TIL the University of Chicago has a Botany Pond It's a shame there isn't a Chemistry Pond, you could have a big open reactor, some stir bars within, whiteboards explaining the chemistry and some condensers recirculating solvent
Bri Barbu
@bribarbu.bsky.social
science reporter @ Chemical & Engineering News | please talk to me about carbon-based molecules | she/her | views mine | @bribarbu.95 on signal
How do you like this Appel? That's my latest rejected headline about new work in which the @gouverneurgroup.bsky.social riffs on the classic Appel reaction to make alkyl fluorides. Read about it in @cenmag.bsky.social #chemsky🧪 cen.acs.org/synthesis/fl...
Appel reaction can finally fluorinate
The classic alkyl halide–making reaction can, at long last, be used to generate alkyl fluorides
cen.acs.org
Chemistry is key to the success of current and future space missions: cen.acs.org/physical-che... #chemsky 🧪
It should not be a radical position to say that tomatoes are berries (botanically speaking, if not culturally, they are more berry than stawberries and raspberries). And also that they can lowkey rock in sweet contexts.
Overheard at C&EN@censays.bsky.social · 2w agoShould we talk about the great tomato berry controversy
This is just to say I have consumed the ligand that was in the glovebox and which you were probably saving for scale-up Forgive me it didn't even work so scarce and so back-ordered
In a chemistry version of whipping up a delicious dinner from pantry staples, researchers in Korea have found a recipe for forging amide bonds using inexpensive chemicals stocked in nearly any organic laboratory: dichloromethane (DCM) and a basic salt. #chemsky 🧪
Dichloromethane was an amide coupling reagent this whole time
Chemists make simple amides using only inexpensive lab chemicals
cen.acs.org
Left: Venus, 1 March 1982 Centre: Titan, 14 January 2005 Right: Boston, 15 July 2026
DCM has been here the whole time...but will its newfound amide-coupling abilities be a game changer? Yet another new thing from me @cenmag.bsky.social : cen.acs.org/synthesis/re...
Dichloromethane was an amide coupling reagent this whole time
Chemists make simple amides using only inexpensive lab chemicals
cen.acs.org
Selectively giving an electron to the more reluctant of two possible acceptors is hard. Researchers go around this by indiscriminately reducing both so that reversibility controls the reaction selectivity instead: cen.acs.org/synthesis/re...
Flipping photoredox selectivity with indiscriminate electron transfer
Mechanistic hack enables chemists to couple molecules that have mismatched reduction potentials
cen.acs.org
Setting up a permanent lunar base means thoughtfully considering the life cycle of all materials we send there. Researchers are investigating several different strategies to make a long-term human presence on the moon (or Mars!) sustainable: #chemsky 🧪
Reduce, reuse, regolith: Why sustainability matters for a moon base
Reducing, reusing, and recycling materials will be essential for long-term extraterrestrial living
cen.acs.org
🚀Space package launch is a go!🚀 @cenmag.bsky.social's physical sciences team has been working hard on this for over half a year and I'm so excited to finally show it to the world! cen.acs.org/physical-che...
To the moon, Mars, and beyond
Chemistry is key to the success of current and future space missions
cen.acs.org
Regardless of your overall feelings about the US's semiquincentennial this past weekend, I am here to tell you that the (nonpartisan) America250 time capsule is genuinely very cool. Engineered by NIST, curated by the Library of Congress, buried in Philly. Read more: cen.acs.org/analytical-c...
Can a qubit survive being buried for 250 years?
The chemistry and engineering inside a time capsule built for America's birthday
cen.acs.org
@bethanyhalford.bsky.social followed 3 students' grad school application journeys for @cenmag.bsky.social and...yikes, it's brutal out there. cen.acs.org/education/gr...
US chemistry graduate programs scale back
Faced with uncertainty in federal funding and rising costs, chemistry departments are taking fewer students
cen.acs.org
I heard that there's a special place /with clouds of salt particles 57 light-years away... 🩷pink planet club🩷By @fmorningstar.bsky.social cen.acs.org/physical-che...
Scientists peek into the Pink Planet’s atmosphere
They find clouds of salt particles and a diversity of gaseous molecules
cen.acs.org
What's going on with the water in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool? The situation is---well, murky--and many mysteries still remain. @theanageorgescu.bsky.social dauntlessly emailed a bunch of algae experts in search of a smidge of clarity:
Why the Reflecting Pool keeps turning green
Nitrogen, phosphorus, sunlight, and stagnant water can combine to create the perfect conditions for algal blooms
cen.acs.org
A new dataset of over 50,000 C-N couplings may bring organic chemistry closer to its "AlphaFold moment"...and away from palladium catalysis! Latest from me @cenmag.bsky.social: cen.acs.org/synthesis/ca...
Chemists ran 50,688 reactions to make a huge open dataset
The data will help train AI to predict C–N coupling conditions using cheaper catalysts
cen.acs.org
"Chemists are trained to focus on outcomes that are immediate and measurable: yields, efficiencies, innovations. But neekokaabijigan [generational thinking] invites a different kind of accounting. It asks us to consider what our work carries forward and what it repeats."
C&EN (Chemical & Engineering News)@cenmag.bsky.social · 2mo agoWhat generational and Indigenous thinking can bring to green chemistry: In this column, 3 researchers discuss the value of their collaborations developing a new method of accounting for sustainability. cen.acs.org/environment/... #chemsky 🧪
The #WorldCup starts this week. Check out Prachi Patel's feature on the evolution of the football for @cenmag.bsky.social. It's a real kick! cen.acs.org/materials/ho...
How soccer ball materials have evolved
All eyes will be <i>on</i> the ball during the FIFA World Cup, but let’s take a peek at the science and engineering that go into footballs
cen.acs.org
Carbon isn't the only element worth paying attention to in CO2! The molecule also has two oxygen atoms. Researchers in Germany came up with a strategy to pop oxygen off of CO2 and transfer it to double bonds in organic molecules. Read more in @cenmag.bsky.social: cen.acs.org/environment/...
Carbon dioxide can selectively oxidize alkenes
Iron catalyst plucks oxygen from the molecule at room temperature
cen.acs.org
Sally Ride became the first woman in space at age 32. Meanwhile my big accomplishment today was taking out the trash.
Your periodic reminder that plastic recycling is mostly fake and made up by corporations to make consumers feel like they have a sustainable choice where none exists!
C&EN (Chemical & Engineering News)@cenmag.bsky.social · 2mo agoWhy Starbucks’ cups are so hard to recycle Greenwashing covers up the broken recycling system in the US, nonprofit investigation shows. cen.acs.org/environment/... #chemsky 🧪
🚨Weird molecule alert!🚨 Putting oxonium and alcohol groups into the same molecule should be a recipe for self-destruction. Researchers at UC Davis found a way to get them to coexist peacefully with the help of clever 3D geometry and hydrogen bonding. cen.acs.org/synthesis/sy...
This molecule lives on the brink of self-destruction
Chemists coax strong electrophile to coexist peacefully with nucleophilic groups
cen.acs.org
Adrian Figg, an Assistant Professor at @virginiatech.bsky.social @vtchemdept.bsky.social and one of C&EN's 2026 Talented Twelve, is constructing polymers to bridge with proteins: cen.acs.org/materials/po... #CENT12 #chemsky 🧪
C&EN (Chemical & Engineering News)@cenmag.bsky.social · 3mo agoWe're teasing T12 recipients in the lead up to our Talented 12 issue. Let us know if you can guess the T12-er based on their responses and stay tuned for the full Talented 12 feature publishing soon! #CENT12 What's your favorite book, movie, or TV show?
Inside you are two wolves. One says “I want everyone to read my story.” The other says “oh God everyone is reading my story” and also that wolf is vomiting.
Working on @cenmag.bsky.social's Talented 12 package was the highlight of my spring! And now it's online for the world to see and discover all of these amazing early-career scientists!
C&EN (Chemical & Engineering News)@cenmag.bsky.social · 3mo agoThey’re here! Introducing the Talented 12 Class for 2026. These early-career scientists are taking on big global #chemistry challenges. Meet the 2026 Class: cen.acs.org/people/profi... #CENT12 #chemsky 🧪
Canvas falling to a cyberattack hit different instructors differently depending on the class size, school size, academic calendar, course format, and many other factors. But chemists are used to creative problem solving! cen.acs.org/education/un...
Chemical & Engineering News
Chemical & Engineering News is a weekly news magazine published by the American Chemical Society, providing professional and technical news and analysis in the fields of chemistry and chemical enginee...
cen.acs.org
How has the Canvas outage affected your chemistry classes? We'd like to hear from you if you're a student, professor or TA for a story in @cenmag.bsky.social .Please DM or email edit.cen@acs.org. #chemsky #science
ICYMI: There are a multitude of ways to contact me with news tips, all listed on my staff page: cen.acs.org/staffDirecto...
Bri Barbu@bribarbu.bsky.social · 3mo agoHi #chemsky were you affected by the Canvas outage? We at @cenmag.bsky.social would love to hear from you for a potential story! My DMs are open!
Hi #chemsky were you affected by the Canvas outage? We at @cenmag.bsky.social would love to hear from you for a potential story! My DMs are open!
Biobased, biodegradable PHA plastics have attracted attention and investment. Researchers chemically tweaked them to improve properties, at the cost of scalability. Now they've come up with a scalable synthesis that also makes the polymers more recyclable and tunable! cen.acs.org/materials/po...
Chemical & Engineering News
Chemical & Engineering News is a weekly news magazine published by the American Chemical Society, providing professional and technical news and analysis in the fields of chemistry and chemical enginee...
cen.acs.org