How much do you look beyond the top few rows of elements in the periodic table? Prepare to do just that in today’s chembite as we explore some astatine chemistry!
Understanding the Molecular Movements of Water
Learn about the molecular dynamics occurring in bulk liquid water that allows it to be such a powerful material.
Intricate Balance of Carbon Dioxide and Hydrogen Adsorption for Catalysis
With metal catalysts, we can extract electricity from CO2 – reducing carbon emissions and creating renewable energy tech at the same time! There’s just one little problem, and it’s name is hydrogen…
Freedom from Wires: Solar-Charging Perovskite Batteries
Ever had your phone die out of nowhere? Wonder how you’re going to charge your Tesla on your next road trip? Researchers from the University of Cambridge have got your back – they’ve developed a single material that doubles as a battery and a solar cell.
Turn on the lights and get your 3D printouts!
Printing is cool, but 3D printing is cooler! Instead of words on a page, you can print spoons and forks and even houses! And today, you’ll see the coolest 3D printing – printing chains of molecules, simply with light!
Targeting Cancer Cells with Different Drugs…in the Same Pill!
Tailoring treatment for a specific patient is the future of medicine. Let’s learn about making tiny pills that are “smart” enough to know where to dissolve in the body!
Flavins photoactivation of prodrugs: let’s shine a light
How can flavin and flavoprotein help with cancer therapy? A very nice example of biorthogonal chemistry and its potential.
Household Chemical Products Contribute to Poor Air Quality
Is your deodorant contributing to air pollution and human health risks? Find out here!
Shining Light on Aldehyde Synthesis
Photoredox catalysis is at it again! This time it is used to synthesize polysubstituted aldehydes – highly useful building blocks – from readily available styrenes and vinyl ethers.
Hitting the Jackpot – Evolving Artificial Biocatalysts Through Randomization
Random change has been powering life’s evolution for billions of years. Can it also power the evolution of artificial biomolecules?
The Thousand Wonders of Graphene: from 2D to 3D Photodrugs!
The authors of this paper can make a photodrug from a special type of graphene.
How do you stick hydrophilic and hydrophobic molecules to each other?
We know that complementary functional groups are needed for strong intermolecular interactions, and that thermodynamics favours hydrophilic and hydrophobic groups each keeping themselves to themselves. So, problems can arise when trying to react very hydrophilic and very hydrophobic molecules together. This group of scientists has devised a way around the problem using a technique called solid-phase synthesis.
How to Prevent Cannibalism in Catalysts
This work describes an approach to prevent self assimilation of catalysts to increase their lifetime. It also finds a Hammett correlation between different substituents present on the catalysts and the rate of catalysis in both homogeneous and heterogeneous phase.
Energy Flow in Quantum Dot – Organic semiconductors
Quantum dots are fascinating super small solids. Highly conjugated tetracene is an electronically active organic molecule. When these two are mixed, electrons bounce around in amazing ways and these researchers found out how.
Flexible iPhones and Wearable Touch Screens: Transparent Conductors with Silver Nanowires
Flexible touch screens and see-through electronics could be closer than you think! Let’s learn about a new way to make transparent conductors with silver nanowires!
Lessons from Nature –New Glue Clues from Slugs
Feeling disgusted by slugs? It’s ugly, wet, and giving us an unpleasant slippery sensation. Yet it is the inspiration of new chemistry innovation!
Read this article and say thanks to slugs, which have inspired scientists to invent a new glue for medical therapies!
How Crabs Feel the Pinch: Chemicals Involved in Crab Risk Perception
Researchers dive into the problem of analyzing marine predator-prey interactions on a molecular level. Through a combination of NMR and MS, these scientists identify two chemicals that alert mud crabs to the threat of a mighty adversary: the blue crab.
Nanoparticles and Mirrors: A “Bright” Future for Nanocrystal Blinking
You probably look in a mirror every morning: fix your hair, maybe even take a selfie. But the idea of using mirrors to look at molecules – that just sounds crazy, right? Maybe not – but you’ll have to read this Chembite to find out!
What causes the opening and closing of our cells’ communication pathways?
Learn how your cells use ions to communicate and how researchers can detect whether these gates are open or closed.
Wine or Wine Not? An Examination of What Makes a Wine Smell
Have you ever wondered what you’re smelling when you stick your nose into a glass of wine? Read this chembite to find out!
Chemistry by Computers is Better Than Harry Potter Fanfiction
Neural networks have been used to write fanfiction, generate pictures of fake celebrities, and draw dream-like psychedelic images from photographs. But did you know they can make chemistry easier, too?
A Radical Way to Label Proteins
Read about this new approach to selectively install fluorines into proteins using a mild radical source.
Set phasers to stun: Accelerating chemical reactions with precise IR laser pulses
Heating a chemical reaction to accelerate the reaction rate is like setting phasers to kill, it may get the job done but it’s certainly not the most elegant or effective method. What if you could provide just enough energy to break the appropriate bonds and control exact product outcomes without wasting energy?
Always Use Protection: Preventing Catalyst Degradation with Coatings
Catalysts are critical components of many industrial processes. Unfortunately, many promising catalysts degrade over time. Here, researchers show that some catalysts can be protected by coating them with another material.
Green 3D printing: from cellulose to plastic objects!
3D-printing at its greenest!
A resistant material for 3D-printing is synthesized from plant components!
