《自然》（20260924出版）一周论文导读
《自然》（20260924出版）一周论文导读
编译｜冯维维
Nature,24 September 2026,Volume 657 Issue 8133
《自然》，2026年9月24日，第657卷，8133期
物理学Physics
Road transport of trapped antiprotons
被困反质子的公路运输
▲ 作者：M. Leonhardt, J. Morgner, F. Abbass, K. K. Anjum, B. Arndt, R. P. Czampiel, N. Daehnhardt, S. Endoh, T. Imamura, J. I. J?ger, L. Kürschner, B. M. Latacz, P. Micke, D. Natakala, et al.
▲链接：
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-11019-z
▲摘要：
约束在超高真空彭宁阱中的低能反质子，可用于对电荷—宇称—时间反演（CPT）对称性进行精密检验，从而验证物质与反物质之间的基本对称性。这类研究的驱动力在于寻找超出粒子物理标准模型的新物理，其中包括解释宇宙中观测到的物质—反物质不对称性的难题。
迄今为止，此类实验只能在欧洲核子研究中心（CERN）的“反物质工厂”进行。目前，该设施运行所引起的磁场涨落限制了囚禁反质子精密测量的灵敏度，而这类测量正是重子领域最为严格的物质—反物质对称性检验。
受这一现状驱动，作者研制了低温、开放式且可运输的彭宁阱系统BASE-STEP，其设计目标是将反质子转移到低噪声的离线实验室，这一策略有望使CPT检验的精度至少提升100倍。
研究展示了利用BASE-STEP对囚禁反质子进行公路运输的成果：92个被囚禁捕获的反质子沿一条7.5公里的路线运出“反物质工厂”，全程未发生粒子损失，阱内真空也未出现可测量的退化。这一成果标志着在专用低噪声离线实验室环境中开启反质子精密测量新纪元的起点。
▲ Abstract：
Low-energy antiprotons confined in ultrahigh-vacuum Penning trap1 enable precision investigations of charge, parity and time-reversal (CPT) invariance to test the fundamental symmetry between matter and antimatter. These studies are driven by the search for physics beyond the standard model of particle physics, including efforts to explain the observed cosmological matter–antimatter asymmetry. Until now, such experiments have only been possible at CERN’s Antimatter Factory. At present, magnetic-field fluctuations caused by the facility operation limit the sensitivity of trapped-antiproton precision measurements, which provide the most stringent matter–antimatter symmetry tests in the baryon sector. This has inspired us to develop the cryogenic, open and transportable Penning-trap system BASE-STEP, designed to relocate antiprotons into low-noise offline laboratories, a strategy expected to enable at least 100-fold improved CPT tests. Here we demonstrate the road transport of antiprotons trapped in BASE-STEP. Ninety-two trapped antiprotons have been transported outside the Antimatter Factory along a 7.5-km route without particle loss or measurable degradation of the trap vacuum. This achievement marks the starting point for a new era of antiproton precision measurements8,12 in dedicated low-noise offline laboratory environments.
Evidence for vacuum-enhanced superconductivity in NbSe2
二硒化铌中真空增强超导性的实验证据
▲ 作者：Zheyan Wang, Gabriel Cardoso, Liu Yang, Xun Gong, Chi Zhang, Yufei Zhu, Dongbo Zhang, Nan Pan, Hongbing Cai, Yong P. Chen, Qing-Dong Jiang, Guanghui Cheng, Frank Wilczek & Changgan Zeng
▲链接：
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-11037-x
▲摘要：
真空涨落为非侵入式调控材料物性提供了一条重要的全新途径。本文给出实验证据，证明真空涨落能够增强超导特性。二硒化铌（NbSe2）是一类层状过渡金属二硫族化合物，其超导性质已被充分表征，是观测该效应的理想实验平台。
研究者将二硒化铌样品置于开口环腔谐振器内部，观测到其超导临界温度得到提升。在相变温度附近，超导临界电流与临界磁场均出现显著增大。实验观测结果与理论计算相符：电子自由度和谐振腔涨落模式发生杂化，使得超导态的能量降低。
研究完成了真空涨落增强超导效应的原理性验证，由此建立起一套可对量子技术核心载体实施非侵入调控的实验手段。
▲ Abstract：
Vacuum fluctuations provide an important new way to control material properties non-invasively. Here we present experimental evidence that they can enhance superconductivity. NbSe2 is a layered transition-metal dichalcogenide with well-characterized superconducting behaviour, providing a clear platform to reveal this effect. We have observed an increase in the critical temperature of superconducting NbSe2 when it is embedded in a split-ring cavity resonator. Near the transition temperature, the critical current and critical field increase notably. Our observations are consistent with theoretical calculations showing that hybridization between electronic degrees of freedom and fluctuating cavity modes lowers the energy of the superconducting state. By providing a proof-of-principle demonstration of superconductivity enhancement through vacuum fluctuations, our work establishes a non-invasive technique for controlling the mainstay of quantum technology.
化学Chemistry
Positional isomerization of pyridine through nitrogen transposition
经氮原子移位实现吡啶的位置异构化
▲ 作者：Wonjun Choi, Hyewon Ju, Jiyong Park & Sungwoo Hong
▲链接：
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-11006-4
▲摘要：
吡啶的各类位置异构体通常表现出截然不同的生物活性；但这类异构体之间很难直接相互转化，因此每种异构体一般都需要通过独立合成路线来制备。研究者报道了一种吡啶位置异构化的通用策略：借助依次进行氮原子插入与脱除，实现杂芳环母核的可控重排。
氮原子移位反应可以对预先接在环上的取代基实现可预测的位置迁移，且不会改变取代基本身的结构。该方法对单取代、二取代及多取代吡啶均适用，也可在结构复杂的分子骨架环境下发生反应，能够直接得到各类吡啶位置异构体。
研究将位置异构化发展成为一类实用的合成转化手段，这使得在逆合成设计中，可以把吡啶环上取代模式视作可灵活调整的变量。
▲ Abstract：
Positional isomers of pyridines often exhibit distinct biological activities1,2, yet their direct interconversion remains largely inaccessible, so each isomer is typically prepared through an independent synthesis. Here we report a general strategy for pyridine positional isomerization enabled by controlled reorganization of the heteroaromatic core through sequential nitrogen insertion and deletion. Nitrogen-atom transposition allows predictable translocation of preinstalled substituents without altering substituent identity. The method is broadly applicable to mono-, di- and multisubstituted pyridines and operates across structurally complex molecular environments, providing direct access to positional isomers. This work establishes positional isomerization as a practical synthetic transformation, defining pyridine substitution patterns as mutable variables in retrosynthetic design.
Phosphine-mediated azine C–H couplings with water and ammonia
膦介导的吖嗪与水、氨的C-H偶联反应
▲ 作者：Kyle G. Nottingham, Dane A. Brunner, David Dalmau, Amanda K. Melanese, Juan V. Alegre-Requena, Robert S. Paton & Andrew McNally
▲链接：
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10991-w
▲摘要：
过渡金属独特的反应活性推动了C-H官能化化学的发展，使科研人员能够在构效关系（SAR）研究中直接对药物及农用化学品分子进行结构修饰。过渡金属尤其擅长活化芳烃与芳香杂环的C-H键，发展出大量构建碳-碳键、碳-杂原子键的新型反应。
然而，在众多潜在偶联底物中，（杂）芳烃与水、氨发生C-H偶联的反应十分罕见。水与氨虽是地球上储量最为丰富的两种化学物质，但二者的反应特性与过渡金属配合物，以及C-O、C-N键生成的基元反应步骤难以兼容。研究者猜想，或许可借助过渡金属区以外的主族元素来实现该类转化。
研究证实，简单的三芳基膦可实现吖嗪与水、氨的选择性C-H偶联。该反应遵循一套独特机理：侧链的醛基与亚胺官能团可相互转化，生成缩醛型与缩胺型中间体；本工作结合实验与理论计算对该过程开展了研究。
这种特殊的邻基参与效应，能够将水分子、氨分子送入五价磷的配位环境，再经由配体偶联反应完成C-O键与C-N键的构建。
该反应底物适用范围广，各类吡啶、喹啉、二嗪均可参与反应；还可作为后期修饰策略，用于复杂药物与农用化学品的羟基化、氨基化改造。
▲ Abstract：
The unique reactivity of transition metals has advanced C–H functionalization chemistry, enabling practitioners to directly modify drug and agrochemical compounds during structure–activity relationship (SAR) studies. These metals are particularly adept at transforming the C–H bonds of arenes and aromatic heterocycles, generating new reactions that form C–C and C–heteroatom bonds. However, among the many potential coupling partners, (hetero)arene C–H coupling reactions with water and ammonia are rare1,2,3,4,5. Despite being two of the most abundant chemicals on Earth, their reactivity can be at odds with transition metal complexes and the elementary steps associated with C–O/C–N bond formation6. We suspected that elements outside of the transition metal block might instead facilitate these reactions. Here we show that simple triarylphosphines enable selective azine C–H coupling with water and ammonia. The reactions proceed by a distinct mechanism, in which pendant aldehyde and imine functional groups interconvert to acetal- and aminal-type forms, studied here both experimentally and computationally. This unusual example of neighbouring group participation effectively delivers water and ammonia molecules into a phosphorus(V) coordination environment, promoting C–O and C–N bond formation through ligand-coupling reactions7. A broad range of pyridines are compatible, as well as quinolines and diazines, and the chemistry functions as a late-stage tactic for hydroxylation and amination of complex pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals.
仿生材料和计算生物学
Biomimetic materials and computational biology
Foaming photopolymers as a high-resolution biomimetic printing platform
发泡光敏聚合物：一种高分辨率仿生打印平台
▲ 作者：Detao Qin, Xianghui Liu, Baian Kuang, Yuzhe Zhang, Masateru Ito, Tatsuya Katsuno, Yuan Liu, Jianduo Zhang, Claudia Rosa, Meifang Zhu, Mikihito Takenaka, Hiroshi Imahori, Ganesh N. Pandian, Taiki Yanagishima & Easan Sivaniah
▲链接：
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10968-9
▲摘要：
自然界通过跨层级尺度的物理与生化过程的精细协同，创造出种类繁多的类泡沫材料，从骨骼到香蕉皮皆属此类。
研究者提出“深度发泡光刻”技术：这是一种空间可控的光致发泡过程——对光敏化聚合物薄膜施加穿透力较强的长波紫外光，在薄膜整个厚度范围内同时引发链断裂型与交联型聚合物的生成。
随后，由低渗驱动的弱溶剂“II型渗透”触发孔洞的成核与扩张，并伴随可控的黏弹性塌缩，通过在交联网络内局部溶解聚合物碎片而形成泡沫结构。
这种结构与自然界中的无定形“结构白”相似，因此可实现无墨的白色与灰度打印；其分辨率足够高（约20,000 dpi），足以产生衍射色。
该技术还能独特地打印出经机械膨胀与塌缩、具有高长径比（20倍）的泡沫；受控塌缩可形成具有类似荷叶超疏水特性的分级粗糙表面。深度发泡光刻既可用于薄膜，也可用于纤维，并适用于多种无定形及半结晶聚合物材料。
通过在微米尺度上对发泡能力、润湿性、光学性质和局部厚度进行图案化差异设计，该技术可实现高分辨率打印、微流控以及皮升级液体与胶体物质的捕获。
▲ Abstract：
Nature creates a diverse range of foam-like materials, from bones to banana peels, through a rich orchestration of physical and biochemical processes across hierarchical length scales1. Here, we introduce deep-foam photolithography, a spatially controlled, light-induced foaming process in which a photosensitized polymer film is exposed to deeply penetrating UV-A light, which initiates the production of both scission and crosslinked polymers throughout the depth of the film. Hypotonically driven case II permeation2 of a weak solvent triggers pore nucleation, expansion and a controllable viscoelastic collapse to create foams through a localized solubilization of polymer fragments within a crosslinked network. The resemblance to amorphous structural whites in nature enables inkless printing in white and greyscale; the resolution is high enough (about 20,000 dots per inch) to generate diffractive colour. This uniquely allows the printing of mechanically expanded and collapsed foams with high aspect ratios (20×); controlled collapse creates hierarchically rough surfaces with lotus-like super-hydrophobicity. Deep-foam photolithography is applied to both films and fibres, using a range of amorphous and semi-crystalline polymeric materials. Patterning μm-level spatial differences in foamability, wettability, optical properties and local thickness enables high-resolution printing, microfluidics and picolitre capture of liquids and colloidal matter.
Breaking timescales with generative sampling of conformational transitions
基于构象转变生成式采样突破时间尺度限制
▲ 作者：Chenyu Tang, Mayank Prakash Pandey, Cheng Giuseppe Chen, Alberto Megías, Fran?ois Dehez & Christophe Chipot
▲链接：
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-11025-1
▲摘要：
蛋白质折叠、别构效应、膜转运等分子构象转变是生物功能的核心基础，但这类过程的模拟一直十分棘手。构象转变本身属于稀有事件，常规分子动力学模拟难以覆盖；而增强采样算法计算开销巨大，且往往依赖人为选定参数与变量，会给结果引入偏差。
本文提出Gen-COMPAS，一套基于生成式提交函数引导的路径采样框架。该框架无需预先定义集体变量，即可重构构象转变路径，同时将计算开销控制在可接受范围。
Gen-COMPAS将去噪扩散概率模型与基于提交函数的筛选机制相结合：扩散模型生成结构上合理的中间构象目标，再通过提交函数筛选识别过渡态。
从这些中间态出发的短时无偏模拟，可得到转变区域构象系综；整体采样时间尺度可达纳秒至亚微秒级别，若使用传统方法，需要高出数个数量级的采样量才能实现。
将Gen-COMPAS应用于微型蛋白、五聚体配体门控离子通道等多种体系，仅依靠已知的两端终点结构，就能还原得到提交函数、过渡态以及自由能面。
整个过程不需要预设反应坐标，也无需预先掌握反应机理。对于传统模拟手段难以解析的生物分子体系，该方法提供了一条计算可行的途径，助力揭示其作用机制。
▲ Abstract：
Molecular transitions, including protein folding, allostery and membrane transport, are central to biological functions, yet remain notoriously difficult to simulate. Their intrinsic rarity places them beyond the reach of standard molecular dynamics, whereas enhanced-sampling strategies are computationally demanding and often depend on arbitrarily chosen parameters and variables that bias outcomes. Here we introduce Gen-COMPAS, a generative committor-guided path-sampling framework that reconstructs transition pathways without predefined collective variables and at acceptable computational cost. Gen-COMPAS couples a denoising diffusion probabilistic model, which produces structurally plausible intermediate targets, with committor-based filtering to identify transition states. Short unbiased simulations from these intermediates yield transition-region ensembles at nanosecond-to-submicrosecond aggregate sampling scales for which conventional approaches require orders of magnitude more sampling. Applied to systems ranging from a miniprotein to a pentameric, ligand-gated ion channel, Gen-COMPAS recovers committors, transition states and free-energy landscapes from known end-point structures alone, without predefined reaction coordinates or prior mechanistic knowledge, thereby providing a computationally tractable route to mechanistic insight in biomolecular systems that have so far resisted conventional simulation approaches.
主题：《自然》