Researchers Kohki Horie, Keiichiro Toda, Takuma Nakamura, and Takuro Ideguchi of the University of Tokyo have built a microscope that can detect a signal over an intensity range fourteen times wider than conventional microscopes. Moreover, the observations are made label-free, that is, without the use of additional dyes. This means the method is gentle on cells and adequate for long-term observations, holding potential for testing and quality control applications in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. The findings are published in the journal Nature Communications.

Recently, a research team led by Professor Li-sheng Geng from Beihang University published a paper titled "Femtoscopy can tell whether Zc(3900) and Zcs3985 are resonances, virtual states, or bound states" in Science Bulletin. This study demonstrates for the first time that the femtoscopic technique can effectively distinguish whether the tetraquark candidates Zc(3900)/Zcs3985 near the D0D*-/D0Ds*- thresholds are resonances, virtual states, or bound states, which helps deepen the understanding of the non-perturbative nature of Quantum Chromodynamics.

Researchers in Tokyo Metropolitan University developed the efficient method for perfect and selective conversion of polyesters (textiles, cloth wastes, and PET bottle wastes etc.) to raw materials by simply heating a mixture of polyester and alcohol in the presence of iron catalyst. The findings will pave the way for solving the plastic waste problem.

Professor Wen-Bo Liu's research group at Wuhan University reported a nickel-catalyzed regioselective hydrogen metallization/5-exo-trig cyclization reaction. Using β-propargylcyclobutanone as a starting material, multi-substituted bicyclo[2.1.1]hexanol can be synthesized in one step, followed by skeletal rearrangement to yield 1,2,4-trisubstituted bicyclo[2.1.1]hexanone. This structure can be used for diverse derivatization reactions. DFT computational studies elucidated the crucial role of carbonyl coordination in regioselectivity control. This research provides a new method for obtaining structurally diverse bicyclo[2.1.1]hexane (BCH) derivatives, with potential applications in drug development. The article was published as an open access research article in CCS Chemistry, the flagship journal of the Chinese Chemical Society.