Tag

Chemistry

All articles tagged with #chemistry

science3 days ago•3 min saved

Kagan and Soai Win 2026 Chemistry Nobel for Solving the Mystery of Molecular Handedness

Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai have been awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their work on homochirality, the phenomenon where life exclusively uses one mirror-image form of molecules. Their research explains how chemical reactions can spontaneously produce a single enantiomer, a feat previously only observed in nature. This breakthrough has significant implications for pharmaceutical safety and understanding the origins of life.

via BBC|

#chemistry #chirality #henri-kagan

science3 days ago•124 min saved

Kagan and Soai Win 2026 Chemistry Nobel for Solving Century-Old Chirality Mystery

Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai have been awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their pioneering work on molecular chirality. The award recognizes their solutions to a century-old mystery regarding how chemical reactions can produce a single mirror-image form of a molecule, a phenomenon known as homochirality. Their research has significant implications for pharmaceutical development and offers insights into the molecular origins of life. The prize was announced on October 7, 2026, at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm.

via AP News|

#chemistry #chirality #henri-kagan

chemistry9 days ago•27 min saved

Thianthrenium Salts Enable Safe, Versatile Cyclopropanation via Iron Catalysis

Researchers have developed a new method for synthesizing cyclopropanes using alkylthianthrenium salts as carbene precursors. Unlike traditional diazo compounds or diiodomethane, which pose significant safety risks, thianthrenium salts offer a safer profile with no detectable exotherm. The reaction, catalyzed by iron phthalocyanine, allows for diverse olefin and carbene partners, overcoming limitations of previous methods that restricted substrate scope. The approach also enables scale-up via mechanochemistry (ball milling) and extends to other carbene-transfer reactions like sigma-bond insertion.

via Nature|

#carbene-chemistry #chemistry #cyclopropanation

science13 days ago•32 min saved

Aromaticity Concept Expands to Metals and 3D Systems, Covering Two-Thirds of Known Compounds

A new review in Nature Reviews Chemistry argues that the concept of aromaticity has broadened significantly over the past two decades. The authors note that aromatic character is now found in approximately two-thirds of all known chemical compounds, extending far beyond traditional planar carbon rings. The review highlights key developments in excited-state, three-dimensional, and metal-containing aromatic systems, while noting that current definitions remain fragmented across different sub-disciplines.

via Nature|

#aromaticity #benzene #chemistry

politics28 days ago•15 min saved

Contractor Blames Flawed Renovation for Reflecting Pool Damage

New government documents show Atlantic Industrial Coatings blamed the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool liner damage on a rushed, no-bid renovation and incompatible bonding materials, not alleged Antifa vandals. Repairs are ongoing under warranty, and vandalism charges have been dropped or challenged as the investigation shifts toward the contractor's oversight and materials.

via Gizmodo|

#algae #chemistry #donald-trump

technology1 month ago•4 min saved

Garage AI-Designed Schizophrenia Drug Draws Regulatory Skepticism

A solo biochemist claims to have designed via ChatGPT and synthesized PAC-3310, a schizophrenia drug, in a garage, modeling it after a recently approved antipsychotic. Experts emphasize that drug development requires extensive preclinical work and a costly, multi-year FDA process, making DIY creation and testing highly unlikely to reach approval and highlighting risks of overreliance on AI for complex therapeutics.

via Futurism|

#artificial-intelligence #biotechnology #chemistry

science1 month ago•23 min saved

Hazmat response after MIT student claims to synthesize deadly dimethyl mercury

An MIT graduate student allegedly synthesized dimethyl mercury, a highly toxic compound, triggering a major hazmat response, the closure of Building 18, and a lab safety investigation, though initial tests show no mercury exposure.

via New York Post|

#chemistry #dimethyl-mercury #hazmat

science1 month ago•12 min saved

Ten-Year-Old’s Classroom Molecule Becomes a Published Discovery

A fifth-grader in Kansas City built an unusual ball-and-stick model in science class and asked if it was real; her teacher photographed it and consulted a chemistry professor, whose computational analysis led to a 2012 peer‑reviewed paper describing tetranitratoxycarbon—a novel, hypothetical molecule whose predicted high-energy behavior has kept chemists intrigued.

via Space Daily|

#chemistry #education #girls-in-science

chemistry1 month ago•17 min saved

O-to-C Skeletal Editing Bridges Isoxazoles to Pyrroles in One Pot

Nature reports a one-pot O-to-C skeletal edit that converts isoxazoles into pyrroles via a key N-propargylic enaminone intermediate. The method provides an orthogonal retrosynthetic disconnection to traditional pyrrole syntheses and enables regioselective pyrroles that were previously hard to access, with a predictive computational model describing conformational features governing outcomes. Full data, including crystallography, are in the Supplementary Information and associated deposits.

via Nature|

#chemistry #computational-modeling #isoxazole-chemistry

chemistry1 month ago•37 min saved

Single-Atom Copper Catalyst Enables Reusable, Light-Driven N-Demethylation

A recyclable, noble-metal-free photocatalyst composed of atomically dispersed Cu on functionalized graphitic carbon nitride (Cu@f-gC3N4) enables selective N-demethylation and N-dealkylation of a broad range of tertiary amines under 390 nm light in an O2 atmosphere. The reaction tolerates diverse substrates, including pharmaceutically relevant molecules, and can be scaled to 10 mmol with catalyst reuse exceeding ten cycles. Mechanistic studies (radical trapping, isotope labeling, in situ FTIR, EPR, XANES/EXAFS and DFT) support a photoredox pathway in which amine oxidation generates ammonium-like intermediates, O2 is reduced to superoxide to abstract a methyl hydrogen, forming an iminium that hydrolyzes to the secondary amine; the Cu single-atom sites and the functionalized g-C3N4 support drive charge separation and O2 activation, enabling practical late-stage amine diversification without sacrificial reagents.

via Nature|

#chemistry #copper #graphitic-carbon-nitride

science1 month ago•10 min saved

HCN forms stable mixed crystals with Titan's methane and ethane at frigid temps

Scientists reproduced Titan-like cryogenic conditions and found hydrogen cyanide can form stable mixed solids with methane or ethane, incorporating these nonpolar molecules into an HCN lattice without chemical reaction. Raman spectroscopy and crystal-structure modeling support plausible co-crystal arrangements that could persist near Titan's surface temperatures, a rare solid-state exception to 'like dissolves like'. The result hints at how cryominerals could influence Titan geology and prebiotic chemistry, though it depends on temperature and composition; further work will resolve long-range order and test multicomponent mixtures, with no implication of life but potential impacts on storage and transport of HCN.

via Space Daily|

#chemistry #co-crystal #cryominerals

science2 months ago•6 min saved

Catalyst Frees Electrons to Rewrite Redox Rules in Chemistry

UW–Madison chemists developed a catalyst that ejects electrons directly into solvent, bypassing traditional selectivity in single‑electron transfer and allowing reactions to proceed with molecules that normally wouldn’t receive the electron. Supported by CSU and CU Boulder, the team shows that selectivity can emerge after the electron transfer, potentially unlocking new coupling reactions and expanding redox chemistry, with findings published in Nature.

via ScienceDaily|

#catalysis #chemistry #electron-transfer

science2 months ago•12 min saved

Absinthe myth busted: science finds bans were driven by potent alcohol, not wormwood

A 2008 study of 13 pre‑ban absinthe bottles found thujone and other suspected toxins were not present at levels that would explain past claims of madness; the drink’s high alcohol content (~70% ABV) was the real intoxication factor, with no secret wormwood cure‑all. The widespread bans in the early 20th century were driven more by political and economic pressures and sensationalism than by science, and absinthe has since been reintroduced under regulation.

via Space Daily|

#absinthe #chemistry #prohibition

features2 months ago•120 min saved

Abiogenesis: how life may have begun from nonliving matter

Abiogenesis refers to the emergence of life from nonliving matter through chemical processes. While there is no consensus on exactly how it happened on early Earth, theories include lightning-driven chemistry that could form amino acids and sugars and reactions at deep-sea vents. It’s distinct from the older idea of spontaneous generation, which Louis Pasteur disproved in the 1860s by showing microbes arise from preexisting microbes.

via Live Science|

#abiogenesis #chemistry #evolution

space2 months ago•11 min saved

Twin mystery molecule surfaces on Pluto and Titan confound scientists

New JWST data show an unidentified absorption feature in the spectra of both Titan and Pluto, indicating a shared molecule on their surfaces (not in their atmospheres). Scientists cannot identify it yet; possible candidates include allenes, benzene when mixed with other species, or ketene, with acetylene ice also considered. Further JWST observations are planned to map where the molecule is strongest, and NASA’s Dragonfly mission to Titan could help narrow down the candidate chemicals in the mid‑2030s.

via The Independent|

#chemistry #nasa #pluto