Can Amylin Weight-Loss Drugs Compete in a World of GLP-1s?
GLP‑1 drugs have dominated obesity and diabetes treatment, but side effects and muscle loss are prompting a search for alternatives. Amylin analogs—long‑acting peptides that mimic the hormone amylin—are re‑emerging, with Novo Nordisk’s CagriSema, Lilly’s eloralintide, Roche’s petrelintide and others showing promising weight‑loss and muscle‑preservation data. Recent head‑to‑head trials revealed CagriSema achieved a 23% body‑weight reduction, close to tirzepatide’s 25.5%, while offering better tolerability. The global weight‑loss drug market is projected to reach $150 billion by 2035, intensifying competition among incumbents and newcomers.
A ‘Molecular Fence’ Helps Turn Carbon Dioxide Into Fuel
Researchers in China have introduced a “molecular fence” that confines reaction intermediates on an electrocatalytic surface, dramatically improving the conversion of carbon dioxide to ethylene. The fence, built from benzo‑2,1,3‑thiadiazole molecules, achieves 64% selectivity toward ethylene while suppressing hydrogen side‑reactions....
Be on Your Best Behavior
Behavioral‑based interviewing asks candidates to recount specific past actions to predict future performance. The article outlines how interviewers recognize these questions, interpret their intent, and expect answers framed with the STAR method. It advises job seekers to customize stories, practice...
Contrails Form Even when Airplanes Produce Less Soot
A German Aerospace Center study found that contrails still form even when aircraft engines cut soot emissions by a thousand‑fold using lean‑burn technology. The research identified liquid sulfate aerosols and tiny engine‑oil droplets as alternative ice‑nucleating particles. While the new...
Uncovered: Turning Nuclear Waste Into Glass
The Hanford Site’s new vitrification plant, which went online in October 2025, is converting the complex, low‑level nuclear waste stored in 177 underground tanks into stable glass logs. By mixing waste with glass‑forming frit and melting it, the process immobilizes radionuclides,...
Letters to the Editor on Courtroom Computers and Thermal Batteries
Two letters to the editor revisit historic and technical debates. One recounts the first use of a Texas Instruments Silent Series 700 computer in a 1970s EPA courtroom, highlighting its luggable design and rapid data retrieval via thermal‑paper terminals. The other...
Blood Proteins Can Help Build Conductive Polymers in the Brain
Researchers at Purdue University discovered that iron-containing blood proteins can catalyze the in‑vivo polymerization of n‑doped poly(benzodifurandione) (n‑PBDF), forming conductive polymer meshes around neurons in mice. The method replaces copper salts with naturally abundant hemoglobin and myoglobin, eliminating toxicity concerns...
New Opioid Painkiller Has Surprisingly Few Side Effects
Scientists have identified a new opioid, N-desethyl‑fluornitrazene (DFNZ), derived from the long‑abandoned nitazene class, that delivers strong pain relief in rodents without causing respiratory depression or high addiction potential. The molecule acts as a μ‑opioid‑receptor superagonist yet exits the brain...
Editorial: Facts Are in Crisis. What Are We Going to Do?
The editorial warns that facts are in crisis as generative‑AI tools enable the fabrication of scientific data and journalism faces a surge of fraudulent sources. Expensive, high‑tech research makes independent replication difficult, while trusted data repositories are disappearing. Publishers are...
Atom Swapping Arrives for 5-Membered Cyclic Ethers
Researchers at the National University of Singapore have unveiled a skeletal‑editing method that replaces the oxygen atom in five‑membered saturated cyclic ethers with nitrogen, sulfur, carbon or selenium. The protocol uses triphenylphosphine and N‑bromosuccinimide to generate a dibromo intermediate, which...
EPA Wants to Let Plastic Incinerators Skirt Clean Air Act
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has proposed removing plastic‑pyrolysis facilities from the Clean Air Act’s incinerator definition, effectively stripping them of federal emission controls. The change is tucked inside a natural‑disaster permitting rule, prompting criticism that it was hidden from...
Public Health Experts Call for Stricter Glyphosate Regulation
A coalition of 17 public‑health researchers and advocates from North America and Europe issued a joint statement calling for stricter regulation of glyphosate after a University of Washington symposium. They cite compelling evidence linking the herbicide to cancer, particularly non‑Hodgkin...
Cluster Catalyst Turns Carbon Dioxide Into Methanol at Low Heat
Researchers at Stanford and Stony Brook unveiled a platinum‑molybdenum cluster catalyst embedded in a zirconium‑based MOF that converts CO₂ to methanol at 180 °C, far below the 250 °C typical of industrial processes. The uniform single‑atom Pt sites deliver higher per‑pass yields...
Lessons From a Nobel Laureate’s Keynote, ‘Organic Chemistry and AI for Our Planet’
Nobel laureate Omar Yaghi delivered the inaugural ACS 150th keynote at the Spring 2026 meeting, emphasizing the synergy between organic chemistry, metal‑organic frameworks and artificial intelligence. He highlighted how undergraduate risk‑taking sparked the creation of covalent organic frameworks (COFs) and how mentorship...
A ‘Doomsday Vault’ of Microbes Could Save Species—Including Us
The Microbiota Vault Initiative (MVI), launched in 2023 at the University of Zurich, aims to preserve global microbial diversity by storing fecal, fermented‑food, soil, water and air samples. Its pilot phase collected 1,200 stool and 190 fermented‑food specimens from seven...
Glyphosate Could Be Boosting Spread of Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria
Researchers in Buenos Aires discovered that multidrug‑resistant bacteria from Argentine hospitals are also highly resistant to glyphosate, a widely used herbicide. Comparative testing showed similar resistance in environmental strains from the glyphosate‑free Paraná Delta, suggesting a genetic link via efflux‑pump...
Surprisingly Simple, Sustainable Lithium Extraction
Researchers at Princeton unveiled two low‑impact lithium extraction techniques that could dramatically accelerate supply growth. The porous‑string method uses capillary‑wicking cotton fibers to concentrate lithium chloride up to 6% in a process up to twenty times faster than conventional evaporation,...
New Drug Candidates Debut in Atlanta
At the ACS Spring 2026 meeting in Atlanta, the Medicinal Chemistry division unveiled six new drug candidates transitioning from discovery to clinical testing. The molecules, presented by researchers from Biohaven, Bristol Myers Squibb, Regor Therapeutics, Olema Oncology, FoRx Therapeutics, and Iambic Therapeutics,...
Lead-Rich Ash and Dust Traveled Far Afield of 2025 Los Angeles Fires
Researchers from Caltech analyzed ash and dust after the 2025 Eaton fire in Los Angeles, discovering unexpectedly high lead levels inside homes up to 11 km from the blaze. Indoor windowsills and uncleaned surfaces, such as a garage bench, recorded lead...
March 24 Business Watch: Helium Capacity Taken Out in Qatar; Novartis to Pay $2 Billion for Small Molecule
Missile strikes in Qatar’s Ras Laffan industrial zone knocked 14% of the complex’s helium capacity offline, removing roughly 5% of global supply. Novartis agreed to pay $2 billion for Synnovation Therapeutics' PI3Kα inhibitor portfolio, bolstering its oncology pipeline. Ecolab announced a...
Antibiotics Selectively Supercharged Against MRSA
Yale and Cornell chemists have devised a metal‑free aminoxyl catalyst that oxidizes a single secondary alcohol in the macrolide antibiotic erythromycin A. The catalyst, paired with mCPBA, proved highly selective, but analogous macrolides clarithromycin and azithromycin required different reagents to achieve...
Chemists Decipher Cinchona Alkaloid Biosynthesis
Researchers at the Max Planck Institute and the University of Georgia have pinpointed the gene cluster that builds the quinoline‑quinuclidine core of cinchona alkaloids, including the antimalarial quinine. Their work uncovered a previously unknown quaternary‑amine intermediate, dubbed cinchonium, and showed...
How Do You Study Microplastics when They’re Everywhere?
Microplastics are now found in virtually every environment, making laboratory contamination a critical obstacle for researchers. Labs such as the University of Hamburg and the Minderoo Foundation’s facility are adopting plastic‑free protocols—glass or steel tools, cotton lab coats, and specialized...
Indian Fertilizer, Specialty Chemical Industries Hit by US-Iran War
The United States‑Iran conflict has shut the Strait of Hormuz, choking the flow of liquefied natural gas that underpins India’s ammonia imports. Ammonia shortages forced Alkyl Amines Chemicals and Balaji Amines to suspend production of key amines, while fertilizer makers...
Boosting Mass Spec’s Sensitivity and Throughput with Parallelization
Researchers at Rockefeller University unveiled MultiQ‑IT, a prototype ion trap with 486 parallel openings that captures roughly 1,000 times more ions than conventional mass spectrometers. By allowing simultaneous entry and exit of ions, the device dramatically improves sensitivity and throughput for...
Chemistry of Ancient Vietnamese Tooth Blackening Revealed
Researchers at the Australian National University examined two 2,000‑year‑old molars from northern Vietnam. Using non‑invasive SEM‑EDS analysis they identified iron and sulfur residues, indicating that ancient peoples mixed iron salts with tannin‑rich botanicals to blacken teeth. A modern animal tooth...
A Radical New Way to Alkylate Aromatic Rings
Cambridge chemists have unveiled a photocatalytic, transition‑metal‑free method to alkylate electron‑poor aromatic rings, termed the “anti‑Friedel‑Crafts” reaction. The process relies on a light‑generated radical ion pair formed from a bulky amine base and a phthalimide ester, enabling selective C‑C bond...
Samples From Asteroid Ryugu Contain All Five Nucleobases
In December 2020 Hayabusa2 returned 20 mg of Ryugu dust to Earth, and a Japanese‑U.S. team has now identified all five DNA/RNA nucleobases in the material. Using a refined extraction protocol and high‑resolution mass spectrometry, the researchers detected adenine, guanine, cytosine,...
Ultrasound-Activated Nanoparticles Breach Bacterial Biofilms
Scientists have engineered silica‑based nanoparticles that encapsulate rifampicin and release it only when exposed to low‑frequency ultrasound. The ultrasound both propels the particles through the protective matrix of bacterial biofilms and triggers cavitation that opens the particles, delivering the antibiotic...
Analytical Chemists Answer the Call on PFAS
Analytical chemists are accelerating PFAS measurement capabilities as global pressure mounts to curb these persistent chemicals. At Pittcon in San Antonio, instrument makers showcased LC/MS and solid‑phase extraction technologies that achieve parts‑per‑trillion detection limits. Labs are also shifting to PFAS‑free...
New Technology Promises to Protect Farmers From the Next Fertilizer Shock
Geopolitical turmoil, especially the Iran war, has halted urea production in Qatar and disrupted key shipping routes, driving U.S. nitrogen prices up over 20 % as farmers brace for spring planting. The crisis has revived interest in decentralized fertilizer technologies that...
Editorial: Economic Headwinds Buffet Industrial Chemists
Shintech, a unit of Shin‑Etsu, announced a $3.4 billion expansion of PVC capacity in Louisiana, underscoring the U.S. chemical sector’s reliance on cheap energy. At the same time, two smaller specialty‑chemical plants—VanDeMark in New York and PMC Biogenix in Tennessee—filed WARN notices, eliminating...
March 13 Policy Watch: FDA Streamlines Its Process for Approving Biosimilar Drugs
The FDA released draft guidance that lets biosimilar developers use foreign comparator data and, in some cases, replace clinical studies with chemical analysis, potentially cutting development costs by $20 million. Simultaneously, the agency launched the Adverse Event Monitoring System (AEMS), a...
Growing Crystals Tiny and Large
Researchers at Rice University confirmed that Thomas Edison’s 1879 carbon‑filament bulb unintentionally produced graphene when a 110 V current was applied for 20 seconds. Building on James Tour’s Flash Joule Heating method, they replicated the process, showing a cheap, rapid route...
University of California Backs Plan for $23 Billion Research Bond
University of California is backing S.B. 895, a bipartisan bill proposing a $23 billion general‑obligation bond to fund research across the state. The bond would create the California Foundation for Science and Health Research to award grants and loans to universities,...
Reading DNA Sequence and Epigenetic Modification State in 1 Molecule
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have unveiled an integrated sequencing workflow that simultaneously reads DNA sequence and distinguishes cytosine modifications—5‑methylcytosine (5mC) and 5‑hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC)—on a single molecule. The method creates a hairpin duplex, incorporates deamination‑resistant analogs on the copy...
Do You Believe in Green Chemistry?
The article argues that belief in green chemistry is essential for its broader adoption, noting that the 12 principles introduced in 1998 remain peripheral in many sectors. It highlights how educators’ values shape students’ perception of sustainable practices, turning safety...
How Chinese Labs Race for the Next ‘First-in-Class’ Breakthrough
China’s 2025 R&D outlay surged to 3.9 trillion yuan, with basic research surpassing 7% of total spending for the first time. The new five‑year plan prioritises self‑sufficiency, funneling billions into frontier chemistry, biotech, and advanced materials. State‑backed agencies and tech giants...
Wine-Making Waste Helps Recycle Cobalt and Nickel From Batteries
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University have demonstrated an electrochemical process that uses tartaric acid, a wine‑making by‑product, to separate cobalt and nickel from lithium‑ion battery leachates. By applying sequential voltages, the method achieves over 99% cobalt purity and 96.5% nickel...
March 10 Business Watch: Syngenta Ends Paraquat Production; Moderna Settles Lipid Patent Case
Syngenta announced it will cease production of the herbicide paraquat in June, shutting its Huddersfield plant that accounts for less than 1% of its global sales. The move comes amid mounting health concerns linking paraquat to Parkinson’s disease and growing...
First Radiocarbon Dating of Ancient Art in France’s Dordogne Caverns
A French research team used non‑invasive spectroscopy to identify charcoal pigments in the Font‑de‑Gaume cave and collected four microscopic samples for accelerator mass spectrometry. Radiocarbon analysis dated three of the samples to between 13,162 and 13,461 years ago, confirming the...
2 Start-Ups Expand Plans to Make Fuel From Carbon Dioxide
AirCo announced a $15 million U.S. Air Force partnership to field‑deploy modular, container‑based reactors that turn captured CO₂ and hydrogen into jet‑fuel alkanes, using direct‑air‑capture and small modular nuclear reactors for heat and power. The first commercial‑scale unit is slated for...
New AI Agent Is ‘a Paradigm Shift’ for COF Synthesis
Researchers led by Nobel laureate Omar Yaghi have created an AI agent built on GPT‑4o that automates the entire covalent organic framework (COF) synthesis workflow. The system achieved a 350 % increase in crystallinity for a benchmark COF and discovered a...
Shintech to Invest $3.4 Billion in US Vinyl Chemicals
Shintech, the U.S. arm of Japan's Shin‑Etsu Chemical, announced a $3.4 billion expansion at its Plaquemine, Louisiana complex, adding a 625,000‑ton ethylene cracker, a 500,000‑ton vinyl chloride monomer plant, and a chlor‑alkali unit producing 310,000 t of caustic soda and 280,000 t of...
Upcycling Waste Glass to Silicon Carbide Nanowires
Rice University researchers led by James Tour have demonstrated a fluorine‑assisted flash Joule heating (FAF) process that transforms waste glass and coal residues into silicon carbide (SiC) nanowires in seconds. By packing ground glass, carbon black and sodium fluoride into...
Iran War Threatens Global Helium Supply
The Iran‑Qatar conflict has forced QatarEnergy to shut down the Ras Laffan helium plant, removing roughly one‑third of the world’s helium supply from the market. Experts warn that if the shutdown extends beyond two weeks, the disruption could linger for months,...
European Cleantech Firms Secure More Cash
European cleantech start‑ups Celtic Renewables, Photoncycle and Nanomox announced fresh capital injections of $13.3 million, $17.5 million and $3.2 million respectively. The funds will expand a large‑scale biorefinery in Scotland, move solid‑state hydrogen storage from pilot to commercial scale, and build an ionic‑liquid‑based...
The Chemical Industry Promises Another Year of Cutbacks
The chemical sector entered 2026 with a renewed wave of cost‑cutting after 2025 earnings slumped across major players. BASF aims to trim $2.7 billion in costs, Dow expands its $2 billion streamlining plan, and Eastman leverages a new methanolysis plant for modest...
Can Recycled Lab Gloves Capture Carbon Dioxide?
Chemists at Aarhus University have up‑cycled discarded nitrile gloves into polyamine membranes that capture carbon dioxide. By hydrogenating the rubber with a ruthenium pincer catalyst, the team converts nitrile groups into amines, creating a non‑porous sorbent. The resulting material achieves...
Covalent Organic Frameworks Electrify Carbon Capture
Researchers at Northwestern University have created an electrically driven carbon‑capture system using quinone‑functionalized covalent organic frameworks (COFs). The open‑flask synthesis produces gram‑scale COF powders that can be spray‑coated onto electrodes, enabling CO₂ adsorption and release via electrochemical redox cycles without...