Fluorine‐Enabled Cationic Gold Catalysis: Functionalized Hydration of Alkynes

Algae for your fuel tank

The available amount of fossil fuels is limited and their combustion in vehicle motors increases atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. The generation of fuels from biomass as an alternative is on the rise. In the journal Angewandte Chemie, Johannes A. Lercher and his team at the Technische Uni ... more

Progress toward artificial tissue?

For modern implants and the growth of artificial tissue and organs, it is important to generate materials with characteristics that closely emulate nature. However, the tissue in our bodies has a combination of traits that are very hard to recreate in synthetic materials: It is both soft an ... more

Biomass as a source of raw materials

For the protection of the environment, and because of the limited amount of fossil fuels available, renewable resources, such as specially cultivated plants, wood scraps, and other plant waste, are becoming the focus of considerable attention. Processes such as pyrolysis or liquefaction all ... more

Vesicle‐Mediated Growth of Tubular Branches and Centimeter‐Long Microtubes from a Single Molecule

Abstract The mechanism by which small molecules assemble into microscale tubular structures in aqueous solution remains poorly understood, particularly when the initial building blocks are non‐amphiphilic molecules and no surfactant is used. It is here shown how a subnanometric molecule ... more

Vapor Sensing: Organic Vapor Sensing Based on the Light Scattering Effect of Condensed Microdroplets (Small 24/2012)

The image illustrates a natural phenomenon of droplet formation caused by the condensation of vapor on a nonwettable surface at temperature below the dew point. Real‐time observing the light scattered from the droplets may lead to a new mechanism for vapor sensing. However, the dew point ... more

Upconversion: NIR‐Triggered Release of Caged Nitric Oxide using Upconverting Nanostructured Materials (Small 24/2012)

NO is a key vasodilator in mammalian cardiovascular systems and has been shown to sensitize tissue to γ‐radiation. However, photochemical NO precursors that can be activated by these NIR wavelengths are extremely limited. G. D. Stucky, D. Zhao, P. C. Ford, F. Zhang and co‐workers have ad ... more

Bioengineers Succeed in Producing Plastic Without the use of Fossil Fuels

A team of pioneering South Korean scientists have succeeded in producing the polymers used for everyday plastics through bioengineering, rather than through the use of fossil fuel based chemicals. This groundbreaking research, which may now allow for the production of environmentally consci ... more

New look for antiques

In the past, restoration of paintings and other old artwork often involved application of acrylic resins to consolidate and protect them. One of the most important tasks for modern restorers is thus to remove these layers, because it turns out that acrylic resins not only drastically change ... more

Is trash the solution to tackling climate change?

Converting the trash that fills the world's landfills into biofuel may be the answer to both the growing energy crisis and to tackling carbon emissions, claim scientists in Singapore and Switzerland. New research published in Global Change Biology: Bioenergy, reveals how replacing gasoline ... more