News tagged with organic chemistry

Efficient preparation of a set of potential glycosidase inhibitors

(Phys.org) -- In many biological and pathological processes, glycosidase enzymes attack glycosidic bonds in carbohydrates, glycoproteins, and glycolipids. The ability to modify or block these processes by ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created May 29, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Copy of the genetic makeup travels in a protein suitcase

Scientists from the Institute for Physical and Theoretical Chemistry at the University of Bonn have succeeded for the first time in the real time filming of the transport of an important information carrier in biological ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created May 25, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Researchers demonstrate possible primitive mechanism of chemical info self-replication

(Phys.org) -- When scientists think about the replication of information in chemistry, they usually have in mind something akin to what happens in living organisms when DNA gets copied: a double-stranded molecule ...

Chemistry / Materials Science

created May 25, 2012 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (6) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Organic carbon from Mars, but not biological

(Phys.org) -- Molecules containing large chains of carbon and hydrogen--the building blocks of all life on Earth--have been the targets of missions to Mars from Viking to the present day. While these molecules ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created May 24, 2012 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (5) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Strategy discovered to activate genes that suppress tumors and inhibit cancer

(Medical Xpress) -- A team of scientists has developed a promising new strategy for "reactivating" genes that cause cancer tumors to shrink and die. The researchers hope that their discovery will aid in the ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created May 21, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (8) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

SDSC's Trestles supercomputer speeds clean energy research

A team of Harvard University researchers has been allocated time on the Trestles supercomputer at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at the University of California, San Diego to perform computational calculations ...

Technology / Other

created Apr 23, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1

How tropolones synthesized in fungi: 70-year-old chemical mystery solved

Chemists and biologists from the University of Bristol have finally cracked one of the longest standing chemical mysteries. In a paper published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team demons ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Apr 16, 2012 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Gases drawn into particles stay there

(Phys.org) -- Contrary to expectations, formation and growth of complex organic particles generated during oxidation of volatile organic molecules by ozone and nitrate follows a non-equilibrium path, according ...

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Apr 09, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Predicting how proteins will partner

Growing up with a father who taught at Cornell University, and surrounded by friends whose parents were also on Cornell faculty, Amy Keating had little doubt that she would follow the same path.

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Mar 28, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Safer way to make diazomethane developed

(PhysOrg.com) -- Diazomethane is a toxic, explosive reagent prepared as needed in laboratories, where it is commonly used in cyclopropanation, but its explosive nature prevents it being used widely on an industrial ...

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Mar 23, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (9) | comments 0 | with audio podcast report

Keeping track to selenium metabolism

Spanish and Danish researchers have developed a method for the in vivo study of the unknown metabolism of selenium, an essential element for living beings. The technique can help clarify whether or not it ...

Chemistry / Analytical Chemistry

created Mar 21, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Proteins shine a brighter light on cellular processes

Scientists have designed a molecule which, in living cells, emits turquoise light three times brighter than possible until recently. This improves the sensitivity of cellular imaging, a technique where biological ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Mar 20, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Characterization of winter organic aerosols in Beijing, China

Organic aerosol (OA) is a crucial component of atmospheric fine particles. To achieve a better understanding of the sources of OA is very significant for air pollution control. In the 2012, Vol 57(7) of Chinese Sc ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Mar 05, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

New method to clean and treat polluted water for extraction of chemicals

Scientists in Poland have discovered that it is easy to clean and treat polluted water for extraction of valuable chemicals, such as those used in the production of drugs. The upshot of this is that the use ...

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Feb 24, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Chemists reveal how algae delete unwanted 'competitors'

Every morning when the sun comes up, the ocean ground is radically cleaned. As soon as the first rays of sunlight find their way into the water, the microalgae "Nitzschia cf pellucida" start their deadly 'morning ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Jan 30, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Organic chemistry

Organic chemistry is a discipline within chemistry which involves the scientific study of the structure, properties, composition, reactions, and preparation (by synthesis or by other means) of chemical compounds that contain carbon. These compounds may contain any number of other elements, including hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, the halogens as well as phosphorus, silicon and sulfur.

The original definition of "organic" chemistry came from the misconception that organic compounds were always related to life processes. However, organic molecules can be produced by processes not involving life. Life as we know it also depends on inorganic chemistry. For example, many enzymes rely on transition metals such as iron and copper; and materials such as shells, teeth and bones are part organic, part inorganic in composition. Apart from elemental carbon, only certain classes of carbon compounds (such as oxides, carbonates, and carbides) are conventionally considered inorganic. Biochemistry deals mainly with the natural chemistry of biomolecules such as proteins, nucleic acids, and sugars.

Because of their unique properties, multi-carbon compounds exhibit extremely large variety and the range of application of organic compounds is enormous. They form the basis of, or are important constituents of many products (paints, plastics, food, explosives, drugs, petrochemicals, to name but a few) and (apart from a very few exceptions) they form the basis of all earthly life processes.

The different shapes and chemical reactivities of organic molecules provide an astonishing variety of functions, like those of enzyme catalysts in biochemical reactions of live systems.

Current (as of 2008) trends in organic chemistry include chiral synthesis, green chemistry, microwave chemistry, fullerenes and microwave spectroscopy.

For more information about Organic chemistry, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.