Here’s what we’re watching in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries this week: #chemsky 🧪

Middle East chemical makers find a way around the Strait of Hormuz, and rumors of a BMS-AstraZeneca deal swirl

Here’s what we’re watching in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries this week

cen.acs.org

Plastic blood storage bags could be shedding microplastics into stored blood, and those particles may worsen the damage that red blood cells naturally accumulate during storage, according to a new study. cen.acs.org/biological-c... #chemsky 🧪

The sustainable aviation fuel start-up Lydian Labs raised $43 million in series A funding. The round was led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV) through a new investment fund backed by Oneworld, a coalition of 15 international airlines. #chemsky 🧪

Lydian raises $43 million led by SAF-focused fund

Breakthrough Energy Ventures’ new airline-backed SAF fund led the round

cen.acs.org

On Tuesday, the American Chemical Society @acs.org displayed a new brand—one that reflects the organization’s evolution, growing global impact, and vision for a world built on science. #chemsky 🧪

ACS gets a new brand

The update reflects the scientific society’s evolution and growing global impact

cen.acs.org

Rudolph A. “Rudy” Marcus, a Canadian-born US chemist whose work on electron transfer helped shape the entire field of chemistry, died on July 16 at age 102. He was a chemist at the California Institute of Technology and a Nobel laureate. #chemsky 🧪

Rudy Marcus, developer of electron transfer theory, dies at 102

Nobel laureate's discoveries in chemical kinetics advanced many fields of chemistry

cen.acs.org

The recent surge of data generation and federated learning shows that pharma companies and public institutions have high hopes for AI in drug development. But that journey is just beginning. #chemsky 🧪

Pharma learns to share as its AI demands more data

Companies aim to improve drug discovery by training AI on one another’s data and generating large, open datasets

cen.acs.org

"The challenges before us are significant, but so is the opportunity. Every chemist, regardless of discipline, career stage, or sector, has something valuable to contribute." #chemsky 🧪

Comment: Addressing global grand challenges in chemistry, a call for ACS members

Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN): Keeping you up to date with the chemistry news that matters most. Published by the American Chemical Society.

cen.acs.org

Quantum computing researchers at IBM have announced three demonstrations that they say mark quantum advantage—evidence that quantum computers can outperform classical machines in certain tasks. #chemsky 🧪

Has quantum advantage been achieved?

Has quantum advantage been achieved, and what does this mean for scientists?

cen.acs.org

There is a class of materials that, when burned, release vast amounts of heat without harmful emissions: metals. Now a burgeoning group of scientists and start-ups wants to burn iron powder for heat and electricity. cen.acs.org/energy/iron-... #chemsky 🧪

"Most of the chemists and engineers who will define the next 150 years are, right now, doing something closer to what Thomas Edison did in 1876 than what he’s remembered for." #chemsky 🧪

Comment: What 1876 Menlo Park and an invention factory as old as ACS can teach us about innovation

Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN): Keeping you up to date with the chemistry news that matters most. Published by the American Chemical Society.

cen.acs.org

The Northwest Regional meeting of the American Chemical Society has announced its meeting dates and location for 2027. The meeting will be held June 27–30, 2027, at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon. #chemsky 🧪

Save the date for the 2027 Northwest Regional meeting

The meeting will be held June 27–30, 2027

cen.acs.org

By immobilizing enzymes within a polymer cage, chemists at Bielefeld University have created a bulletproof jacket for the biocatalysts, enabling them to operate at record temperatures and efficiencies. #chemsky 🧪

Encapsulated enzymes break free of biocatalysis limits

Confining enzymes in covalent organic frameworks allows them to work at much higher temperatures

cen.acs.org

The US had 36 chemical industrial deaths over a recent 11-month period, according to the federal Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB). #chemsky 🧪

US sees unprecedented number of chemical plant fatalities in past year

The 36 deaths come amid Trump administration moves to close the US chemical safety board and roll back a key chemical safety program

cen.acs.org

Come play chemistry trivia and meet the C&EN team in person at the #ChemSocial. This event offers an opportunity to connect with C&EN editors, ask questions about our coverage, share story ideas, or simply enjoy conversation over trivia and snacks: cvent.me/dL9VYR?RefId... #ACSFall2026 #chemsky 🧪

Mechanochemistry is a method of driving chemical transformations with mechanical forces such as grinding, milling, and shearing. Read more from C&EN: cen.acs.org/policy/intel... For more on the science of mechanochemistry, check out CAS Insights from CAS: www.cas.org/resources/ca... #chemsky 🧪

On July 18 at a ceremony held in Uzbekistan, the 58th International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO) gave awards to student competitors from around the world. #chemsky 🧪

Team USA brings home gold from 58th International Chemistry Olympiad

The team was awarded 3 gold and 1 silver medal during a closing ceremony on July 18

cen.acs.org

"It’s time for regulatory agencies to wholly separate the approval process of gene therapies from other drugs." #chemsky 🧪

Editorial: Gene therapies are too special to treat like other drugs

A recent tragedy in China reminds us of important lessons for managing drug trials of gene therapies

cen.acs.org

Senate health committee approves Erica Schwartz as CDC director + Federal agencies admit to using keywords to flag grants for termination: #chemsky 🧪

Policy Watch: DOE picks 5 state contenders for nuclear lifecycle campus

A weekly roundup of policy news in the chemical arena and beyond

cen.acs.org

The atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945, created a complex alloy that has never been seen before. Researchers recently discovered the crystalline alloy within tiny glass particles collected from the beach sands of Hiroshima Bay: cen.acs.org/materials/ne... #chemsky 🧪

Almost 150 years ago, in the very first volume of the Journal of the American Chemical Society, issue 6, published in 1879, Henry Morton begins, “There is a piece of recent chemical history which has already become somewhat involved on account of the oversight of some writers.” #chemsky 🧪

Volume I of JACS came with fabric samples—to prove a point

Analytical chemists study the nearly 150-year-old dyes

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The world desperately needs new medicines to treat deadly fungal infections. According to a report from the WHO, only four antifungals were approved by the US Food and Drug Administration between 2014 and 2024. #chemsky 🧪

Enzymes open a new path to improve antifungal drugs

A biocatalytic platform could offer a scalable strategy for tailoring natural products

cen.acs.org

Abdoulaye Djimdé spent decades decoding malaria drug resistance from inside the communities where it strikes. Now, in addition to this fieldwork, he’s advising on global science policy. #chemsky 🧪

‘That is not the full story’: This malaria researcher broke with convention to get Africa better treatments

Abdoulaye Djimdé spent decades decoding malaria drug resistance from inside the communities where it strikes. Now, in addition to this fieldwork, he’s advising on global science policy

cen.acs.org

The White House on Tuesday released a new policy that prevents the federal government from funding research that intentionally makes a pathogen more dangerous in order to study it. #chemsky 🧪

White House bans agencies from funding some research on pathogens

The new policy prohibits federal support of ‘gain of function’ research of concern, in which scientists manipulate pathogens and other biological agents in order to better understand them

cen.acs.org

Chemists have a new tool that could make it safer to synthesize fluorinated pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, and materials. The transformation is a riff on the Appel reaction, which turns alcohols into alkyl halides but until now had been incapable of making alkyl fluorides. #chemsky 🧪

Appel reaction can finally fluorinate

The classic alkyl halide–making reaction can, at long last, be used to generate alkyl fluorides

cen.acs.org

A new AI-based program, dubbed Raygun, can suggest strategic cuts to a protein’s amino acid sequence to shrink the overall structure without affecting the protein’s function: cen.acs.org/physical-che... #chemsky 🧪

I wrote about a new policy on research that manipulates pathogens—potentially high risk but crucial for protecting us from deadly diseases, sources told me. Of course, the context around COVID & the Fauci hearing can't be ignored. For @cenmag.bsky.social cen.acs.org/policy/dgof-...

White House bans agencies from funding some research on pathogens

The new policy prohibits federal support of ‘gain of function’ research of concern, in which scientists manipulate pathogens and other biological agents in order to better understand them

cen.acs.org

Cuba’s energy crisis, worsened by instability in Venezuela and Iran, has hit households hard. But what about the impact on its biopharma industry, which has long punched above its weight? @cenmag.bsky.social explores an undercovered aspect of this situation. cen.acs.org/pharmaceutic...

What next for Cuba’s biopharma industry?

Amid long blackouts and dwindling supplies, research and development have become ‘very difficult’

cen.acs.org

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

Mark Thiemens is recognized for discoveries that have transformed how scientists understand the solar system and origins of life on Earth and which have strengthened capabilities for monitoring human impact on the environment. #chemsky 🧪

Mark Thiemens is awarded Magellanic Premium, the US’s oldest scientific prize

The isotope geochemist is being recognized for work that transformed scientists’ understanding of the solar system and origins of life on Earth

cen.acs.org

One way to ensure that AI continues to improve is for chemists to stay engaged in what is happening in that fast-moving area. cen.acs.org/analytical-c... #chemsky 🧪