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1. Pressure-induced ferroelectric-like transition creates a polar metal in defect antiperovskites Hg3Te2X2 (X = Cl, Br)

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-21836-7  

   Cai, Weizhao ; He, Jiangang ; Li, Hao ; Zhang, Rong ; Zhang, Dongzhou ; Chung, Duck Young ; Bhowmick, Tushar ; Wolverton, Christopher ; Kanatzidis, Mercouri G. ; Deemyad, Shanti ( March 2021 , Nature Communications)

   Ferroelectricity is typically suppressed under hydrostatic compression because the short-range repulsions, which favor the nonpolar phase, increase more rapidly than the long-range interactions, which prefer the ferroelectric phase. Here, based on single-crystal X-ray diffraction and density-functional theory, we provide evidence of a ferroelectric-like transition from phaseI2₁3 toR3 induced by pressure in two isostructural defect antiperovskites Hg₃Te₂Cl₂(15.5 GPa) and Hg₃Te₂Br₂(17.5 GPa). First-principles calculations show that this transition is attributed to pressure-induced softening of the infrared phonon mode Γ₄, similar to the archetypal ferroelectric material BaTiO₃at ambient pressure. Additionally, we observe a gradual band-gap closing from ~2.5 eV to metallic-like state of Hg₃Te₂Br₂with an unexpectedly stableR3 phase even after semiconductor-to-metal transition. This study demonstrates the possibility of emergence of polar metal under pressure in this class of materials and establishes the possibility of pressure-induced ferroelectric-like transition in perovskite-related systems.

    

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2. Reversible Cl 2 /Cl – Redox for Low-Temperature Aqueous Batteries

   https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenergylett.2c02757  

   Sui, Yiming ; Lei, Ming ; Yu, Mingliang ; Scida, Alexis ; Sandstrom, Sean K. ; Stickle, William ; O’Larey, Timothy D. ; Jiang, De-en ; Ji, Xiulei ( February 2023 , ACS Energy Letters)
3. Self-Assembled Encapsulation of CuX 2 – (X = Br, Cl) in a Gold Phosphine Box-like Cavity with Metallophilic Au–Cu Interactions

   https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.inorgchem.2c04067  

   Walters, Daniel T. ; Aristov, Michael M. ; Babadi Aghakhanpour, Reza ; SantaLucia, Daniel J. ; Costa, Sarah ; Olmstead, Marilyn. M. ; Berry, John F. ; Balch, Alan. L. ( March 2023 , Inorganic Chemistry)
4. Reversible Cl/Cl − redox in a spinel Mn 3 O 4 electrode

   https://doi.org/10.1039/D3SC04545E  

   Sandstrom, Sean K ; Li, Qiuyao ; Sui, Yiming ; Lyons, Mason ; Chang, Chun-Wai ; Zhang, Rui ; Jiang, Heng ; Yu, Mingliang ; Hoang, David ; Stickle, William F ; et al ( November 2023 , Chemical Science)

   In the Mn₃O₄electrode, chloride ions are reversibly converted into atomic chlorine species. Trapped Zn²⁺cations aid in stabilizing these chlorine atoms in polychloride species.

    

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5. Experimental and Computational Determination of a M–Cl Homolytic Bond Dissociation Free Energy: Mn(III)Cl-Mediated C–H Cleavage and Chlorination

   https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.3c03651  

   Saju, Ananya ; Gunasekera, Parami S. ; Morgante, Pierpaolo ; MacMillan, Samantha N. ; Autschbach, Jochen ; Lacy, David C. ( June 2023 , Journal of the American Chemical Society)