http://phys.org/chemistry-news/ en-us PhysOrg Team Phys.Org provides the latest news on chemistry, biochemistry, polymers, materials science Working with researchers in the US and Germany, Johannes Messinger at Umea University (Sweden) is opening new avenues to understand photosynthesis and create artificial photosynthesis. Using x-ray analysis, they have managed to see the structure of molecules under conditions where photosynthesis can occur, and they have also found that calcium plays a critical role in decomposing water. http://phys.org/news258043471.html Chemistry 2012-06-04T15:44:40-07:00 Toshiyuki Ikoma and Junzo Tanaka have developed technology for producing artificial bones from fish scales and apatite. http://phys.org/news258016654.html Chemistry 2012-06-04T08:18:00-07:00 A new study led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute suggests that the replication process for DNA—the genetic instructions for living organisms that is composed of four bases (C, G, A and T)—is more open to unnatural letters than had previously been thought. An expanded "DNA alphabet" could carry more information than natural DNA, potentially coding for a much wider range of molecules and enabling a variety of powerful applications, from precise molecular probes and nanomachines to useful new life forms. http://phys.org/news257922313.html Chemistry 2012-06-03T13:00:11-07:00 A new type of durable, environmentally-benign blue pigment discovered at Oregon State University has also been found to have unusual characteristics in reflecting heat – it's a "cool blue" compound that could become important in new approaches to saving energy in buildings. http://phys.org/news257770600.html Chemistry 2012-06-01T11:56:46-07:00 An economical and easy-to-use biosensor could reduce the chance of being poisoned by arsenic – a common contaminant of wells in parts of Asia. http://phys.org/news257759387.html Chemistry 2012-06-01T09:00:02-07:00 Imitating the antennas of the silkmoth, Bombyx mori, to design a system for detecting explosives with unparalleled performance is the feat achieved by a French research team. Made up of a silicon microcantilever bearing nearly 500,000 aligned titanium dioxide nanotubes, this device is capable of detecting concentrations of trinitrotoluene (TNT) of around 800 ppq (i.e. 800 molecules of explosive per 1015 molecules of air), thereby improving one thousand-fold the detection limit attainable until now. This innovative concept could also be used to detect drugs, toxic agents and traces of organic pollutants. This work is published on 29 May 2012 in the journal Angewandte Chemie. http://phys.org/news257759215.html Chemistry 2012-06-01T08:48:39-07:00 (Phys.org) -- A simple three-step chemical reaction which could herald the introduction of new sustainable feedstocks for the chemical industry has been developed by scientists at The University of Nottingham. http://phys.org/news257758971.html Chemistry 2012-06-01T08:43:05-07:00 (Phys.org) -- The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) today officially approved new names for elements 114 and 116, the latest heavy elements to be added to the periodic table. http://phys.org/news257703652.html Chemistry 2012-05-31T17:21:25-07:00 On the periodic table of the elements, iron and magnesium are far apart. But new evidence suggests that 3 billion years ago, iron did the chemical work now done by magnesium in helping RNA fold and function properly. http://phys.org/news257702294.html Chemistry 2012-05-31T17:01:41-07:00 University of Alberta researchers have made breakthrough use of 3-D magnetic resonance technology to map the structure of a common fungus that is potentially deadly for individuals with impaired immune function. The work could pave the way for development of an effective vaccine. http://phys.org/news257687394.html Chemistry 2012-05-31T12:50:23-07:00 Researchers at Dana-Farber/Children's Hospital Cancer Center have devised a strategy to directly activate a natural "death" protein, triggering the self-destruction of cells. They say the development could represent a new paradigm for designing cancer drugs. http://phys.org/news257686553.html Chemistry 2012-05-31T12:36:09-07:00 Many pharmaceutical companies in a new survey are making progress in embracing the guiding principles of green chemistry, which seek to minimize the use of potentially hazardous substances in producing medications, reduce the generation of waste and operate in other environmentally friendly ways. That's the conclusion of the cover story in the current edition of Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world's largest scientific society. http://phys.org/news257680590.html Chemistry 2012-05-31T10:56:36-07:00 (Phys.org) -- Swiss researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a plaster that accelerates wound healing and is easily removed from the wound at any time. Burn victims in particular may profit from this invention in the future. http://phys.org/news257674025.html Chemistry 2012-05-31T09:30:01-07:00 Najua Tulos and co-researchers of the Faculty of Applied Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Shah Alam, studied the potential of chitosan to dye polyester fabric. Produced commercially by removing the acetyl groups from chitin (a derivative of glucose), chitosan was found to greatly improve the colourfastness of polyester fabrics. http://phys.org/news257674126.html Chemistry 2012-05-31T09:09:46-07:00 (Phys.org) -- Johns Hopkins scientists have engineered cells that behave like AND and OR Boolean logic gates, producing an output based on one or more unique inputs. This feat, published in the May issue of Nature Chemical Biology, could eventually help researchers create computers that use cells as tiny circuits. http://phys.org/news257673631.html Chemistry 2012-05-31T09:00:49-07:00 (Phys.org) -- Cooking exhaust hoods designed for home kitchens vary widely in their ability to capture and vent away the air pollutants generated by the gas burners on cook stoves, according to a study by two Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) scientists. Of seven representative devices they tested, the capture efficiency varied from less than 15 percent to more than 98 percent. http://phys.org/news257663056.html Chemistry 2012-05-31T06:40:01-07:00 (Phys.org) -- Stainless steel is the icon of cleanliness for home and commercial kitchens, restaurants, hospitals and other settings, but it can collect disease-causing bacteria like other surfaces if not cleaned often. Scientists now are reporting discovery, in the ACS journal Langmuir, of a practical way to make stainless steel that disinfects itself. http://phys.org/news257662902.html Chemistry 2012-05-31T06:30:01-07:00 Scientists are reporting development of a new paper-based device that can warn workers that they are being exposed to potentially unhealthy levels of airborne metals almost immediately, instead of the weeks required with current technology. The report on the device, which costs about one cent to make and could prevent illness in the millions of people who work with metal, appears in ACS’ journal Analytical Chemistry. http://phys.org/news257662553.html Chemistry 2012-05-31T05:56:30-07:00 A Japanese research team headed by Dr. Takashi Nakanishi of the National Institute for Materials Science developed a nonvolatile liquid material which emits white light at room temperature. http://phys.org/news257607175.html Chemistry 2012-05-30T14:33:11-07:00 Researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, have developed a novel approach for eradicating drug-resistant bacteria from wounds and skin infections, using light to trigger the controlled release of nitric oxide. The UCSC team developed a photoactive compound that releases nitric oxide when exposed to light, and loaded it into a porous, biocompatible material that could be applied as a sprayable powder. http://phys.org/news257602091.html Chemistry 2012-05-30T13:20:01-07:00 Synthetic platelets have been developed by UC Santa Barbara researchers, in collaboration with researchers at Scripps Research Institute and Sanford-Burnham Institute in La Jolla, Calif. Their findings are published in the journal Advanced Materials in a paper titled "Platelet Mimetic Particles for Targeting Thrombi in Flowing Blood." http://phys.org/news257602714.html Chemistry 2012-05-30T13:18:41-07:00 (Phys.org) -- Inexpensive, portable devices that can rapidly screen cells for leukemia or HIV may soon be possible thanks to a chip that can produce three-dimensional focusing of a stream of cells, according to researchers. http://phys.org/news257589325.html Chemistry 2012-05-30T09:35:49-07:00 A new method for rapidly solving the three-dimensional structures of a special group of proteins, known as integral membrane proteins, may speed drug discovery by providing scientists with precise targets for new therapies, according to a paper published May 20 in Nature Methods. http://phys.org/news257589184.html Chemistry 2012-05-30T09:33:15-07:00 Researchers have delved into the dynamics of vapour condensation on surfaces. Project outcomes have potential commercial applications to a variety of fields. http://phys.org/news257587239.html Chemistry 2012-05-30T09:20:03-07:00 The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released a new standard reference material (SRM) to aid in the detection of two explosive compounds that are known to be used by terrorists. Researchers designed the new test samples to simulate the size and behavior of residues that remain after handling the explosives PETN (pentaerythritol tetranitrate) and TATP (triacetone triperoxide). Instrument developers, academic researchers and government labs can use the SRM to test, refine and validate their new detector designs. http://phys.org/news257587171.html Chemistry 2012-05-30T08:59:51-07:00 (Phys.org) -- Researchers at the University of Alberta's physics department and the National Institute for Nanotechnology (NINT) are the first to map out the folding pathways of prions, malformed proteins that lead to diseases such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, or "mad cow" disease) in cattle. http://phys.org/news257585604.html Chemistry 2012-05-30T08:33:37-07:00 Professor Adrian Mulholland and Dr Christopher Woods from Bristol's School of Chemistry, together with colleagues in Thailand, used graphics processing units (GPUs) to simulate the molecular processes that take place when these drugs are used to treat the H1N1-2009 strain of influenza – commonly known as 'swine flu'. http://phys.org/news257516015.html Chemistry 2012-05-29T13:13:41-07:00 Klas Tybrandt, doctoral student in organic electronics at Linkoping University, Sweden, has developed an integrated chemical chip. The results have just been published in Nature Communications. http://phys.org/news257515953.html Chemistry 2012-05-29T13:13:01-07:00 (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 specific glycosidase inhibitors forms the basis for their potential use in the treatment of viral infections, cancer, and genetic disorders. http://phys.org/news257503338.html Chemistry 2012-05-29T09:42:45-07:00 Coherent Raman scattering methods have one key advantage over spontaneous Raman microscopy: speed. The (sub-)microsecond pixel dwell times offered by narrowband CRS imaging methods have initiated a new era of chemical imaging applications in biology and biomedicine. http://phys.org/news257503142.html Chemistry 2012-05-29T09:39:25-07:00