New Discovery: Toward sugar origami

Folded carbohydrates could open up completely new perspectives in biomedicine and materials science

06-Jul-2023 - Researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces (MPICI) have designed a carbohydrate sequence capable of folding into a stable secondary structure. Until now, such self-folding biopolymers had only been developed for DNA and proteins, and sugars were previously considered too ...

Anti-counterfeiting fluorescent marker developed - Sweet code with laser printing

07-Jun-2023 - A team of researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces (MPICI) has developed a method that could make it more difficult to counterfeit products in the future. The new and patented method makes it possible to produce unique, non-copyable fluorescent patterns quickly, ...

A previously unknown bacterial enzyme makes new type of biodegradable polymer

18-Mar-2022 - Strings of sugars called polysaccharides are the most abundant biopolymers on Earth. Because of their versatile and environmentally friendly properties, these molecules could eventually replace some plastics. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Central Science have identified a previously unknown ...

Largest Synthetic Polysaccharide Assembled

Linear 100-mer polysaccharide within 188 hours

05-May-2020 - Chemists at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces (Potsdam, Germany) have set a milestone by preparing the two largest carbohydrates ever assembled. Using an Automated Glycan Assembly (AGA) instrument originally developed at the institute they prepared a linear 100-mer and achieved ...

Researchers take two steps toward green fuel

Two-Step Saccharification of Rice Straw Using Solid Acid Catalysts

18-Jun-2019 - An international collaboration led by scientists at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology (TUAT) , Japan, has developed a two-step method to more efficiently break down carbohydrates into their single sugar components, a critical process in producing green fuel. The breakdown process is ...

A "switch" to increase starch accumulation in algae

A brighter future for renewable energy and materials

05-Nov-2018 - Results from a collaborative study by Tokyo Tech and Tohoku University, Japan, raise prospects for large-scale production of algae-derived starch, a valuable bioresource for biofuels and other renewable materials. Such bio-based products have the potential to replace fossil fuels and contribute ...

Biomimetic chemistry: Carbohydrate capture

27-Aug-2018 - LMU chemist Professor Ivan Huc, who heads a research group devoted to the study of Biomimetic Supramolecular Chemistry, has designed and synthesized a molecular structure which features a helical binding pocket that is made-to-measure for the recognition and capture of xylobiose, a member of the ...

Key enzyme for production of second-generation ethanol discovered in Brazilian Amazon

17-May-2018 - Second-generation ethanol (also called cellulosic ethanol) open perspectives for optimizing alcohol production. Since 2G ethanol is obtained from from sugarcane straw and bagasse, it basically makes it possible converting waste into energy. Holder of the world's best biomass and boasting the ...

Next generation solvent contributes to next generation biofuel production from biomass

05-Dec-2017 - The first-generation biofuel, industrialized, ethanol, is produced from foodstuffs like maize, and thus poses great concern about a possible future shortage of food. It is therefore necessary to produce ethanol from non-food biomass like weeds, waste paper, paper cup, etc. (second-generation ...

Small droplets feel the vibe

10-Oct-2016 - A team of researchers at the University of Bristol have used ultrasonic forces to accurately pattern thousands of microscopic water-based droplets. Each droplet can be designed to perform a biochemical experiment, which could pave the way for highly efficient lab-on-a-chip devices with future ...