Chemistry posts
- March 16, 2010
- 10:09 AM
- 18 views
Remote control of peptide screw sense
by The Curious Wavefunction in The Curious Wavefunction
As is well-known, peptides helices can be right or left handed. Many details of structure, amino acid identity and orientation can control this screw sense, and sometimes the controlling factors can be quite subtle. In a JACS communication, Jonathan Clayden (yes, the co-author of the amazing organic chemistry textbook) and his group uncover a surprising factor that controls the helical screw sense and also incorporate a neat "reporter group" to monitor the screw sense.But this reporter group is ........ Read more »
Solà, J., Helliwell, M., & Clayden, J. (2010) N- versus C-Terminal Control over the Screw-Sense Preference of the Configurationally Achiral, Conformationally Helical Peptide Motif Aib GlyAib . Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2147483647. DOI: 10.1021/ja100662d
- March 13, 2010
- 03:37 PM
- 30 views
Taking an Artificial Leaf Out of Nature’s Book
by calvinus in Post Tenebras Lux
Solar cells can be thought of as an artificial leaf, turning sunlight into energy. Mimicking the surface of lotus leaves takes this analogy one step further.... Read more »
Zhu, J., Hsu, C., Yu, Z., Fan, S., & Cui, Y. (2009) Nanodome Solar Cells with Efficient Light Management and Self-Cleaning. Nano Letters, 2147483647. DOI: 10.1021/nl9034237
- March 13, 2010
- 03:02 PM
- 33 views
Soft, wet and rather tough
by Lars Fischer in EuCheMS 2010 Blog
Hydrogels are the only materials that have the potential to be used as a replacement material for functional tissues like cartilage, sinews or muscles. However, while the biological wet and soft materials have impressive mechanical properties and are generally very tough, conventional hydrogels are rather brittle and tend to disintegrate under duress. With one exception, [...]... Read more »
Gong, J. (2010) Why are double network hydrogels so tough?. Soft Matter. DOI: 10.1039/b924290b
- March 11, 2010
- 01:00 PM
- 33 views
A Synthetic Nose for Coffee and Other Highly Complex Mixtures
by Michael Long in Phased
Kenneth Suslick (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, United States) and coworkers have discriminated between 10 different brands of coffee, based on the volatile chemicals they emit under roasting, within two minutes with a cheap, disposable synthetic nose. This news feature was written on March 11, 2010.... Read more »
Suslick, B. A., Feng, L., & Suslick, K. S. (2010) Discrimination of Complex Mixtures by a Colorimetric Sensor Array: Coffee Aromas. Analytical Chemistry, 82(5), 2067-2073. DOI: 10.1021/ac902823w
- March 10, 2010
- 12:50 PM
- 33 views
Spent Hydrogen Regeneration in Ammonia Borane Derivatives
by Michael Long in Phased
Shin-Yuan Liu (University of Oregon, United States) and coworkers have addressed a challenge that is often brushed aside in hydrogen fuel cell research, but which is absolutely critical for practical, real-world applications. This news feature was written on March 10, 2010.... Read more »
Campbell, P. G., Zakharov, L. N., Grant, D. J., Dixon, D. A., & Liu, S.-Y. (2010) Hydrogen Storage by Boron−Nitrogen Heterocycles: A Simple Route for Spent Fuel Regeneration. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 132(10), 3289-3291. DOI: 10.1021/ja9106622
- March 9, 2010
- 03:09 PM
- 37 views
Screening probes and probing screens
by The Curious Wavefunction in The Curious Wavefunction
High Throughput Screening (HTS), with all its strengths and limitations, is still the single-best way to discover novel interesting molecules in drug discovery. Thomas Kodadek of Scripps Florida has an interesting article on screening in the latest issue of Nat. Chem. Biol which is a special issue on chemical probes. Kodadek talks about the very different properties required for drugs and probes and the limitations and unmet needs in current HTS strategies. He focuses on mainly two kinds of scre........ Read more »
Kodadek, T. (2010) Rethinking screening. Nature Chemical Biology, 6(3), 162-165. DOI: 10.1038/nchembio.303
- March 6, 2010
- 05:33 PM
- 62 views
From Conducting Polimers to First Organic Superconductors
by Olexandr Isayev in isayev.info
This week, I returned from the historic 50th Sanibel Symposium. Over 350 chemists and physicists gathered together to celebrate half-centennial success of quantum and computational chemistry. One lecture that caught my attention was a plenary talk “Conducting Polymers: a saga of more than 50 years” by professor Jean-Marie Andre. Professor Andre emphasized a role [...]... Read more »
Pople, J., & Walmsley, S. (1962) Bond alternation defects in long polyene molecules. Molecular Physics, 5(1), 15-20. DOI: 10.1080/00268976200100021
Su, W., Schrieffer, J., & Heeger, A. (1980) Soliton excitations in polyacetylene. Physical Review B, 22(4), 2099-2111. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.22.2099
Mitsuhashi, R., Suzuki, Y., Yamanari, Y., Mitamura, H., Kambe, T., Ikeda, N., Okamoto, H., Fujiwara, A., Yamaji, M., Kawasaki, N.... (2010) Superconductivity in alkali-metal-doped picene. Nature, 464(7285), 76-79. DOI: 10.1038/nature08859
- March 6, 2010
- 03:22 AM
- 46 views
Blowing molybdenum sulfide bubbles
by Lars Fischer in EuCheMS 2010 Blog
There has been a veritable hype around fullerenes and carbon nanotubes in recent years, so this modification of carbon has extensively researched. What’s a little less known, is that there are other, very similar structures, made of inorganic building blocks, usually transition metal chalcogenides. There is, however, a difference: In most of the inorganic fullerens [...]... Read more »
Yella, A., Panthöfer, M., Kappl, M., & Tremel, W. (2010) Snapshots of the Formation of Inorganic MoS Onion-Type Fullerenes: A “Shrinking Giant Bubble” Pathway . Angewandte Chemie International Edition. DOI: 10.1002/anie.200902481
- March 5, 2010
- 08:18 PM
- 54 views
Shrinky Dinks Thermoplastics: Toying With Cutting Edge Research
by Robert Deyes in Promega Connections
There it sat- a wedge-shaped gift under the Christmas tree, distinct from all the regular oblongs and cubes that had been carefully wrapped by my wife for both the children. As Christmas drew nearer, there was clearly a buzz over what the contents of the mysterious wedge container might be. The outer label which simply [...]... Read more »
Grimes A, Breslauer DN, Long M, Pegan J, Lee LP, & Khine M. (2008) Shrinky-Dink microfluidics: rapid generation of deep and rounded patterns. Lab on a chip, 8(1), 170-2. PMID: 18094775
- March 4, 2010
- 08:00 AM
- 47 views
Forensic saliva test within spitting distance
by sciencebase in Sciencebase Science Blog
The latest issue of SpectroscopyNOW is online. This week I cover everything from MRI for testicular cancer to egg-shaped carbon balls by way of energy molecules, copper proteins, secret writing, first up a forensic test for distinguishing saliva deposits from other substances at a crime scene:
Non-destructive spit test – Raman spectroscopy can identify samples of [...]Forensic saliva test within spitting distance is a post from: Sciencebase Science Blog
... Read more »
Virkler, K., & Lednev, I. (2010) Forensic body fluid identification: The Raman spectroscopic signature of saliva. The Analyst, 135(3), 512. DOI: 10.1039/b919393f
- March 4, 2010
- 06:29 AM
- 48 views
Sildenafil citrate: Entity of the Month
by Duncan Hull in O'Really?
Release 66 of Chemical Entities of Biological Interest (ChEBI) is now available, containing 534,521 total entities, of which 20,151 are annotated entities and 698 were submitted via the ChEBI submission tool. This months entity of the month is Viagra, also known as Sildenafil citrate: (Text below reproduced from ChEBI website)
Few chemical compounds are better known [...]... Read more »
Dunn, P. (2005) Synthesis of Commercial Phosphodiesterase(V) Inhibitors. Organic Process Research , 9(1), 88-97. DOI: 10.1021/op040019c
Webb DJ, Freestone S, Allen MJ, & Muirhead GJ. (1999) Sildenafil citrate and blood-pressure-lowering drugs: results of drug interaction studies with an organic nitrate and a calcium antagonist. The American journal of cardiology, 83(5A). PMID: 10078539
Richalet, J. (2004) Sildenafil Inhibits Altitude-induced Hypoxemia and Pulmonary Hypertension. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 171(3), 275-281. DOI: 10.1164/rccm.200406-804OC
Agostino, P., Plano, S., & Golombek, D. (2007) Sildenafil accelerates reentrainment of circadian rhythms after advancing light schedules. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 104(23), 9834-9839. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0703388104
- March 1, 2010
- 10:10 PM
- 80 views
Superoxygenation: how to prevent alcohol’s nasty side-effects
by aimee in misc.ience
This is great news for all of us drinkers. And, frankly, if I was just a little better at actual chemistry, how I’d make my first couple of fortunes*
And now I have the song ‘Tiny Bubbles‘ stuck, unfortunately, in my head. (When I first heard it, though it was an Aero jingle. Possibly)
So yes. To [...]
[Click on the hyperlinked headline for more of the goodness]... Read more »
In-hwan Baek, Byung-yo Lee, and Kwang-il Kwon. (2010) Influence of Dissolved Oxygen Concentration on the Pharmacokinetics of Alcohol in Humans . Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. info:/10.1111/j.1530-0277.2010.01155.x
- February 27, 2010
- 02:34 PM
- 54 views
Piezoelectric fabric… again
by Lars Fischer in EuCheMS 2010 Blog
The latest edition of Nano Letters has yet another paper about some sort of piezoelectric fabric that generates electricity when deformed. In Theory, you could wear pants made from this stuff and power, say, your watch just by walking around. Admittedly this isn’t exactly novel. We heard about it already in 2003 (pdf), 2007 and [...]... Read more »
Qi, Y., Jafferis, N., Lyons, K., Lee, C., Ahmad, H., & McAlpine, M. (2010) Piezoelectric Ribbons Printed onto Rubber for Flexible Energy Conversion. Nano Letters, 10(2), 524-528. DOI: 10.1021/nl903377u
- February 26, 2010
- 08:48 PM
- 96 views
Some science for raw foodists
by Crystallinity in Chemical Crystallinity
I once lived with a woman who insisted that cooking food broke down the enzymes that we so desperately need from the food....This same roommate also insisted that water kept at room temperature was more "alkaline" than when it was cold. (Though this website insists that the water must have a pH = 10 to have this effect, and that if you drink it, it will clean toxins from your body. She insisted temperature alone achieved this desired effect.) ...She was taking gene........ Read more »
Lo Scalzo, R., Fibiani, M., Mennella, G., Rotino, G., Dal Sasso, M., Culici, M., Spallino, A., & Braga, P. (2010) Thermal Treatment of Eggplant (L.) Increases the Antioxidant Content and the Inhibitory Effect on Human Neutrophil Burst . Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. DOI: 10.1021/jf903881s
- February 24, 2010
- 04:24 PM
- 56 views
Intramolecular hydrogen bonds in medicinal chemistry
by The Curious Wavefunction in The Curious Wavefunction
In the latest issue of J. Med. Chem., researchers from Roche in Basel have a nice analysis of intramolecular hydrogen bonds in druglike molecules. An internal hydrogen bond can intuitively confer an important property on a drug; it can make the drug more lipophilic by shielding the hydrogen bonding groups from solvent and render it more lipophilic. Thus, intramolecular h-bonding has emerged as a useful strategy in improving membrane permeability.The authors look at both the CSD and the PDB and d........ Read more »
Kuhn, B., Mohr, P., & Stahl, M. (2010) Intramolecular Hydrogen Bonding in Medicinal Chemistry. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 2147483647. DOI: 10.1021/jm100087s
- February 21, 2010
- 07:08 PM
- 66 views
More on the M2 Channel Structure Controversy
by Nick Anthis in The Scientific Activist
Last year, I wrote about a scientific controversy over the structure of the influenza M2 proton channel, particularly over the protein's binding site for adamantane type anti-flu drugs. The Schnell/Chou model, based on solution NMR, had the drug binding to the outside of the channel, within the membrane (at a 4:1 drug:protein ratio). On the other hand, the Stouffer/DeGrado model had the drug binding inside the channel (1:1 ratio), based on X-ray crystallography studies.
A new study was recently........ Read more »
Cady, S., Schmidt-Rohr, K., Wang, J., Soto, C., DeGrado, W., & Hong, M. (2010) Structure of the amantadine binding site of influenza M2 proton channels in lipid bilayers. Nature, 463(7281), 689-692. DOI: 10.1038/nature08722
- February 21, 2010
- 09:37 AM
- 77 views
How dangerous are these crystals, then?
by Lars Fischer in EuCheMS 2010 Blog
Recently I came across a very interesting article on the website of the German magazine Der Spiegel, which informed me that the current way of storing highly radioactive waste was unsuitable, and the reason for this is chemical. Says there:
Now a US-German research group, in an Article in Angewandte Chemie, raises doubts about the basic [...]... Read more »
Wang, S., Alekseev, E., Ling, J., Skanthakumar, S., Soderholm, L., Depmeier, W., & Albrecht-Schmitt, T. (2010) Neptunium Diverges Sharply from Uranium and Plutonium in Crystalline Borate Matrixes: Insights into the Complex Behavior of the Early Actinides Relevant to Nuclear Waste Storage. Angewandte Chemie, 122(7), 1285-1288. DOI: 10.1002/ange.200906127
- February 17, 2010
- 11:05 AM
- 71 views
Surface reconstruction in platinum covered with CO
by Lars Fischer in EuCheMS 2010 Blog
Surfaces are full of surprises, and of course mysteries. Ertl described the intricacies of ammonia formation on flat platin surfaces decades ago and won a Nobel for it, but what happens between real catalysts and the reactions they accelerate remains largely unknown. When it comes to the behavior of steps, kinks and other surface features [...]... Read more »
Tao, F., Dag, S., Wang, L., Liu, Z., Butcher, D., Bluhm, H., Salmeron, M., & Somorjai, G. (2010) Break-Up of Stepped Platinum Catalyst Surfaces by High CO Coverage. Science, 327(5967), 850-853. DOI: 10.1126/science.1182122
- February 16, 2010
- 07:33 PM
- 58 views
Pinacol boronates from arylamines
by Crystallinity in Chemical Crystallinity
Pinacol boronates are important synthetic building blocks used predominantly in the Suzuki-Miyura coupling reaction. Instead of a boronic acid, R-B(OH)2, the hydroxyls are substituted with a cyclic organic moiety, commonly pinacol. These compounds are often generated via iridium catalysis with alcohols and diboron starting materials; the use of metals in their synthesis complicates industry synthesis, however, as boronic acids and esters at time can be unstable and thus difficult to purify. Pri........ Read more »
Mo, F., Jiang, Y., Qiu, D., Zhang, Y., & Wang, J. (2010) Direct Conversion of Arylamines to Pinacol Boronates: A Metal-Free Borylation Process. Angewandte Chemie International Edition. DOI: 10.1002/anie.200905824
- February 14, 2010
- 04:33 PM
- 87 views
Stronger than ceramic yet supple as metals
by Akshat Rathi in Contemplation
Researchers at the California Institute of Technology have developed a material that has ceramic-like strength and metal-like ductility. They have achieved this feat through the use of zirconium based metallic glasses and nano-sized pillared structure.... Read more »
Jang, D., & Greer, J. (2010) Transition from a strong-yet-brittle to a stronger-and-ductile state by size reduction of metallic glasses. Nature Materials. DOI: 10.1038/nmat2622
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