Communications Chemistry, Published online: 23 October 2025; doi:10.1038/s42004-025-01732-7
Designing effective catalysts is a key process for optimizing catalytic reactions, however, existing generative approaches are often limited to specific reaction classes and predefined fragment categories. Here, the authors present CatDRX, a catalyst discovery framework powered by a reaction-conditioned variational autoencoder to generate potential catalysts and predict their activities, integrating optimization and validation based on reaction mechanisms and chemical knowledge.]]>Communications Chemistry, Published online: 22 October 2025; doi:10.1038/s42004-025-01709-6
Sodium-ion batteries are a commercially viable option for sustainable energy storage, but their performance at low temperatures remains underexplored. Here, the authors present a sodium-ion battery pouch cell designed for ultra-low temperatures, demonstrating its performance in laboratory conditions at -25 °C and -50 °C, in the presence of wind and snow, and in combination with a solar cell at -100 °C.]]>Communications Chemistry, Published online: 17 October 2025; doi:10.1038/s42004-025-01700-1
Aggregation-induced emission (AIE) luminogens can enhance the photonic response of luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs), but their controlled polymerization to produce macromolecular networks for LSC structures remains underexplored. Here, the authors develop a series of copolymers based on methyl methacrylate and an AIE-active monomer (tetraphenyl ethylene methacrylate) through free radical and reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization, showing that RAFT-based LSCs exhibit more consistent device performance.]]>Communications Chemistry, Published online: 17 October 2025; doi:10.1038/s42004-025-01699-5
Lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) are essential carriers for mRNA delivery, but lipid peroxide impurities in ionizable lipids can degrade into reactive aldehyde species, leading to loss of mRNA’s translation efficiency in vitro. Here, the authors underscore the importance of rigorous lipid stability and purity analysis to ensure the quality and stability of mRNA encapsulated in the LNPs.]]>Communications Chemistry, Published online: 16 October 2025; doi:10.1038/s42004-025-01696-8
Dietary fibre (DF) analysis is crucial for understanding its health benefits, yet traditional methods lack molecular detail. Here, the authors develop a 1H NMR spectroscopy method to directly analyze hydrolysed DF fractions with high recovery and fast preparation while revealing detailed structural information including monosaccharide composition, carbohydrate modifications and the degradation products.]]>Communications Chemistry, Published online: 15 October 2025; doi:10.1038/s42004-025-01695-9
Cα-tetrasubstituted amides and esters are biologically important but are typically constructed through several-step transformations. Here, the authors report the synthesis of α,ε-difunctionalized γ,δ-unsaturated amides and esters via a photocatalyzed three-component remote 1,5-difunctionalization of alkenes using a tandem CF3 radical addition/radical clock cleavage approach with Umemoto reagents.]]>Communications Chemistry, Published online: 14 October 2025; doi:10.1038/s42004-025-01693-x
Using Pd homogeneous catalysts for direct C–H arylation is an attractive approach for synthesizing natural products and organic functional materials, but limitations in terms of cost and catalyst recovery could be alleviated by alternative heterogeneous catalytic processes. Here, the authors report a Pd single-atom/cluster cocatalyst supported on non-enzymatic browning glucose for the direct coupling of inert C-H bonds with aryl iodides that breaks the activity-stability trade-off via a PdII/PdIV catalytic cycle, and demonstrate C(sp3)-H or C(sp2)-H bond activation tunability by tailoring the structure of the catalyst support.]]>Communications Chemistry, Published online: 14 October 2025; doi:10.1038/s42004-025-01677-x
Nanoparticles (NPs) hold promise for therapeutic applications, but their interactions with biological environments remain poorly understood. Here, the authors reveal that the glycosylation of the biomolecular corona, particularly sialic acid content, significantly influences NP interactions with cellular uptake processes, offering new insights into predicting NPs’ biological fate.]]>