The Best Chemistry of 2011

C &EN’s weekly coverage each year adds up to hundreds of articles on important research advances in chemistry. Our annual Chemical Year In Review reveals our choices for some of the superlative achievements that we featured in 2011. It also provides an opportunity to reflect on the ramifications of these developments. These selections, displayed in no particular order, are necessarily subjective and not intended to be comprehensive. Indeed, these discoveries represent only a few examples of the many ways that chemists are pushing the boundaries of what we know and what we are capable of doing.