Presenting research as a group leader means considering the range of projects one is simultaneously involved in and crafting an overarching story. Shira Joudan describes her approach and reflects on preparing and presenting a seminar.

Emulating biological transcription using artificial synthetic circuits is a key challenge in advancing systems chemistry. This Review discusses synthetic transcription circuits that are dynamically triggered to drive switchable, dissipative, oscillatory and bistable reaction models, mimicking native processes. These circuits are proposed as critical machineries for sensing and theragnostics.

Living cells rely on the choreography of multiple simultaneous functions, without clear boundaries between molecular subsystems. Replicating these capabilities in synthetic cells would represent a major advance in understanding life. This Perspective argues that this challenge requires a shift away from modular design concepts, towards a strategy that integrates the theoretical principles of systems chemistry with data-driven high-throughput experimental methods.

Lata Gautam, Michael D. Cole and Agatha Grela discuss gamma-hydroxybutyric acid, commonly known as GHB — a natural neurotransmitter and a sedative substance with euphoric effects but carrying serious risks.

The ring-opening functionalization of strained rings represents a highly valuable transformation, but existing strategies predominantly focus on ring-opening difunctionalization. Now a multisite, programmable, divergent ring-opening functionalization of strained rings via the electro-oxidation of continuous C–C bond and multiple C(sp³)–H bonds has been developed.

Metal–halide complexes are central to light emission in halide perovskites, but their bottom-up spatial arrangement is difficult to control. Now a crown-ether-assisted supramolecular strategy has been shown to enable the synthesis of one-dimensional metal–halide molecular wires with high photoluminescence efficiency and strong nonlinear optical responses.

Robust underwater adhesion to diverse hydrated and lipidic substrates remains challenging. Now it has been shown that a barnacle-inspired, dilution-resistant coacervate superspreads on such surfaces, enabling interfacial infiltration and in situ curing to achieve strong and universal underwater bonding.

Selective activation of aliphatic C–H bonds in complex polycyclic terpenoids remains a significant challenge. Now a bacterial P450 enzyme has been shown to achieve precise functionalization of inert C–H sites in pentacyclic triterpenoids, unveiling a distinctive relay-oxidation pathway mediated by 1,5-hydogen atom transfer and establishing a versatile chemo-enzymatic platform for accessing previously unexplored chemical space.

Photochargeable semiconductors offer a promising route to overcoming efficiency limits in photocatalytic transformations. Now it has been shown that zinc indium sulfide nanocrystals with a high charge storage capacity, combined with a nickel cocatalyst, enable highly selective and scalable amine dehydrogenative coupling with hydrogen evolution.

The relationship between the driving force for electron transfer in organic photovoltaic (OPV) materials and their performance has been challenging to understand. Now, it has been shown that the driving force controls the charge-transfer distance at the donor–acceptor interface, a finding that supports a model where raising the dielectric constant will be the most effective way to improve OPV efficiencies.

Presenting research as a group leader means considering the range of projects one is simultaneously involved in and crafting an overarching story. Shira Joudan describes her approach and reflects on preparing and presenting a seminar.

Lata Gautam, Michael D. Cole and Agatha Grela discuss gamma-hydroxybutyric acid, commonly known as GHB — a natural neurotransmitter and a sedative substance with euphoric effects but carrying serious risks.

Wylan Wong and Craig P. Johnston explore the enduring legacy of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide and its analogues, from their early biochemical discovery to their resurgence in anti-ageing research and synthetic chemistry.

Industry based around the generation of lime from calcium carbonate is responsible for a large proportion of anthropogenic carbon emissions — and thus has a significant impact on climate change. Bruce Gibb takes us through the chemistry of lime and considers how chemists can help in the development of alternative processes with reduced carbon emissions — with a particular focus on the generation of cement.