Chemical Communications Blog

Carbonic anhydrase inhibitors

29 Sep 2011

New drugs need to be found that are capable of targeting carbonic anhydrases – a class of enzyme that catalyses the hydration of carbon dixoide to bicarbonate and H⁺. By inhibiting or activating these enzymes, a number of pathological disorders can be treated such as glaucoma, osteoporosis and cancer. Unfortunately, many of the drugs developed so far are not selective for the different isoforms of the enzyme.

Representation of the binding mode of an inhibitor compound in the active site cavity of the enzyme

Researchers from Italy have embarked upon investigating the inhibition of mammalian isoforms of carbonic anhydrase using N-substituted benzenesulfonamides. By employing X-ray crystallographic studies, they discovered a completely new binding mode with the enzyme. The team say that by substituting the moieties on the phenyl ring, unexplored regions of the enzyme active site could be targeted, allowing new lead compounds to be identified.

Read the ChemComm article to learn more about their findings.

Comments Off on Carbonic anhydrase inhibitors

Revolutionising gene studies

29 Sep 2011

By Fiona McKenzie, Executive Editor.

A simple method for detecting a natural nucleobase in DNA could revolutionise epigenetic studies, say Japanese scientists.

5-Hydroxymethylcytosine is abundant in neuron cells and embryonic stem cells and plays a critical role in epigenetic regulation. Scientists are eager for a way to detect it, to help them understand how gene function is initialised.

The team discovered that peroxotungstate can detect 5-hydroxymethylcytosine by oxidising it to a thymine derivative, which can be visualised using gel electrophoresis.

Download the ChemComm article today to find out more.

Comments Off on Revolutionising gene studies

Top ten most accessed articles in August

27 Sep 2011

By Rachel Blakeburn.

This month sees the following articles in ChemComm that are in the top ten most accessed:-

A molecular probe for the optical detection of biogenic amines
Boram Lee, Rosario Scopelliti and Kay Severin
Chem. Commun., 2011, 47, 9639-9641, DOI: 10.1039/C1CC13604F

Photocatalytic hydrogen production
Thomas S. Teets and Daniel G. Nocera
Chem. Commun., 2011, 47, 9268-9274, DOI: 10.1039/C1CC12390D

A near-infrared fluorescent calcium probe: a new tool for intracellular multicolour Ca2+ imaging
Akihiro Matsui, Keitaro Umezawa, Yutaka Shindo, Tomohiko Fujii, Daniel Citterio, Kotaro Oka and Koji Suzuki
Chem. Commun., 2011, 47, 10407-10409, DOI: 10.1039/C1CC14045K

Neocuproine–KO t Bu promoted intramolecular cross coupling to approach fused rings
Chang-Liang Sun, Yi-Fan Gu, Wei-Ping Huang and Zhang-Jie Shi
Chem. Commun., 2011, 47, 9813-9815, DOI: 10.1039/C1CC13907J

Supramolecular polymer for explosives sensing: role of H-bonding in enhancement of sensitivity in the solid state
Bappaditya Gole, Sankarasekaran Shanmugaraju, Arun Kumar Bar and Partha Sarathi Mukherjee
Chem. Commun., 2011, 47, 10046-10048, DOI: 10.1039/C1CC13925H

Incorporation of chemical functionalities in the framework of mesoporous
silica Noemi Linares, Elena Serrano, Marisa Rico, Alina Mariana Balu, Elia Losada, Rafael Luque and Javier García-Martínez
Chem. Commun., 2011, 47, 9024-9035, DOI: 10.1039/C1CC11016K

Highly sensitive and selective colorimetric visualization of streptomycin in raw milk using Au nanoparticles supramolecular assembly
Jiayu Sun, Jiechao Ge, Weimin Liu, Zhiyuan Fan, Hongyan Zhang and Pengfei Wang
Chem. Commun., 2011, 47, 9888-9890, DOI: 10.1039/C1CC12910D

A fluorescent turn-on probe for the detection of alkaline phosphatase activity in living cells
Tae-Il Kim, Hyunjin Kim, Yongdoo Choi and Youngmi Kim
Chem. Commun., 2011, 47, 9825-9827, DOI: 10.1039/C1CC13819G

Fluorescent nanoparticles based on a microporous organic polymer network: fabrication and efficient energy transfer to surface-bound dyes
Abhijit Patra, Jan-Moritz Koenen and Ullrich Scherf
Chem. Commun., 2011, 47, 9612-9614, DOI: 10.1039/C1CC13420E

Yolk/shell nanoparticles: new platforms for nanoreactors, drug delivery and lithium-ion batteries
Jian Liu, Shi Zhang Qiao, Jun Song Chen, Xiong Wen (David) Lou, Xianran Xing and Gao Qing (Max) Lu
Chem. Commun., 2011, Advance Article, DOI: 10.1039/C1CC13658E

Why not take a look at the articles today and blog your thoughts and comments below.

Fancy submitting an article to ChemComm? Then why not submit to us today or alternatively contact us with your suggestions.

Comments Off on Top ten most accessed articles in August

96 days until 100 issues…

26 Sep 2011

By Joanne Thomson.

….and did you know?….

96, or 1996 to be exact, is the year when ChemComm was first published as Chemical Communications. Its previous names were Journal of the Chemical Society, Chemical Communications (1972-1995); Journal of the Chemical Society D: Chemical Communications (1969-1971); and Chemical Communications (London) (1965-1968).

Find out more about the move to 100 issues >

Also of interest
100 days to 100 issues

Comments Off on 96 days until 100 issues…

ChemComm poster prize awarded at NMR-DG 2011

26 Sep 2011

By Joanne Thomson.

Congratulations to Rob Evans (University of Manchester, UK) who won the ChemComm poster prize at NMR-DG 2011 Postgraduate Meeting held earlier this summer at the University of Birmingham.

Rob presented his work entitled ‘Predicting Diffusion Coefficients for Small Molecules’. He receives a prize certificate and a one-year print subscription to ChemComm.

: Rob Evans receiving his poster prize certificate from Iain Day, who organised the meeting

Comments Off on ChemComm poster prize awarded at NMR-DG 2011

Bendy Crystals

26 Sep 2011

By Fiona McKenzie, Executive Editor.

Scientists are trying to create molecular systems that mimic machinery components. The idea is for these molecular machines to exhibit mechanical movement once an external stimulus is applied.

With this in mind, Japanese researchers have grown crystals that bend upon shining UV light on them. The crystals are of a salicylideneaniline compound which changes its structure depending on the wavelength of light.

The molecular transformation from the enol to the trans-keto form causes the crystals to bend on the macroscopic scale, which is also accompanied by a colour change from pale yellow to reddish-orange. When the UV light is blocked, the crystals resume their initial straight form and colour. This reversible bending can be repeated for over 200 cycles.

To find out more, download Koshima’s ChemComm article.

Comments Off on Bendy Crystals

Chemosensor could lead to fewer deaths from bacterial infections

26 Sep 2011

By Joanne Thomson.

Millions of people die each year from bacterial infections. Scientists have been searching for a low-cost way to quickly identify bacteria so disease can be diagnosed and treated at an early stage.

Graphical abstract: Fluorescent DNA chemosensors: identification of bacterial species by their volatile metabolites Eric Kool and colleagues at Stanford University, USA, have developed fluorescent DNA chemosensors which they claim can sense and distinguish bacteria by the volatile metabolites they release. They tested the sensor on bacteria responsible for tuberculosis, food poisoning, pneumonia and sepsis and showed that it could accurately differentiate the bacterial strains.

The chemosensors could be developed into quick, cheap and reliable reporters for early identification of bacteria in both patient samples and contaminated food, say the authors.

Want to find out more? Download Kool’s ChemComm communication to read more about how the chemosensors work. You might also be interested in the group’s recent Chemical Science Edge article, where they use fluorescent DNA to sense toxic gases.

Comments Off on Chemosensor could lead to fewer deaths from bacterial infections

Faster acting drugs

26 Sep 2011

By Rachel Blakeburn.

Ionic liquid drugs can rapidly pass through the skin and may open the way to new, more effective medicines, say scientists in Australia. They could also be a solution to some of the most significant problems in the pharmaceutical industry, they say.

Ionic liquids (ILs) are amorphous compounds consisting of a cation-anion pair. One or both of the ions can be derived from pharmaceutically active compounds to create liquid forms of the drugs, which are more stable, soluble and bioavailable than the parent compounds. In some cases, the IL shows an enhanced pharmaceutical effect over the drugs from which it is derived. Also, being amorphous, ILs could be a solution to polymorphic interconversion, where one polymorph of a drug converts to another over time, which affects its properties.

The use of ILs has been limited because they don’t readily permeate skin and other biological membranes, thought to be because they are poorly soluble in lipids. Now, Jelena Stoimenovski and Douglas MacFarlane from Monash University have identified protic ionic liquids (PILs) – in which a pharmaceutically active acid is reacted with a biocompatible base to produce salts with dual activity – that can overcome this barrier.

Pharmaceutically active protic ionic liquids can permeate rapidly through model membranes as neutral hydrogen bonded clusters

Read the full Chemistry World article here

Link to Journal Article
Enhanced membrane transport of pharmaceutically active protic ionic liquids
Jelena Stoimenovski and Douglas R. MacFarlane
Chem. Commun., 2011, Advance Article, DOI: 10.1039/C1CC14314J

Comments Off on Faster acting drugs

Yeast cell wall particles for multi-modal imaging

23 Sep 2011

By Will Dennis, Publishing Editor.

Scientists based in Italy and Portugal have developed a new carrier system for Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) based on yeast cell wall particles (YCWPs).

YCWPs are well tolerated in vivo because they have a cell wall based on a glucan polymer. However, previous attempts at using it as a carrier of hydrophilic and amphiphilic chemicals have failed due to the porous and hydrophilic nature of the membrane.

In this work the team, led by Enzo Terreno at the University of Turin, realised that they could use the YCWPs as microreactors. Once loaded with an imaging agent the particles were exposed to a sudden change in solvent polarity therefore forming a micro-emulsion inside the particles. Importantly this traps the imaging agent in the particle core.

When loaded with gadolinium, the particles were found to have an increased paramagnetic density and also enhanced relaxivity per paramagnetic centre. In all, this should lead to better contrast when used for imaging. In the future Terreno envisages potential applications in cell tracking experiments and particularly for cells found in the immune system.

Want to find out more? Then download the full ChemComm article for free today.

Comments Off on Yeast cell wall particles for multi-modal imaging

100 days to 100 issues

22 Sep 2011

By Joanne Thomson.

The countdown to 2012 has begun. There are only 100 days until ChemComm more than doubles its frequency to 100 issues per year.

To celebrate the countdown to this exciting change, we’ll be featuring some numerical ChemComm trivia over the coming weeks.

Did you know?……
100 is the number of citations Zhang-Jie Shi’s 2010 Feature article on Pd-catalyzed oxidative coupling with organometallic reagents via C–H activation has received (according to Web of Science^SM).

Find out more about the move to 100 issues >

Comments Off on 100 days to 100 issues

Chemical Communications Blog

Carbonic anhydrase inhibitors

Revolutionising gene studies

96 days until 100 issues…

ChemComm poster prize awarded at NMR-DG 2011

Bendy Crystals

Chemosensor could lead to fewer deaths from bacterial infections

Faster acting drugs

Yeast cell wall particles for multi-modal imaging

100 days to 100 issues

Links

Categories

Archives

Meta