Many natural products and drugs feature a so-called dicarbonyl motif— in certain cases, however, their preparation poses a challenge to organic chemists. In their most recent work, Nuno Maulide and his coworkers from the University of Vienna present a...
Corn is America's top agricultural crop, and also one of its most wasteful. About half the harvest -- stalks, leaves, husks, and cobs -- remains as waste after the kernels have been stripped from the cobs. These leftovers, known...
While eating takeout one day, University of Chicago scientists Bozhi Tian and Yin Fang started thinking about the noodles—specifically, their elasticity. A specialty of Xi'an, Tian's hometown in China, is wheat noodles stretched by hand until they become chewy—strong...
This image shows novel cadmium selenide (CdSe) quantum dots with ligand enhancement chemistry. The vials on the left contain quantum dots; the vial on the right contains solvent without quantum dots.
Credit: © 2013 Conn Center/Andrew Marsh
It's not easy going...
It is now possible to create complex, custom-designed transmembrane proteins from scratch, scientists report this week. The advance, led by molecular engineers at the University of Washington Institute for Protein Design, will enable researchers to create transmembrane proteins not...
This is an image of near-infrared-light-driven hydrogen evolution from water photo-driven by triruthenium photosensitizer.
Credit: Kyushu University
Hydrogen gas is a promising "green" fuel. The lightest chemical element, hydrogen is an efficient energy store and could potentially replace gasoline in vehicles....
In a breakthrough that could lead to a new class of materials with functions found only in living systems, scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, have figured out a way to keep certain proteins active outside of the...
Antiaromatic planar norcorrole molecules form close face-to-face stacked structures with increased aromaticity. This behavior is quite different from that of planar aromatic molecules. This result is the first experimental proof for the theoretical prediction that the stacking of antiaromatic...
Polyurethanes, a type of plastic, are nearly everywhere—in shoes, clothes, refrigerators and construction materials. But these highly versatile materials can have a major downside. Derived from crude oil, toxic to synthesize, and slow to break down, conventional polyurethanes are...
A molecule of ammonia, NH3, typically exists as an umbrella shape, with three hydrogen atoms fanned out in a nonplanar arrangement around a central nitrogen atom. This umbrella structure is very stable and would normally be expected to require...
A diagram showing cholesterol's (red) predominance in the outer layer of the cell membrane. Cholesterol transport proteins (blue) can alter its distribution between the inner and outer layers. Credit: UIC
Scientists have long puzzled over cholesterol. It's biologically necessary; it's...
