This special issue of the Journal presents papers authored by RACI and AAS award winners from 2020 to 2021.

The 18 kDa translocator protein (TSPO) is an important mitochondrial protein that is widely used as a biomarker for assessing neuroinflammation in animals and humans. It may also be a therapeutic target for a range of inflammatory diseases. This Account summarises our group’s contributions to TSPO drug discovery over the past 20 years.

Increased protein sialylation on the tumour cell surface of up to 40–60 % through upregulation of sialyltransferase enzymes is strongly correlated with tumour growth, survival, and metastasis. Inhibiting sialylation represents a potential new cancer treatment strategy. In this account, we summarise our recent developments on the design, synthesis, and biological evaluation of synthetically accessible sialylation inhibitors with improved properties over earlier-generation inhibitors.

A quality by design approach combined with quantitative structure–retention relationships and design of experiment principles is used to select the optimal conditions for maximum separation of a set of test analytes for a range of stationary phases in hydrophilic–interaction liquid chromatography. The accuracy of prediction of retention times was in the range 7.6–11.0 %.

The formation of five component [3+2] nano-sized cages assembled using charge-assisted amidinium···carboxylate hydrogen bonds was investigated. Molecular modelling suggested the cages were geometrically feasible, and ¹H and DOSY NMR data are consistent with the cages forming in the highly polar solvent DMSO.

In this proof-of-concept study, we adjust the geometrical counterpoise correction to test its effectiveness when paired with small-basis-set, double-hybrid density functional theory.

The influence of morphological characteristics on the electrochemistry of MoS₂ electrodes remains unclear. We show that introducing disorder decreases the Faradaic component of cell capacity and causes pseudo-capacitive behaviour. Post-annealing, the battery-like character of the cell is restored. The findings aid the optimisation of MoS₂ electrodes, which are promising battery components.