Chemical Communications Blog

So, it’s a new calendar year, new resolutions have been made (and broken!) but before we leave 2010 behind us for good, let’s take a look at some of the hot articles that caught our eye back in December.

Real-time nucleic acid analysis
The quantification of genes in human cDNA and malaria in blood samples using a real-time PCR technique has been developed by scientists in South Korea. To find out more, download the communication, published by Dae-Ro Ahn and colleagues.

Rauhut–Currier reaction strikes again
Phosphinothioureas can be used as organocatalysts for asymmetric Rauhut-Currier reactions of bis(enones). Xin-Yan Wu and co-workers achieved good yields (up to 99%) with excellent enantioselectivities (up to 99.4% ee). If you’re interested to know more about the reaction conditions used then why not download their communication today?

Observing atomic hydrogen
A nitrogen-induced ionic hydrate system can produce a hydrogen radical from water without direct energy sources, like hydrogen and methane. Read more about this impressive chemistry in the authors’ communication published in ChemComm.

The power of light
A photo-controlled anticancer drug release system has been designed by scientists in China. Based on photo-induced electron transfer between semiconductor quantum dots and an ester derivative, the anticancer drug can be released upon shining visible light onto the sample. Read more about their discovery in their communication article.

Hard graft for better fuel
Grafting highly dispersed Cu(I) onto beta-cyclodextrin shows better adsorptive desulfurisation capacity than other more conventional methods, an important development for the petroleum refining industry, say scientists in China. Xiao-Qin Liu and colleagues from Nanjing University of Technology, have published their communication in ChemComm, read all about it here first!

Imitating micelles
A metal complex has been disguised as a micelle using amphiphilic phosphine ligands. The system cleverly switches between a coordination polymer and a discrete cage in response to solvent polarity or pH, acting just like a micelle. Want to know more? Then read Stuart James’ exciting communication published in ChemComm.

Let us know what you think to these hot articles by blogging some comments below. If you have some of your own hot research to publish, then why not submit to ChemComm today!

Japanese scientists have demonstrated the first use of ionic liquids (ILs) as eluents for high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).

Hiroyuki Ohno at the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology heated the ILs to reduce their natural viscosity and allow them to pass through the column. They showed that it was possible to separate a variety of biopolymers including cellulose which is notoriously difficult to dissolve.

This new technique will offer advantages in the separation of a wide variety of both synthetic and naturally occuring polymers, especially those that are not easily dissolved. Ohno also believes that High Performance Ionic Liquid Chromatography (HPILC) could be a powerful tool in not only characterising polymers but also studying dynamic processes such as polymerisation.

Download the full ChemComm communication today to discover more.

An inexpensive, easy to assemble light-activated water-splitting system for generating hydrogen has been devised by UK scientists.

Erwin Reisner at the University of Manchester* attached an inexpensive metal, cobalt, to ruthenium dye-sensitised titania nanoparticles. They placed the nanoparticles in water, added triethanolamine (which donates an electron), stirred the mixture at room temperature and found that hydrogen was generated.

Nanoparticles show excellent dispersibility in water and the high surface area allows for easy variation of the catalyst loading and ratio for the optimisation of light absorption and catalysis, says Reisner.

Download Reisner’s ChemComm communication to find out more. This article is part of the ChemComm Hydrogen web theme.

*now at the University of Cambridge

A green and simple method to make a sensor to detect one of the most toxic cyanotoxins, microcystin-LR, has been devised by scientists from China. Cyanotoxins are produced by blue-green algae and can contaminate drinking water.

In 1998 the World Health Organisation (WHO) set up a provisional guideline limit of 1 mg L-1 for  microcystin-LR in drinking water so detecting it in the environment is important.

Huangxian Ju and colleagues from Nanjing University made their sensor to detect  microcystin-LR by  assembling gold nanoparticles on nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes. Nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes are less toxic to cells and have better biocompatibility than un-doped carbon nanotubes, making them more suitable for use in biosensors. The nitrogen incorporated in the nanotubes also provides an active site to anchor gold nanoparticles onto. 

 The team immobilised an antibody for microcystin-LR on their nanosensor and used it to detect the cyanotoxin in water samples. They found that microcystin-LR could be detected at levels much lower than the limit set out in the WHO guidelines. 

Ju explains that although several methods can detect the presence of microcystin-LR, they are time-consuming, need expensive equipment and advanced technical expertise. Ju’s nanocomposite is cheap to make and shows a wide concentration range, low detection limit, good reproducibility and could successfully detect microcystin-LR in polluted water samples, said the researchers.

‘This system is more biocompatible than existing systems, so leads to enhanced sensitivity for microcystin-LR immunosensing,’ says Dianping Tang, an expert in electrochemical immunoassay technologies from Fuzhou University in China.

Ju hopes to immobilise different metal nanoparticles onto the nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes to make metal nanoparticle/nanotube composites as biocompatible platforms for biosensing and biocatalysis.

Rachel Cooper

Link to the ChemComm article:-

 In situ assembly of gold nanoparticles on nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes for sensitive immunosensing of microcystin-LR
Jing Zhang, Jianping Lei, Rong Pan, Chuan Leng, Zheng Hu and Huangxian Ju, Chem. Commun., 2011, 47, 668
DOI: 10.1039/c0cc04198j

Scientists have made the first Boolean logic gate that is purely bacteria-based. It uses the biochemical networks of whole and living bacteria to perform its biocomputing function.

Various logic gates (i.e. AND, OR, XOR) have been made using enzymatic bioelectrochemical systems (BESs), where enzymatic reactions form the core parts of the gates. But until now, microbial BESs, which have electrochemically active bacteria at the electrodes to catalyse oxidation and reduction reactions, have never been used as logic systems.

Largus Angenent, at Cornell University, Ithaca, US, and colleagues used Pseudomonas aeruginosa mutant bacteria in their AND logic gate. P. aeruginosa is an opportunistic pathogen that infects humans (and other organisms), causing a range of problems including inflammation and sepsis. Angenent claims his bacteria-based AND gate could be used in a self-powered, decision-making biosensor to detect or monitor pathogens such as P. aeruginosa.

To find out more, download Angenent’s ChemComm communication.

If you have some hot research to report, make the right decision and submit to ChemComm.

Immobilisation inside a cavity can be a very effective strategy for stabilising reactive species. In fact, earlier this year, a team of French scientists claimed in Science¹ to have used this technique to elucidate the solid state crystal structure of 1,3-dimethylcyclobutadiene trapped along with carbon dioxide inside an optimised host.

But, says Henry Rzepa from Imperial College London, UK, this claim should be treated with caution as his calculations suggest that the Science report is incorrect.

Based on his quantum chemical modelling studies, Rzepa proposes that reported crystal structure in fact is not that of 1,3-dimethylcyclobutadiene and carbon dioxide, but more probably that of the precursor used to attempt to generate the pair.

Find out more about this controversial issue in Rzepa’s ChemComm communication (free to access until 25th January 2011) and let us know what you think by leaving your comments below.

For further discussion, see Crystallographic Confusion in Chemistry Views magazine and Henry Rzepa’s blog.

1. Y.-M. Legrand, A. van der Lee, M. Barboiu, Science 2010, 329, 299-302