June 15, 2009 - Volume 87, Number 24
- pp. 27-28
Science & Technology
More Science & Technology Concentrates
- Adaptive Synthetic Peptides
- Self-assembling oligomers, which can swap nucleobases at will, store instructions for biological life in the same way as DNA or RNA.
- HNO Generates Unique Chemical Markers
- Nitroxyl reacts with organic phosphines, yielding unique amide products that can be used to detect the biologically active nitrogen oxide.
- Surprise Methyl C–H Activation In DMF
- Caltech researchers find that a methyl C–H bond in dimethylformamide can be preferentially activated over the labile aldehyde C–H bond.
- Flow Spectroscopy For Tagged Nanoparticles
- A new instrument swiftly snaps high-resolution Raman scattering spectra of individual nanoparticles to obtain quality-control information.
- Formation Of Famous Tantalum Complex Is Nailed Down
- After 35 years, pentaneopentyltantalum is confirmed as the precursor to the tantalum alkylidene complex that led to Schrock metathesis catalysts.
- Borane Compound Turns Off When Sensing Cyanide
- A fluorescing sulfonium borane compound can sense the presence of cyanide ions in water at concentrations less than 1 ppm.
- Silent Matrix For MALDI Mass Spec
- A dimethylaminonaphthalene matrix that doesn't produce ions when irradiated reduces spectral noise for analyzing small biomolecules.
- Glucose Derivative Takes Down Termites
- Gluconolactone increases termites' susceptibility to infection by a fungal pathogen, suggesting it could serve as a nontoxic pest control agent.
Topics Covered
ACS Nano
Nanoparticles are depicted flowing through a 4-picoliter probe area, where their individual Raman spectra are acquired in 10 microseconds.
Nanoparticles are often studied in bulk, but sometimes they need personal attention. An instrument built by researchers at the nonprofit La Jolla Bioengineering Institute can now give it to them. David S. Sebba, Dakota A. Watson, and John P. Nolan have constructed a device capable of swiftly snapping high-resolution Raman scattering spectra of individual nanoparticles (ACS Nano, DOI: 10.1021/nn9003346). The instrument can characterize 100 nanoparticles per second as they channel one-by-one through a laser beam. The team needed a way to troubleshoot the synthesis of nanoparticles coated with a dye. These nanomaterials have narrow Raman spectral peaks, which make them ideal labels for cells in biological measurements, such as flow cytometry. But making uniform batches of the modified nanoparticles is difficult: Some of the particles shine brightly and others are duds. Nolan says that the instrument has been crucial in optimizing the team's tag recipe, providing quality-control information, such as the fraction of bright and dull nanoparticles, which no bulk characterization technique can offer. The researchers are planning to use the perfected nanoparticles in a Raman flow cytometer they are developing that will allow immunologists to measure 50 different antigens simultaneously.
- Chemical & Engineering News
- ISSN 0009-2347
- Copyright © 2009 American Chemical Society
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