The concept of condensed matter chemistry is proposed as a new scientific discipline. It studies the composition, the multi-level structure, properties and chemical reactions of matters in condensed states formed via stable adhesions. This compares to the classical chemistry, which studies more localized issues, namely the properties of basic particles like atoms, ions and molecules and their electron-moving reactions. In this article, we use examples from solid state matters to illustrate cutting-edge research issues related to(1) the multi-level structures,(2) chemical properties and reactions,(3) constructive chemistry, and(4) novel characterization techniques of condensed matters. In-depth discussions regarding key scientific questions of the new discipline are presented, to set a stage enabling us to reexamine the core scientific issues in the classical chemistry, namely chemical reactions, in the new and larger context and to study the relationships among multi-level structures of condensed matters, chemical properties and reactions, and construction rational synthesis and precision preparation for materials in condensed matter states. The goals are to develop theories of “condensed matter organization” and “chemical reactions”, leading to the full development of the science of condensed matter chemistry as well as condensed matter engineering.

"The condensed matter chemistry" is a new research area in chemistry, the basic idea of which is to study the compositions, structures, properties, preparations and their relationships of matters in multilevels beyond the limitations of molecules and perfect crystals. Based on the brief reviews of the history from the solid state physics to the condensed physics and the history of the solid state chemistry, as well as on the analysis of feature of the solid state of chemistry, it is pointed out that the development of the solid state chemistry must lead to the establishment of "the condensed matter chemistry", and it is referred that many other areas in chemistry would also take "the condensed matter chemistry" as their development direction. The development path for "the condensed matter chemistry" is suggested: completing the knowledge system of the solid state chemistry, expanding the knowledge scope of the solid state chemistry and creating the landmark achievements of "the condensed matter chemistry". It is finally stressed that the condensed matter chemists should reinforce the cooperation with the condensed matter physicists and co-build "the condensed matter science" mansion.

Condensed state chemistry, as we know, means diverse chemical processes taking place in liquids and solids. Actually, condensed state chemistry is present throughout the synthesis and preparation of inorganic materials, especially the nano- and porous solid materials. In the material synthesis, obtaining target solids with desired chemical compositions and phase structures, is probably one of the most fundamental issues of condensed state chemistry. While in the synthesis of porous solid materials such as microporous zeolites or mesoporous oxides, the regulations of pore structures along with the chemical compositions and phase structures become important. Moreover, aiming at the applications in, e.g., catalysis and drug delivery, key factors such as the active sites and defects, and the geometric/physical features such as the dimensions, dispersity and morphologies, should be taken into considerations in addition to the issues mentioned above. In this feature article, by focusing on the inorganic oxides, we discuss several aspects of condensed state chemistry in the chemical syntheses of nanoparticles and superfine powders, pore structural regulations of mesoporous materials and composites, and the synthesis and catalytic properties of hierarchically porous structured zeolite, so as to acquire further in-depth understanding of condensed state chemistry in the materials synthesis and promote the development of nano-/porous inorganic solids under the guidance of condensed state chemistry.

Mechanochemical activation achieved by milling, shearing or pulling opens up new opportunities in synthetic chemistry. Mechanical milling, which is a green solvent-free synthetic methodology, has wide application prospects. In this review, we present the current status and future prospect of mechanochemical organic reactions in condensed matters such as solid state or sticky reaction mixture. Compared with traditional liquid-phase counterparts, mechanochemical condensed-matter organic reactions have the advantages of no usage of solvent, high reaction efficiency, short reaction time, lower reaction temperature, good selectivity, simple post-treatment, and suitability for substrates with poor solubility. In some mechanochemical organic reactions, different reaction products are generated miraculously, especially those not available in liquid-phase counterparts.

Condensed matter chemistry deals with the synthesis, the composition, the structure, the property, the interaction and the chemical reaction of condensed matter. The research of an unusual type of natural condensed matter, biomineral, has greatly extended the scope of condensed matter chemistry. These biominerals are always grown via non-classical pathways under ambient but complex conditions. The well-designed hierarchical structures, which have evolved for millions of years, endow them with superior performance by taking advantage of the interfacial interactions between different condensed matters that comprise these biominerals. In this review, we elaborate some extraordinary mechanisms involved in the formation and transformation of biominerals, and analyze the new features of the syntheses and chemical reactions of condensed matters. We also introduce the applications of condensed matter chemistry supported by the research of biominerals. We conclude by proposing problems to be solve in the future and prospects of condensed matter chemistry research of biominerals.

Instead of focusing on bulk phase or individual molecule as the classical chemistry, the condensed-matter chemistry pays special attention to the multi-level structured condensed matters. The primary topics of the condensed-matter chemistry include but not limited to fundamental chemical properties and functionalities of condensed matters and their chemical reactions, construction principles of the multi-level structures, and the structure-property relationship, which is also the interests of the fundamental research in biomineralization. Biomineralization is the process by which organic matrices regulate the formation of inorganic minerals, which can build the biological condensed matter with multi-levelled structures and distinct functions(such as protection, sensing, movement, etc.). Inspired by the construction strategy and the structure-property relationship in biominerals, many biomimetic condensed materials with advanced functions have been fabricated via biomimetic mineralization. In this review, from the context of condensed-matter chemistry, we introduce the fundaments and some important findings and understandings of bio- and biomimetic-mineralization, and mainly overview the fabrication and advanced functions of novel biomimetic materials by the cross-linking of inorganic ionic oligomers developed in our lab, which is inspired by biomineralization. We believe that biomineralization provides many good examples for the research and development of the new scientific discipline of condensed-matter chemistry and in the same while, biomineralization will also benefit from the guidance from the perspective of condensed-matter chemistry.

The research of polymer condensed state(PCS) is an important content of polymer science. As well known, the PCS formation mechanism can impact on the macroscopic physical properties of PCS, and these related results are systematically summarized and built. However, a lot of researches are reported in respect of PCS chemical properties, few systematic induction and summary work is reported which can help scientists explore the relationships and scientific laws of PCS and its chemical properties. In this review, some representative researches of PCS chemical property are systematically summed up and summarized, and divided into three major contents. These three research contents are included that:(1) the impact of polymer structure chemistry on PCS,(2) the impact of PCS on chemical reactions based on 3^rd polymer structural level, and(3) the impact of PCS on chemical reactions based on the higher polymer structural level. Focusing on these contents, we analyzes and discusses the chemical problems of PCS through a lot of reported research work. We hope the further research of PCS can be developed by the point of chemistry, and we also hope do some contributions to the development of PCS by this paper.

The condensed states of biological macromolecules and their dynamic changes are related to many important physiological and pathological processes, such as coagulation and Alzheimer’s disease. Study of these processes is essential for patients with coagulation-associated diseases or Alzheimer’s disease. The development of effective regulating agents capable of interacting with such biomolecules has been suggested as a solution for diagnosis and therapy. The application of nanotechnology to medicine enable the design and fabrication of novel functional nanomaterials for disease treatment. In this review, we summarize the recent successful efforts to employ functional nanomaterials for regulating coagulation(triggering tumor vessel occlusion or fabricating nanoanticoagulants) and altering the aggregation and clearance of amyloid-β(Aβ). The remaining challenges and open opportunities are also discussed.

Surface ligands on metal nanomaterials play a crucial role in the controlled synthesis of metal nanoparticles with specific size and morphology. However, the detailed molecular-level structures of surface ligands are difficult to be determined by conventional characterizations, leading to our poor understanding over the effects of surface ligands on the chemical properties of metal nanomaterials. Benefiting from the development of metal nanoclusters and other model nanomaterials, increasing research effort has been devoted to revealing the detailed coordination structure of surface ligands on metal nanomaterials and their catalytic effects. The coordination of organic molecules on the metal surface can not only regulate the electronic structure of the surface metal, but also alter the periodic structure of the surface atoms. Moreover, the assembling of surface organic ligands can create 3D spatial structure on the metal surface for manipulating the interaction strength and configuration of reactants and intermediates with the catalytic surface. The interface created by having organic ligands modify metal surface can also lead to the formation of new catalytic sites for changing the catalytic reaction pathways to improve the catalytic activity and selectivity. The assembling effects of surface ligands on metal nanomaterials make them exhibit advantages of heterogeneous catalysis and homogeneous catalysis.

According to thermodynamics, solid state reactions will generally proceed to their 100% completion once they start; however, they may stop at the equilibrium state in case that there is a solid solution with continuously changing concentration. Solid state reactions also have the following characteristics:(1) they could produce stereoselective products;(2) the particle size of the products could be very small(nano-sized);(3) there is the lowest temperature for the reaction to be initiated. Here, it is particularly pointed out that a little solvent can be employed to accelerate solid state reactions with consequent safety and effectivity, but not the equilibrium; also, the solvent can make the solid mixture more fluidized, thus the mass transportation can be speeded up by a proper blender. In addition, solid state reactions can be used to assemble materials step by step, since any complex reactions can be decomposed to a series of reactions of two reactants. Consequently, studies on solid state reactions can lead to greener chemical processes. All those are demonstrated in this paper with solid state coordination reactions, which are the reactions of solid inorganic metal compounds and solid organic or inorganic ligands. The solid state coordination reactions are well known that they take place at near room temperature up to 300 ℃ without the help of solvents, just like the solid state organic reactions.

Catalysis plays a significant role in modern industrial production and daily life and the exploration of efficient catalysts is an important issue of catalysis research. In recent decades, many researchers found the important effect of catalyst defects for their catalytic activity and various defective catalysts are prepared. Nevertheless, the relationship between defect and catalysis still needs clarification. In this review, we mainly introduce solid defect chemistry fundamental, defect types in catalysts, characterization and controllable construction of defects, the roles and the dynamic evolution of defects in catalysis. Finally, the summary and outlook for “defect with catalysis” are demonstrated. We hope this review can reveal the origin and development of catalyst defect chemistry, emphasize the importance of defect for catalysis and provide some guidance for exploration and mechanism researches of defect catalysts.

This article introduces the effects of high-pressure conditions on the electronic structure and crystal structure of condensed matter, including the outer electronic structure, band structure and crystal defects, and also the increase in atomic coordination number, the element’s abnormal oxidation, structural phase transitions, and state transitions. At the same time, the chemical reactions of condensed matter under high pressure are introduced from ten aspects. Finally, the future development of condensed matter chemistry under high pressure is prospected.

The essence of chemical change is the formation and breaking of chemical bonds. The main feature of condensed matter chemistry is that the dynamic interaction and kinetic coupling between the physical and chemical processes in the molecule and the surrounding environment, not only affect the equilibrium and reaction rate of the chemical reaction of chemical bond formation and breaking process, but also change the direction and outcome of the chemical reaction. Dynamic vibration spectroscopy is one of the most powerful modern spectroscopic characterization techniques for detecting various microscopic molecular details in the condensed phase and on its surface or at its interface. Like the pulsed NMR technology, scientists use a set of carefully designed laser pulses to stimulate the complex optical responses in a condensed matter chemical system. The resulting signal contains a much richer information on reaction mechanism than that with traditional absorption spectra. The microscopic information of the molecules such as their structure, molecular motion, charge and energy transfer can be obtained. In recent years, various dynamic vibrational spectroscopy has been developed and applied in various fields of condensed-state chemistry, especially in the field of solution state and surface/interface state. A series of breakthroughs have been made and are in the process of continuous development. In this article, we briefly review and prospect the basic concepts of dynamic vibration spectroscopy techniques, experimental methods and theoretical frameworks, as well as their important applications in condensed state and surface state chemistry.

The packing form of atoms or molecules in the structure and elemental spatial distribution are the core problems of condensed matter. Precise revelation of local structure is one of the most important methods to address such kind of issues. The acquisition of local structural information, which is directly correlated to chemical bonding, provides the deep insight of chemical reaction and understanding for the intrinsic structure-function relationship of design for functional materials. The atomic pair distribution function(PDF) based on the total scattering method, considering the spatial distribution regularities of atomic pair distance in radial direction, demonstrates the full-range structural information of condensed matter systems with different crystallinity and agglomeration. This review starts from the theoretical basis of total scattering and PDF. Refer to the differences of aggregation morphology and structural chemistry features, the representative examples with local structural novelty are shown. The specific introduction for the recent results about structural evolution demonstrate the distinct characteristics from short to long range during the application of the atomic pair distribution function combining in-situ temperature field and reverse monte carlo method. The new viewpoint from the local structure to the chemical reaction, optimization of functional properties and responses to external fields is proposed.

Biological Condensed Matters(BCM), which are composed of proteins, nucleic acids, polysaccharides and other Biological macromolecules, are ubiquitous inside the organism. These BCM form various structures to perform different function. The determination of the high-resolution structures of these BCM is importance of understanding the life process. In Vitro, X-ray crystallography, cryo-electron microscopy(cryo-EM) and nuclear magnetic resonance(NMR) are the main methods to obtain high-resolution structures, while nuclear magnetic resonance and chemical cross-linking mass spectrometry have unique advantages for in situ study of the structure of BCM in living cells. Here, we mainly summarize the research progress in the characterization of the structures of BCM: including purified molecular machines and fibrils, biomolecules under crowding, confinement, liquid-liquid phase separation and in living cells.