Archive for November, 2015

Hitching a ride on DNA

In the congested intracellular environment, scientists in the Netherlands and the US have found a way for molecules to manoeuvre through the crowds and arrive at their destination faster, increasing the efficiency of lengthy laboratory processes, such as polymerase chain reactions (PCRs).

Biomolecules must find and associate with other biomolecules to carry out basic processes within a cell. To do so, many will randomly diffuse within the cell’s three-dimensional space, which is very time-consuming. Some proteins have evolved to glide along DNA and sample positions in a one-dimensional fashion in search of their target, akin to driving down a highway and stopping to sightsee along the way. This has the potential to speed up these processes. Read the full article in Chemistry World»


Read the original journal article in Chemical Science – it’s open access and free to read:
Speeding up biomolecular interactions by molecular sledding
Alexander Turkin, Lei Zhang, Alessio Marcozzi, Walter F. Mangel, Andreas Herrmann and Antoine M. van Oijen
DOI: 10.1039/C5SC03063C, Edge Article

Digg This
Reddit This
Stumble Now!
Share on Facebook
Bookmark this on Delicious
Share on LinkedIn
Bookmark this on Technorati
Post on Twitter
Google Buzz (aka. Google Reader)

Highlights from Chemical Science

Eucalyptus bears both catalyst and biofuel
by Elisabeth Ratcliffe 

Leftovers from the catalytic conversion of biomass into biofuels and biochemicals need not go to waste. So say Japanese researchers who have devised a method using eucalyptus trees that regenerates residue from the process into fresh catalyst. Read the full  article in Chemistry World» 

 

Read the original journal article in Chemical Science:
Hydrolysis of woody biomass by a biomass-derived reusable heterogeneous catalyst
Hirokazu Kobayashi, Hiroyuki Kaiki, Abhijit Shrotri, Kota Techikawara and Atsushi Fukuoka
DOI: 10.1039/C5SC03377B, Edge Article 


Add more peroxide to stabilise new drug molecules
by Michaela Muehlberg 

Scientists in the US and Russia have performed theoretical calculations to better understand the well-known instability of peroxides as well as the astonishing higher stability of bis- and tris-peroxides. For the latter, they found that multiple O–O bonds appear to exert a stabilising stereoelectronic effect on each other, which boosts stability. Read the full article in Chemistry World» 

 

Read the original journal article in Chemical Science:
Stereoelectronic source of the anomalous stability of bis-peroxides
Gabriel dos Passos Gomes, Vera Vil’, Alexander Terent’ev and Igor V. Alabugin
DOI: 10.1039/C5SC02402A, Edge Article


Gold cluster bends between two isomers
by Sage Bowser

Collaborating research groups in the US and China have observed a rare type of isomerism in a gas phase Au2I3– cluster. The cluster exhibits two stable structures with the same electronic configuration and potential energy surface that vary in only their Au–I–Au bond angles, a phenomenon that the researchers have dubbed ‘bond-bending isomerism’. Read the full article in Chemistry World» 

 

Read the original journal article in Chemical Science:
Bond-bending isomerism of Au2I3: competition between covalent bonding and aurophilicity
Wan-Lu Li, Hong-Tao Liu, Tian Jian, Gary V. Lopez, Zachary A. Piazza, Dao-Ling Huang, Teng-Teng Chen, Jing Su, Ping Yang, Xin Chen, Lai-Sheng Wang and Jun Li
DOI: 10.1039/C5SC03568F, Edge Article

Digg This
Reddit This
Stumble Now!
Share on Facebook
Bookmark this on Delicious
Share on LinkedIn
Bookmark this on Technorati
Post on Twitter
Google Buzz (aka. Google Reader)

ISACS19: Challenges in Organic Chemistry – deadline extended

We are excited to announce that the deadline for oral abstract submission for Challenges in Organic Chemistry (ISACS19) has been extended to 22 November.

Join Chemical Science Associate Editor Vy Dong and an excellent line-up of invited speakers at University of California, Irvine, USA from 20–23 March to discuss challenges in organic chemistry, from catalysis, proteins, sugars and total synthesis to theory and mechanisms.

Confirmed speakers include:

  • Ashraf Brik, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Israel
  • Seth Herzon, Yale University, United States
  • Kami Hull, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, United States
  • James Nowick, University of California, Irvine, United States
  • RB Sunoj, IIT, Mumbai, India
  • Jin-Quan Yu, Scripps University, United States
  • Darren Dixon, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
  • Ning Jiao, Peking University, China
  • Nicola Pohl, Indiana University, United States
  • Peter Seeberger, Max-Planck Institute, Germany
  • Kyoko Nozaki, University of Tokyo, Japan
  • Michelle Chang, University of California, Berkeley, United States
  • Yamuna Krishnan, University of Chicago, United States

———————–

Submit your oral abstract by 22 November and get involved

———————–

Check out these recent reviews and original research articles on related topics in Chemical Science. As of 2015 Chemical Science is fully Gold Open Access so all articles published since then are free to read:

Macrocycles: lessons from the distant past, recent developments, and future directions
Andrei K. Yudin
Chem. Sci., 2015,6, 30-49
DOI: 10.1039/C4SC03089C, Perspective
Open Access

A catalytic asymmetric total synthesis of (−)-perophoramidine
B. M. Trost, M. Osipov, S. Krüger and Y. Zhang
Chem. Sci., 2015,6, 349-353
DOI: 10.1039/C4SC01826E, Edge Article
Open Access

NHC-catalysed benzoin condensation – is it all down to the Breslow intermediate?
Julia Rehbein, Stephanie-M. Ruser and Jenny Phan
Chem. Sci., 2015,6, 6013-6018
DOI: 10.1039/C5SC02186C, Edge Article
Open Access

Stereocontrolled 1,2-cis glycosylation as the driving force of progress in synthetic carbohydrate chemistry
Swati S. Nigudkar and Alexei V. Demchenko
Chem. Sci., 2015,6, 2687-2704
DOI: 10.1039/C5SC00280J, Perspective
Open Access

Organocatalytic asymmetric chlorinative dearomatization of naphthols
Qin Yin, Shou-Guo Wang, Xiao-Wei Liang, De-Wei Gao, Jun Zheng and Shu-Li You
Chem. Sci., 2015,6, 4179-4183
DOI: 10.1039/C5SC00494B, Edge Article
From themed collection Celebrating the 2015 RSC Prize and Award Winners
Open Access

Azidophenyl as a click-transformable redox label of DNA suitable for electrochemical detection of DNA–protein interactions
Jana Balintová, Jan Špaček, Radek Pohl, Marie Brázdová, Luděk Havran, Miroslav Fojta and Michal Hocek
Chem. Sci., 2015,6, 575-587
DOI: 10.1039/C4SC01906G, Edge Article
Open Access

Mechanistic investigation of aziridine aldehyde-driven peptide macrocyclization: the imidoanhydride pathway
Serge Zaretsky, Jennifer L. Hickey, Joanne Tan, Dmitry Pichugin, Megan A. St. Denis, Spencer Ler, Benjamin K. W. Chung, Conor C. G. Scully and Andrei K. Yudin
Chem. Sci., 2015,6, 5446-5455
DOI: 10.1039/C5SC01958C
Open Access

Mechanisms and energetics of free radical initiated disulfide bond cleavage in model peptides and insulin by mass spectrometry
Chang Ho Sohn, Jinshan Gao, Daniel A. Thomas, Tae-Young Kim, William A. Goddard III and J. L. Beauchamp
Chem. Sci., 2015,6, 4550-4560
DOI: 10.1039/C5SC01305D
Open Access

The effect of host structure on the selectivity and mechanism of supramolecular catalysis of Prins cyclizations
William M. Hart-Cooper, Chen Zhao, Rebecca M. Triano, Parastou Yaghoubi, Haxel Lionel Ozores, Kristen N. Burford, F. Dean Toste, Robert G. Bergman and Kenneth N. Raymond
Chem. Sci., 2015,6, 1383-1393
DOI: 10.1039/C4SC02735C, Edge Article
Open Access


We hope you can join us for Challenges in Organic Chemistry (ISACS19). Vy Dong and the rest of the Scientific Committee look forward to welcoming you and your colleagues to California.

Digg This
Reddit This
Stumble Now!
Share on Facebook
Bookmark this on Delicious
Share on LinkedIn
Bookmark this on Technorati
Post on Twitter
Google Buzz (aka. Google Reader)