper that I’m most proud of because it demonstrates an approach to materials discovery that has been a vision of mine for quite a few years: combining chemical space exploration to identify new molecules with crystal structure prediction to evaluate their likely solid state properties.

What do you feel has been the most important development with your area of research since your first publication in Chemical Science in 2011?

The most important thing has been the increasing trust that people put in computational methods for studying materials. Even just a decade ago, there was a lot of scepticism surrounding methods like crystal structure prediction. This has changed, partly because of the improved methods that are now available, but also due to better communication of the limitations and uncertainties in computational predictions.

What do you hope to be able to contribute to the community through your new role as Associate Editor?

I have tried to keep up a broad level of knowledge of computational chemistry methods and their applications and I hope that I can use this to make informed and fair decisions on what to publish in Chemical Science. I’m really excited to see what people submit because there’s so much interesting work going on.

Why do you feel that researchers should choose to publish their work in Chemical Science?

I feel that I’m joining an editorial board that has done a great job in attracting the highest quality work and building a strong reputation for this flagship journal of the RSC. This means that people read Chemical Science when looking for exciting work. That’s important for researchers: knowing that you’re publishing your best work in a journal where it will be picked up quickly by the community. I think that this is particularly true in the area of computational chemistry, machine learning and AI applications in chemistry. The journal has been a great place for work in these areas that are of broad interest. The journal being Diamond Open Access is, of course, also a great thing. Researchers can make their work freely available without needing to find the budget to pay open access fees.

How do you see your field progressing in the next 10 years?

One big area will be the increasing integration of computational methods with experiments, where automation and robotics will play a big role. I’m looking forward to seeing more experiments where ideas are seeded by computational modelling and machine learning. I also hope that we see some artificial boundaries fall away, particularly between theoretical and experimental chemists. Of course, we need specialisation, but I want to see more people working across that boundary.

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Associate Editor highlight – interview with Professor Hemamala Karunadasa

23 Sep 2021

Professor Hemamala Karunadasa joined the Chemical Science Editorial Board in 2021. In 2020, the year of Chemical Science‘s 10th anniversary, we met virtually with Hemamala to discuss her research. In celebration of Hemamala joining the Editorial Board, we have taken the opportunity to revisit this interview.

Hemamala’s research focuses on the preparation of solid-state materials using the tools of solution-state chemistry. Through careful design, Hemamala and her group prepare new materials that can be utilised for clean energy applications.

Where do you look to for inspiration for your research?

Making connections between different areas in chemistry is something that I really enjoy and serves as a source of inspiration. Recently, we’ve been making connections between families of materials that historically are considered to be different, but actually show important overlap in properties. Layered double perovskites and layered transition metal dichalcogenides belong to two very different families but they both show very intriguing band gap changes when the 3D lattice is thinned to a monolayer, something that was demonstrated in one of our recent Chemical Science papers.

I like where we are in our research now because we have some understanding of how to design the materials that we want, with the properties that we desire. We are no longer completely in the dark.

What has been the most exciting moment of your career so far?

When I was a student, I was fooling around in the lab trying to figure out if a molecule that I had synthesised was a good electrocatalyst. I thought it would be cool to use a mercury electrode, but I didn’t have one – so I made it myself. It was awful, a complete hack job! I tried the catalysis and the solution turned white. I thought the experiment had failed but then I looked more carefully and the whole container was full of bubbles. It was forming hydrogen! I thought something must be wrong, so I stayed in the lab all night to do every control I could think of, but then I realised that it was actually the catalyst working and it was such an exciting moment.

What has been the most challenging moment of your career so far?

Nothing that I have faced as a professor has been as challenging as making the initial decision to become a professor. It seems so overwhelming and difficult, and the thought of starting a lab from scratch is incredibly daunting. I found that thinking about it was scarier than actually doing it – taking things a step at a time until the group builds a momentum of its own. I think this is important for young researchers to hear.

The reason that I had a certain amount of self-confidence to try to become a professor was that even as a student, I was independent. I was very lucky to have some wonderful teachers and advisors, who allowed me to stumble and figure things out for myself. So I thought I could do that again, as a professor. Grad school taught me to be comfortable in the dark.

Which Chemical Science publication are you most proud of and why?

I truly am very proud of all of them. We spend so much time on our papers that by the time a paper is finalised, it is our prize. I think that some of our most important papers have been in Chemical Science. I have been really happy with the way our papers have been received and reviewed.

What do you feel has been the most important development with your area of research since your first publication in Chemical Science in 2015?

My 2015 paper was a collaboration with Michael McGehee. I think this remains the coolest phenomenon that I have seen in 3D halide perovskites. Basically, you can make these halide perovskites with a mixture of halides, like bromides and iodides, which are fully mixed in the lattice. When you shine light on it, the bromides and iodides appear to segregate, which alone is not particularly noteworthy because many materials decompose with light. What was really shocking was that in the dark they go back. The reversibility was so strange. This paper made a huge impact in the field, because it was the first evidence that these solar absorbers are ionic conductors. Due to all of the previous success in this field, we already knew these systems were good photoconductors, but it turns out that they are actually mixed electronic-ionic conductors.

Following on from this work, many groups worldwide have studied this phenomenon, and some beautiful work has been published in trying to understand this strange phenomenon. A number of unusual effects in halide perovskites start to make sense when you realise the high degree of halide mobility in these lattices.

One of your articles was chosen as our “Pick of the Week” back in 2019, and an infographic was prepared to describe the work. Did you find this to be a useful process?

Download infographic

The quality and presentation of the graphic was outstanding. I continue to use it in any way that I can. It is a better figure than we could have made.

It was great to have this paper highlighted. We spent a lot of time trying to make this paper broadly accessible. But we were worried that no one would want to read it, being based on group theory, which almost everyone remembers learning as an undergraduate student but don’t necessarily want to spend more time reading! Through the graphic, the key points were distilled down, which really helped to show readers what you can get out of the paper. I have actually received emails from faculty members saying that they use it in their classes, which makes me very happy. I think it really helped to highlight the basic message. It’s a very powerful technique that helps us really understand our materials.

Overall, I think that Chemical Science is very receptive to fundamental advances in the field. The perovskite field is very application focused. We have sometimes had a hard time publishing our papers that are more fundamental even when it sets the stage for later technological advances. Chemical Science has been very receptive to these papers. Your editors are very knowledgeable in this area.

Browse a selection of Hemamala’s work below:

Dimensional reduction of the small-bandgap double perovskite Cs₂AgTlBr₆
Bridget A. Connor, Raisa-Ioana Biega, Linn Leppert and Hemamala I. Karunadasa
Chem. Sci., 2020, 11, 7708-7715
DOI: 10.1039/D0SC01580F, Edge Article

A pencil-and-paper method for elucidating halide double perovskite band structures
Adam H. Slavney, Bridget A. Connor, Linn Leppert and Hemamala I. Karunadasa
Chem. Sci., 2019, 10, 11041-11053
DOI: 10.1039/C9SC03219C, Edge Article

Tuning the bandgap of Cs₂AgBiBr₆ through dilute tin alloying
Kurt P. Lindquist, Stephanie A. Mack, Adam H. Slavney, Linn Leppert, Aryeh Gold-Parker, Jonathan F. Stebbins, Alberto Salleo, Michael F. Toney, Jeffrey B. Neaton and Hemamala I. Karunadasa
Chem. Sci., 2019, 10, 10620-10628
DOI: 10.1039/C9SC02581B, Edge Article

Structural origins of broadband emission from layered Pb–Br hybrid perovskites
Matthew D. Smith, Adam Jaffe, Emma R. Dohner, Aaron M. Lindenberg and Hemamala I. Karunadasa
Chem. Sci., 2017, 8, 4497-4504
DOI: 10.1039/C7SC01590A, Edge Article

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Associate Editor highlight – interview with Professor Subi George

04 Jun 2021

Professor Subi George joined the Chemical Science Editorial Board in 2020. To celebrate this occasion, we met virtually with Subi to discuss his research highlights and what attracted him to join the Chemical Science team.

Subi’s research focuses on the synthesis of small molecules and the study of molecular self-assembly processes. His group use supramolecular approaches to develop bioinspired and adaptive materials, including dynamic supramolecular polymers and optoelectronic materials.

What would you say is your biggest motivation?

I would say my interactions with passionate and creative young researchers. This interaction motivates and encourages me. I am also highly motivated when we are able to come up with new discoveries and are able to publish our exciting findings in high impact journals. As scientists, we are lucky – we never stop learning, and we have the academic freedom of trying new things every day. This provides new opportunities to bring about change and explore solutions to a whole range of problems. These are my biggest motivations to push forward with my research.

What has been the most challenging moment of your career so far?

I would say that I have two moments, one in my earlier career and one later. The point when I decided to pursue chemistry as a career was quite a challenging moment. In India, this kind of decision previously attracted a lot of criticism, because it was believed that there were no job opportunities if you decided to pursue science as a career. Medicine and engineering were always seen as being more promising careers. It was therefore difficult at times to convince my family that a career in chemistry was a good decision. Luckily, I did have support from my close family, so that was a real blessing.

Secondly, I feel that it can be quite challenging when you develop your own independent group. It can be quite difficult to establish and differentiate yourself, and to ensure that you create a strong, internationally recognised group.

In your area of research, what do you feel has been the most revolutionary piece of work within the past 5 years?

The particular class of materials that we have been working on are based on supramolecular polymers, which are dynamic systems. This field has been active over the past two decades, from which we have gained a high level of mechanistic understanding. Over the past five years, significant progress has been made and elegant design strategies have been developed, which have allowed a high level of structural control. We have also witnessed a push in the limit of self-assembly from equilibrium to being out of equilibrium, towards the preparation of biomimetic, adaptive materials. We have been working in this particular field. We recognised that synergy between structural and temporal control would be the most suitable way to prepare biomimetic materials, so we came up with a strategy called bioinspired temporal supramolecular polymerisation. Overall, the past 5 years have therefore seen an increase in our understanding of these systems, and in tools and strategies to assist in the preparation of optimised biomimetic supramolecular polymers.

It’s been over a year since the outbreak of the global pandemic. What changes have you witnessed in the local researcher community? Do you think there are any new challenges or opportunities for chemistry researchers from this ongoing pandemic?

The pandemic has hit every sector, and the scientific community has not been spared. We were required to switch to working online for group meetings and teaching, which was quite difficult. The pandemic has also resulted in a lack of exposure for students, who haven’t been able to attend things such as international conferences, and for those in their final years who were hoping to seek research opportunities abroad. Again, this is such an important experience, so it has definitely been challenging for the community and made it even more important to keep up the motivation of my students.

Looking to the brighter side of things, the pandemic has forced us to slow down and take a step back. We have had the time to consult the literature and to carefully plan what we would like to achieve in the future. The pandemic has therefore definitely provided opportunities.

This is also an important time where the public is looking to the scientific community with a lot of expectations. Many researchers in India have worked to contribute towards COVID-related research to combat the disease, including breakthroughs in diagnostic tools, vaccines, or even the development of PPE equipment. It has given us the chance to think about our responsibilities and what our commitment is to society.

Which of your Chemical Science publications are you most proud of and why?

I would have to say that I love them all. We always ensure that we publish unique and high-quality research. However, if I had to pick one piece, it would be a contribution from 2017. This demonstrated chemically-fuelled temporal switching of an amphillic self-assembly system. We introduced the use of redox fuels for the preparation of these materials that are away from equilibrium. This is a concept that people are starting to utilise.

Chemical Science is the flagship journal of the Royal Society of Chemistry. What aspects of the journal do you feel contribute to us being the flagship?

Chemical Science is a place where you can publish high quality, high impact, multidisciplinary chemistry. It is one of the few high impact science journals that is diamond open access, meaning that content in the journal is free to read and free to publish. This is incredibly important for the whole research community, but especially for researchers in India because it is not always possible to pay the high article processing charges that are charged by other high impact journals. This is very unique, and contributes to Chemical Science being the flagship. In India, unlike places in Europe, we don’t have a dedicated budget or grants that can be used for open access publications. This is going to be a big challenge for India as we move towards an open publishing platform. At this time, if a journal is not diamond open access, or does not have significant waiver policies, researchers in India will struggle to publish in journals with high article-processing charges.

Another highlight of Chemical Science is the Edge Article format that researchers can use when publishing their primary research. This was so unique when it was introduced. Communication-style articles can be too restrictive, so the Edge Article format helps researchers to be able to communicate their research in as much or as little detail as is required, and allows for a much smoother reading process than having lots of information that has to be put in the supplementary information section. The Edge Article format allows science to be discussed in depth.

What attracted you to join the Editorial Board for Chemical Science?

I feel that I can help to popularise Chemical Science in India, and help to promote the journal to our authors there. Being an Associate Editor of a high-impact journal like Chemical Science provides the opportunity to learn about lots of different research areas first-hand, and I am able to learn more about the latest developments in science through this role, which is great. I’m very happy to be on the board, and to help to contribute to the growth of the journal to continue to make it one of the most exciting and high impact chemistry journals.

How do you see your field progressing in the next 10 years?

Research on supramolecular polymers shows a lot of promise I feel. Given the previous work in this field, we are in a position to access a higher level of complex structures and address further challenges that are still faced when preparing these systems. I think we’ll start to be able to produce more complex, self-organised systems. I am confident that we will be able to make much-enhanced adaptive and multicomponent biomimetic systems in this area soon.

In celebration of joining the Chemical Science team, Subi has highlighted a selection of important contributions from the past few years, with a focus on recent trends in supramolecular polymers, dissipative systems and organic materials. The collection can be viewed here.

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Associate Editor highlight – interview with Professor Jinlong Gong

11 May 2021

In 2021, Chemical Science was delighted to welcome Professor Jinlong Gong as an Associate Editor, handling manuscripts within the area of heterogenous catalysis. To celebrate this occasion, we met virtually with Jinlong to discuss his research and to discuss the kind of manuscripts that he is looking forward to handling for the journal.

Jinlong’s research focuses on understanding the catalytic processes occurring during alkane dehydrogenation and CO₂ hydrogenation by developing advanced catalytic materials, as well as optimised industrial processes.

What excites you most about your area of research and what has been the most exciting moment of your career so far?

The major motivation of my research is to provide constructive solutions for a sustainable society, particularly associated with the chemical industry. For example, propane dehydrogenation is a traditional chemical process which has been under development over the past 60-80 years. Our research therefore focuses on trying to develop new catalytic processes to reduce the energy consumption with enhanced catalytic performance. Another example is about the utilisation of CO₂ with sustainable energy to produce renewable fuels and help reduce emissions. President Xi Jinping has announced that China’s aim is to achieve a carbon neutral society by 2060. Actually, my work on photocatalytic reduction of CO₂ follows such a direction. The big challenge in this area is to improve the efficiency, which is currently still low.

Some of the most exciting moments of my career have been when former students of mine have been recruited into faculty positions at top universities. It is always a pleasure to see young researchers grow up independently and then go on to do amazing things! Another exciting moment for me was when we were able to find new oxide materials that displayed very high efficiency for propane dehydrogenation. We believe that this is going to be the next generation of catalysts for this process.

What has been the most challenging moment of your career so far?

It is always challenging to navigate research into a scientifically critical direction at the right time, rather than staying in a comfortable zone. Transitioning the direction of your research into a new but important area tends be exhausting, especially at the start. On the other hand, the potential reward can be more exciting. Sometimes, it is also challenging to convince funders to support an unrevealed but potentially important research direction, which can be a common issue for most scientists.

You have published over 10 papers with Chemical Science since your first publication with us in 2015. Of these papers, which one do you feel has made the most significant contribution to your area of research and why?

One of the pieces that I like the most is a paper that we published in 2019 – hydroxyl-mediated ethanol selectivity of CO₂ hydrogenation. In this paper, we developed a catalyst based on Rh, where we simply added some Fe and Li metals as promoters. One interesting thing we found was that, with various oxide supports, we can tune the surface coverage of hydroxyl groups bound on Rh-based catalysts, which has a very important correlation with ethanol selectivity for CO₂ hydrogenation. I believe that this story will provide researchers with a deeper understanding of the formation mechanism of ethanol on this kind of catalyst, particularly in understanding the C-C coupling mechanism for this reaction, which is very important if we want to have a high C₂ selectivity.

It’s been over a year after China’s first lockdown started. What changes have you witnessed in the Chinese researcher community? Do you think there are any new challenges or opportunities for chemistry researchers from this ongoing global pandemic?

This is a very good question! Last spring, early in the pandemic, many online seminars were arranged by researchers from all over the world and involved various publishers, which was great for scientific communication. In terms of academic activities, I noticed that there weren’t any big delays in the publication process, which again was great. Since last fall, the situation in China has become much better, with most academic meetings now being able to take place on-site.

One noticeable opportunity from the overall research strategy in China is the focus on health. Funding agencies will now put even more emphasis on bio-relevant research. I think there will be a big boom in this area in China in the next few decades. Globally, I believe we will see lots of joint projects taking place between research groups that work in chemical engineering, chemistry, materials and medicine, which will promote multidisciplinary collaboration.

Why do you feel that researchers should choose to publish their work in Chemical Science?

Chemical Science, as flagship journal of the Royal Society of Chemistry, has a prestigious reputation in the chemistry and physical science community. Chemical Science publishes cutting-edge papers that provide deep and novel understanding of the chemistry of important reactions. Multidisciplinary research, including radical physical chemistry, is also welcome. For example, AI methods used to screen candidate materials or analyse chemical reactions can be attractive. This kind of research, in turn, will reward the scientific community. Chemical Science, as an open-access journal, provides a highly fair publishing platform, and the Editorial Office is also very efficient – manuscripts are turned around in a very timely manner. It is one of best journals publishing chemical research.

What attracted you to join the Editorial Board of Chemical Science?

I have served on the Advisory Board for Chemical Science since 2013, and I am also a regular referee for the journal. Now, I feel that I am very fortunate to have the opportunity to handle submissions to Chemical Science, particularly in the area of heterogeneous catalysis. Chemical Science has a high-profile impact on the scientific community, which provides me with the opportunity to handle exciting scientific research, communicate with diverse groups of scientists, and most importantly, serve the research community. Together with the warm editorial team, we can provide authors with a professional publication experience.

It is important for Chemical Science to have an open and inclusive Editorial Board. Do you feel that we are achieving this goal?

I received a lot of warm greetings when May introduced me to the other members of the Editorial Board. Looking at the profiles of our members in the editorial team, we have great diversity among the board, including Associate Editors from all over the world, with expertise spanning across the chemical sciences. So far, I think we are achieving the goal. They are all renowned scientists.

What impact do you feel that your area of research can make over the next 10 years?

First of all, I would like to highlight the impact that I feel light alkane dehydrogenation can make in the next 10 years. This is a major industrial process to produce ethylene/propylene, which are building blocks for preparing polymers. The development of new technology as well as catalytic materials will further decrease the energy consumption during this process, and also increase the catalytic efficiency overall. This can help to ensure a better and greener industrial process in the future.

My second area of research focuses on the photocatalytic reduction of CO₂. It’s very important for us to transform from a fossil fuel society into a renewable energy society. Energy conversion and storage technologies will play critical roles in this area. In the next 10-20 years, I think this type of research will definitely have more impact. There has already been a lot of investment into the research as well as infrastructure to support this initiative, so I hope that this goal will be able to be realised.

Keep up to date with our latest articles, reviews, collections & more by following us on Twitter. You can also keep informed by signing up to our E-Alerts.

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Associate Editor highlight – interview with Professor Ning Jiao

04 Mar 2021

In 2021, Chemical Science was delighted to welcome Professor Ning Jiao as an Associate Editor, handling manuscripts within the area of organic synthesis. To celebrate this occasion, we met virtually with Ning to discuss his area of research and what he hopes to achieve through his new role with the journal.

Ning’s research focuses on new methodology development in synthetic chemistry. His group mainly focus on heteroatom incorporation reactions, such as oxygenation, nitrogenation and halogenation reactions towards the synthesis and discovery of functional molecules.

What excites you most about your area of research and what has been the most exciting moment of your career so far?

In contrast to well-developed C-C bond forming reactions, selective C-C bond cleavage is still one of the biggest challenges in organic chemistry, and is highly attractive because it can bring innovative solutions to a number of different applications including coal liquefaction, petroleum cracking, polymer degradation, and biomass conversion.

One of the most exciting moments of my career was when we were able to achieve inert C-C bond activation. Following on from this, we have developed some novel C-C bond functionalisation reactions over the past 10 years through selective inert C-C, C=C and C≡C bond cleavage. We have successfully incorporated nitrogen and/or oxygen atoms into a variety of starting materials, even very simple hydrocarbons, producing some interesting value added nitrogen- or oxygen-containing compounds. I therefore really like this area of research.

What has been the most challenging moment of your career so far?

The most challenging moments for me have been when the results we obtain are not necessarily the same as what we expected, which has happened at various times throughout my research career. The challenge is that you must be able to clearly explain what happened for this new chemistry. It can be incredibly challenging to fully understand and prove new mechanisms, because sometimes you aren’t always able to isolate the active intermediate so therefore can’t always monitor the real reaction process. I have been really challenged by mechanistic studies in my career, but I have learnt to look for answers in detailed studies of the by-products and in the in-situ detection of intermediates. I’ve also learnt to verify the answers obtained through the design of new reactions.

What is your favourite reaction and why?

My favourite reactions are those which are easily operated under mild and environmentally friendly conditions, and can turn waste into value materials. In my opinion, if somebody can use carbon dioxide as the oxygen source for the preparation of oxygen-containing compounds, with the release of carbon monoxide as a by-product that can then be used as an energy source, then this would be one of my favourite ideal reactions that I would like to realise.

Which of your Chemical Science publications are you most proud of and why?

I definitely love every paper that we have published in Chemical Science, and I am especially proud of our publications over the last two years. These have provided contributions to the area of C-C bond functionalization reactions, in which we have achieved the incorporation of oxygen and nitrogen atoms into molecules through C-C and C=C bond cleavage, respectively, for the preparation of tertiary amines and cyclic imides. The one that I am most proud of will be our next publication in Chemical Science!

Chemical Science was delighted to welcome you to the Editorial Board in 2021. What are you most looking forward to when acting as Associate Editor for the journal?

Thank you! It was my great pleasure to take on this new role. We know that Chemical Science is one of the top multidisciplinary chemistry journals, being the flagship journal of the Royal Society of Chemistry. It is also one of the few top journals that is fully open access with all articles being free to read, and free to publish. This is very attractive and gives the journal very strong vitality. As an Associate Editor, I’m so delighted to be able to contribute to the journal with the rest of the Editorial Board members to help to continue to make Chemical Science the most progressive, exciting and impactful leading chemistry journal. I also hope to serve all authors and readers as well as I can with optimal publication times.

One other aspect of the role that I am highly excited about is having the opportunity to learn and read the latest research first hand, and to learn more about the various contributions and novel ideas that come out from the organic community.

What goal would you set for yourself over the next 10 years?

I have several goals for my research. I first hope that we can realise the direct transformation of carbon dioxide as an oxygen source in oxygenation reactions. I would also like to realise direct catalytic nitrogen-containing compound synthesis, using nitrogen gas as the nitrogen source under mild conditions. Overall, my biggest goal is to apply our methods for the efficient synthesis and discovery of drugs and other functional molecules, and to make contributions to the development of green and sustainable chemistry.

In celebration of joining the Chemical Science team, Ning has highlighted a selection of important organic chemistry contributions from the past few years. The collection can be viewed here.

Keep up to date with our latest articles, reviews, collections & more by following us on Twitter. You can also keep informed by signing up to our E-Alerts.

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Chemical biology symposium 2019

31 May 2019

The Chemical biology symposium 2019 was recently held at Burlington House in London, UK on 20th May. Chemical Science and Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry were proud to support the meeting, and Chemical Science Senior Editor James Moore attended to meet with delegates and represent the Royal Society of Chemistry.

The symposium showcased the state of the art in chemical biology, bringing together the wider community with leading national and international experts in the field. The programme explored all aspects of chemical biology and highlighted the wider scope and impact of the field.

Chemical Science were proud to present Tiffany Chan from Imperial College London with the poster prize for her poster on ‘Targeted delivery of metal complexes across the blood-brain barrier for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease’.

Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry were proud to present Sophie Newgas from King’s College London with the runner up poster prize for her poster on ‘Understanding the role of nitric oxide synthase in biosynthetic nitration’.

Congratulations to them both!

Tiffany Chan

Sophie Newgas

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17th Symposium on Host-Guest and Supramolecular Chemistry

31 May 2019

The 17^th Symposium on Host-Guest and Supramolecular Chemistry was held in Kanazawa, Japan, on 18^th and 19^th of May, chaired by Professor Shigehisa Akine of Kanazawa University. Professor Tatsuya Nabeshima of the University of Tsukuba and president of the Association of Research for Host-Guest and Supramolecular Chemistry was also in attendance, as was Hiromitsu Urakami on behalf of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

The Chemical Science poster prize was awarded to Mr. Akihiro Kanamori of Kanazawa University for his poster on the ‘Synthesis of Salicylideneimine-Based Cryptophane Derivatives through Chiral Self-sorting and Their Guest Recognition Behavior’.

The Chemical Communications poster prize was awarded to Mr. Lingyun Hu of the University of Tokyo for his poster on the ‘Construction of Metal-responsive DNAzymes by Incorporating CuII-mediated Imidazole-4-carboxylate Base Pairing’.

The Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry poster prize was awarded to Mr. Sota Yonemura of the University of Tsukuba for his poster on the ‘Formation of Chiral Single Isomer by Metal Complexation of a β-Cyclodextrin Derivatives introduced Seven Bipyridyl Groups and Origomer Complex of the Isomer’.

Congratulations to Akihiro, Lingyun & Sota!

(From left) Hiromitsu Urakami, Tatsuya Nabeshima, Akihiro Kanamori (ChemSci poster winner), Shigehisa Akine

Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry poster winner Sota Yonemura

(From left) Hiro Urakami, Tatsuya Nabeshima, Lingyun Hu (ChemComm poster winner), Shigehisa Akine

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CPE Annual Symposium 2019

17 May 2019

The Centre for Plastic Electronics is hosting its prestigious annual symposium on 10 and 11 June 2019. It will take place at Imperial College London and and will include talks from several high-profile speakers to discuss their latest advances in the science and technology of organic conducting materials and of organic/flexible electronics and photonics. The program includes a day of short talks and poster presentations by students and early career scientists giving them a platform to highlight their recent work.

More information and details of how to register is available at: http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/newsandeventspggrp/imperialcollege/centres/plasticelectronics/eventssummary/event_20-2-2019-14-14-7. Abstracts submissions for poster presentations are open until the 31 May.

Imperial College London are delighted to host Prof Erwin Reisner of the University of Cambridge who will be giving his RSC Corday-Morgan Prize talk for his work on the development of solar-driven catalysis with molecularly engineered semiconductors and semi-artificial photosynthesis.

The symposium will cover all areas related to organic/plastic electronics and photonics, including chemistry, physics, materials science and device engineering. Confirmed speakers include:

Christine Luscombe, University of Washington
Andy Cooper, University of Liverpool
Iain McCulloch, KAUST and Imperial College London
Erwin Reisner, University of Cambridge
Kwanghee Lee, GIST, South Korea
Henry Yan, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Ji-Seon Kim, Imperial College London
Artem Bakulin, Imperial College London
Maria Ibáñez, Institute of Science and Technology, Austria
Rachel Evans, University of Cambridge
Oliver Dumele, Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany
Hyejeong Seong, Imperial College London
Rowena Brugge, Imperial College London
Ludmilla Steier, Imperial College London
Jess Wade, Imperial College London
Alex Clark, Imperial College London

With more speakers being confirmed in the coming weeks, this will be an event not to miss!

If you cannot attend the Symposium next month, you can follow the hashtag #CPESymp19 on Twitter.

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Chemical Science Blog

Author Archive

Chemical Science Reviewer Spotlight – December 2021

Associate Editor highlight – interview with Professor Tanja Junkers

Associate Editor highlight – interview with Professor Graeme Day

Associate Editor highlight – interview with Professor Hemamala Karunadasa

Associate Editor highlight – interview with Professor Subi George

Associate Editor highlight – interview with Professor Jinlong Gong

Associate Editor highlight – interview with Professor Ning Jiao

Chemical biology symposium 2019

17th Symposium on Host-Guest and Supramolecular Chemistry

CPE Annual Symposium 2019

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