Chemistry

The club moss Lycopodium serratum is a creeping, flowerless plant purportedly used to treat a wide variety of ailments. It contains a brew of alkaloids that have attracted scientific and medical interest because of the use of the moss in homeopathy. However, the plant makes many of these compounds in extremely low amounts, hindering efforts to test their therapeutic value. That is no longer a problem for what is arguably the most complex of these alkaloids, a compound called Serratezomine A: an alkaloid that could have anti-cancer properties and may combat memory loss. A team of synthetic…

Scientists have completed the first study of microbes that live within the plumbing of deep-sea mud volcanoes in the Gulf of Mexico, where conditions may resemble those in extraterrestrial environments and early Earth. The study was conducted in an area where clusters of seafloor vents spew mud, oil, brine and gases that support food chains independently of the Sun. And it's about time.  Only about five percent of the world's oceans have been explored but the dark side of the moon has been throughly mapped. Specialized Microbes Thrive in Harsh Environments A team lead by Samantha Joye…

Researchers at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) have developed an entirely new method for starting chemical reactions. For the first time they used mechanical forces to control catalytic activity – one of the most fundamental concepts in chemistry. This allowed them to initiate chemical reactions with mechanical force. This discovery paves the way to developing materials capable of repairing themselves under the influence of mechanical tension. The results of their research were published in Nature Chemistry. Molecular ripcordThe research team (Dr. Alessio Piermattei, Dr. Karthik…

Dr. Aleem Gangjee, Distinguished Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at Duquesne University’s Mylan School of Pharmacy, and his team of collaborators continue to test a compound that appears not only to prevent cancer tumors from developing but to eliminate already-existing tumors. In 2008, tests of a new compound developed by Gangjee showed that it stifled the growth of cancer tumors, which were composed of KB tumor cells, in mice. An unexpected result also showed that the compound shrunk and eventually eliminated cancer tumors in another group of mice, which remained tumor-free for 60 days. “…

Chemists at the University of Illinois have created a simple and inexpensive molecular technique that replaces an expensive atomic force microscope for studying what happens to small molecules when they are stretched or compressed.  The researchers use stiff stilbene, a small, inert structure, as a molecular force probe to generate well-defined forces on various molecules, atom by atom.  "By pulling on different pairs of atoms, we can explore what happens when we stretch a molecule in different ways," said chemistry professor Roman Boulatov. "That information tells us a lot about…

Physicists at Michigan Technological University have filled in some longtime blank spaces on the periodic table, calculating electron affinities of the lanthanides, a series of 15 elements known as rare earths. "Electron affinity" is the amount of energy required to detach an electron from an anion, or negative ion (an atom with an extra electron orbiting around its nucleus). Elements with low electron affinities (like iron) give up that extra electron easily. Elements with high electron affinities (like chlorine) do not. "I remember learning about electron affinities in 10th grade chemistry…

The most abundant material on Earth exhibits some unusual chemical properties when placed under extreme conditions. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists have shown that water, in hot dense environments, plays an unexpected role in catalyzing complex explosive reactions. A catalyst is a compound that speeds chemical reactions without being consumed. Platinum and enzymes are common catalysts. But water rarely, if ever, acts as a catalyst under ordinary conditions. Detonations of high explosives made up of oxygen and hydrogen produce water at thousands of degrees Kelvin and up to…

That guy who gets in the elevator reeking of Drakkar Noir is nothing new - the Ancient Egyptians cherished their fragrant scents, too.   In a new part of its permanent exhibition, Bonn University's Egyptian Museum has on display a particularly well preserved example of that. Screening this 3,500-year-old flacon with a computer tomograph, scientists at the university detected the desiccated residues of a fluid, which they now want to submit to further analysis. They might even succeed in reconstructing this scent. Pharaoh Hatshepsut was a power-conscious woman who assumed the reins of…

What had once been impossible has now been shown to be possible – an alloy between two incompatible elements. A research team led by Professor H.K. Mao from Carnegie Institution of Washington and Professor Rajeev Ahuja from UU have used high pressure experiments and theoretical calculations to study the behavior of Ce3Al under high pressure. "We were surprised to find that Cerium and Aluminium formed a so called substitutional alloy under high pressure. Forming these alloys has been limited to elements close in atomic radii and electronegativity up until now", sais Professor Rajeev Ahuja of…

An international team of researchers has discovered a new chemical compound that consists of a single element―boron. Chemical compounds are conventionally defined as substances consist of two or more elements, but the researchers found that a high pressure and temperature pure boron can assume two distinct forms that bond together to create a novel 'compound' called boron boride. Because of its low mass, high strength, and response to neutron irradiation, boron has important applications in technology, including nuclear engineering and in extreme environments. The recent work builds on the…