Propylene methoxycarbonylation offers an atom-economical route to synthesize butyrate esters, yet its mechanism and regioselectivity remain underexplored. Here, the authors investigate the structure–performance relationship of Pd-based catalysts with various monophosphine and bisphosphine ligands, revealing that electronic and steric effects enhance catalytic activity and regioselectivity.

Cellulose fibrils are a renewable and biodegradable resource, but their extraction typically requires complete destruction of the original wooden matrix. Here, the authors combine partial delignification with localized surface modification using 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate ([Bmim][OAc]) to achieve controlled fibril release while maintaining the original orientation and structural framework of the surrounding native wood structure.

While the stability of nitrogen clathrate hydrates at moderate pressures is well established, the behavior of the water-nitrogen system at higher pressures, relevant for the deep interiors of large icy moons and water-rich exoplanets, remains underexplored. Here, the authors use neutron diffraction, Raman spectroscopy and crystal structure prediction to map the high-pressure phase diagram of nitrogen hydrate up to 16 GPa at room temperature, reporting a sequence of structural transformations from sI/sII clathrates to hexagonal and tetragonal phases and orthorhombic filled-ice structures above 1.8 GPa.

Designing drug-like molecules that satisfy both property requirements and structural constraints is a persistent challenge. Here, the authors introduce BiSP-GP, a bidirectional structure-property generative pretraining framework that unifies molecular generation and property prediction through shared autoregressive sequence modeling, enabling joint learning and bidirectional optimization of structure-property relationships, thereby enhancing controllable molecular generation while supporting molecular property prediction and candidate drug optimization tasks.

Friedel-Crafts alkylation reactions are generally accepted to proceed via an electrophilic aromatic substitution mechanism, but alternative pathways remain underexplored. Here, the authors demonstrate that zeolite MCM-22 catalyzes the alkylation of thiophene with styrene through a non-conventional mechanism, highlighting the role of protonated thiophene and offering insights for designing more efficient catalytic processes.

The transition of bacterial phytochromes from the red-absorbing Pr state to the far-red-absorbing Pfr state may proceed through the formation of a Pr/Pfr heterodimer, as revealed by a recent single-particle cryo-EM study of a phytochrome from the myxobacterium Stigmatella aurantiaca. By illuminating this protein immediately before vitrification, the authors captured the Pr/Pfr heterodimer intermediate on a millisecond timescale and observed a large rotation of the C-terminal histidine kinase domain, a conformational change that is likely to regulate light-induced signal transduction.

Chemistry programmes worldwide are experiencing declining student enrolment, reflecting shifting career perceptions and competition from emerging fields. This Comment outlines how the discipline is evolving into an integrative field that combines molecular science with data science, automation, and systems thinking, thereby necessitating an evolution of both research practices and educational structures.

Professor Nicola Gaston is the Director of the MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, a New Zealand Centre of Research Excellence, and a Professor in Physics at the University of Auckland, where her research group conducts quantum-mechanical simulations of the electronic and thermodynamic behaviour of nanoscale materials.

Mechanoradicals are known to be sources of damage during polymer processing, and it remains challenging to stabilize, repair or utilize them. Recently, mechanoradicals formed during chain scission were intercepted directly by bis(butyl trithiocarbonate) in the solid state, redirecting the degradation pathways to repolymerization (repair) and complete depolymerization (recovery).

We are pleased to present our Editors’ Highlights Collection, featuring some of our favourite content published in Communications Chemistry in 2025. Here, we highlight why each paper was selected by our Editors and Editorial Board Members.

Mental health should be a priority for all and especially for underrepresented groups, including the women in chemistry. Here, the authors discuss and propose supportive mechanisms within academia for the mental health of undergraduate women in chemistry.

Dr Laura Cattaneo is a group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg, Germany. She has an interdisciplinary research background in chemical physics, connecting materials science, liquid crystals, and ultrafast processes in matter.