It's with profound sadness that I have to share that Dean Martin, a nearly charter member of the USF Chemistry department, passed away this morning. 93 Years young, Dean came to @usf.edu in 1964 and had in invaluable impact on our department and countless alumni. #chemsky

Simple bath readies lithium-metal anodes for long-range EVs Quick water-based etch of metal surface prevents growth of battery-shorting dendrites. by Prachi Patel. A row of electric cars plugged in at charging stations with trees and flowering bushes in the background. Credit: Shutterstock.

Lithium-metal anodes could double the distance that electric cars can go on a full charge. A simple wet-chemical treatment, described in a new study, advances that possibility: cen.acs.org/energy/energ...

#chemsky 🧪

Smita Mohanty named 2026 Oklahoma Chemist of the Year The OSU chemistry professor is being recognized for outstanding contributions to science including strengthening research infrastructure in the state

Smita Mohanty named 2026 Oklahoma Chemist of the Year

The OSU chemistry professor is being recognized for outstanding contributions to science including strengthening research infrastructure in the state.

#chemsky 🧪

2 people standing by a large celebration cake

Fathima, of the Brock Lab, passed her 2nd year candidacy exam and is now a PhD candidate. Fathima, we are so happy for you! Congratulations! #wsuchemistry #phdjourney #ChemSky

The mystery of a supplement’s antiviral activity is solved by searching for impurities Trace compounds, not isoquercitrin, potent against Ebola, Zika, and SARS-CoV-2 in the lab

In a natural product whodunit, researchers hunt down the true source of antiviral action hiding in a plant-derived sample of isoquercitrin. The new family of antivirals they find, dicitriosides, boasts nanomolar potency against some highly transmissible viruses.

#chemsky 🧪

Research Projects

The International Graduate School of #Battery #Chemistry at the University of Münster/DE has 15 open PhD positions covering the whole field from theory to applied materials science. This time, there are also 2 positions at the University of Twente/NL.
www.uni-muenster.de/Baccara/rese...
👩‍🔬🧪🔋 #ChemSky

Visited fellow geologists:

- The problem with a portable XRF is that it is in fact portable and it went to Spain for couple of months. Well, hello XPS!

- I have couple of minerals in my collection that our geologists do not have. I got them from food supplements…

#chemsky

Graphical abstract for a scientific article titled Layered solid Brønsted acid for dynamic interfacial pH regulation toward durable zinc anodes.

⚡ Dendrites, hydrogen evolution, unstable pH - what if the fix isn’t in the electrolyte, but at the surface itself?

This paper explores a layered solid acid coating that stabilizes zinc anodes by regulating interfacial pH and suppressing side reactions ➡️ https://rsc.li/3PSLahB #ChemSky

Mouse neurobehaviorist by day; research integrity watchdog by night Mu Yang talks about her plunge into chemistry research integrity sleuthing and her unexpected empathy for academic fraudsters

Mu Yang is happy with her gig at Columbia University, where by day she studies mouse neurobehavior. But by night, she turns into a research integrity sleuth, focusing on something entirely unrelated to her discipline: problems with images in chemistry papers.

#chemsky 🧪

Registration is now open for the AiMat Summer School "Machine Learning for Molecules" 2026, organized in Karlsruhe 14-18 September by Pascal Friederich & team. I will be one of the lecturers. Sign up, and/or share with your students, for what is sure to be an exciting week of tutorials! 💻 #chemsky

Jimmy Kimmel video with title "DOPE vs POPE"

At last the media is talking about what is really important: single or double unsaturation?

🧪 #chemsky

🎧 New podcast series!

CARB-X Executive Director Kevin Outterson and CARB-X product developers Basilea and Bugworks join Roland Pease on BBC Discovery to discuss AMR, antibiotic R&D, and market challenges. #IDSky #ChemSky

🔗 Listen here: bit.ly/47R9I0x

Very much enjoying Day 2 of #FD_Channels, the Faraday Discussion on Molecular and ion flows through Angstrom-scale channels. In the hotseat this afternoon: Susan Perkin, Oxford, Yujia Zhang, EPFL, & Ignacio Pagonabarraga, Barcelona. #ChemSky

Biologists would love to know exactly what happens inside a cell, but measuring every cellular process simultaneously is impossible. That’s why they turn to simulations, like this one, which tracks how a bacterial cell divides into two: cen.acs.org/physical-che...

#CENChemPics #chemsky 🧪

Bellerophon: An Automated Tool for PROTAC Decomposition Proteolysis-targeting chimeras (PROTACs) represent a promising modality for targeted protein degradation, yet their structural complexity complicates systematic design and analysis. Bellerophon is a new computational tool that automatically decomposes PROTACs into their warhead, linker, and E3 ligase ligand directly from molecular structure. By enabling automated and standardized decomposition of degraders, the tool facilitates drug design at different levels: Bellerophon demonstrated versatility for moiety replacement (ARV-110), large-scale annotation (PROTAC-DB) and linker analysis (IRAK4 data set). The tool is freely available through a user-friendly web interface, with open-source code to encourage transparency and collaborative development in chemical biology and medicinal chemistry.

Glad to have contributed to Bellerophon: an automated tool for PROTAC decomposition (warhead, linker, E3 ligand)

✔️ Rule-based, deterministic approach
✔️ Full atom conservation, no ML hallucinations
✔️ Useful for design, annotation & linker analysis

#PROTAC #bellerophon #chemsky

An International Laboratory Comparison Study on Approximating the Enthalpy of Adsorption via the Clausius‐Clapeyron Approach Adsorbate–adsorbent interaction is often quantified via the isosteric enthalpy of adsorption, ΔHst. Commonly, ΔHst is determined indirectly by applying the Clausius-Clapeyron (CC) equation to adsorpt...

I'm really pleased to have been involved in this interlaboratory study, now published in ChemPhysChem.

If you calculate and/or publish isosteric enthalpies of adsorption, please take a look. We found a lot of variation in determined values...

#chemsky

New study highlights how QSAR can support ecotoxicological assessment of pesticides against Ephemera vulgata.

Paper: doi.org/10.1016/j.sc...
Check AlvaDesc at: alvascience.com/alvadesc/

#QSAR #Ecotoxicology #Cheminformatics #SustainableChemistry #alvaDesc #compchem #chemsky

#descriptoroftheday #moleculardescriptors #qsar #cheminformatics #alvatips #chemsky

Narumi simple topological index has been proposed in "New topological indices for finite and infinite systems". MATCH match.pmf.kg.ac.rs/electronic_v...

Check #alvaDesc at: alvascience.com/alvadesc/

DXC's deadline for submission of abstracts ends tomorrow! Welcoming papers in all areas of X-ray analysis. Submit your abstract today at www.icdd.com/abstracts/ #chemsky

Graphic from article abstract

On the cover of this week's #JACS: "Synergetic Relay of Oxygen Transfer and Benzene-Ring-Opening Processes for Efficient Dechlorination ReactionsCl"

Read it here 🔗 buff.ly/fuFaExQ

#ChemSky

Just like fire drills and inclement weather drills, your lab should be running incident drills. Do them during lab meetings. Walk up and hand someone a card that says "there's acid on your arm". Act the whole thing out. Who assists the injured person? Who calls for outside help? #ChemSky #SciSky

An infographic titled 'The chemistry of tulips and tulip fingers' explains allergic contact dermatitis from tulips. It defines 'tulip fingers' as redness, eczema, or pustules from handling bulbs or flowers. Two chemical structures are presented: 6-tuliposide A and its breakdown product tulipalin A, which are identified as the skin-reaction triggers. Tulipalins are also stated to act as a defense against soil fungi. Below the text is a vibrant row of fresh red and yellow tulips with green leaves.

On #NationalGardeningDay, here's a look at the chemistry behind why planting the tulips which are blooming at the moment might be hard on your hands: www.compoundchem.com/2018/04/25/t... 🌷 #ChemSky 🧪

Taming distonic radical cations for precise γ-C–H functionalization of alkylamines - Nature Synthesis γ-Selective C–H functionalization of tertiary alkylamines is achieved using α-ammonio radicals generated from halomethylammonium salts. This strategy enables diverse bond formations, broad substrate s...

Now online and open access:

Article by Yota Sakakibara, Kei Murakami & co-workers

Taming distonic radical cations for precise γ-C–H functionalization of alkylamines

www.nature.com/articles/s44...
#Chemsky

Direct electrochemical sulfide oxidation to trisulfide and tetrasulfide reagents by in situ selective capturing - Nature Synthesis The authors report a strategy for the selective capture of high-purity trisulfide and tetrasulfide reagents resulting from electrochemical sulfide oxidation that enables efficient crosslinking for pol...

Now online:

Article by Ming Gong & co-workers

Direct electrochemical sulfide oxidation to trisulfide and tetrasulfide reagents by in situ selective capturing

www.nature.com/articles/s44... ($)
#Chemsky

Emerging materials for optoelectronics applications. 1-3 July 2026. The poster abstract deadline is 20 April 2026.

Working in the field of optoelectronics, data and materials science?

Submit your poster abstract by 20 April for a chance to discuss your work with peers and leading experts at our Faraday Discussion #FD_Optoelectron. Get instant feedback and explore your field: https://rsc.li/41pi1Nw #ChemSky

🎉Introducing Dr Kulbir K. Ghuman as an RSC Applied Interfaces Emerging Investigator! Read her recent paper on Facet- and graphene-support-dependent activity of Ta2O5 for oxygen evolution reaction 👉 pubs.rsc.org/en/cont...

#EmergingInvestigator #openaccess #ChemSky

🔥 New and HOT in Chemical Science!
“A novel lactam-based AIE building block for high-performance deep-blue electroluminescent materials” by Han Zhang, Zhiming Wang et al.
Read it for free here: doi.org/10.1039/D6SC...
#ChemSky #ChemSciHOT

Shimadzu's online resource hub supports your helium strategy:
📗Guide to conserving He & migrating to H₂/N₂
💻On-demand expert webinars on method translation, safety & Save It/Swap It solutions.

👉 Explore resources: cutt.ly/PtF92DHE

#HeliumShortage #SciSky #AcademicSky #ChemSky #EduSky #Edchat 🧪

A summary of aldol-like reactions, listing the most common examples found in many UG courses. There is an attempt to add some mechanisms to this, but not much. Not much in the way of explanation either. It is just a list!

A summary of aldol-like reactions, listing the most common examples found in many UG courses. It is purely a list and not very exciting. Might be a revision aid. Might not (it was a stop gap as I was too busy to put together proper summary!).

Breaking radio silence with 2x #ChemEd #Chemistry #ChemSky summaries of aldol-like rcts. These are just lists of reactions without the explanation of the last couple of summaries. One tries to include mechanisms. More a stop gap than anything else.

Hopefully, someone will find them useful. Enjoy.

Contrasting single-molecule magnet behaviour in dysprosium and terbium bis(stannolediide) complexes - Nature Chemistry Highly axial lanthanide complexes with strong magnetic anisotropy are attractive candidates for high-performance single-molecule magnets. Now dysprosium(III) and terbium(III) homoleptic bis(stannoledi...

Hey #ChemSky, here is a new read for the start of the weak: Our latest #OpenAccess publication on „Contrasting single-molecule magnet behaviour in dysprosium and terbium bis(stannolediide) complexes“ out now in @natchem.nature.com doi.org/10.1038/s415...