Enzyme helps photoredox get enantioselective
Enantioenriched amine synthesis is inaugural example of photoredox and enzyme collaboration Source: Royal Society of Chemistry Enantioselective synthesis of amines by combining photoredox and enzymatic catalysis in a cyclic reaction network Researchers in Switzerland have successfully introduced cyclic enzymatic chemistry into a photochemical reaction to perform an enantioselective imine-to-amine reduction. The concept could act as […]
First new form of isomerism discovered in 50 years will be the last
By Katrina Krämer Source: © Macmillan Publishers Ltd The first recognised example of akamptisomerism – the molecule is shown inverting between the amplo and parvo diastereomers as it is heated. Central to this new form of isomerism is the boron–oxygen–boron bridge (pink–red–pink) held in the rigid porphyrin ring. Rings co-planar to a chelated parvo boron atom are […]
Magnetism puts new spin on separating mirror image molecules
Magnetism and electron spin have been harnessed to create a new way to separate and identify enantiomers – molecules that have a mirror image or chiral counterpart, akin to left and right hands. The approach could offer a broad, cheap and simple way to isolate certain chiral molecules, something that can be crucial to create […]
Challenging mirror molecules made with stereochemistry destroying reaction
Clever catalyst repurposes classic nucleophilic substitution to make chiral quaternary carbon centres A substitution reaction known for destroying stereochemistry has been converted into a chirality-creating reaction to tackle one of the toughest organic chemistry challenges: making quaternary carbon centres. Source: © 2018 Macmillan Publishers Ltd covalent bonds such as charge interactions and aromatic stacking allow […]
How do you make non-alcoholic beer and wine?
For Dry January and beyond, drinkers are thirsty for beers and wines that don’t get you drunk Many people will have met the New Year with a resolution to lay off the booze for a while, perhaps having overindulged in previous weeks. And with research published in early January revealing how alcohol causes DNA damage,1 […]
Oil spill cleanup
By Katrina Krämer, 1 June 2018 https://www.chemistryworld.com/feature/oil-spill-cleanup/3008990.article Source: © Daniel Beltra Is the cure worse than the disease? Katrina Krämer looks at the new alternatives to traditional dispersants and surfactants 20 April 2010 spelled disaster for the Deepwater Horizon oil rig. While drilling into a promising petroleum well off the coast of the US […]
Tetrahydrofuran steers chemists towards a low-valent neptunium precursor
Source: © Royal Society of Chemistry Synthetic route that lead to NpCl4(THF)3 and NpCl3(py)4 Scientists based in the US have made a neptunium complex that can act as a precursor for neptunium(III) chemistry. The complex is made from a readily available aqueous stock solution of neptunium(IV) so saves the need to use scarce neptunium metal. […]
A way to visualize valence electrons
Simulations suggest an existing technique could be used to track the movement of electrons during a reaction In order to understand and optimise reactions, chemists would love to be able to see precisely where the valence electrons are going. But this would require an imaging technique with picometre-scale spatial resolution, attosecond (10-18s) scale time resolution […]
Plant machinery functions inside synthetic protocell
Self-assembling microdroplets filled with chloroplasts show photosynthetic potential Source: © Royal Society of Chemistry Photosynthetically active membrane-free protocells were prepared by sequestering negatively charged chloroplasts into positively charged coacervate microdroplets. The Hill reagent was used to confirm that the chloroplasts were still photosynthetically active Photosynthetically-active artificial cells could be just around the corner now that […]
Five tips for getting the most out of moving to a lab in a new land
Five tips for getting the most out of moving to a lab in a new land A postdoctoral fellowship or placement in another country is considered a rite of passage for early to mid-career scientists. Moving countries, or ‘mobility’, has traditionally been the way to personally and scientifically enrich your career, enhance technical and leadership […]
Bizarre bimetallic compounds break C–F bonds
First ever molecular Mg–Al bond constructed in study that reveals main group metal–metal bonds can readily react with aromatic fluorine Bimetallic main group complexes can activate aromatic fluorine, a study by researchers in the UK has found.1 The reaction has a mechanism very similar to a typical nucleophilic aromatic substitution with a Grignard reagent and […]
Biomimetic chemistry: DNA mimic outwits viral enzyme
These are representations of a B-DNA double helix and a single helical foldamer mimic. Credit: Ivan Huc, LMU Not only can synthetic molecules mimic the structures of their biological models, they can also take on their functions and may even successfully compete with them, as an artificial DNA sequence designed by Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich […]
