Organic Chemistry News

May 8, 2024

Top Headlines

Why Is Breaking Down Plant Material for Biofuels So Slow?

May 7, 2024 — Tracking individual enzymes during the breakdown of cellulose for biofuel production has revealed how several roadblocks slow this process when using plant material that might otherwise go to waste. The research may lead to new ways to improve the ...

'Better Than Graphene' Material Development May Improve Implantable Technology

May 7, 2024 — Move over, graphene. There's a new, improved two-dimensional material in the lab. Borophene, the atomically thin version of boron first synthesized in 2015, is more conductive, thinner, lighter, ...

Caterbot? Robatapillar? It Crawls With Ease Through Loops and Bends

May 6, 2024 — Engineers created a catapillar-shaped robot that splits into segments and reassembles, hauls cargo, and crawls through twisting ...

Researchers Create New Chemical Compound to Solve 120-Year-Old Problem

May 2, 2024 — Chemists have created a highly reactive chemical compound that has eluded scientists for more than 120 years. The discovery could lead to new drug treatments, safer agricultural products, and better ...

Latest Headlines

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High-Pressure Spectroscopy: Why 3,000 Bars Are Needed to Take a Comprehensive Look at a Protein

May 6, 2024 — Why 3,000 bars are needed to take a comprehensive look at a protein: Researchers present a new high-pressure spectroscopy method to unravel the ...

New Approach in the Synthesis of Complex Natural Substances

May 2, 2024 — Many natural substances possess interesting characteristics, and can form the basis of new active compounds in medicine. Terpenes, for example, are a group of substances, some of which are already ...

Scientists Solve Chemical Mystery at the Interface of Biology and Technology

Apr. 30, 2024 — Organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) allow current to flow in devices like implantable biosensors. But scientists long knew about a quirk of ...

Research on RNA Editing Illuminates Possible Lifesaving Treatments for Genetic Diseases

Apr. 29, 2024 — The research explores how CRISPR can be used to edit ...

When Does a Conductor Not Conduct?

Apr. 29, 2024 — A new study uncovers a switchable, atomically-thin metal-organic material that could be used in future low-energy electronic technologies. The study shows that electron interactions in this material ...

A Shortcut for Drug Discovery

Apr. 25, 2024 — For most human proteins, there are no small molecules known to bind them chemically (so called 'ligands'). Ligands frequently represent important starting points for drug development but this ...

Getting Dynamic Information from Static Snapshots

Apr. 26, 2024 — Researchers have created TopicVelo, a powerful new method of using the static snapshots from scRNA-seq to study how cells and genes change over time. This will help researchers better study how ...

Nanomaterial That Mimics Proteins Could Be Basis for New Neurodegenerative Disease Treatments

Apr. 25, 2024 — A newly developed nanomaterial that mimics the behavior of proteins could be an effective tool for treating Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative ...

The Longer Spilled Oil Lingers in Freshwater, the More Persistent Compounds It Produces

Apr. 25, 2024 — Oil is an important natural resource for many industries, but it can lead to serious environmental damage when accidentally spilled. While large oil ...

The Secret to Saving Old Books Could Be Gluten-Free Glues

Apr. 25, 2024 — 'Bookworm' is a cute thing to call a voracious reader, but actual bookworms -- as well as microorganisms and time -- break down the flour pastes commonly used to keep old publications in one piece. ...

Biophysics: Testing How Well Biomarkers Work

Apr. 24, 2024 — Researchers have developed a method to determine how reliably target proteins can be labeled using super-resolution fluorescence ...

A Chemical Mystery Solved -- The Reaction Explaining Large Carbon Sinks

Apr. 24, 2024 — A mystery that has puzzled the scientific community for over 50 years has finally been solved. A team has discovered that a certain type of chemical reaction can explain why organic matter found in ...

Researchers Create Artificial Cells That Act Like Living Cells

Apr. 23, 2024 — Researchers describe the steps they took to manipulate DNA and proteins -- essential building blocks of life -- to create cells that look and act like cells from the body. This accomplishment, a ...

New Copper-Catalyzed C-H Activation Strategy

Apr. 20, 2024 — Inspired by what human liver enzymes can do, chemists have developed a new set of copper-catalyzed organic synthesis reactions for building and modifying pharmaceuticals and other molecules. The new ...

Light Show in Living Cells

Apr. 19, 2024 — Observing proteins precisely within cells is extremely important for many branches of research but has been a significant technical challenge -- especially in living cells, as the required ...

From Defects to Order: Spontaneously Emerging Crystal Arrangements in Perovskite Halides

Apr. 17, 2024 — A new hybrid layered perovskite featuring elusive spontaneous defect ordering has been found, report scientists. By introducing specific concentrations of thiocyanate ions into FAPbI3 (FA = ...

Researchers Advance Pigment Chemistry With Moon-Inspired Reddish Magentas

Apr. 16, 2024 — A researcher who made color history in 2009 with a vivid blue pigment has developed durable, reddish magentas inspired by lunar mineralogy and ancient Egyptian ...

Innovative Antiviral Defense With New CRISPR Tool

Apr. 12, 2024 — The rise of RNA viruses like SARS-CoV-2 highlights the need for new ways to fight them. RNA-targeting tools like CRISPR/Cas13 are powerful but inefficient in the cytoplasm of cells, where many RNA ...

A New Spin on Organic Shampoo Makes It Sudsier, Longer Lasting

Apr. 11, 2024 — While there's no regulation in the U.S. for what's in organic shampoos, they tend to contain ingredients perceived as safe or environmentally friendly. However, these 'clean' ...

Nanoscale Movies Shed Light on One Barrier to a Clean Energy Future

Apr. 11, 2024 — New research is shedding light on one barrier to a clean energy future: corrosion. Using nanoscale imaging techniques, researchers have captured high-resolution videos of tiny crystals of ruthenium ...

New Strategy for Assessing the Applicability of Reactions

Apr. 10, 2024 — Chemists show that a machine-based method prevents widespread 'bias' in chemical ...

Protecting Art and Passwords With Biochemistry

Apr. 8, 2024 — A new molecular test method helps to prove the authenticity of works of art. The new method could also help to make passwords secure against quantum ...

A Simple, Inexpensive Way to Make Carbon Atoms Bind Together

Apr. 5, 2024 — The active ingredient in many drugs is what's known as a small molecule: bigger than water, much smaller than an antibody and mainly made of carbon. It's tough, however, to make these ...

Chemistry Researchers Modify Solar Technology to Produce a Less Harmful Greenhouse Gas

Apr. 2, 2024 — Researchers are using semiconductors to harvest and convert the sun's energy into high-energy compounds that have the potential to produce environmentally-friendly ...

Engineers 'Symphonize' Cleaner Ammonia Production

Apr. 1, 2024 — Among the many chemicals we use every day, ammonia is one of the worst for the atmosphere. The nitrogen-based chemical used in fertilizer, dyes, explosives and many other products ranks second only ...

New Approach to Monitoring Freshwater Quality Can Identify Sources of Pollution, and Predict Their Effects

Mar. 28, 2024 — Analysing the diversity of organic compounds dissolved in freshwater provides a reliable measure of ecosystem health, say ...

Research Lights Up Process for Turning CO2 Into Sustainable Fuel

Mar. 25, 2024 — Researchers have successfully transformed CO2 into methanol by shining sunlight on single atoms of copper deposited on a light-activated material, a discovery that paves the way for creating new ...

New Reactor Could Save Millions When Making Ingredients for Plastics and Rubber from Natural Gas

Mar. 25, 2024 — A new way to make an important ingredient for plastics, adhesives, carpet fibers, household cleaners and more from natural gas could reduce manufacturing costs in a post-petroleum economy by millions ...

Recyclable Reagent and Sunlight Convert Carbon Monoxide Into Methanol

Mar. 20, 2024 — Scientists have demonstrated the selective conversion of carbon dioxide (CO2) into methanol using a cascade reaction strategy. The two-part process is powered by sunlight, occurs at room temperature ...

Is Food Waste the Key to Sustainable, Plastic-Free Diapers and Sanitary Pads?

Mar. 19, 2024 — Once thrown away, disposable diapers and sanitary pads can take hundreds of years to decompose, because they contain plastics and other synthetic polymers. But now, researchers are replacing these ...