Reviewers' Corner Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change, by Elisabeth Kolbert, and The Whale and the Supercomputer: On the Northern Front of Climate Change, by Charles Wohlforth
ACS Journal Book Reviews
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Berry good for cancer The West Australian Dec. 6th
Dark-coloured berries, already one of the richest sources of antioxidants, may have a future in cancer-busting. Preliminary
research from the United States has found the active ingredients in berries such as strawberries, raspberries and blueberries
stopped the growth of cancer cells in laboratory experiments. Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, said
their initial experiments had shown the antioxidant extracts in six berries—red and black raspberries, cranberries,
blackberries, blueberries and strawberries—had some ability in inhibiting the growth of human oral, prostate, breast
and colon cancer cells. ... NutraIngredients said the researchers, who published their findings in the latest edition of the
Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, found the
extracts from black raspberries, blackberries and strawberries were the most effective against the cancer cell lines studied.
Solar Split The Engineer Online Dec. 6
Scientists have combined two molecules that occur naturally in blood to engineer a molecular complex that uses solar energy to
split water into hydrogen and oxygen. The research has been published today in the
Journal of the American Chemical Society. This molecular
complex can use energy from the sun to create hydrogen gas, providing an alternative to electrolysis, the method typically used
to split water into its constituent parts. The breakthrough may pave the way for the development of novel ways of creating
hydrogen gas for use as fuel in the future.
Nanoassembly technique borrows from biology CBC News (Canada) Nov. 28 http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2006/11/28/nano-bio.html
Chemists at Rice University have found a way to assemble a bigger nanostructure from smaller particles. And the instructions are
remarkably simple: just add water. The process takes advantage of the hydrophobic properties of oils and lipids—or the simple
fact that oil and water don't mix. The research, to appear in the Nov. 29 issue of the
Journal of the American Chemical Society, will help chemists
create useful materials including potent cancer drugs and efficient catalysts for the chemical industry.
Flavorful coatings might make foods safer The Boston Globe Nov. 27
Oregano-flavored tomatoes or cinnamon-flavored apples brightly wrapped in edible colored films could soon protect consumers from
outbreaks of food-borne disease. Scientists have created an all-natural, microbe-killing coating for fruits and vegetables made
out of apple puree and natural proteins mixed with oils of oregano, lemon grass [sic], or cinnamon. Commonly consumed as spices
or in other foods, these “essential oils” are safe for people but readily kill microbes. Three minutes of exposure
to a coating containing oregano oil killed half of the Escherichia coli bacteria in a sample of the microbes...
“These antimicrobial edible films and coatings offer an alternative way to further improve the safety of foods,” said
food engineer Tara H. McHugh of the US Department of Agriculture, the project's lead scientist. McHugh and her colleagues
published their findings in this week's Journal of Agricultural and Food
Chemistry. (Story also ran in Chicago Sun Times.)
Old antibiotic is finally synthesized United Press International Nov. 27
The need for new antibiotics to combat multi-drug resistant bacteria has led U.S. chemists to the first synthesis of a
potentially valuable antibiotic. Daniel Kahne and colleagues at Harvard University report the first total synthesis of
the antibiotic moenomycin—a drug that has been sidelined from clinical use for 40 years. Moenomycin is a broad-spectrum
antibiotic with strong antibacterial activity against a large group of bacteria that cause pneumonia, urinary tract infections,
gastritis, stomach ulcers, food poisoning and other disorders. Moenomycin also kills bacteria in an unusual way—it binds
directly to enzymes that bacteria need to form a cell wall. Although used as a growth promoter in animals, moenomycin has never
been developed for medical use in humans because it is poorly absorbed into the body. Kahne says discovery of a method to
synthesize moenomycin is important because it will allow scientists to better understand the antibiotic and make variants of
the natural antibiotic that may be suitable for medical use. The research appeared in the Nov. 15 issue of the
Journal of the American Chemical Society
Taking the acrylamide out of wheat:
Soils lacking sulphur may increase carcinogens in crops Nature Nov. 23 http://www.nature.com/news/2006/061120/full/061120-11.html
Not enough sulphur in the wheat can spell “probable carcinogen” in the bun, according to new research. Researchers
first discovered traces of acrylamide, a chemical linked to cancer and other possible ill effects, in baked and fried goods in
2002, to universal dismay. Since then, food scientists have spent untold hours trying to reduce the amounts of this chemical in
foods. … A group led by Donald Mottram, professor of food biosciences at the University of Reading, UK, approached the
problem not by looking at how acrylamide is produced in the cooking process, but how the precursors to the nasty chemical wind
up in wheat in the first place. They report in the Journal of Agricultural and
Food Chemistry that wheat grown in fields deficient in sulphur have much higher concentrations of
asparagines—an amino acid that, along with sugars, forms acrylamide during cooking.
U.S. chemists create, grow nanotube seeds United Press International Nov. 20
U.S. chemists have cut carbon nanotubes into “seeds” and used those seeds to sprout new nanotubes. “Carbon
nanotubes come in lots of diameters and types and our goal is to take a pure sample of just one type and duplicate it in large
quantities,” said corresponding author James Tour, director of Rice University's Carbon Nanotechnology Laboratory.
“We've shown the concept can work.” Single-walled carbon nanotubes are molecules of pure carbon. Smaller in diameter
than a virus, nanotubes are about 100 times stronger than steel and are among the world's best electrical conductors and
semi-conductors. The nanotube seeds are about 200 nanometers long and 1 nanometer wide. After cutting, bits of iron were
attached at each end and a polymer wrapper was added that allowed the seeds to stick to a smooth piece of silicon oxide.
After burning away the polymer and impurities the seeds were placed inside a pressure-controlled furnace. With the iron
acting as a catalyst, the seeds grew to more than 30 times their initial length. The research is available online and will
appear in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Chemical
Society. (Story also ran in Hindustan Times [India] .)
Cancer research shows promise Journal-World (Kansas) Nov. 20
Take an antibiotic. Modify it in a simple, novel way and you end up with a promising compound for fighting cancer. That's
what a Kansas University-led research team has done in transforming the antibiotic Novobiocin into an anti-cancer compound.
The team's work will be reported in this month's issue of the Journal of
the American Chemical Society “We have quite a potent anti-cancer drug,” said Joe Burlison,
a KU postdoctoral researcher. For several years, researchers have known Novobiocin—an antibiotic used in Europe for
treatment of bacterial infections—inhibits Hsp90, a protein necessary for all human cells and particularly important
for the growth of cancer cells. At KU, where researchers have been building a library of Novobiocin derivatives, scientists
were able to modify the drug and create two derivatives. These new compounds no longer work like an antibiotic but instead
target Hsp90, blocking the protein that cancer cells need to proliferate.
Johns Hopkins studies prodrug chemotherapy United Press International Nov. 20 http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20061120-092856-3066r
BALTIMORE —U.S. cancer scientists say “prodrug chemotherapy” is a new strategy that might reduce the side
effects of anti-cancer drugs. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University say the two-part chemotherapy involves giving patients
the inactive form of an anti-cancer drug—the “prodrug”—and an enzyme that changes the prodrug into an
active, cancer fighting form. Patients first get the enzyme, which is gradually eliminated from normal tissue but builds up and
remains in the tumor. Then patients get the prodrug, which changes into its active and toxic form only upon encountering the
enzyme in the tumor... The scientists describe the synthesis and early laboratory testing of the first prodrug-activating
enzyme that can be imaged in tissue to time administration of the prodrug in the Nov. 29 issue of the
Journal of the American Chemical Society.
Study: Getting more shelf life out of milk United Press International Nov. 14
U.S. researchers say they have found a way to kill harmful bacteria in milk while increasing its shelf life without introducing
off-flavors. Michael Qian and colleagues at Oregon State University point out that ultrahigh-temperature pasteurization produces
milk that stays fresh at room temperature for six months—but it also leaves a “cooked” flavor in milk that has
limited the popularity of the process. Now, they have developed a food processing technology called high hydrostatic pressure
processing that involves putting foods under extreme pressure, crushing and killing bacteria while leaving food with a fresh,
uncooked taste... The study's findings are scheduled for publication in the Nov. 29 issue of the
Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
Scientists explain the structure of xDNA United Press International Nov. 14
U.S. scientists from Stanford University say they have determined the structure of expanded DNA, or xDNA—a strange double
helix molecule. The researchers say xDNA is 20 percent wider and more heat-resistant than natural DNA and is inherently fluorescent,
making it useful as a medical and scientific probe. Eric Kool and colleagues developed xDNA in 2003 by adding a benzene ring to the
chemical bases that form natural DNA. Natural DNA, which is 20 angstroms wide, and benzene, with a girth of 2.4 angstroms, produced
the wholly new wider double helix. The researchers now report combining all four expanded DNA bases with the four natural DNA bases
to produce a complete eight-base molecule. They then used nuclear magnetic resonance to reveal the structure of xDNA and study the
molecule. The study is scheduled for publication Nov. 22 in the weekly Journal of
the American Chemical Society.
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