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
