Login Register Search : nbsp Site MRI Nuclear , magnetic , but not NMR : depleted uranium for more memory Sun May 01 00:00:00 BST 2011 Depleted , but magnetic A new uranium-containing compound maintains its magnetic behaviour at low temperatures . The discovery could take us a step closer to magnetic memory devices with capacities thousands of times denser than current high-end hard drives . Stephen Liddle of the University of Nottingham , England , works with molecules containing depleted uranium . Depleted uranium is the form of this otherwise radioactive element left behind after the uranium-235 isotope has been separated from the non-radioactive uranium-238 during enrichment for nuclear power and weapons applications . Liddle has now synthesised a new compound containing two atoms of
Login Register Search : nbsp Site MRI FOG overflow : IR clues to drainage problems Sun May 01 00:00:00 BST 2011 Soap story It is perhaps no real surprise to any chemist who has unblocked a drain clogged with white lardy deposits , but new FTIR spectroscopic evidence confirms that degraded fat , oil and grease FOG reacts with calcium compounds in the murky water of drains to form hardened deposits that are , to all intents and purposes , composed of soap , leading to blockages and overflows . One of the earliest memories of truly hands-on chemistry many of us have is of the soapy feeling one gets when skin comes into contact with an alkali . The soapy feeling is , of course , due to the saponification of fatty acids in the oils on the skin and is a great tactile demonstration of how soap is
Login Register Search : nbsp Site MRI Sloshing charge : the origin of SERS Sun May 01 00:00:00 BST 2011 SERS calculations New quantum calculations show how electrical charge can slosh from a target molecule to the metal being used to enhance Raman signals in Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy SERS The finding could finally explain the mechanism by which this technique boosts Raman spectra in terms of the chemical contribution to the effect . SERS is a sensitive way to enhance the Raman scattering by molecules adsorbed on a non-smooth metal surface and allow details of bonding and symmetry in sample molecules available in nanoscopic quantities to be discerned . The enhancement can be as high as 10 to 100 billion-fold allowing it to detect single molecules . SERS has come to the fore as a
Disclaimer: I am not an expert. In fact, this series of blog posts is as informative to me as it is to you. Probably even more so. My views and the views of people interviewed for this blog do not, in fact, reflect what exactly “chemical biology” is, but only a snapshot. Please direct any [...]
Login Register Search : nbsp Site MRI Explosive fingerprints : spectroscopy IDs TNT in dabs Fri Apr 15 00:00:00 BST 2011 Spectroscopic breakdown Optical catapulting-laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy has been used to successfully detect residues of common explosives in human fingerprints , according to researchers from Egypt and . Spain Fingerprints are the often fragile impressions left by the friction ridges of human digits , they contain a complex chemical cocktail that is a mixture of natural skin secretions and contaminations from the environment . In dactyloscopy , fingerprints are used for forensic identification of criminal suspects and there is a whole raft of techniques available to crime-scene investigators including photoluminescence and ultraviolet absorption , powdering ,
Login Register Search : nbsp Site MRI Life clues : X-rays go deeper into origins Fri Apr 15 00:00:00 BST 2011 Vital signs New hints at how life emerged from the primordial soup have been recovered by US chemists investigating the intramolecular communication within a large RNA-protein enzyme . X-ray data on the system , which is responsible for expressing the genetic code for the amino acid glutamine , point to a deeper origin for this aspect of . biochemistry Annia Rodriguez and John Perona of the University of California Santa Barbara in attempting to decipher the way chemical communications take place within a large RNA-protein enzyme may have inadvertently glimpsed how the genetic coding of life may have emerged from its prebiotic origins . Abiogenesis , or biopoesis , is the process
Sad news today from Yale University. Senior Michele Dufault passed away April 13th after an accident reportedly involving a lathe in a chemistry machine shop. The astronomy and physics major was apparently working in the shop after hours, when - according to the New Haven Register - her hair became caught in a lathe and [...]
Login Register Search : nbsp Site NMR Designer drug identified : NMR , IR and MS reveal structure Fri Apr 01 00:00:00 BST 2011 Analysing herbal highs A new designer drug related to ecstasy 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine and methamphetamine has recently been found on sale as bath salts in the USA , although it was first identified on the black market in Germany in 2009. A new study discusses how infrared and NMR spectroscopy were used in conjunction with mass spectrometry to identify the compound as 3,4-methylenedioxypyrrolidinobutyrophenone . B . Klein and Giselher Fritschi of the Hessian State Criminal Office in Wiesbaden together with Folker Westphal and Thomas Junge of the State Bureau of Criminal Investigation Schleswig-Holstein in Kiel , and Ulrich Girreser of the Pharmaceutical