Chemical Communications Blog

Scientists in the US have shown that phenylsilane is a safer and more convenient replacement for hydrogen gas when synthesising uranium and thorium hydrides.

Thorium and uranium are the most abundant actinoid elements. Although many stable thorium and uranium oxides and minerals are found in nature, the other actinoids are almost exclusively found in nuclear waste. Understanding actinoid chemistry has important practical applications in the nuclear industry but it is also fundamentally fascinating as the actinoid f electrons are so unlike those of the lanthanoids. Scientists need to make and study actinoid complexes with different oxidation states and with different ligands to understand their chemistry. Unfortunately, organometallic actinide chemistry can be quite challenging as organoactinide complexes will react – sometimes violently – with air or water, meaning that specialist equipment is needed to make and store them safely. Read the full article in Chemistry World»

Read the original journal article in ChemComm – it’s free to access until 23 December 2015:
Phenylsilane as a safe, versatile alternative to hydrogen for the synthesis of actinide hydrides
Justin K. Pagano, Jacquelyn M. Dorhout, Rory Waterman, Kenneth R. Czerwinski and Jaqueline L. Kiplinger 
DOI: 10.1039/C5CC06856H, Communication

Scientists in China have unveiled a way to deliver a platinum-based anticancer drug orally. The system, which works by protecting a prodrug from activation until it reaches the cancer cells, could help avoid the drug’s side effects.

The researchers incoporated an asplatin-cholesterol complex into biocompatible nanoparticles, which protect the drug from degrading before reaching the cancer cells

Platinum(IV)-based drugs are used to treat a range of cancers, often combined with other drugs. They are only reduced to the active platinum(II) drug once inside a cancer cell. Currently, healthcare workers administer platinum anticancer drugs through intravenous injections, which results in uncontrolled levels of the drug in the body and associated side effects. Administrating these drugs orally, however, would sustain an optimum concentration of the drug whilst boosting patient comfort and compliance. However, a downside is the prodrugs would be vulnerable to premature reduction into the active drug in the gastrointestinal tract. Read the full article in Chemistry World»

Read the original journal article in ChemComm – it’s free to read until 16 December:
Oral delivery of a platinum anticancer drug using lipid assisted polymeric nanoparticles
Qinqin Cheng, Hongdong Shi, Hai Huang, Zhiting Cao, Jun Wang and Yangzhong Liu 
Chem. Commun., 2015, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C5CC07853A, Communication