Big data reveals clues for energy technology

28-Nov-2013 - The largest quantum chemical investigation to date has revealed chemical structures with promising properties for advanced solar cells. Scientists at Harvard University in the United States performed 150 million theoretical calculations to reveal results that could cut down the time and cost of ...

Simple synthesis of heavy oxygen-labelled alcohols

27-May-2013 - Research reports a novel and extremely simple method for synthesising 18O-labelled alcohols using commercial boronic acids and a reagent prepared from elemental fluorine. Alcohols labelled with 18O are very valuable as biological probes for a variety of studies which are often limited by the ...

Controlling the bonding/debonding of polymer systems

07-May-2013 - Controlling polymer debonding/rebonding properties using responsive materials is an exciting emerging area of chemistry and it is widely accepted that control of these properties can be achieved by engineering the functional end-groups responsible for monomer dynamic bonding. Scientists in ...

Strychnine in six steps

08-Feb-2011 - Strychnine can now be synthesised in just six steps, say US scientists. Christopher Vanderwal and his team from the University of California, Irvine created four new carbon–carbon bonds and a carbon–oxygen bond in four steps on the way to making strychnine.‘Until recently, the fastest synthesis ...

Simple, scalable and aqueous method for synthesising nanoparticles

26-Oct-2010 - Metal nanoparticles that can catalyse organic reactions in water can be made using polyelectrolyte nanoreactors, claim scientists. Thanks to their ionisable functional groups, polyelectrolytes can change their conformation in water. When there are few other ions in the solution, the chains ...

Biogenetically inspired approach to alkaloid family

20-Aug-2010 - An entire family of marine alkaloids that show potent anticancer activity and potential for treating Alzheimer’s disease has been synthesised by US chemists. Mohammad Movassaghi and colleagues at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, were intrigued by the molecular architecture of ...

Ironing out materials for gas storage and separations

22-Jun-2010 - An iron-based porous solid that can store hydrogen and capture carbon dioxide, potentially leading to greener energy and cleaner air, has been made by US scientists. Jeffrey Long, at the University of California, Berkeley, and colleagues made a metal-organic framework (MOF) with accessible Fe2+ ...

Annulation made easy

Chinese scientists report a new and economical route to polycyclic aromatic compounds

20-Aug-2009 - Jin-Heng Li and co-workers from Hunan Normal University and Wenzhou University have developed an iron-catalysed intramolecular annulation route to the synthesis of naphthalen-1-ol and anthracen-1-ol core structures. Li believes that this new atom-economical method will provide a potential route ...

Filling the gap?

16-Jun-2009 - A clean and efficient method for preparing thermoset composites containing ZnO nanomaterials has been developed by Scientists in the UK and Belgium. The properties of polymer resins can often be improved by filling them with inorganic particles, such as zinc oxide, which is chosen for its ...

Controlling regioselectivity

11-Jun-2009 - Aromatic C-H bond activation is arguably one of the most synthetically useful reactions in the organic chemist’s toolbox. It is widely used to confer specific functionalities onto a wide variety of substrates, via the formation of C-C bonds. Regioselectivity is crucial in these reactions, ...