news 2022

« BACK

Chemistry



Results 41 - 60 of 301.


Chemistry - Physics - 17.11.2022
Problem solved in organic chemistry
Problem solved in organic chemistry
In chemicals used in agriculture, as well as in pharmaceuticals and a variety of materials, pyridines are often found as so-called functional units which decisively determine the chemical properties of substances. Pyridines belong to the group of ring-shaped carbon-hydrogen (C'H) compounds ("heterocycles"), and they contain a nitrogen atom (N).

Pharmacology - Chemistry - 16.11.2022
Urine reveals our eating habits
Urine reveals our eating habits
We already know that a urine test can establish whether someone has an infection of the urinary tract or has taken illegal drugs. But there are lots more traces to be found in urine - if you know how to read them. Developing and refining techniques to get pointers to a person's eating habits or to harmful substances in their urine is one of the pet projects being pursued by food chemist Prof. Hans-Ulrich Humpf and his working group at the University of Münster.

Earth Sciences - Chemistry - 16.11.2022
Winchcombe meteorite holds information about the origin of Earth’s oceans
The Winchcombe meteorite, a rare carbonaceous meteorite which crashed onto a driveway in Gloucestershire, has been found to contain extra-terrestrial water and organic compounds that reveal insights into the origin of Earth's oceans. A new study led by experts from the Natural History Museum and the University of Glasgow reports the orbital history and first laboratory analyses of the Winchcombe meteorite, which was recovered only hours after its spectacular fireball lit up the skies over the UK in February 2021.

Chemistry - 15.11.2022
Understanding a cerium quirk could help advance grid-scale energy storage
It turns out cerium flow batteries lose voltage when electrolyte molecules siphon off energy to form different complexes around the metal Study: Unveiling the cerium(III)/(IV) structures and charge transfer mechanism in sulfuric acid (DOI: 10.1021/jacsau.2c00484) An explanation for why flow batteries using the metal cerium in a sulfuric acid electrolyte fall short on voltage, discovered through a study led by the University of Michigan, could pave the way for better battery chemistry.

Physics - Chemistry - 08.11.2022
Faster and more Efficient Computer Chips Thanks to Germanium
Faster and more Efficient Computer Chips Thanks to Germanium
TU Wien (Vienna) has succeeded in making a new type of material usable for chip technology. This enables faster, more efficient computers and new types of quantum devices. Our current chip technology is largely based on silicon. Only in very special components a small amount of germanium is added. But there are good reasons to use higher germanium contents in the future: The compound semiconductor silicon-germanium has decisive advantages over today's silicon technology in terms of energy efficiency and achievable clock frequencies.

Chemistry - Environment - 08.11.2022
100% efficient electrochemical conversion of carbon dioxide
Researchers from the University of Twente, in collaboration with Shell, developed a new mechanism that makes the conversion of carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide, which is an essential feedstock in the production of chemicals. Within this project under the umbrella of the Advanced Research Center Chemical Building Blocks Consortium (ARC CBBC), the researchers published their findings in the scientific journal ACS Energy Letters.

Health - Chemistry - 07.11.2022
Stable membrane for therapeutic carriers
Stable membrane for therapeutic carriers
Cells can generate vesicles as a response to changes in their environment. Although such cell-derived vesicles have great potential for biomedical research, their membrane is fragile and they have tendency to cluster together. Researchers at the University of Basel have successfully introduced a strategy to overcome these issues by equipping the vesicular membrane with a stabilizing shell.

Chemistry - Materials Science - 07.11.2022
A technology that 'sees' inside commercial batteries
A technology that ’sees’ inside commercial batteries
Controlling and studying the chemistry of batteries is crucial to improving their design. Scientists have developed an optical fibre based method for monitoring the evolving chemistry of a commercial battery in real time during charging and discharging. These results pave the way for easier and improved battery design.

Materials Science - Chemistry - 04.11.2022
New materials could enable longer-lasting implantable batteries
New materials could enable longer-lasting implantable batteries
Pacemakers and other medical devices, as well as long-distance drones and remote sensors, could require fewer battery replacements with new approach. For the last few decades, battery research has largely focused on rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, which are used in everything from electric cars to portable electronics and have improved dramatically in terms of affordability and capacity.

Chemistry - Physics - 02.11.2022
Plastics response to extreme stretching
By coupling a tensile machine and an in situ dielectric measurement, physicists from Lyon (ENS de Lyon Physicis Laboratory and MATEIS) have made a breakthrough in understanding the molecular reorganizations that allow a polymer film to stretch. The results of this study are published in the journal Macromolecules .

Physics - Chemistry - 02.11.2022
Magnetic molecules on surfaces: advances and challenges in molecular nanoscience
Magnetic molecules on surfaces: advances and challenges in molecular nanoscience
In the field of molecular magnetism, the design of devices with technological applications at the nanoscale —quantum computing, molecular spintronics, magnetic cooling, nanomedicine, high-density information storage, etc.— requires those magnetic molecules that are placed on the surface to preserve their structure, functionality and properties.

Chemistry - Environment - 02.11.2022
Iodine accelerates formation of cloud condensation nuclei in the atmosphere
Iodine accelerates formation of cloud condensation nuclei in the atmosphere
International research team reports effect of iodine-organic chemistry on the generation of new particles in the marine atmosphere and the recycling of iodine during particle growth The natural cycles of exchange of substances between the biosphere and the atmosphere are of major relevance to the Earth's climatic system.

Life Sciences - Chemistry - 01.11.2022
A new method for studying ribosome function 
A new method for studying ribosome function 
Inside tiny cellular machines called ribosomes, chains of genetic material called messenger RNAs (mRNAs) are matched with the corresponding transfer RNAs (tRNAs) to create sequences of amino acids that exit the ribosome as proteins. Unfinished proteins are called nascent chainsm and they are left attached to the ribosome.

Chemistry - Computer Science - 31.10.2022
Machine learning techniques from Imperial and BASF advance experimental design
Machine learning techniques from Imperial and BASF advance experimental design
Imperial and chemical company BASF will reveal new techniques for optimising experimental design at leading machine learning conference NeurIPS. Three papers outlining new machine learning techniques that address important needs in the chemical industry have been judged ground-breaking enough to win acceptance at the NeurIPS conference, one of the most competitive international venues for research in machine learning.

Physics - Chemistry - 31.10.2022
In nanotube science, is boron nitride the new carbon?
In nanotube science, is boron nitride the new carbon?
A technique for synthesizing many "white graphene" nanotubes at a time paves the way for stronger, heat-resistant composites, and membranes for renewable energy. Engineers at MIT and the University of Tokyo have produced centimeter-scale structures, large enough for the eye to see, that are packed with hundreds of billions of hollow aligned fibers, or nanotubes, made from hexagonal boron nitride.

Chemistry - 31.10.2022
In Search of Earth’s Building Blocks
Two international research teams, including scientists from Freie Universität, have independently shown that the Earth partly consists of material that cannot be explained by known meteorite compositions. The studies appeared in Nature and Science. The most common type of meteorites that fall onto Earth are called chondrites, which represent little modified aggregates of dust from the early solar nebula.

Environment - Chemistry - 28.10.2022
Controlling spin and Alzheimer's biological pathway: News from the College
Controlling spin and Alzheimer’s biological pathway: News from the College
Here's a batch of fresh news and announcements from across Imperial. From materials research that could help with the development of low-power next-generation technologies, to the discovery of a biological pathway that may explain the underlying mechanisms of Alzheimer's disease, here is some quick-read news from across the College.

Chemistry - Life Sciences - 27.10.2022
Profiling of sweet-fatty molecules on cell surfaces.
Profiling of sweet-fatty molecules on cell surfaces.
New method enables measurement of glycolipids; now, for example, the relevance in cancer will be investigated So-called glycolipids, or "sweet-fatty" molecules, are a relatively unknown group among the body's diverse lipids. A method developed by an Austrian team led by chemist Evelyn Rampler of the University of Vienna has now provided deeper insights into the functioning of certain glycolipids, which are located, among other things, on the surfaces of stem cells.

Life Sciences - Chemistry - 27.10.2022
Inspired by nature: Silencing bacteria
Inspired by nature: Silencing bacteria
Cerium dioxide nanoparticles work in biological processes like natural enzymes and change signaling molecules, thereby preventing the formation of biofilms 27 October 2022 Bacteria love moist surfaces. Once they have settled there, they do not live as solitary organisms but form larger communities that are embedded in a protective film.

Health - Chemistry - 27.10.2022
Synthetic firefly glow lights new path to disease detection
A Curtin University-led research team has found a way to synthetically create a firefly's 'glow' that could have positive impacts on the access to medical light-imaging tools used to detect tumours and other diseases. Fireflies emit their 'glow' due to a natural chemical reaction that happens in their abdomens in the presence of an enzyme called luciferase.