New insight into how long-banned chemicals unleash their toxicity inside the body

28-Nov-2022 - Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were widely used in industrial and commercial products including plastics, paints, electronic equipment and insulating fluids. Their manufacture was extensively banned from the late 70s onwards due to their toxicity, however large amounts still remain in our ...

Key to chemical industries’ sustainable future?

The world’s first industrial model of a flow photo-on-demand synthesis system

25-Nov-2022 - Various chemical products, such as polymers and pharmaceutical intermediates, are currently synthesized with phosgene as their precursor or raw material. However, phosgene is highly toxic and this usage poses safety risks. Thus, there is demand for the development of new methods and substitutes ...

New study on a recently discovered chlorophyll molecule could be key to better solar cells

Scientists uncover location and functions of a new type of chlorophyll molecule for the first time

23-Jan-2020 - All living organisms need energy for their survival, and this energy indirectly comes from the sun. Some organisms, such as plants, cyanobacteria, and algae, are capable of directly converting this light energy into chemical energy via a process called "photosynthesis". These photosynthetic ...

Big results from small solutions

New method for analyzing metalloproteins

30-Nov-2018 - A new method only needs a tiny liquid sample to analyze metalloproteins. This breakthrough was achieved by a research team led by Associate Professor Eiji Ohmichi and Tsubasa Okamoto at the Kobe University Graduate School of Science. Metalloproteins (also known as metal-binding proteins) play ...

A gel that does not break or dry out

13-Nov-2017 - Researchers have developed a highly robust gel that includes large amounts of ionic liquid. The research team was led by Professor Matsuyama Hideto and Assistant Professor Kamio Eiji (Kobe University Graduate School of Science, Center for Membrane and Film Technology). Ionic liquid is a substance ...

New compound switches between liquid and solid states when exposed to light or heat

01-Jun-2016 - A research group led by Professor Mochida Tomoyuki (Kobe University Graduate School of Science) and Dr. Funasako Yusuke (Tokyo University of Science, Yamaguchi) has developed a metal-containing compound which transforms into a solid when exposed to light and returns to liquid form when heated. ...

Musical molecules

Nanofibers align to the sound of Beethoven and Mozart

13-Jan-2014 - Humans create and perform music for a variety of purposes such as aesthetic pleasure, healing, religion, and ceremony. Accordingly, a scientific question arises: Can molecules or molecular assemblies interact physically with the sound vibrations of music? In the journal ChemPlusChem, Japanese ...