A quick experiment at the start of a PhD has resulted in a stable organic compound with four unpaired electrons. The researchers are now investigating this unusual structure for applications in batteries and data storage.When Jonathan Barnes joined Fraser Stoddart’s group at Northwestern University in Evanston, US, the group were working on radical enhanced molecular recognition and trapping pairs of molecules in close contact. The team were using molecules held within a macrocycle and then removing two electrons to create a radical pair. Barnes looked at some of the other projects going on in the lab and wondered if something...