11-Mar-2019

Hydrogen is a highly attractive, but also highly explosive energy carrier, which requires safe, lightweight and cheap storage as well as transportation systems. Scientists at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel, have now developed a chemical storage system based on simple and abundant ...

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Rare earth orthoferrite LnFeO3 nanoparticles for bioimaging

06-Sep-2018

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has emerged as one of the most powerful clinical imaging tools because of its superb spatial resolution and soft tissue contrast, especially when using contrast agents. In the European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry, scientists have presented a new kind of ...

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Bioinspired enzyme model with a redox switch

29-Aug-2018

Coupled oxygen transfer and electron transfer reactions that use cofactors are enzymatic reactions of crucial significance to all lifeforms from bacteria to vertebrates. In the European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry, scientists have introduced a model for the enzyme sulfite oxidase. It is based ...

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Total synthesis of ajoene, a biologically active component in oil extracts of garlic

24-Aug-2018

Fresh garlic extracts contain a variety of healthy organosulfur compounds, among which ajoene forms a major oil-extractable ingredient. Now, chemists in the United Kingdom have synthesized ajoene from readily available components for the first time. The results show that ajoene is accessible on a ...

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Modulating photo- and electroluminescence in a stimuli-responsive molecular dye

17-Aug-2018

Controlling the excited electronic states in luminescent systems remains a challenge in the development of fluorescent and phosphorescent dyes. Now, scientists in Japan have developed a unique organic fluorophore that changes its emission color without loss of efficiency when externally ...

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Chemo-enzymatic synthesis of fluorinated antibiotics

07-Aug-2018

Fluorinated structures make up more than 20 percent of modern drugs, but benign and fast fluorination schemes are scarce. In a study scientists have now combined dynamic kinetic resolution and nucleophilic fluorination for the asymmetric synthesis of florfenicol, a veterinary antibiotic. After ...

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Superflexible aerogels are highly efficient absorbents, thermal insulators, and pressure sensors

27-Jul-2018

Airy, Airier, Aerogel. Until now, brittleness has limited the practical application of these delicate solids, which consist almost entirely of air-filled pores. This may now change: Japanese researchers have now introduced extremely elastic aerogels that are easy to process and can be produced at ...

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Efficient chain transfer for 3D-printing of tough photopolymers

10-Jul-2018

An ever-growing number of coatings, including varnishes and printing inks, as well as tooth fillings, are cured with light. Yet, homogenous, tailored, polymer networks cannot be produced, and the materials tend to be brittle, which limits the use of photopolymers in applications like 3D printing, ...

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Soft crystal gives a multifunctional, all-in-one material

19-Jun-2018

Crystals are brittle and inelastic? A novel class of smart, bendable crystalline organic materials has challenged this view. Now, scientists have engineered a molecular soft cocrystalline structure that bends and twists reversibly and without disintegration when stimulated by high temperature, ...

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Supramolecular complex formation: Anthracene macrocycle and C60 fullerene

11-Jun-2018

Saturn is the second largest planet in our solar system and has a characteristic ring. Japanese researchers have now synthesized a molecular “nano-Saturn”. As the scientists report, it consists of a spherical C60 fullerene as the planet and a flat macrocycle made of six anthracene units as the ...

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