This perspective article proposes a paradigm shift from single-discipline pathogen control to an integrated, cross-disciplinary approach that combines earth science and environmental engineering. Led by Zheng-Yang Huo from Renmin University of China, an research team outlines how geochemical insights and advanced disinfection technologies can work together to achieve full-chain assessment and control of waterborne pathogens, addressing a persistent threat that causes over 10 million deaths annually worldwide.

Achieving regioselective C–H functionalization is a particularly difficult issue in organic chemistry when these C–H bonds have similar reactivity. Although significant progress has been made in regioselective C–H functionalization at one specific site, the tunable version of such processes is rarely documented. Here we describe a tunable meta- and para-selective C–H borylation of aryl and benzyl phosphonates, in which the regioselectivity can be switched by bifunctional ligands. A broad range of substrates are compatible and exhibit good to excellent regioselectivity under mild reaction conditions. Benzyl phosphonates can be conveniently transformed into styrene derivatives via Horner–Wadsworth–Emmons olefination. Gram-scale preparation and derivatization of borylated products demonstrate the important application of our method in synthetic chemistry. The orthogonality of two functional Bpin and phosphorylmethyl groups provides ample opportunity for increasing the diversity of styrene derivatives with precise site-control.

Organic clusters composed of heteroatoms and functional groups have been extensively employed to rationalize the intrinsic luminescence of nonconventional luminophores lacking aromatic structures. Nevertheless, in marked contrast to well-studied metal clusters, their structures and sizes remain poorly delineated, substantially impeding rigorous mechanistic understanding and rational performance optimization. Here, we successfully overcome this limitation by employing 3D-shaped cyclic hydrocarbon scaffolds to confine electron-rich moieties, in analogy to the ligand–metal coordination motif in metal clusters, thereby suppressing inter-cluster extended through-space conjugation (TSC) networks. This strategy enables, for the first time, the construction of organic clusters with a programmable and precisely defined number of electron-rich units (e.g., oxygen atoms). Our findings demonstrate that organic clusters with as few as four oxygen atoms can generate excitation-dependent emission with green afterglow, implying the presence of multiple emissive species with varied TSC even within these well-defined isolated clusters, likely associated with the intrinsic complexity and sensitivity of through-space electronic interactions. This strategy thus establishes a robust platform for excluding impurity-induced emission, precisely identifying organic cluster structures/sizes, and moreover providing a basis for correlating chemical structure, electronic configuration, and photophysical properties in nonconventional luminophores.

Mechanical force redistributes reactivity through anisotropic, topology-dependent load transmission. Predicting which covalent bond in a complex molecule ruptures first under tension remains a central problem in mechanochemistry, biomaterials and chemically recyclable polymers. Bond dissociation energy is an incomplete proxy because it describes zero-force thermodynamic stability, whereas mechanochemical site selectivity is governed more directly by the peak force sustained along a prescribed loading path. Here we introduce covalent-bond peak force network (CBPFNet), a graph-attention model that predicts covalent-bond peak force (CBPForce) from relaxed molecular structures through a virtual-stretching workflow and avoids the hundreds of constrained geometry optimisations typically required for each candidate bond. In the CHON benchmark studied here, CBPFNet reproduces bond-ranking trends from density functional theory (DFT) and can be used for bond-level screening. Post hoc attribution analyses indicate that rupture selectivity depends on both bond identity and local stiffness contrast, with relatively rigid segments concentrating tensile stress on softer adjacent bonds. In oligopeptides, the model recovers the DFT weakest bond and highlights a serine-containing motif as a possible topology-dependent weak point under the same protocol. CBPFNet therefore extends screening beyond equilibrium bond stability toward bond-resolved peak-force ranking in sustainable polymer design and biomaterials.

Efficient photocatalytic H₂O₂ production is a sustainable alternative to the anthraquinone process, yet designing photocatalysts with both high activity and selectivity is extremely challenging. Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) offer modular architectures and tunable electronic structures, but precise electronic modulation for maximizing H2O2 photosynthesis is rarely attained. Here we report a series of naphthalimide-based donor–acceptor COFs with systematically engineered cores. Among them, NDI–B–COF (benzene core) delivers an outstanding H₂O₂ yield of 11,025 μmol g⁻¹ h⁻¹ (with sacrificial agent), far surpassing its nitrogen- and triazine-core analogs. This performance stems from synergistic effects of an extended in-plane conjugation and a reduced core polarity, which collectively enhance charge separation, directional carrier transport, and *OH intermediate formation, thereby lowering the barrier for two-electron water oxidation. These findings establish a clear structure–property–activity correlation and offer a general strategy for developing highly efficient metal-free photocatalysts.

A research team has mapped how four post-harvest processing methods reshape flavor precursors in Arabica coffee beans, showing that anaerobic fermentation—especially anaerobic fermentation dry processing—substantially increases key non-volatile metabolites linked to aroma, flavor, acidity, body, and balance.