What is this collection about?
To achieve complex and emergent behaviour, chemical systems must be designed to do more than simply express the properties of their individual components. This can be achieved in different ways, from molecular design that encodes specific functions, to reaction cascades, feedback networks, and systems that exploit spatial or temporal organisation.
This Collection brings together research across areas of chemistry that are often viewed separately but are linked by a common goal: to programme chemical behaviour. Examples include:
- Oscillating systems that provide temporal control
- Molecular machines that operate in programmable ways to perform work or deliver a function
- Interfaces and compartmentalised systems that introduce spatial organisation and inhomogeneity into chemical systems
The Collection aims to highlight approaches spanning molecular, supramolecular, and systems-level design.
Why is this collection important?
Bringing together advances from different areas of chemistry, this Collection highlights emerging strategies for programming chemical behaviour and advancing the design of functional chemical systems. We hope the Collection will encourage exchange between different communities, highlight emerging concepts, and nucleate new ideas that help drive this area of chemistry forward.
Why submit to a collection?
Collections like this one help promote high-quality science. They are led by Guest Editors and In-House Editors who are experts in their fields and supported by a dedicated team of Commissioning Editors and Managing Editors at Springer Nature. Collection manuscripts typically see higher citations, downloads, and Altmetric scores, and provide a one-stop-shop on a cutting-edge topic of interest.
Who is involved?
Communications Chemistry is edited by both in-house professional editors and Editorial Board Members. For this Collection, Jake Greenfield, Fredrik Schaufelberger and Annette Taylor are the Guest Editors for Communications Chemistry.
Nature Communications is edited by in-house professional editors.
Scientific Reports is managed by in-house professional editors and edited by Editorial Board Members.
Our editors work closely together to ensure the quality of our published papers and consistency in author experience.
Guest Editors for Communications Chemistry
Jake Greenfield, PhD, University of St Andrews, United Kingdom
Dr Jake Greenfield obtained his PhD in Chemistry from the University of Cambridge under the supervision of Prof. Jonathan Nitschke. He subsequently worked with Prof. Matthew Fuchter at Imperial College London before receiving an Alexander von Humboldt Postdoctoral Fellowship to join the group of Prof. Frank Würthner at Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg. In 2023, he established his independent research group in Würzburg as a Liebig and Emil-Fischer Fellow. Then, in 2025, he moved his team to the University of St Andrews in 2025. In the same year, he was awarded an ERC Starting Grant. His research focuses on molecular photoswitches, dynamic-covalent chemistry, and supramolecular systems. Since starting his independent career, Jake and his co-workers have developed imine-based photoswitches and explored light-responsive dynamic-covalent chemistry.
Fredrik Schaufelberger, PhD, University of Warwick, United Kingdom
Professor Fredrik Schaufelberger is an assistant professor of synthetic chemistry at the University of Warwick and KTH Royal Institute of Technology, where he researches the use of mechanically interlocked molecules and materials in biology. He obtained his undergraduate degree from at KTH and ETH Zürich (2007-2012), followed by PhD studies at KTH in the area of supramolecular and dynamic covalent chemistry (with Olof Ramström). Following his dissertation, he moved to the group of David A. Leigh at the University of Manchester with a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship (2017-2020). In Manchester, he was studying functional molecular knots and chemically fuelled molecular assemblies such as rotaxanes. After a research stay with Molly M. Stevens at Imperial College London (2020-2021), where he was working on biosensing and drug delivery, he took up a group leader position at KTH before relocating to Warwick in 2024. Fredrik is passionate about synthetic and supramolecular chemistry, biointeractions, soft materials and systems chemistry.
Annette Taylor, PhD, University of Southampton, United Kingdom
Professor Annette Taylor was RCUK Fellow, then Senior Lecturer in the School of Chemistry at the University of Leeds before moving to Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Sheffield in 2014, where she was made Professor in 2020. She joined the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at the University of Southampton as Professor of Reaction Engineering in 2024. Her research lies at the interface of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, with interests in chemical reaction networks and reactor design, as well as reactive soft matter systems.
How can I submit my paper?
Visit the Collection page to find out more about this collection and submit your article.