Chemistry News

Energy-saving powder

Sunday, November 15, 2009 00:00 MST

Max Planck chemists are using a simple method to convert methane to methanol -- something that has the potential to exploit previously unused reserves of natural gas.

Exploration by explosion: Studying the inner realm of living cells

Saturday, November 14, 2009 00:00 MST

Scientists in Washington, DC, are reporting development and successful tests of a new way for exploring the insides of living cells, the microscopic building blocks of all known plants and animals. They explode the cell while it is still living inside a plant or animal, vaporize its contents, and sniff. The study appears in online in ACS' journal Analytical Chemistry.

Researchers turn algae into high-temperature hydrogen source

Friday, November 13, 2009 00:00 MST

In the quest to make hydrogen as a clean alternative fuel source, researchers have been stymied about how to create usable hydrogen that is clean and sustainable without relying on an intensive, high-energy process that outweighs the benefits of not using petroleum to power vehicles. New findings from a team of researchers from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, however, show that photosynthesis may function as that clean, sustainable source of hydrogen.

Engineers image nanostructure of a solid acid catalyst and boost its catalytic activity

Wednesday, November 11, 2009 00:00 MST

Aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) and Raman, infrared and UV-visible spectroscopies pinpoint sub-nanometer clusters of tungsten oxide mixed with tiny amounts of zirconium as the active catalytic species in the catalyst. In lab tests, the clusters increased the activity of a poor catalyst by more than 100 times. Solid acid catalysts are more environmentally friendly than liquid catalysts, which evaporate, spill and cause corrosion. Tungstated zirconia's uses include the improvement of gasoline's octane content.

How size matters for catalysts

Monday, November 09, 2009 00:00 MST

University of Utah chemists demonstrated the first conclusive link between the size of catalyst particles on a solid surface, their electronic properties and their ability to speed chemical reactions. The study is a step toward the goal of designing cheaper, more efficient catalysts to increase energy production, reduce Earth-warming gases and manufacture a wide variety of goods from medicines to gasoline.

Materials scientists find better model for glass creation

Sunday, November 08, 2009 00:00 MST

Harvard materials scientists have come up with what they believe is a new way to model the formation of glasses, a type of amorphous solid that includes common window glass.

Mimicking nature, scientists can now extend redox potentials

Friday, November 06, 2009 00:00 MST

New insight into how nature handles some fundamental processes is guiding researchers in the design of tailor-made proteins for applications such as artificial photosynthetic centers, long-range electron transfers, and fuel-cell catalysts for energy conversion.

Lab leads hunt for new zeolites

Thursday, November 05, 2009 00:00 MST

In all the world, there are about 200 types of zeolite, a compound of silicon, aluminum and oxygen that gives civilization such things as laundry detergent, kitty litter and gasoline. But thanks to computations by Rice University professor Michael Deem and his colleagues, it appears there are -- or could be -- more types of zeolites than once thought.

Not just bleach: Hydrogen peroxide may tell time for living cells

Thursday, November 05, 2009 00:00 MST

Common household chemical, also made naturally by living cells, appears to be involved in regulation of circadian rhythms, according to new study in PLoS ONE.

Start-up company prepares to commercialize novel detector for medical, military applications

Friday, October 30, 2009 00:00 MST

PAIR Technologies, a start-up company established by University of Delaware researchers and a former DuPont scientist, is preparing to commercialize a high-precision detector -- a planar array infrared spectrograph -- that can identify biological and chemical agents in solids, liquids and gases, in quantities as small as an atom, and in less than a second.

Researchers make key step towards turning methane gas into liquid fuel

Wednesday, October 28, 2009 00:00 MST

Scientists take an important step in converting methane gas to a liquid, giving the potential of making it more useful as a fuel and as a source for making other chemicals.

Scientist shines laser light on methane in pursuit of clean fuel

Wednesday, October 28, 2009 00:00 MST

Rochester Institute of Technology professor Roger Dube is exploring a novel technique using laser light that could someday convert methane to liquid fuel and prevent the potent greenhouse gas from entering the atmosphere.

Seeing previously invisible molecules for the first time

Tuesday, October 27, 2009 00:00 MST

A team of Harvard chemists led by X. Sunney Xie has developed a new microscopic technique for seeing, in color, molecules with undetectable fluorescence. The room-temperature technique allows researchers to identify previously unseen molecules in living organisms and offers broad applications in biomedical imaging and research.

Synthetic cells shed biological insights while delivering battery power

Tuesday, October 27, 2009 00:00 MST

A new paper from researchers at Yale University and the National Institute of Standards and Technology describes a highly simplified model cell that not only sheds light on the way certain real cells generate electric voltages, but also acts as a tiny battery that could offer a practical alternative to conventional solid-state energy-generating devices.

Checkered history of mother and daughter cells explains cell cycle differences

Monday, October 26, 2009 00:00 MST

New research reveals that regulatory differences between mother and daughter cells during cell division are directly linked to how they prepare for their next split.