Chemical Science Blog

For over 20 years the infrared spectra of many astronomical objects have been interpreted as flat two-dimensional polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) that are also thought to be the source of organic matter on our own planet. More recently the detection of molecules such as fullerenes – molecules composed entirely of carbon, including the spherical C₆₀ – has revealed a more complicated picture of carbon in space. The links between these different molecules have been rather unclear but new research from Héctor Alvaro Galué at VU University of Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, has taken a fresh approach to this long-standing puzzle.

Energetic particles in interstellar space induce strain and re-hybridisation within flat carbon structures. Background image: © NASA, ESA, M Robberto (Space Telescope Science Institute/ESA) and the Hubble Space Telescope Orion Treasury Project Team

Read the full article in Chemistry World»

Read the original journal article in Chemical Science – it’s free to download until 6th June:
Decoding the infrared signatures of pyramidal carbons in graphenic molecular nanostructures of interstellar origin
Hector Alvaro Galue  
Chem. Sci., 2014, Accepted Manuscript, DOI: 10.1039/C4SC00890A, Edge Article

Scientists in Canada have made DNA cubes that are programmed to unzip and reveal molecules locked inside them in response to a carefully chosen trigger. Hanadi Sleiman and colleagues at McGill University and the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal, designed the cubes to release the drug cargo they might be carrying only in diseased cells and not normal cells.

The mRNA trigger binds tothe overhangs and opens the cube by strand displacement and strategically placed nicks on the structure

Read the full article in Chemistry World»

Read the original journal article in Chemical Science – it’s free to download until 7th May:
Sequence-responsive unzipping DNA cubes with tunable cellular uptake profiles
Katherine E. Bujold, Johans Fakhoury, Thomas G. W. Edwardson, Karina M. M. Carneiro, Joel Neves Briard, Antoine G. Godin, Lilian Amrein, Graham D. Hamblin, Lawrence C. Panasci, Paul W. Wiseman and Hanadi F. Sleiman  
Chem. Sci., 2014, Advance Article, DOI: 10.1039/C4SC00646A, Edge Article

All of the articles below are free to access until 14th May

Boron–boron J coupling constants are unique probes of electronic structure: a solid-state NMR and molecular orbital study
Frédéric A. Perras and David L. Bryce  
Chem. Sci., 2014, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C4SC00603H, Edge Article

Disubstituted sialic acid ligands targeting siglecs CD33 and CD22 associated with myeloid leukaemias and B cell lymphomas
Cory D. Rillahan, Matthew S. Macauley, Erik Schwartz, Yuan He, Ryan McBride, Britni M. Arlian, Janani Rangarajan, Valery V. Fokin and James C. Paulson  
Chem. Sci., 2014, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C4SC00451E, Edge Article

Solvatochromic AIE luminogens as supersensitive water detectors in organic solvents and highly efficient cyanide chemosensors in water
Yuping Zhang, Dongdong Li, Yi Li and Jihong Yu  
Chem. Sci., 2014, Accepted Manuscript
DOI: 10.1039/C4SC00721B, Edge Article

Catalytic enantioselective synthesis of 2-aryl-chromenes
Bi-Shun Zeng, Xinyi Yu, Paul W. Siu and Karl A. Scheidt  
Chem. Sci., 2014, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C4SC00423J, Edge Article