CFC-11 is an industrially useful but ozone depleting chemical. The recently reported decline in global CFC-11 emissions grants the ozone layer a reprieve to heal.
Copycat: Mimicking Enzymes with Supramolecular Catalysts
Researchers meld ideas from biology and chemistry to generate hybrid catalysts that can catalyze natural reactions at even faster rates.
Intimidated by a paper title?
Sometimes we see a paper heading and freak out, put the paper away and never return to it. But don’t worry if that’s the case, we’ve got you…
Ribose delivered to Earth by meteorites: clues for the origin of life?
The chemical composition of meteorites provides important information about which building blocks might have been available for the origin of life on Earth.
De-icing surfaces by making frost jump
Many of us have first-hand experience with how hard it can be to get ice off things when you can’t melt it. Researchers have used the electrostatic charge in ice to make it jump, creating a new avenue for de-icing in the future.
Making a liquid fuel from a potent greenhouse gas
Methanol production under mild conditions opens possible renewable path for methane upgrading
Lipid allows tuberculosis bacterium evade immune response
Mycobacteria, the pathogen that causes tuberculosis, is able to avoid being attacked by the immune system. A unique lipid in its outer membrane plays a major role.
The Biggest Small Problem: Microplastics in the Coral Reef
Microplastics are a nearly-invisible part of our daily life. But when they reach the ocean, the effects they have on coral reefs can be deadly.
Engineering dicarboxylic acid production
Biology making precursors to perfumes, antibiotics, and more
EFFICIENT CHEMISTRY BEHIND THE OLED SCREENS
OLEDs are earth-friendly, energy-efficient, all while being ultra-thin, flexible, and lightweight. They are the future of ultra-efficient lighting. Researchers are now coming up with new techniques to fabricate such sustainable and efficient OLEDs.
Polishing a Drug Lead: A Replacement for Opioids Reaches Clinical Trials
Many molecules can decrease enzymatic breakdown of our body’s natural painkillers…but which one is fit to be the best new drug?
Engineering more effective antibiotics
As antibiotic resistance becomes a prevalent issue, new forms of drug delivery are vital. Researchers have created a drug delivery system that can encapsulate antibiotics and respond to differences in pH.
Feeling Floral: Using Flowers as Sustainable Catalysts
Catalysts can make reactions more efficient and less wasteful, but some metals catalysts are toxic and can cause environmental damage. Researchers have found an alternative catalyst made from the flowers of St John’s Wort and are using it to make chemistry more eco-friendly.
Selectivity by Electricity: Modification of Peptides for Potential Therapeutics
Peptides are becoming increasingly of interest as potential therapeutics, however, often they require chemical modifications. As peptides are polymers made up of repeating units of amino acids; how can we selectively modify one site over another?
Fast reactions by ribonucleotides might be a key to the origin of life on Earth
If RNA is essential for life to develop, how could it emerge from messy chemical mixtures on early Earth?
If you can’t melt it, cleave it: a path to recyclable thermoset plastics
Thermosets are a class of plastics that have been traditionally difficult to recycle. This new method to design and degrade thermosets may reduce plastic pollution.
Organic Synthesis With A Side Of Salt
The addition of common table salt can transform the workings of a complex organic chemistry reaction.
New Technology to Control Living Therapeutics with Drugs
Genetically-engineered cell therapies are poised to become some of the most potent weapons in our arsenal against cancer and immunological diseases. However, significant toxicity is sometimes associated with these therapies due to uncontrolled proliferation and activation of these cells. To address this, Jan and colleagues developed a chemical strategy whereby an FDA-approved drug could be used to control the activity of these cells, opening the door for a new generation of safer and more controllable cell-based therapies.
Antibiotics in our food?
Antibiotics are all something we have all taken at one point or another – but how many of us wonder about what happens to those antibiotics next? When we stop and think about it, we might start to realise how our actions are unintentionally impacting the environment around us.
How God views Chemistry is ultra cool!
The world which we perceive is governed by the laws of classical mechanics. Whereas when we bring down the temperature conditions of a reaction to the ultracold regime, we start appreciating the reactions’ true nature.
Saliva enzyme protects ticks against human skin bacteria
Recently discovered tick enzyme can attack human skin bacteria, protecting ticks while they feed from human blood.
Discovery of an oxygen-independent method for producing plasmalogens
How gut microbes produce lipid plasmalogens
Environmentally Safe Pesticides Made from Copper and Paper-Making Waste Products
Copper concentration in pesticides can be decreased by combining copper with lignin, a waste product from paper manufacturing.
A Bright New Method to Survey RNA-Small Molecule Interactions
With a growing interest in the field of RNA-targeted therapeutics, robust platforms to study RNA small-molecule interactions are needed. Read about the latest endeavor here!
Pathogenic E. coli Can Survive Stomach Acid…For Now
Infected cattle can transmit E. coli to humans through contaminated ground beef, but scientists are looking for a solution.