It's springtime on campus, which means that flowers and plants of all kinds are bursting to life, growing and blooming.
Plants & Animals
May 31, 2023
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8
Nonfood, plant-based biofuels have potential as a green alternative to fossil fuels, but the enzymes required for production are too inefficient and costly to produce. However, new research published in Chemical Science is ...
Biochemistry
May 10, 2023
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16
Cellulose nanocrystal (CNC), an emerging bio-based material, has been widely applied in fields such as electronics, bioplastics and energy. However, the functional failure of such materials in wet or liquid environments inevitably ...
Bio & Medicine
May 8, 2023
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135
Water isn't just a universal solvent that remains unaffected by its interactions. New publications from North Carolina State University show that water can change its solubility characteristics depending upon what it interacts ...
Analytical Chemistry
May 3, 2023
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109
Single-use hard plastics are pervasive: utensils, party decorations and food containers, to name a few examples. These items pile up in landfills, and many biodegradable versions stick around for months, requiring industrial ...
Materials Science
Apr 12, 2023
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37
A study proposes a new way to prevent mosquito bites, based on an inexpensive and readily available biomolecule. Mosquitos spread potentially fatal diseases affecting humans, including malaria, zika, chikungunya, and yellow ...
Bio & Medicine
Apr 12, 2023
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128
A fungus that plagues rice crops worldwide gains entry to plant cells in a way that leaves it vulnerable to simple chemical blockers, a discovery that could lead to new fungicides to reduce the substantial annual losses of ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Feb 13, 2023
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82
Cellulose nanocrystals—bio-based nanomaterials derived from natural resources such as plant cellulose—are valuable for their use in water treatment, packaging, tissue engineering, electronics, antibacterial coatings and ...
Nanomaterials
Jan 11, 2023
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149
Scientists from the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have demonstrated the use of controllably synthesized single-atom catalysts (SACs) to depict the relationship between electrocatalytic ...
Materials Science
Nov 14, 2022
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201
The Bioproduct Chemistry team at Aalto University have designed a sustainable method to produce strong and flexible cellulosic films that incredibly maintain their strength even when wet.
Bio & Medicine
Nov 8, 2022
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136
Cellulose is an organic compound with the formula (C6H10O5)n, a polysaccharide consisting of a linear chain of several hundred to over ten thousand β(1→4) linked D-glucose units.
Cellulose is the structural component of the primary cell wall of green plants, many forms of algae and the oomycetes. Some species of bacteria secrete it to form biofilms. Cellulose is the most common organic compound on Earth. About 33 percent of all plant matter is cellulose (the cellulose content of cotton is 90 percent and that of wood is 50 percent).
For industrial use, cellulose is mainly obtained from wood pulp and cotton. It is mainly used to produce cardboard and paper; to a smaller extent it is converted into a wide variety of derivative products such as cellophane and rayon. Converting cellulose from energy crops into biofuels such as cellulosic ethanol is under investigation as an alternative fuel source.
Some animals, particularly ruminants and termites, can digest cellulose with the help of symbiotic micro-organisms that live in their guts. Cellulose is not digestible by humans and is often referred to as 'dietary fiber' or 'roughage', acting as a hydrophilic bulking agent for feces.
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