Why Chemists Can"t Quit Palladium
A retracted paper highlights chemistry's history of trying to avoid the expensive, toxic -- but necessary -- catalyst. From a report: It's hard to find a place on Earth untouched by palladium. The silvery-white metal is a key part of catalytic conver.....»»
Google as Darth Vader: Why iA Writer quit the Android app market
A remarkably open farewell note from seven years of Android development. The team behind iA Writer, a distraction-free writing app that syncs across platforms, has left its Androi.....»»
Despite stricter regulations, Europe has issues with tattoo ink ingredients
"Clients and artists have a right to know what's in the inks they are using.” Recently, chemists at Binghamton University learned that many tattoo inks in the US contain differe.....»»
Designing multifunctional framework materials for sustainable photocatalysis
The goal of sustainable chemistry has motivated chemists to use renewable energy in chemical reactions, minimizing hazardous waste, and maximizing atom economy. Nature provides a blueprint with photosynthesis, in which carbohydrates are produced from.....»»
Bioengineers and chemists design fluorescent 3D-printed structures with potential medical applications
In a process as simple as stirring eggs and flour into pancakes, University of Oregon researchers have mixed fluorescent ring-shaped molecules into a novel 3D printing process. The result: intricate glowing structures that support the development of.....»»
Affordable iron catalysts offer a sustainable route to prized Z-alkenes
Chemists from the National University of Singapore (NUS) have developed an iron-catalyzed method that overcomes a significant challenge in the sustainable synthesis of trisubstituted Z-alkenes by inserting two alkyl chemical groups into a type of com.....»»
Simultaneous detection of uranium isotopes and fluorine advances nuclear nonproliferation monitoring
Combining two techniques, analytical chemists at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have become the first to detect fluorine and different isotopes of uranium in a single particle at the same time. Because fluorine is essential.....»»
"Tamed" molecules for more sustainable catalysts: Chemists succeed in synthesizing a spectacular gallium compound
Catalysts play an important role in the manufacture of many products that we encounter in everyday life—for example in cars for exhaust gas purification or in the chemical industry in the production of fertilizers. Catalysts ensure that these react.....»»
Chemists discover new ways in which single-celled organisms organize their DNA
It has only recently been discovered that single-celled organisms (bacteria and archaea) also have histones—proteins that structure DNA. Now, Leiden Ph.D. candidate Samuel Schwab has found that the histones in these organisms are much more diverse.....»»
Visible-light-antenna ligand enhances samarium-catalyzed reactions
Samarium (Sm), a rare earth metal, is important to organic chemists because of the ability of its divalent compounds to efficiently perform single-electron transfer reductions......»»
Enzyme-inspired catalyst puts chemicals in right position to make ethers
Taking inspiration from enzymes, chemists at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign developed a catalyst to simplify the synthesis of ethers, key functional components of many drugs, foods, personal care items and other consumer goods. The catal.....»»
Catalyzing environmental cleanup: A highly active and selective molecular catalyst and electrified membrane
Some chemicals create environmental problems; others, fortunately, can help clean them up. Chemists from Yale University and their colleagues have developed an electrochemical catalyst and membrane that offers an efficient and sustainable way to trea.....»»
Supramolecular material able to store compressed hydrogen in a way that is not too heavy
A team of chemists with members from the University of Hong Kong, Northwestern University and Duke University has developed a supramolecular material that can be used to compress hydrogen for storage that is not too heavy. In their study, published i.....»»
Chemists create industrially important alkyl amines from dinitrogen and alkenes
A critical chemical bond can be assembled using dinitrogen (N2)—a molecule freely available in the air around us—chemists at RIKEN have shown in a new article published in Nature......»»
Chemists create gel to prevent leaks and boost lithium-ion battery life
A new type of gel, developed by chemists at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU), could help to make lithium-ion batteries safer and more powerful. The gel is designed to prevent the highly flammable electrolyte fluid from leaking......»»
Chemists achieve PFAS-free synthesis of fluorinated pharmaceutical and agrochemical compounds
Chemists at the University of Amsterdam have developed a method to furnish a range of molecules with a trifluoromethyl group attached to a sulfur, nitrogen or oxygen atom. Their procedure, which is published in Science, avoids the use of PFAS reagent.....»»
A way to recover silver from dead solar panels with 98% efficiency
A multi-institutional team of chemists, metallurgists and engineers has developed a highly efficient way to retrieve silver from dead solar panels. Their paper is published in Environmental Technology & Innovation......»»
New "chiral vortex" of light allows chemists to "see" molecules through the mirror
An entirely new structure of light is helping to measure chirality in molecules more accurately and robustly than ever before, in a major potential step for the pharmaceutical industry......»»
Chemists succeed in upscaling a common reagent for industrial level applications
The metallic element samarium, when bound with other elements, is an incredibly useful chemical reagent for synthesizing molecules that can lead to new pharmaceuticals. Discovered in a Russian mine in 1879, the element was named after the mineral it.....»»
Chemists synthesize plant-derived molecules that hold potential as pharmaceuticals
MIT chemists have developed a new way to synthesize complex molecules that were originally isolated from plants and could hold potential as antibiotics, analgesics, or cancer drugs......»»
PhAI—an AI system that figures out the phase of x-rays that crystals have diffracted
A trio of chemists at the University of Copenhagen has developed an AI application that can be used to figure out the phase of x-rays that crystals have diffracted as part of efforts to predict the structure of small molecules......»»