Although uses of uranium had been known to the Romans, a dramatic turn in its chemistry came with the discovery of radioactivity and ultimately what that signified. Outside the nuclear area, however, properties of uranium compounds such as fluorescence, unusual stereochemistry and catalysis offer numerous reasons for continuing interest.

A Pd@UiO-66/rGO composite was prepared and used as an outstanding photocatalyst for the selective oxidation of benzyl alcohol under visible light irradiation. The hybrid material catalyst could be recycled and reused by simple filtration, maintaining a similar catalytic activity for five successive reactions.

Solvothermal reactions of aromatic 3,3′,5,5′-biphenyltetracarboxylic acid and flexible N-donor ancillary ligands afford two novel coordination polymers. 3D pillar-layered 1 and bilayered 2 can be simplified as a (4,6)- and (4,4)-connected net, respectively. Their thermal stabilities and the magnetic behaviour of 1 are also discussed.

Bimetallic Pt-Ru electrocatalysts supported on glassy carbon were prepared by different electrochemical methods and evaluated as catalysts for the electrooxidation of methanol in acid medium. The electrocatalysts prepared by multiple cycles of potentiostatic pulses displayed improved methanol oxidation and tolerance to CO poisoning relative to those prepared by the other techniques.

Borosilicate bioactive glass is well known due to its controllable degradation rate and good bioactivity. During the degradation process, Ca²⁺ ions released from the borosilicate glass can crosslink with alginate. Thus the properties of bone cement can be controlled by changing the B₂O₃/SiO₂ ratios of the glasses.

Efficient conditions for the aziridination of the biomass pyrolysis product levoglucosenone have been developed. The aziridines were transformed using an aza-Wharton reaction to give sp³-rich chiral scaffolds.

Four D-A type phenothiazine derivatives were designed and synthesized. Their structures were confirmed and the property of photophysics and piezofluorochromic (PFC) mechanism were studied. Results showed that all of them exhibited highly twisted conformations and red-shifted PFC behaviour. Moreover, it was found that the length of the alkyl group played a significant role on their PFC properties.

The simplest way to monitor the abuse of nitrofurans is to analyse animal feeds. A class-specific molecularly imprinted polymer for nitrofurans is synthesised and used as a recognition reagent to prepare a chemiluminescence method for the determination of seven nitrofurans in animal feeds. The assay consists of only one sample loading step and can be reused five times.

Three different indium chlorido complexes were converted into the corresponding fluorido derivative by a simple halide exchange method using K¹⁸F. These novel complexes, containing the positron emitting isotope ¹⁸F, may have potential applications in positron emission tomography (PET).

The hydrogen-bonding networks in cholinium phosphate-type ILs were influenced by both anion structure and water content.

Three novel norfloxacin-based ruthenium(ii) complexes [Ru(bpy)₂(NFLX)]Cl·2H₂O (1), [Ru(phen)₂(NFLX)]Cl·2H₂O (2), and [Ru(dmbpy)₂(NFLX)]Cl·2H₂O (3) (bpy = 2,2′-bipyridine, phen = 1,10-phenanthroline, dmbpy = 4,4′-dimethyl-2,2′-bipyridine, and NFLX = norfloxacin) have been synthesised. Compound 2 exhibited a stronger DNA-binding affinity than 1 and 3, which is consistent with its antitumour activity, indicating that the DNA-binding behaviour can be closely related to the anti-tumour activity of the ruthenium(ii) complexes.