Associate Professor Jing Yu (Tsinghua University), Professor Huajian Gao (Tsinghua University), and Dr. Quan Chen (Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences) recently developed a class of supramolecular elastomerswith high mechanical properties and efficient chemical recovery, called BNOSE, that are based on boron-nitrogen (B–N) and boron-oxygen (B–O) dynamic bonds. The dynamic B–N and B–O bonds in BNOSE provide robust interchain forces and degradation in mild ethanol solvents, resulting in a material with excellent mechanical properties and chemical recovery. Having a tensile strength of over 43 MPa and a toughness above 121 MJ/m³, BNOSE outperforms the vast majority of commercial elastomers and existing chemically recovered thermoplastic elastomers. BNOSE offers a sustainable solution without sacrificing mechanical performance, demonstrating potential in a variety of fields, such as soft robotics and flexible electronics. In addition, its scalable design approach can be extended to other polymer systems to meet the growing demand for recyclable high-performance materials. This work was published in CCS Chemistry.

Why did life on Earth choose alpha amino acids as the building blocks of proteins? A new study suggests the answer lies in the stability of their inter-molecular interactions. Researchers found that primitive peptide-like molecules made from alpha backbones formed more durable, compartment-like structures than their longer beta counterparts, giving them a potential evolutionary advantage. The findings propose an assembly-driven model for the origins of life, offering fresh insight into how chemistry shaped biology.