Volume 1 Issue 2, February 2017

Recent developments in systems chemistry have shown how the molecular building blocks of life could have arisen from plausible prebiotic feedstocks. This Perspective argues that we remain a long way from a full picture and speculates on what pieces of the puzzle are still missing.

This Review covers recent progress and current challenges in the synthesis and stabilization of elemental 2D materials — topical species with peculiar properties. The further development of preparative methodologies will help to expand the 2D materials library well beyond naturally occurring layered materials, and afford products with unique structures and functions.

The primary goal of a process chemist is to develop a commercially viable synthetic route to a known drug candidate. The approaches to a synthetic challenge are consequently very different to those used in medicinal chemistry. This Review uses case studies to highlight important considerations, and the tactics used during the design and selection of an efficient drug synthesis.

Gold surfaces decorated with organosulfur ligands are of nanotechnological importance. Despite this, gold-sulfur interactions — to which van der Waals forces contribute significantly — have only recently been studied in depth. This Review covers these and other soft-soft interactions in which van der Waals forces determine bonding outcomes.