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» Latest Science & Technology News
May 5, 2008
Enzyme Design Papers Retracted
Retractions set off controversy but seem unlikely to stymie progress in the field.
Absinthe Myths Finally Laid To Rest
Vintage samples of the notorious alcoholic drink don't contain high levels of psychoactive compound.
Power To The Students
Grad students produce high-profile symposium as part of an innovative education initiative.
Perfecting An Artificial Pancreas
Specialized polymer is key to insulin-regulating device.
» Science & Technology Concentrates
May 5, 2008
Microfluidic spider silk — How a spider's spinning duct turns protein solutions into threads as strong as steel is still largely a mystery. But German scientists have now designed a microfluidic device.
Firing up the tank with nanoparticles — In an attempt to make liquid fuels more energy efficient, scientists have found that adding aluminum or aluminum oxide nanoparticles to diesel fuel improves its ignition properties (Nano Lett., DOI: 10.1021/nl080277d).
Oligogermanes start to branch out — The periodic table foretells that the chemistry of germanium should be similar to that of carbon. Indeed, a growing number of linear oligogermanes are being synthesized.
Semiconductors via combustion — Combustion synthesis is a low-cost, low-tech, and energy-efficient preparation method that can be used to synthesize nanocrystalline tungsten trioxide, an important inorganic oxide semiconductor.
Getting stuffed improves stability of boron fullerenes — Adding to the growing theoretical collection of boron analogs of fullerenes, chemists have postulated that a new family of boron clusters stuffed with a few extra boron atoms should be more stable than the previously hypothesized champion of stability, B80.
Souped-up nanomotors — Drop a bimetal nanowire, composed of a segment of gold and a segment of platinum, into a solution of aqueous hydrogen peroxide and the tiny rod will chug along at about 8 µm/second.
How to dissolve your carbon nanotubes — Although carbon nanotubes are generally regarded as insoluble in all solvents, a research team led by Jonathan N. Coleman of Trinity College Dublin and James P. Hamilton of the University of Wisconsin, Platteville, has found that carbon nanotubes actually can be dissolved in N-methylpyrrolidone (NMP) and other solvents with a surface energy that matches that of graphitic surfaces (Adv. Mater., DOI: 10.1002/adma.200702451).
Seawater boosts tomato's antioxidants — Irrigating cherry tomatoes with diluted seawater produces tastier fruit with increased antioxidant levels, according to a new study (J. Agric. Food Chem., DOI: 10.1021/jf0733012).
» Latest Science & Technology News
April 28, 2008
Drug Candidates Unveiled
ACS Meeting News: Medicinal chemists disclose drug candidates for hepatitis, cancer, and other conditions.
Healing Clays
ACS Meeting News: Scientists probe antibacterial mechanism of natural clays.
Brotherly Love, Sisterly Affection
Annual conference returns to Philadelphia to highlight achievements of black chemists and chemical engineers.
NOBCChE: 2008 Competition Winners
'Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed'
Ben Stein's antiscience 'documentary' equates evolution with Nazism.
C&EN Talks With Bob Peoples
Green Chemistry Institute's personable new director plans to build consensus for chemists' sustainability efforts.
Inside Instrumentation
Technology and Business news for the laboratory world.
» Science & Technology Concentrates
April 28, 2008
Microfluidic Aerobatics — Digital microfluidics, in which individual droplets are manipulated on an array of electrodes, is currently limited to a single horizontal plane.
Membrane Anchors May Outwit Alzheimer's — Cell-membrane-spanning protease enzymes called β-secretases play a critical role in β-amyloid peptide formation, a key step in the progression of Alzheimer's disease.
DNA Repair Job Gets Inspected — With the help of a clever cross-linking strategy, chemists at the University of Chicago have determined why one repair protein sticks to fixing up double-stranded DNA damaged by alkylation, whereas its relatives prefer mending single-stranded DNA (Nature 2008, 452, 961).
Mouse Skin Doubles as an Oxygen Sensor — Besides guarding muscle and internal organs, the skin of a mouse can sense oxygen levels in the local environment and adjust the animal's physiological response accordingly, report University of California, San Diego, biology professor Randall S. Johnson and coworkers (Cell 2008, 133, 223).
RNNNNNNR: A Tamed High-Energy Compound — Chemicals with high nitrogen content also tend to be highly energetic, so chemists must tread lightly when handling or storing them lest they explode.
New And Improved Covalent Atomic Radii — An updated set of atomic radii has been generated for the elements hydrogen through curium, an accomplishment that fills in gaps and resolves inconsistencies in a pool of data currently used to study chemical structure, bonding, reactivity, and periodic trends (Dalton Trans., DOI: 10.1039/b801115j).
Tagged Metals Are Ready To Star in Action Movies — A new family of fluorescent compounds may enable transition-metal-catalyzed reactions to be imaged at the single-molecule level, according to a study by Stephen M. Canham, Suzanne A. Blum, and coworkers at the University of California, Irvine (Organometallics, DOI: 10.1021/om800228v).
A Golden Crown — In what some might call a crowning achievement of metal-metal bonding, chemists in China have assembled 36 gold atoms into a crownlike ring, creating the largest member of the gold ring family reported to date (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., DOI: 10.1002/anie.200801001).
» Nanofocus
Coverage of original content and collected nanotechnology news throughout the ACS.
May 5, 2008
Nanoscience
A new twist on nanowire growth leads to stunning structures.
May 5, 2008
How to dissolve your carbon nanotubes
Although carbon nanotubes are generally regarded as insoluble in all solvents.
May 5, 2008
Souped-up nanomotors
Drop a bimetal nanowire, composed of a segment of gold and a segment of platinum, into a solution of aqueous hydrogen peroxide and the tiny rod will chug along at about 8 µm/second.
May 5, 2008
Nano-biointeractions need more study
A coordinated global research effort is needed to predict how engineered nanoparticles will interact with biological systems.
April 30, 2008
Firing Up The Tank With Nanoparticles
Aluminum or aluminum oxide particles could help improve fuel efficiency.
April 21, 2008
Nano TV Series Debuts
Public broadcasting provides a forum for discussing the risks and benefits of nanotechnology
April 21, 2008
Peptide Nanostructure Kills Cancer Cells
By adding crown ether moieties to a polypeptide, chemists in Canada have created a nanoscale chemotherapeutic compound that can selectively and efficiently kill prostate cancer cells (Chem. Commun., DOI: 10.1039/b800528a).
April 21, 2008
Nanocomposite Strategy Eliminates Matrix
The narrow spectral width and high quantum efficiency of lanthanide spectral emission make rare-earth-doped nanocrystals good candidates for optical materials.
April 9, 2008
Silver socks have cloudy lining
A first assessment of socks containing silver nanoparticles, meant to cut down on foot odors, shows that the fabrics release most of the tiny particles in the wash—and possibly into the environment via solid waste from water treatment plants.
April 7, 2008
Toxic Socks
Silver nanoparticles intended to control odor release in the wash.
April 7, 2008
Nanobacteria May Only Be Nanoparticles
Nanobacteria are a putative novel life form first identified in the 1990s and implicated in the origin of life and in a variety of diseases.
April 1, 2008
All nanotubes are not created equal
Significant differences among different single-walled carbon nanotubes make it difficult to model their environmental risk.
» Reel Science
» Reel Science reviews "I Am Legend"
Is Will Smith as a scientist in "I Am Legend" the world's last hope?
» What's That Stuff?
Amazed by amber? Inquisitive about ink? Wonder about whiskey? Uncover the chemistry behind everyday products.
What's New in 'What's That Stuff?'
Tattoo Ink
Adhesive Tape
Oil Paints
Chewing Gum
Sandpaper
Leather
Pool Chemicals
Amber
» Education
C&EN's coverage of the education of tomorrow's chemists.
September 3, 2007
- Introduction: Roads Less Taken — This year's education supplement sheds some light on the corners of education that haven't gotten much notice. Read more
- Fellows Are An Independent Lot — Non-tenure-track research positions offer alternative career paths Read more
- Wired For Learning — Teachers are tapping into youths' digital savvy to take science education into the future. Read more
- Community Launch Pads — Students find great value in low-cost, high-quality two-year colleges Read more
- Chemistry Olympians: Where are they now? — Former team members reflect on the olympiad's lasting impact on their education and careers Read more
» Critter Chemistry
Chemistry isn't confined to laboratories and classrooms. Nature is full of chemistry, too. "Critter Chemistry" demonstrates the active role chemistry takes in the animal kingdom. Some of the articles listed have previously run in Chemical & Engineering News, while other articles are exclusive to C&EN Online.
