A Flash of Light Can Build and Erase Crystals Instantly

Scientists at NYU have discovered a way to use light as a kind of remote control for building and reshaping crystals.

Researchers at NYU have developed a way to use light to precisely direct how microscopic particles assemble into crystals. The findings describe a straightforward and reversible approach to crystal formation that could help create a new class of adaptable, light-responsive materials.

Crystals, from snowflakes and diamonds to the silicon chips inside electronic devices, consist of particles arranged in highly ordered, repeating structures. To better understand how these patterns emerge, scientists often study colloidal particles, which are tiny spheres suspended in liquid that can spontaneously organize into what are known as colloidal crystals. These particles are also essential components in advanced materials used in optical and photonic technologies such as sensors and lasers.

Even though crystals are common and widely used, controlling exactly when and where they form has been a persistent challenge.

“The challenge in the field has been control: crystals usually form where and when they want, and once conditions are set, you have limited ability to adjust the process in real time,” said study author Stefano Sacanna, professor of chemistry at NYU.

Using Light as a Microscale Remote Control

“Essentially, we used light as a remote control to program how matter organizes itself at the microscale,” said Sacanna.

Through a combination of laboratory experiments and computer simulations, the team demonstrated that adjusting the intensity, timing, and pattern of light allows them to control crystal behavior with remarkable precision. They can trigger crystals to appear or dissolve on demand, choose where crystallization occurs, reshape and “sculpt” crystal structures, and improve their uniformity and size to build larger and more intricate colloidal assemblies.

“Using our photoacid gave us a surprising level of control over the attraction between particles. Just turning the light up or down a little made the difference between the particle fully sticking or being fully free,” said study author Steven van Kesteren of ETH Zürich, who conducted this work at NYU as a postdoctoral researcher in Sacanna’s lab.

“Because light is so easy to control, we could make our system do quite complex things. We could shoot light at particle blobs and see them melt under the microscope, or shine a light so that random blobs of particles ordered themselves into crystals. We could also remove specific crystals quite easily by simply unsticking the particles at that spot,” added van Kesteren.

One Pot Experiment With Reversible Control

A key advantage of the approach is its simplicity. The researchers were able to manage the entire process in a “one pot” setup, without repeatedly redesigning particles or adjusting salt concentrations in the solution. By changing the level of illumination, they could prompt the particles to assemble into crystals or fall apart again.

Toward Light Programmable Materials

This technique could pave the way for materials whose structure, and therefore their properties, can be adjusted using light. For example, photonic materials could have their color or optical response written, erased, and rewritten as needed. Light programmable colloidal crystals may one day enable reconfigurable optical coatings, adaptive sensors, and next-generation display or data storage technologies, where patterns and functions are defined dynamically by illumination rather than fixed during manufacturing.

“Our approach brings us closer to dynamic, programmable colloidal materials that can be reconfigured on demand,” said study author Glen Hocky, associate professor of chemistry and a faculty member at the Simons Center for Computational Physical Chemistry at NYU. “This system also allows us to test a number of predictions on how self-assembly should behave when interactions between particles or molecules are changing across space or time.”

#worldresearchawards #Analyticalchemistry #research #QuantumDots #RabiOscillations #MollowSplitting #QuantumOptics #Nanophotonics #SemiconductorPhysics #ExternalFields #CoherentDynamics #QuantumMechanics #NanoscaleSystems #LightMatterInteraction #QuantumDevices #CondensedMatterPhysics #Spectroscopy #AdvancedMaterials #QuantumEngineering

For More Details ==============

🌎 Visit Our Website : analyticalchemistry.org
✉️Contact Us: mail@analyticalchemistry.org

Get Connected Here: ==================

Twitter : x.com/ChemistryAwards
Facebook : www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61566931868357
Pinterest : in.pinterest.com/analyticalchemistry25
Blog : analyticalchemistryawards.blogspot.com
Tumblr : www.tumblr.com/blog/analyticalchemistryawards
Instagram : www.instagram.com/analyticalchemistryawards

Soil Microbiome Magic: Fast & Functional ! #worldresearchawards #Analyticalchemistry #researchawards

 

This study explores the rapid assembly and functional differentiation of soil surface microbiomes in temperate agricultural soils, revealing how environmental factors, crop management, and nutrient inputs shape microbial succession, metabolic functions, and ecosystem services critical for soil fertility and sustainable farming.

 #worldresearchawards #Analyticalchemistry #researchawards #SoilMicrobiome #AgriculturalSoil #MicrobialEcology #SoilHealth #TemperateEcosystems #SustainableAgriculture #SoilBiology #MicrobialSuccession #EcosystemServices #NutrientCycling #Rhizosphere #CropManagement #EnvironmentalMicrobiology #SoilFertility

 For More Details ============== 

🌎 Visit Our Website : analyticalchemistry.org

✉️Contact Us: mail@analyticalchemistry.org

 Get Connected Here: ================== 

Twitter : x.com/ChemistryAwards 

Facebook : www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61566931868357

Pinterest : in.pinterest.com/analyticalchemistry25

Blog : analyticalchemistryawards.blogspot.com

Tumblr : www.tumblr.com/blog/analyticalchemistryawards

Instagram : www.instagram.com/analyticalchemistryawards

Piezocatalysis: Powering Green Solutions #worldresearchawards #Analyticalchemistry #researchawards

 

This study reviews piezocatalysis and piezo-assisted catalysis for environmental remediation and energy conversion, highlighting how mechanical energy induces charge separation in piezoelectric materials to drive pollutant degradation, hydrogen evolution, and sustainable catalytic transformations under ambient conditions.

 #worldresearchawards #Analyticalchemistry #research #Piezocatalysis #PiezoAssistedCatalysis #EnvironmentalRemediation #EnergyConversion #PiezoelectricMaterials #GreenChemistry #HydrogenEvolution #PollutantDegradation #SustainableCatalysis #RenewableEnergy #AdvancedMaterials #Nanotechnology #CleanEnergy #CatalysisResearch #WaterTreatment #EnergyHarvesting

 For More Details ============== 

🌎 Visit Our Website : analyticalchemistry.org 

✉️Contact Us: mail@analyticalchemistry.org

 Get Connected Here: ================== 

Twitter : x.com/ChemistryAwards

 Facebook : www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61566931868357

 Pinterest : in.pinterest.com/analyticalchemistry25

 Blog : analyticalchemistryawards.blogspot.com 

Tumblr : www.tumblr.com/blog/analyticalchemistryawards

 Instagram : www.instagram.com/analyticalchemistryawards

New sodium ion battery stores twice the energy and desalinates seawater

Scientists boosted sodium-ion battery performance simply by keeping water in a key material, nearly doubling its charge capacity. The same system even worked in seawater, hinting at future batteries that store energy while helping desalinate water.

Sodium-ion batteries are emerging as a promising option for cleaner, more sustainable energy storage. Researchers at the University of Surrey have identified a surprisingly simple way to improve their performance by keeping water inside a critical battery material instead of removing it.

Lithium-ion batteries currently dominate the market, but they depend on costly materials that can harm the environment. Sodium, by contrast, is abundant and widely accessible. Even so, matching the performance of lithium-ion technology has been a major hurdle for sodium-ion systems.

Water Boosts Sodium Vanadium Oxide Performance

In research published in the Journal of Materials Chemistry A, scientists examined sodium vanadium oxide, a well-known sodium-based compound. They discovered that allowing the material to retain its natural water content significantly enhances how it functions inside a battery.

The compound, called nanostructured sodium vanadate hydrate (NVOH), delivered far stronger results when used in its hydrated form. It stored substantially more energy, charged at a faster rate, and maintained stability for more than 400 charge cycles.

During testing, the hydrated version held nearly twice as much charge as standard sodium-ion cathode materials. This performance places it among the top cathodes reported so far for sodium-ion batteries.

Dr. Daniel Commandeur, Research Fellow at the University of Surrey School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, and lead author of the paper, said:

"Our results were completely unexpected. Sodium vanadium oxide has been around for years, and people usually heat-treat it to remove the water because it's thought to cause problems. We decided to challenge that assumption, and the outcome was far better than we anticipated. The material showed much stronger performance and stability than expected and could even create exciting new possibilities for how these batteries are used in the future."

Seawater Operation and Electrochemical Desalination

The team also explored how the material performed in salt water, an especially demanding environment for battery systems. Not only did it continue operating effectively, it also removed sodium ions from the saltwater solution. At the same time, a graphite electrode extracted chloride ions in a process known as electrochemical desalination.

Dr. Commandeur added:

"Being able to use sodium vanadate hydrate in salt water is a really exciting discovery, as it shows sodium-ion batteries could do more than just store energy they could also help remove salt from water. In the long term, that means we might be able to design systems that use seawater as a completely safe, free and abundant electrolyte, while also producing fresh water as part of the process."

Toward Safer, Low Cost Alternatives to Lithium

This advance could speed up the adoption of sodium-ion batteries as a practical alternative to lithium-based technology. Because sodium is inexpensive and plentiful, these batteries have the potential to be safer, more affordable, and more environmentally friendly.

Possible uses include large-scale renewable energy storage for power grids as well as applications in electric vehicles. By simplifying the production of high-performance sodium-ion batteries, the Surrey team's findings move commercially viable, sustainable energy storage one step closer to reality.

#AnalyticalChemistry, #ScienceOfSolutions, #ChemicalAnalysis, #Spectroscopy, #Chromatography, #LabScience, #PrecisionMatters, #ScienceInEveryDrop, #ChemistryMatters, #InnovationThroughAnalysis

For More Details

🌎Visit Our Website : analyticalchemistry.org

✉️Contact Us: mail@analyticalchemistry.org

Get Connected Here:
=====================
Youtube : www.youtube.com/channel/UCS6A6Sa-eyg5RiG0kkQ5VaA
Twitter : x.com/ChemistryAwards
Facebook : www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61566931868357
Pinterest : in.pinterest.com/analyticalchemistry25
Blog : analyticalchemistryawards.blogspot.com

Quantum Dots: Rabi Oscillation & Mollow Splitting Explained! #worldresearchawards #chemistry

 

This study investigates Rabi oscillation dynamics and Mollow splitting in cylindrical quantum dots subjected to external electromagnetic fields. The analysis reveals coherent light matter interactions, quantum state transitions, and field-dependent spectral features relevant to quantum optics and nanoscale photonic devices.

 #worldresearchawards #Analyticalchemistry #research #QuantumDots #RabiOscillations #MollowSplitting #QuantumOptics #Nanophotonics #SemiconductorPhysics #ExternalFields #CoherentDynamics #QuantumMechanics #NanoscaleSystems #LightMatterInteraction #QuantumDevices #CondensedMatterPhysics #Spectroscopy #AdvancedMaterials #QuantumEngineering 

For More Details ==============

 🌎 Visit Our Website : analyticalchemistry.org

 ✉️Contact Us: mail@analyticalchemistry.org

Get Connected Here: ==================

Twitter : x.com/ChemistryAwards

Facebook : www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61566931868357 

Pinterest : in.pinterest.com/analyticalchemistry25 

Blog : analyticalchemistryawards.blogspot.com 

Tumblr : www.tumblr.com/blog/analyticalchemistryawards

Instagram : www.instagram.com/analyticalchemistryawards

Tiny Bubbles Unlock a Powerful New Source of Blue Energy

A new approach to blue energy tackles one of the field’s most persistent problems: how to move ions quickly without sacrificing selectivity.

Where rivers meet the sea, nature constantly mixes freshwater and saltwater. That blending releases energy, and osmotic energy, often called blue energy, aims to turn that overlooked resource into electricity.

The basic idea is straightforward: saltwater contains lots of dissolved ions, and freshwater contains far fewer. If you place an ion-selective membrane between the two, ions naturally migrate toward the lower salt concentration, and that controlled movement generates a voltage that can be captured.

The hard part has never been getting ions to move. It has been getting the right ions to move quickly, while keeping the system stable enough to work outside the lab. In many membranes, speed and selectivity fight each other. Materials that let ions rush through often lose the ability to separate charges cleanly, and real devices also have to survive pressure, flow, and long run times without degrading. Those practical constraints are a big reason blue energy has struggled to move beyond prototypes.

Scientists at the Laboratory for Nanoscale Biology (LBEN), led by Aleksandra Radenovic at EPFL’s School of Engineering, working with colleagues at the Interdisciplinary Centre for Electron Microscopy (CIME), report a potential solution in a paper published in Nature Energy.

The researchers modified tiny channels called nanopores by coating them with microscopic bubbles made of lipid molecules (liposomes). Under normal conditions, these nanopores allow ions to move through very slowly (but very precisely). After adding the lipid coating, selected ions were able to travel through the pores with far less resistance. This reduction in friction led to a marked increase in ion flow and significantly improved overall performance.

“Our work brings together the strengths of two main approaches to osmotic energy harvesting: polymer membranes, which inspire our high-porosity architecture; and nanofluidic devices, which we use to define highly charged nanopores,” says Radenovic. “By combining a scalable membrane layout with precisely engineered nanofluidic channels, we achieve highly efficient osmotic energy conversion and open a route toward nanofluidic-based blue-energy systems.”

Hydration lubrication optimization

To create the slippery coating, the team used lipid bilayers, the same type of structure that forms cell membranes. Lipid bilayers naturally assemble when two layers of fat molecules align so that their water-repelling (hydrophobic) tails face inward and their water-attracting (hydrophilic) heads face outward.

When these bilayers were applied to stalactite-shaped nanopores embedded in a silicon nitride membrane, the outward-facing hydrophilic heads drew in an extremely thin layer of water. This water film, only a few molecules thick, clings to the nanopore surface and prevents ions from directly rubbing against the pore walls. By minimizing this contact, friction drops, and ion movement becomes much more efficient.

To test the concept, the researchers produced 1,000 lipid-coated nanopores arranged in a hexagonal pattern. They then evaluated the device under conditions that mimic the natural salt levels found where seawater meets river water. The system achieved a power density of about 15 watts per square meter, which is 2-3 times higher than current polymer membrane technologies.

Computer models have long indicated that boosting both ion flow and selectivity at the same time could significantly improve osmotic energy performance. However, experimental proof has been limited. “By showing how precise control over nanopore geometry and surface properties can fundamentally reshape ion transport, our study moves blue-energy research beyond performance testing and into a true design era,” says LBEN researcher Tzu-Heng Chen.

First author Yunfei Teng notes that the implications extend beyond blue energy. “The enhanced transport behavior we observe, driven by hydration lubrication, is universal, and the same principle can be extended beyond blue-energy devices,” he says.

#AnalyticalChemistry, #ScienceOfSolutions, #ChemicalAnalysis, #Spectroscopy, #Chromatography, #LabScience, #PrecisionMatters, #ScienceInEveryDrop, #ChemistryMatters, #InnovationThroughAnalysis

For More Details

🌎Visit Our Website : analyticalchemistry.org

✉️Contact Us: mail@analyticalchemistry.org

Get Connected Here:
=====================
Youtube : www.youtube.com/channel/UCS6A6Sa-eyg5RiG0kkQ5VaA
Twitter : x.com/ChemistryAwards
Facebook : www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61566931868357
Pinterest : in.pinterest.com/analyticalchemistry25
Blog : analyticalchemistryawards.blogspot.com

After Decades of Global Searching, Scientists Finally Create the Silicon Aromatic Once Thought Impossible

A long-standing chemistry challenge has been solved with the synthesis of a five-atom silicon aromatic ring. The breakthrough validates decades of theory and points toward new industrially relevant compounds.

Major scientific advances rarely happen quickly, and this discovery is a clear example of that slow but steady progress.

After nearly fifty years of theoretical discussion and repeated experimental efforts by researchers around the world, a team at Saarland University has finally succeeded. David Scheschkewitz, Professor of General and Inorganic Chemistry, worked alongside his doctoral student Ankur and Bernd Morgenstern from the university’s X-Ray Diffraction Service Center to achieve the breakthrough. Their results have now been published in the prestigious journal Science.

So what exactly did the researchers accomplish? They successfully synthesized a compound known as pentasilacyclopentadienide. While experts in the field may immediately recognize the importance of this result, many readers might reasonably ask what makes it special. At its core, the work involved replacing the carbon atoms in an aromatic compound, a group of molecules known for their exceptional stability, with silicon atoms.

Aromatics play a prominent role in the world around us, for example, in the manufacture of plastics. ‘In polyethylene and polypropylene production, for example, aromatic compounds help make the catalysts that control these industrial chemical processes more durable and more effective,’ explains David Scheschkewitz. As silicon is much more metallic than carbon, it holds on to its electrons far less strongly. This shift creates opportunities for chemical systems that were previously unreachable, and the Saarland team has now demonstrated that such systems are possible.

Cracking Aromatic Stability and Opening New Chemical Frontiers

Why did it take so long to reach this point? The answer lies in the fundamental rules that govern aromatic molecules. Cyclopentadienide, the carbon-based counterpart to the newly synthesized silicon compound, is an aromatic hydrocarbon in which five carbon atoms form a flat (‘planar’) ring.

This geometry plays a key role in its unusual stability. (Historical side note: Aromatics were given this name because the first such compounds to be discovered in the second half of the 19th century were found to have particularly distinctive and often pleasant aromas.)

“To be classified as aromatic, a compound needs to have a particular number of shared electrons that are evenly distributed around the planar ring structure, and this number is expressed by Hückel’s rule – a simple mathematical expression named after the German physicist Erich Hückel,” explains David Scheschkewitz. Because these electrons are spread evenly around the ring rather than tied to individual atoms, aromatic molecules gain an extra level of stability.

Until now, silicon chemistry offered only one confirmed example of this behavior. In 1981, researchers synthesized the silicon analogue of cyclopropenium, an aromatic molecule in which a three-membered carbon ring was replaced by a three-membered silicon ring. Every attempt to extend this concept to larger silicon-based aromatic systems failed.

That situation has now changed. Ankur, Bernd Morgenstern, and David Scheschkewitz have created a five-atom silicon molecule that meets the strict criteria for aromaticity. In an unexpected coincidence, the same compound was discovered at nearly the same time in the laboratory of Takeaki Iwamoto at Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan. The two research groups agreed to publish their results side by side in the same issue of Science.

This work paves the way for entirely new materials and processes with potential industrial relevance. But the hardest first step has now been taken.

#AnalyticalChemistry, #ScienceOfSolutions, #ChemicalAnalysis, #Spectroscopy, #Chromatography, #LabScience, #PrecisionMatters, #ScienceInEveryDrop, #ChemistryMatters, #InnovationThroughAnalysis

For More Details

🌎Visit Our Website : analyticalchemistry.org

✉️Contact Us: mail@analyticalchemistry.org

Get Connected Here:
=====================
Youtube : www.youtube.com/channel/UCS6A6Sa-eyg5RiG0kkQ5VaA
Twitter : x.com/ChemistryAwards
Facebook : www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61566931868357
Pinterest : in.pinterest.com/analyticalchemistry25
Blog : analyticalchemistryawards.blogspot.com

Unlocking Energy: Sodium Silicate Nanocrystals! #worldresearchawards #Analyticalchemistry #research

 

This study develops sodium silicate–CuSiO₃ nanocrystal glass-ceramics for multifunctional and efficient electrical energy storage. Enhanced dielectric properties, thermal stability, and charge–discharge performance highlight their potential in advanced capacitors and next-generation solid-state energy storage systems.

 #worldresearchawards #Analyticalchemistry #research #GlassCeramics #EnergyStorage #CuSiO3 #SodiumSilicate #DielectricMaterials #Nanocrystals #AdvancedMaterials #ElectricalEnergy #CapacitorTechnology #SolidStateDevices #MaterialsScience #FunctionalMaterials #ChargeStorage #GreenEnergy #Electroceramics 

For More Details ==============

 🌎 Visit Our Website : analyticalchemistry.org

 ✉️Contact Us: mail@analyticalchemistry.org

Unlocking Ammonia: The Catalyst Revolution! #worldresearchawards #Analyticalchemistry#researchawards

 

This study investigates alkali and alkaline earth metal-promoted Ni/LaMnO₃ perovskite catalysts for efficient ammonia decomposition. Promoter effects enhance metal dispersion, basicity, and catalytic stability, improving hydrogen production rates and resistance to deactivation, offering promising pathways for sustainable hydrogen generation technologies. 

#worldresearchawards #Analytical chemistry #researchawards #AmmoniaDecomposition #HydrogenProduction #NiCatalyst #PerovskiteCatalyst #LaMnO3 #AlkaliMetals #AlkalineEarthMetals #Catalysis #HeterogeneousCatalysis #CleanEnergy #SustainableHydrogen #EnergyConversion #GreenTechnology #MaterialsScience #CatalystDesign #HydrogenEconomy #ChemicalEngineering 

For More Details ============== 

🌎 Visit Our Website : analyticalchemistry.org 

✉️Contact Us: mail@analyticalchemistry.org

Science on the double: How an AI-powered 'digital twin' accelerates chemistry and materials discoveries

Understanding what complex chemical measurements reveal about materials and reactions can take weeks or months of analysis. But now, an AI-powered platform developed by researchers at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) could reduce this interpretation cycle to minutes, enabling much faster insight into chemical processes relevant to energy storage, catalysis, and manufacturing.

The new platform, called "Digital Twin for Chemical Science" (DTCS), allows researchers to observe chemical reactions, adjust experimental parameters, and validate hypotheses simultaneously during a single experiment. Traditional approaches require researchers to first develop a hypothesis, and then design an experiment to collect data and develop theoretical models to analyze that data before they can finally conduct follow-up experiments to validate the model.

"A common challenge that many researchers face during complex experiments is that although we have sophisticated tools that collect data, interpreting that data is another beast," said Jin Qian, a computational chemist and staff scientist in Berkeley Lab's Chemical Sciences Division who designed the DTCS platform.

"Traditionally, we collect as much data as possible, then run simulations to analyze it offline. This back-and-forth process often takes months before theory and experiment reach consensus. DTCS could help overcome this bottleneck."

The advance is a significant step toward autonomous chemical characterization, where AI-guided experiments could accelerate the timeline for discovering and characterizing new materials and chemical processes for useful applications.

"The Digital Twin for Chemical Science platform represents a new capability for Berkeley Lab's Advanced Light Source (ALS) and DOE's scientific user facilities," said Ethan Crumlin, a staff scientist at the ALS and program lead specializing in interface chemistry and characterization. "The idea of partnering with a computational, machine-learning construct will be the future for how science is done."

Crumlin and Qian are co-lead authors of a study and research briefing on DTCS published in the journal Nature Computational Science.

Digital twins for the win

Chemistry is entering a new digital era, from automated synthesis labs to voice-activated quantum calculations, Qian explained. And yet chemical characterization which guides everything from material design to performance optimization has been left behind. The DTCS platform is changing this by enabling chemical insight with digital twins.

Broadly defined, digital twins are virtual replicas that use real-time data from physical systems to model a complex system's performance and predict future behavior.

While digital twins have been used for decades in aerospace, health care, and manufacturing, DTCS is one of the first digital twins designed specifically for chemical research, and one of the first digital twins to augment the characterization of chemical reactions at interfaces. DTCS is one of several digital twin technologies that the Department of Energy is developing to accelerate innovation across various sectors, including nuclear energy, smart grids, and the chemical sciences.

DTCS could bring new insights into interface science and catalysis chemical processes critical to batteries, fuel cells, and chemical manufacturing. By pairing DTCS with state-of-the-art spectroscopy instruments, researchers can now understand step-by-step reaction mechanisms in real time.

Building on decades of innovation

For the study, the Berkeley Lab team created a digital replica of ambient-pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (APXPS) techniques at the ALS, Berkeley Lab's synchrotron X-ray user facility, available to scientists around the world. Synchrotrons are specialized particle accelerators that produce ultrabright X-ray light for scientific research.

To develop the DTCS code, Qian used computing resources at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC), the mission computing facility for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science at Berkeley Lab. "NERSC, especially NERSC's JupyterHub, has been instrumental in hosting the DTCS platform to rapidly connect supercomputer-generated theoretical data and facility-specific experimental data," she said.

Over the past two decades, the ALS has advanced the field of surface science by innovating APXPS instruments that have been adopted by synchrotron facilities worldwide and commercialized for energy applications. APXPS is one of the best ways to study interfacial chemistry because it shows how chemical species evolve during reactions. It identifies molecular compounds by their unique chemical "fingerprints" or spectra as they form on the solid surface of an operating device such as a battery. APXPS advances at the ALS have enabled powerful techniques for characterizing a wide array of interfaces including solid/gas, solid/liquid, solid/solid, and liquid/vapor interfaces under real-world operating conditions.

However, with conventional APXPS, researchers cannot practically use experimental spectra in real time to gain insights into how different chemical species are physically interacting at the atomic level on a surface. DTCS offers a powerful yet approachable alternative: By comparing experimental spectra and theoretical modeling, the DTCS platform gains insights about the dynamics of the reaction overall, the concentration of each species, the chemical potentials driving the reaction, and even the real-world likelihood of different molecules being in proximity to one another, representing an enormous leap in the power of interpreting APXPS spectra in real time.

In this one-minute clip, Ethan Crumlin, Deputy for Science in the Chemical Sciences Division and a staff scientist at the Advanced Light Source, explains how APXPS, a specialized technique at the Advanced Light Source, identifies a "rainbow" of interfacial chemistry products essential to high-performance batteries and other energy technologies.

Putting DTCS to the test

By optimizing experiments on the fly with real-time simulations of the interface, DTCS works through two connected pathways: The "forward loop" matches simulated spectra with experimental observations, while the "inverse loop" takes experimental data and solves for the underlying chemical mechanisms.

Data collected by an APXPS instrument teaches DTCS's AI algorithms which chemical reaction mechanisms and kinetic parameters led to the current observation. The platform's physics-based simulations provide real-time snapshots of a reaction and predict which experimental parameters within this "chemical reaction network" will be explored next.

To test the platform, the researchers studied a fundamental catalytic system a silver/water interface relevant to batteries, catalysis, and corrosion prevention. The results were striking: DTCS's predictions matched established experiments and theory, and the platform could predict how, when, and where oxygen-containing species would appear on the silver surface within minutes.

"This lets you see how the concentration profiles within the reaction network and spectra will evolve over time, and then you can compare that with what you're observing at the instrument," Qian said. "Instead of waiting weeks or months to analyze results, researchers can validate hypotheses and change experimental plans based on new findings in real time."

Looking ahead to DTCS 2.0

The research team is already developing DTCS 2.0, preparing it for broader community use and training its AI algorithms with new data. They're also building digital twins for other analytical techniques including Raman and infrared spectroscopy, which complement APXPS by providing information about chemical bonds.

The researchers expect to make DTCS available to other scientific institutions and user facilities within the next few years, potentially transforming how chemistry research is conducted worldwide.

#AnalyticalChemistry, #ScienceOfSolutions, #ChemicalAnalysis, #Spectroscopy, #Chromatography, #LabScience, #PrecisionMatters, #ScienceInEveryDrop, #ChemistryMatters, #InnovationThroughAnalysis

For More Details

🌎Visit Our Website : analyticalchemistry.org

✉️Contact Us: mail@analyticalchemistry.org

Get Connected Here:
=====================
Youtube : www.youtube.com/channel/UCS6A6Sa-eyg5RiG0kkQ5VaA
Twitter : x.com/ChemistryAwards
Facebook : www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61566931868357
Pinterest : in.pinterest.com/analyticalchemistry25
Blog : analyticalchemistryawards.blogspot.com

Breakthrough Calcium-Ion Battery Could Challenge Lithium for Clean Energy

A next-generation calcium battery breakthrough could challenge lithium and transform clean energy storage.

A research team at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has reported a major advance in calcium-ion battery (CIB) development that could influence how energy is stored in everyday technologies. By integrating quasi-solid-state electrolytes (QSSEs), the scientists created a new type of CIB designed to improve both performance and environmental sustainability.

The innovation could support renewable energy storage, electric vehicles, and other power-hungry applications. The results were published in Advanced Science in a paper titled “High-Performance Quasi-Solid-State Calcium-Ion Batteries from Redox-Active Covalent Organic Framework Electrolytes.”

Growing Demand for Lithium Alternatives

As global investment in renewable energy accelerates, the need for dependable, high-capacity batteries continues to rise. Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) currently dominate the market, but concerns about limited lithium supplies and constraints in energy density have pushed researchers to search for alternatives. Exploring battery chemistries beyond lithium has become increasingly important for long-term energy security and sustainability.

Calcium-ion batteries offer several advantages. Calcium is widely available, and CIBs operate within an electrochemical window comparable to that of LIBs. Despite this promise, practical challenges have slowed their progress. Efficient movement of calcium ions inside the battery has been difficult to achieve, and maintaining stable performance over repeated charging cycles has proven problematic. These limitations have prevented CIBs from competing directly with commercial lithium-ion systems.

Redox Covalent Organic Framework Electrolytes

To address these technical barriers, the team led by Prof. Yoonseob KIM, Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at HKUST, developed redox covalent organic frameworks that function as QSSEs. These carbonyl-rich QSSEs achieved strong ionic conductivity (0.46 mS cm–1) and Ca2+ transport capability (>0.53) at room temperature.

Through a combination of laboratory experiments and computational simulations, the researchers determined that Ca2+ ions move quickly along aligned carbonyl groups within the ordered pores of the covalent organic frameworks. This structured pathway enables faster ion transport and contributes to improved battery stability.

High Performance Over 1,000 Cycles

Using this approach, the team built a full calcium-ion battery cell that delivered a reversible specific capacity of 155.9 mAh g–1 at 0.15 A g–1. Even at 1 A g–1, the cell retained more than 74.6% of its capacity after 1,000 charge and discharge cycles. These results demonstrate the potential of redox covalent organic frameworks to significantly strengthen CIB technology and move it closer to practical use.

Prof. Kim said, “Our research highlights the transformative potential of calcium-ion batteries as a sustainable alternative to lithium-ion technology. By leveraging the unique properties of redox covalent organic frameworks, we have taken a significant step towards realizing high-performance energy storage solutions that can meet the demands of a greener future.”

#AnalyticalChemistry, #ScienceOfSolutions, #ChemicalAnalysis, #Spectroscopy, #Chromatography, #LabScience, #PrecisionMatters, #ScienceInEveryDrop, #ChemistryMatters, #InnovationThroughAnalysis

For More Details

🌎Visit Our Website : analyticalchemistry.org

✉️Contact Us: mail@analyticalchemistry.org

Get Connected Here:
=====================
Youtube : www.youtube.com/channel/UCS6A6Sa-eyg5RiG0kkQ5VaA
Twitter : x.com/ChemistryAwards
Facebook : www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61566931868357
Pinterest : in.pinterest.com/analyticalchemistry25
Blog : analyticalchemistryawards.blogspot.com

Boron Based Schiff Base: A DNA Breakthrough! #worldresearchawards #Analytical chemistry #research

 

This study reports the design, synthesis, and biological evaluation of a boron-based Schiff base as a selective DNA minor groove binder. Docking and molecular dynamics simulations elucidate binding affinity, stability, and interaction mechanisms, supporting its potential therapeutic applications.

 #worldresearchawards #Analytical chemistry #research #SchiffBase #BoronChemistry #DNABinding #MinorGrooveBinder #MedicinalChemistry #DrugDesign #MolecularDocking #MolecularDynamics #ComputationalChemistry #BiologicalEvaluation #ChemicalBiology #StructureActivity #TherapeuticDevelopment #BioactiveCompounds 

For More Details ==============

 🌎 Visit Our Website : analyticalchemistry.org 

✉️Contact Us: mail@analyticalchemistry.org

These Molecular Filters Thousands of Times Thinner Than a Human Hair Could Change How the World Cleans Water

Industrial separations sit quietly at the heart of modern manufacturing, yet they consume enormous amounts of energy and generate significant environmental costs. A new membrane technology developed by an international research team promises a more precise and sustainable alternative.

Scientists from the CSIR-Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSMCRI), the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, and the S N Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences have teamed up to build a new kind of filtration membrane designed for unusually sharp molecular sorting.

Reported in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, the approach could cut the energy cost of industrial purification and make large-scale water reuse more achievable.

A huge share of manufacturing depends on “separations.” That single word covers everything from removing unwanted byproducts during drug making to stripping color from textile wastewater to refining ingredients in food processing. Today, many of these steps still lean on distillation and evaporation, which work well but burn vast amounts of energy and add significantly to industrial carbon emissions.

Membrane systems are often viewed as a cleaner alternative because they can separate chemicals without repeatedly heating and cooling large volumes, but common polymer membranes have a persistent weakness: their pores vary in size and can change as the material ages. When the pore landscape shifts, selectivity drops, and that is a deal breaker for precision work.

A New Class of Crystalline Membranes

“To address these limitations, we engineered a new class of ultra-selective, crystalline membranes called “POMbranes”, which contain pores that are about one nanometer wide, thousands of times thinner than a human hair,” said Dr. Shilpi Kushwaha, Senior Scientist at CSMCRI.

That one-nanometer target is not just a small number. At this scale, tiny differences in molecular size and shape start to matter, which is why biology uses channels with near-perfect dimensions to control what passes through. The team drew inspiration from aquaporins, natural protein channels that let water through while blocking many other molecules, and aimed for the same kind of size-based decision-making in a synthetic material.

To do it, they turned to polyoxometalate (POM) clusters. These clusters already include a built in opening with a fixed diameter of exactly 1 nanometer, which means the filtering pathway is defined by the molecule itself rather than by a soft polymer that can slowly deform. According to Ms Priyanka Dobariya, a CSMCRI research scholar and co-first author of the article, “These POMs are tiny, crown-shaped metal clusters that have a permanent, perfect hole in their center that does not change or lose shape, which is the biggest hurdle with traditional plastic filters.”

Self-Assembly and Molecular Control

A membrane is only useful if it forms a continuous sheet without gaps, so the researchers focused on how to arrange enormous numbers of these ring-like clusters into a uniform layer. They attached flexible chemical chains to the clusters, then let the material assemble on the surface of water. Under those conditions, the clusters spread and align into an ultrathin film across large areas, a behavior that makes it easier to imagine scalable manufacturing rather than one-off laboratory samples.

By changing the chain length, the team could tune how tightly the clusters packed together. Tighter packing limits alternative routes around the pores, pushing molecules toward the designed pathway.

“This forced molecules to cross the membrane through the only open path, the one-nanometer holes built into each cluster, allowing the membrane to act like a high-tech sieve,” added Dr. Raghavan Ranganathan, Associate Professor at IITGN’s Department of Materials Engineering.

He and Mr Vinay Thakur, a PhD scholar at IITGN and the co-first author of the article, used molecular-level simulations to show how the structure guides transport and why the pores dominate what gets through.

Exceptional Selectivity and Industrial Performance

In tests, the membrane could tell apart molecules that differ in mass by only about 100 to 200 Daltons, a level of separation that conventional polymer membranes struggle to reach. For context, a Dalton is a unit used to describe molecular mass, so this result points to sorting that can discriminate between closely related compounds rather than just separating large from small.

According to Dr. Ketan Patel, Principal Scientist at CSMCRI, this level of control opens new possibilities for sustainable manufacturing. “Our membranes show almost ten times better separation performance compared to existing technologies, while remaining flexible, stable, and scalable,” he said. “Additionally, these membranes are flexible, stable across different acidity levels (pH ranges), and can be manufactured in large sheets. This combination is essential if the membranes are to be adopted widely in industry.”

That combination matters because real industrial streams are messy. Wastewater and process solvents can swing in acidity, include complex mixtures, and run continuously for long periods. A membrane that keeps its pore structure under those conditions becomes more than a laboratory curiosity.

The work is also closely tied to India’s textile and pharmaceutical industries. Textiles and apparel contribute over 2.3% of GDP and about 13% of industrial production, with a domestic market valued at USD 160 to 225 billion and projected to reach USD 250 to 350 billion by 2030.

Yet dyeing and finishing produce large volumes of polluted wastewater, so better dye removal and water recycling remain urgent. The new membranes could selectively remove dye molecules while allowing water to be reused, lowering freshwater demand and reducing chemical discharge. That is especially relevant as India’s wastewater treatment market is expected to expand rapidly in the coming years.

The new membranes could selectively remove dye molecules while allowing water to be reused, reducing freshwater consumption and chemical discharge. This is particularly significant as India’s wastewater treatment market is expected to grow rapidly in the coming years.

Toward Scalable, Nature-Inspired Manufacturing

For the pharmaceutical sector, where precise separations are essential for drug purity and cost-effective manufacturing, the technology could offer significant benefits. “Processes like drug purification and solvent recovery are both energy-intensive and quality-sensitive,” noted Mr Vinay Thakur. “Highly selective membranes such as these can lower energy use while maintaining the stringent standards required in pharmaceutical production.”

The versatility of the engineered POMbranes makes them an efficient platform technology. Their tunable structure, high selectivity, and stability under harsh chemical conditions ensure their suitability for a wide range of separation challenges, from wastewater treatment to advanced chemical processing.

As industries seek solutions that balance efficiency, durability, and sustainability, molecularly engineered membranes could form the backbone of next-generation manufacturing technologies. By drawing on a core principle from biology precise control at the molecular scale and translating it into a scalable materials system, the research shows how nature-inspired design can address real industrial needs.

#AnalyticalChemistry, #ScienceOfSolutions, #ChemicalAnalysis, #Spectroscopy, #Chromatography, #LabScience, #PrecisionMatters, #ScienceInEveryDrop, #ChemistryMatters, #InnovationThroughAnalysis

For More Details

🌎Visit Our Website : analyticalchemistry.org

✉️Contact Us: mail@analyticalchemistry.org

Get Connected Here:
=====================
Youtube : www.youtube.com/channel/UCS6A6Sa-eyg5RiG0kkQ5VaA
Twitter : x.com/ChemistryAwards
Facebook : www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61566931868357
Pinterest : in.pinterest.com/analyticalchemistry25
Blog : analyticalchemistryawards.blogspot.com

A Shimmering Liquid Metal Could Unlock the Future of Green Hydrogen

A new liquid-metal process powered by light could reshape how hydrogen is produced.

Scientists have found a new way to make clean hydrogen from water using liquid metal and light, and it works with both freshwater and seawater. Instead of relying on electricity to split water, the process uses sunlight to trigger chemistry at the surface of tiny metal droplets, releasing hydrogen gas.

That seawater capability is a big deal. Many existing green hydrogen approaches perform best with highly purified water, which adds cost and complexity and can be difficult to justify in water stressed regions.

By working directly with seawater, the new method points toward hydrogen production that could be located closer to coastlines and industrial ports where demand is high and freshwater is limited.

“We now have a way of extracting sustainable hydrogen, using seawater, which is easily accessible while relying solely on light for green hydrogen production,” said lead author and PhD candidate Luis Campos.

Liquid Metals and Efficiency Gains

Senior researcher Professor Kourosh Kalantar-Zadeh from the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering describes the work as a powerful example of how liquid metals can naturally drive hydrogen production through their chemistry.

Using this method, the research team achieved a peak hydrogen production efficiency of 12.9 percent. While the system is still in its early stages, efforts are underway to further raise efficiency levels to support future commercial use.

“For the first proof-of-concept, we consider the efficiency of this technology to be highly competitive. For instance, silicon-based solar cells started with six percent in the 1950s and did not pass 10 percent till the 1990s.”

“Hydrogen offers a clean energy solution for a sustainable future and could play a pivotal role in Australia’s international advantage in a hydrogen economy,” says project co-lead Dr. Francois Allioux.

Gallium stood out because of its ability to absorb light. This property led researchers to examine how gallium behaves when dispersed in water and exposed to sunlight.

That investigation resulted in a system built around a circular chemical process. Tiny gallium particles are suspended in either freshwater or seawater and activated by sunlight or artificial illumination. During this process, gallium reacts with water to form gallium oxyhydroxide while releasing hydrogen gas.

“After we extract hydrogen, the gallium oxyhydroxide can also be reduced back into gallium and reused for future hydrogen production which we term a circular process,” says Professor Kalantar-Zadeh.

A Simple Reaction with Big Implications

Liquid gallium displays unusual physical characteristics. Although it appears solid at room temperature, warming it to around body temperature causes it to melt into reflective pools of liquid metal.

Mr Campos explained that liquid gallium typically has a chemically “non-sticky” surface, meaning other materials do not readily adhere to it under normal conditions. When the metal is exposed to light while submerged in water, however, reactions occur at its surface.

Under these illuminated conditions, gallium slowly oxidizes and corrodes. This surface reaction leads to the release of clean hydrogen gas and the formation of gallium oxyhydroxide, both of which are central to the hydrogen production process.

“Gallium has not been explored before as a way to produce hydrogen at high rates when in contact with water such a simple observation that was ignored previously,” says Professor Kalantar-Zadeh.

The University of Sydney-led research was published in Nature Communications.

Why scientists are so keen on hydrogen molecules

Many industries and scientists believe hydrogen is the ideal candidate for a sustainable energy source, contributing significantly to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. ‘Green’ hydrogen, as its name suggests, is made using renewable sources.

Hydrogen is one of the most abundant elements on Earth and can be sourced from a large range of compounds as well, such as water (water has two hydrogen molecules). When hydrogen burns, it produces no pollutants, only water, but still can generate high levels of energy or power.

Efforts to produce green hydrogen have focused on ‘water splitting’: splitting atoms in water molecules to release hydrogen using methods including electrolysis, photocatalysis, and plasma (artificial lightning).

But the process required to separate hydrogen and oxygen atoms in water has faced multiple obstacles, including the need to use purified water, incurring high cost or producing low yields of hydrogen.

The method Professor Kalantar-Zadeh’s team introduced with liquid gallium avoids many of those obstacles. The method can use both sea and fresh water, and because the process is circular, gallium in the reaction can be reused.

Professor Kalantar-Zadeh said: “There is a global need to commercialize a highly efficient method for producing green hydrogen. Our process is efficient and easy to scale up.”

The team is now working on increasing the efficiency of the technology, and their next goal is to establish a mid-scale reactor to extract hydrogen.

#AnalyticalChemistry, #ScienceOfSolutions, #ChemicalAnalysis, #Spectroscopy, #Chromatography, #LabScience, #PrecisionMatters, #ScienceInEveryDrop, #ChemistryMatters, #InnovationThroughAnalysis

For More Details

🌎Visit Our Website : analyticalchemistry.org

✉️Contact Us: mail@analyticalchemistry.org

Get Connected Here:
=====================
Youtube : www.youtube.com/channel/UCS6A6Sa-eyg5RiG0kkQ5VaA
Twitter : x.com/ChemistryAwards
Facebook : www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61566931868357
Pinterest : in.pinterest.com/analyticalchemistry25
Blog : analyticalchemistryawards.blogspot.com

AI model uses molecular energy to predict the most stable atom arrangements

Whether a smartphone battery lasts longer or a new drug can be developed to treat incurable diseases depends on how stably the atoms constituting the material are bonded. The core of molecular design lies in finding how to arrange these countless atoms to form the most stable molecule. Until now, this process has been as difficult as finding the lowest valley in a massive mountain range, requiring immense time and costs. Researchers at KAIST have developed a new technology that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to solve this process quickly and accurately.

Professor Woo Youn Kim's research team in the Department of Chemistry has developed the Riemannian denoising model (R-DM), an AI model that understands the physical laws governing molecular stability to predict structures. Their innovation is published in Nature Computational Science.

The most significant feature of this model is that it directly considers the energy of the molecule. While existing AI models simply mimic the shape of molecules, R-DM refines the structure by considering the forces acting within the molecule. The research team represented the molecular structure as a map where higher energy is depicted as hills and lower energy as valleys, designing the AI to move toward and find the valleys with the lowest energy.

R-DM completes the molecule by navigating this energy landscape, avoiding unstable structures to find the most stable state. This applies the mathematical theory of Riemannian geometry, resulting in the AI learning the fundamental law of chemistry: Matter prefers the state with the lowest energy.

Experimental results showed that R-DM achieved up to 20 times higher accuracy than existing AI models, reducing prediction errors to a level nearly indistinguishable from precise quantum mechanical calculations. This represents the world's highest level of performance among AI-based molecular structure prediction technologies.

This technology can be utilized in various fields, including new drug development, next-generation battery materials, and high-performance catalyst design. It is expected to serve as an "AI simulator" that will dramatically speed up research and development by significantly shortening the molecular design process, which previously took a long time. Furthermore, it has great potential in environmental and safety fields, as it can quickly predict chemical reaction paths in situations where experiments are difficult, such as chemical accidents or the spread of hazardous substances.

Professor Kim said, "This is the first case where artificial intelligence has understood the basic principles of chemistry and judged molecular stability on its own. It is a technology that can fundamentally change the way new materials are developed."

#AnalyticalChemistry, #ScienceOfSolutions, #ChemicalAnalysis, #Spectroscopy, #Chromatography, #LabScience, #PrecisionMatters, #ScienceInEveryDrop, #ChemistryMatters, #InnovationThroughAnalysis

For More Details

🌎Visit Our Website : analyticalchemistry.org

✉️Contact Us: mail@analyticalchemistry.org

Get Connected Here:
=====================
Youtube : www.youtube.com/channel/UCS6A6Sa-eyg5RiG0kkQ5VaA
Twitter : x.com/ChemistryAwards
Facebook : www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61566931868357
Pinterest : in.pinterest.com/analyticalchemistry25
Blog : analyticalchemistryawards.blogspot.com

Unlocking the Secrets of Ceria & SrFeO3! #worldresearchawards #Analytical chemistry #researchawards

 

This study investigates the crystal chemistry and interfacial stability of ceria and doped SrFeO₃ systems engineered with reduced critical raw materials, highlighting structure property relationships, defect chemistry, and long-term stability for sustainable energy and catalytic applications. 

#worldresearchawards #Analytical chemistry #researchawards #CrystalChemistry #Ceria #SrFeO3 #InterfaceStability #DefectChemistry #CriticalRawMaterials #SustainableMaterials #EnergyMaterials #CatalyticMaterials #SolidStateChemistry #MaterialsDesign #GreenMaterials #FunctionalOxides #advancedceramicsmarket

 For More Details ============== 🌎 

Visit Our Website : analyticalchemistry.org 

✉️Contact Us: mail@analyticalchemistry.org 

Get Connected Here: ================== 

Twitter : x.com/ChemistryAwards 

Facebook : www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61566931868357 

Pinterest : in.pinterest.com/analyticalchemistry25 

Blog : analyticalchemistryawards.blogspot.com 

Tumblr : www.tumblr.com/blog/analyticalchemistryawards 

Instagram : www.instagram.com/analyticalchemistryawards

Revolutionizing Ergothioneine Production! #worldresearchawards #Analytical chemistry #researchawards

 

This work presents a scalable ergothioneine manufacturing strategy combining efficient chemical methylation with rhodanese-catalyzed carbon–sulfur bond formation, enabling high-yield, cost-effective, and sustainable production while bridging synthetic chemistry and biocatalysis for industrial applications through modular integration and process intensification at scale.

 #worldresearchawards #Analytical chemistry #researchawards #Ergothioneine #Biocatalysis #Rhodanese #ChemicalMethylation #CSBondFormation #ProcessScaleUp #GreenChemistry #SyntheticBiology #IndustrialBiotech #SustainableChemistry #MetabolicEngineering #ChemoEnzymatic #Bioprocessing #HighYield #CostEffective

 For More Details ============== 

🌎 Visit Our Website : analyticalchemistry.org 

✉️Contact Us: mail@analyticalchemistry.org

UCLA Chemists Have Created “Impossible” 3D Bonds That Shouldn’t Exist

UCLA chemists proved that some of chemistry’s oldest rules can be broken and new molecules emerge when they are.

Organic chemistry is built on well-known principles that describe how atoms connect, how chemical bonds form, and how molecules take shape. These rules are often treated as firm boundaries that define what structures are possible. Researchers at UCLA, however, are showing that some of these limits are more flexible than long assumed.

Challenging a Century Old Rule

In 2024, a research team led by UCLA chemist Neil Garg overturned Bredt’s rule, a principle that has guided chemists for more than 100 years. The rule states that molecules cannot contain a carbon-to-carbon double bond at the “bridgehead” position (the ring junction of a bridged bicyclic molecule). Building on that work, Garg’s lab has now advanced the chemistry of even more unconventional structures, creating cage-shaped molecules with double bonds known as cubene and quadricyclene.

Double Bonds That Break the Mold

In most organic molecules, atoms connected by double bonds arrange themselves in a flat plane. Garg’s team found that this familiar geometry does not apply to cubene and quadricyclene. Their results, published in Nature Chemistry, expand the range of molecular shapes chemists can create and point toward new possibilities for drug discovery.

“Decades ago, chemists found strong support that we should be able to make alkene molecules like these, but because we’re still very used to thinking about textbook rules of structure, bonding, and reactivity in organic chemistry, molecules like cubene and quadricyclene have been avoided,” said corresponding author Garg, distinguished Kenneth N. Trueblood professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UCLA. “But it turns out almost all of these rules should be treated more like guidelines.”

Rethinking Bond Order and Molecular Shape

Organic molecules typically feature three kinds of bonds: single, double, and triple. Carbon double bonds are called alkenes and usually have a bond order of 2, which reflects how many electron pairs are shared between the bonded atoms. In standard alkenes, the carbon atoms adopt a trigonal planar arrangement, producing a flat structure around the double bond.

The molecules examined by Garg’s group, together with longtime collaborator Ken Houk of UCLA, behave differently. Because of their unusual three-dimensional architecture, these cage-shaped molecules have bond orders closer to 1.5 than to 2.

“Neil’s lab has figured out how to make these incredibly distorted molecules, and organic chemists are excited by what might be done with these unique structures,” says Houk.

Why Three Dimensional Molecules Matter

The discovery arrives as researchers increasingly focus on designing molecules with complex three-dimensional shapes for medical applications. Many modern drugs rely on rigid structures that interact more precisely with biological targets.

“Making cubene and quadricyclene was likely considered pretty niche in the 20th century,” said Garg. “But nowadays we are beginning to exhaust the possibilities of the regular, more flat structures, and there’s more of a need to make unusual, rigid 3D molecules.”

How the Molecules Are Formed

To generate these rule-breaking molecules, the team first created stable precursor compounds. These precursors included silyl groups, which are groups of atoms centered on a silicon atom, along with nearby leaving groups. When the precursors were treated with fluoride salts, cubene or quadricyclene formed inside the reaction vessel.

Because these molecules are extremely reactive, they were immediately captured by other reactants. This approach allowed the researchers to produce complex molecular products that are otherwise difficult to synthesize.

Hyperpyramidalized and Short Lived Structures

According to the researchers, the reactions proceed quickly because the alkene carbons in cubene and quadricyclene adopt severely pyramidalized shapes rather than the flat geometries usually seen in alkenes. To describe this extreme distortion, the team introduced the term “hyperpyramidalized” and used computational methods to analyze the unusually weak bonding.

Although cubene and quadricyclene are highly strained and unstable and cannot yet be isolated or directly observed, experimental evidence and computer modeling support their brief existence during the reactions.

“Having bond orders that are not one, two, or three is pretty different from how we think and teach right now,” said Garg. “Time will tell how important this is, but it’s essential for scientists to question the rules. If we don’t push the limits of our knowledge or imaginations, we can’t develop new things.”

Implications for Future Drug Design

Garg’s team believes this work could help pharmaceutical researchers develop future medicines. Compared with drugs from past decades, many new candidates are built around more intricate three-dimensional frameworks, signaling a major shift in what effective medicines can look like.

The researchers see a clear practical need to expand the library of available molecules in order to support increasingly advanced drug discovery.

Education, Creativity, and Collaboration

The study also reflects the creative approach that has made Garg’s organic chemistry courses among the most popular at UCLA. Many of the students trained in his lab have gone on to successful careers in academia and industry.

“In my lab, three things are most important. One is pushing the fundamentals of what we know. Second is doing chemistry that may be useful to others and have practical value for society,” he said. “And third is training all the really bright people who come to UCLA for a world-class education and then go into academia, where they continue to discover new things and teach others, or into industry, where they’re making medicines or doing other cool things to benefit our world.”

#AnalyticalChemistry, #ScienceOfSolutions, #ChemicalAnalysis, #Spectroscopy, #Chromatography, #LabScience, #PrecisionMatters, #ScienceInEveryDrop, #ChemistryMatters, #InnovationThroughAnalysis

For More Details

🌎Visit Our Website : analyticalchemistry.org

✉️Contact Us: mail@analyticalchemistry.org

Get Connected Here:
=====================
Youtube : www.youtube.com/channel/UCS6A6Sa-eyg5RiG0kkQ5VaA
Twitter : x.com/ChemistryAwards
Facebook : www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61566931868357
Pinterest : in.pinterest.com/analyticalchemistry25
Blog : analyticalchemistryawards.blogspot.com

Scientists Finally Solve a 30-Year-Old Cancer Mystery Hidden in Rye Pollen

Nearly 30 years after rye pollen molecules were shown to slow tumor growth in animals, scientists have finally determined their exact three-dimensional structures.

Nearly 30 years ago, researchers noticed something surprising in rye pollen: two naturally occurring molecules seemed to slow tumor growth in animal studies. The finding drew interest, but the science hit a wall because no one could pin down a crucial detail that determines how a compound behaves in the body: its exact three dimensional shape.

Chemists at Northwestern University now report that they have solved that long running structural puzzle. By assembling the molecules step by step in the lab, the team confirmed the true 3D structures of secalosides A and B, giving researchers a reliable starting point for the next phase of work.

That “blueprint” matters because biology is shape driven. Once scientists know how a molecule is arranged in space, they can begin testing how it might interact with immune cells and other biological targets, and they can design close variants to see which features are important. In this case, it could help clarify whether specific components of rye pollen, a staple cereal crop grown for its grain, might eventually inspire new ideas for cancer treatment.

The study was recently published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

“In preliminary studies, other researchers found that rye pollen could help different animal models clear tumors through some unknown, non-toxic mechanism,” said Northwestern’s Karl A. Scheidt, who led the study. “Now that we confirmed the structure of these molecules, we can find the active ingredient or what part of the molecule is doing the work. This is an exciting starting point to make better versions of these molecules that could possibly inform approaches to cancer therapy.”

Scheidt is a professor of chemistry at Northwestern’s Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences and a professor of pharmacology (by courtesy) at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. He also is a member of the Chemistry of Life Processes Institute and of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University.

Nature as inspiration for medicine

Nature has repeatedly provided starting points for major medical advances, even when the raw materials were not ready to be used as drugs in their original form. Many familiar medicines trace back to compounds first found in plants and microbes, which scientists later refined to make them safer, more effective, or easier for the body to use.

Morphine, a long used treatment for severe pain, comes from the opium poppy. Taxol, a key cancer therapy, was first obtained from the Pacific yew tree. Statins, widely taken to lower cholesterol and reduce heart disease risk, were developed from molecules discovered in fungi.




“Natural products aren’t necessarily effective drugs on their own, but they are great leads,” Scheidt said. “We can find inspiration in natural products and use chemistry to make better versions that are orally available, survive the metabolism and hit the right targets.”

Eventually, rye pollen potentially could join these ranks. Many consumers around the world already ingest rye pollen extract in supplement form to protect prostate health. But scientists haven’t yet optimized it for use as a pharmaceutical drug. Understanding how it works required knowing the molecules’ precise three-dimensional shape information that proved elusive.

A molecular mystery

Using traditional techniques, such as advanced nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, scientists could not fully reveal the orientation of the molecules’ key parts. As a result, two competing structural models persisted for decades.

Those two proposed structures had the same atoms, same connections and same overall shape. But a central part of the molecules are mirror images of each other. That subtle distinction can change how the molecule fits into a biological target and determine whether a molecule is biologically active or inert.

“It’s like your hands,” Scheidt said. “They are mirror images of each other, but you need a different glove for each. If you had two left-handed gloves, it wouldn’t work because your hands can’t be superimposed on top of one another.”

Building from scratch

To settle the question once and for all, the Northwestern team turned to total synthesis, or the step-by-step process of constructing a natural molecule in the laboratory. The approach was incredibly complicated and challenging. At their cores, secalosides A and B contain an extremely rare and highly strained feature: a tightly compressed, 10-membered ring that is notoriously difficult to build.

Scheidt and his team devised a clever workaround. They first built a larger, more flexible ring and then triggered a reaction that snapped it into a smaller, strained shape in a single step. After synthesizing both competing structural versions of the secalosides, the scientists compared them to samples isolated from rye pollen. Only one version matched perfectly, finally revealing the true molecular structure.

“We’ve demonstrated we can make the core of this natural product,” Scheidt said. “Now, we’re trying to find potential collaborators in immunology who could help us translate this to a possible clinical endpoint.”

#AnalyticalChemistry, #ScienceOfSolutions, #ChemicalAnalysis, #Spectroscopy, #Chromatography, #LabScience, #PrecisionMatters, #ScienceInEveryDrop, #ChemistryMatters, #InnovationThroughAnalysis

For More Details

🌎Visit Our Website : analyticalchemistry.org

✉️Contact Us: mail@analyticalchemistry.org

Get Connected Here:
=====================
Youtube : www.youtube.com/channel/UCS6A6Sa-eyg5RiG0kkQ5VaA
Twitter : x.com/ChemistryAwards
Facebook : www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61566931868357
Pinterest : in.pinterest.com/analyticalchemistry25
Blog : analyticalchemistryawards.blogspot.com

Light-driven probe enables sensitive detection of epigenetic intermediates

Epigenetic modifications such as DNA methylation play a key role in regulating gene expression. Emerging evidence suggests that intermediates generated during DNA demethylation may have distinct biological roles. However, their detection remains challenging due to their low abundance. Now, researchers from Japan have developed a novel light-sensitive oligonucleotide probe that selectively crosslinks with 5-formylcytosine, an epigenetically important intermediate, enabling its detection in target DNA and complex biological samples.

How DNA methylation shapes gene activity

Epigenetic modifications, which are reversible changes to DNA, control when and where genes are switched on or off, playing a critical role in human growth and disease development. DNA methylation is one such key mechanism that adds methyl groups to DNA. These methyl groups are more commonly added at the 5-position of cytosine to form 5-methylcytosine (5mC), localized at gene promoter regions, resulting in gene silencing. Conversely, demethylation, or the removal of methyl groups, activates gene transcription.

Mounting evidence suggests that the cytosine intermediates generated during the oxidation and subsequent demethylation of 5-position of cytosine may serve distinct epigenetic roles in biological processes. Detecting and understanding these intermediates may open new avenues for disease management. However, the low abundance of these intermediates makes their detection difficult.

A light-driven probe for 5fC detection

To overcome this challenge, a research team led by Professor Asako Yamasoshi from the Department of Life Science and Technology, Institute of Science Tokyo (Science Tokyo), Japan, has developed a novel photochemical sensor that can detect cytosine derivatives using light. Their findings were published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. The researchers demonstrate the selective crosslinking of a light-sensitive oligonucleotide probe with 5-formylcytosine (5fC), a 5mC derivative central to demethylation and epigenetic regulation.

"Our work introduces a new concept for light-driven detection of 5fC, offering a spatiotemporally controllable probe for epigenetic analysis," explains Yamasoshi.

Designing the photo-crosslinkable oligonucleotide probe

The team designed and synthesized oligonucleotide probes containing trioxsalen—a psoralen (Ps) derivative which is a natural compound that can insert itself into DNA. The Ps-conjugated oligonucleotides undergo "photo-cycloaddition," or crosslink with the target DNA upon exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation at 365 nm. The researchers previously used these Ps-oligos to detect oncogenic mutations and epigenetic modifications.

In the current study, they assessed the photo-crosslinking efficiency of the probes tagged with a fluorophore, combined with different cytosine derivatives in the target DNA. Notably, the fluorescence intensity was the highest for 5fC compared to the other derivatives such as 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) and 5-carboxylcytosine (5caC). Further, the cross-linking efficiency between the probe and 5hmC or 5caC decreased significantly as sodium-ion concentration and temperature were reduced. Conversely, cross-linking between the probe and 5fC remained largely unchanged across ionic and temperature variations, indicating a more stable interaction.

Testing stability under different UV conditions

In contrast to photo-cycloaddition, exposure to shorter-wavelength UV radiation can induce "cycloreversion" by weakening interactions between the target DNA and the probe. To assess stability, the researchers irradiated the cross-linked products with UV radiation at 254 nm. Notably, the fluorescence intensity of the probe and 5fC crosslinked product remained unchanged, whereas a decrease was observed for the other cytosine derivatives, indicating greater stability of 5fC.

Finally, the researchers demonstrated the practical feasibility of 5fC detection by constructing a DNA chip sensor fabricated with the oligonucleotide probe. They observed strong fluorescence for 5mC and 5fC after crosslinking. Additionally, the fluorescence intensity of target 5mC reduced substantially after applying UV radiation at 254 nm, whereas that of 5fC remained constant, highlighting selective photo-reactivity of the probe toward 5fC.

Implications for diagnostics and research tools

Overall, these findings highlight the unique potential of the photo-crosslinkable oligonucleotide probe in the selective detection of 5fC in the target DNA. "We aim to extend the method to complex biological samples and improve detection sensitivity by enriching 5fC-containing DNA fragments, ultimately translating the technology into research and diagnostic tools across life sciences and medicine," concludes Yamasoshi.

#AnalyticalChemistry, #ScienceOfSolutions, #ChemicalAnalysis, #Spectroscopy, #Chromatography, #LabScience, #PrecisionMatters, #ScienceInEveryDrop, #ChemistryMatters, #InnovationThroughAnalysis

For More Details

🌎Visit Our Website : analyticalchemistry.org

✉️Contact Us: mail@analyticalchemistry.org

Get Connected Here:
=====================
Youtube : www.youtube.com/channel/UCS6A6Sa-eyg5RiG0kkQ5VaA
Twitter : x.com/ChemistryAwards
Facebook : www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61566931868357
Pinterest : in.pinterest.com/analyticalchemistry25
Blog : analyticalchemistryawards.blogspot.com

SSbD Revolutionizing Chemistry Safely! #worldresearchawards #Analytical...

Revolutionizing Fault Detection in Chemistry! #worldresearchawards #Anal...

Analyzing an enigmatic enzyme with potential for new antibiotic drug discovery

An analysis of an unusual enzyme could result in a new generation of antimicrobial medicines to counter antibiotic resistance. Key details in the enzyme-driven biosynthesis of a natural molecule with potent antibiotic activity have been revealed by chemists at RIKEN. This discovery has the potential to enable a swathe of new antibiotics to be developed, which are urgently needed to counter the increasing emergence of drug-resistant bacterial superbugs.

Unusual origins of a potent antibiotic

Dubbed "nocardicin A," the powerful natural antibiotic is produced by a soil-dwelling bacterium which biosynthesizes it in an unusual way. Its anti-microbial activity seems to depend on a side chain in the molecule that consists of an amino group attached to a carboxy-containing propyl functional group (3-ACP).

The origin of the side chain is a ubiquitous biomolecule known as S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAM). SAM donates the side chain in an enzyme-mediated reaction with nocardicin G, a precursor to nocardicin A. But SAM is much better known as a donor of methyl groups. The mechanism by which the enzyme transfers 3-ACP rather than a methyl group to make nocardicin A had been unclear, says Takayoshi Awakawa of the RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science.

Cracking the enzyme's structural secrets

While the enzyme structure could be obtained by computational analysis, explaining how it transfers 3-ACP from SAM to nocardicin G required X-ray structural analysis something that no one had been able to do until now.

Awakawa's team was able to capture the first X-ray structure of the enzyme complex at the point when 3-ACP was poised to transfer to nocardicin G.

"Our analysis has revealed how nocardicin G is anchored to the enzyme via a network of amino acid residues and water molecules," Awakawa says.

Notably, the enzyme aligns with nocardicin G so that its reactive site is closer to SAM's 3-ACP group than to its methyl group, which favors 3-ACP transfer.

Opening doors to next-generation antibiotics

This structural and mechanistic insight could facilitate the discovery of new antibiotics. By modifying the enzyme's structure to accept other substrates beside nocardicin G, researchers should be able to produce a range of potential medicines with the 3-ACP group attached.

"We showed that, when commercially available antibiotics such as amoxicillin and cefadroxil were used as substrates, 3-ACP-modified products were detected," Awakawa says.

The team is also exploring converting enzymes that promote SAM methyl transfer into enzymes that promote 3-ACP transfer instead.

"Methylating enzymes are very common," Awakawa says. "By altering their activity to become 3-ACP transferase enzymes, we can modify compounds with diverse structures to create new antibiotics and other useful compounds with superior biological activity."

#AnalyticalChemistry, #ScienceOfSolutions, #ChemicalAnalysis, #Spectroscopy, #Chromatography, #LabScience, #PrecisionMatters, #ScienceInEveryDrop, #ChemistryMatters, #InnovationThroughAnalysis

For More Details

🌎Visit Our Website : analyticalchemistry.org

✉️Contact Us: mail@analyticalchemistry.org

Get Connected Here:
=====================
Youtube : www.youtube.com/channel/UCS6A6Sa-eyg5RiG0kkQ5VaA
Twitter : x.com/ChemistryAwards
Facebook : www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61566931868357
Pinterest : in.pinterest.com/analyticalchemistry25
Blog : analyticalchemistryawards.blogspot.com

Molecular Flexibility in Prebiotic Chemistry #worldresearchawards #Analy...

New class of catalysts could dramatically change playing field in nickel catalysis

Researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have reported a breakthrough in nickel catalysis that harnesses a rare oxidation state of nickel that has proved challenging to control yet is highly valued for its potential to facilitate important chemical reactions.

The researchers, led by Liviu Mirica, a professor of chemistry at Illinois, explain in a recently published paper in Nature Catalysis how they have overcome a long-standing challenge in the field of nickel catalysis by developing a new method for synthesizing thermally stable Ni(I) compounds, opening new avenues for building complex molecules.

New shelf-stable nickel one compounds

"We have developed shelf-stable Ni(I) compounds that could dramatically change the playing field of nickel catalysis. And that's why we have an international patent for it, and we're working with pharmaceutical companies and chemical vendors who want to license it," Mirica said.

Nickel-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions are widely used to form carbon–carbon and carbon heteroatom bonds, essential steps in producing pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, and advanced materials. Traditionally, these reactions rely on two forms of nickel Ni(0) or Ni(II) as catalysts. Catalytically competent Ni(I) sources have remained elusive, but attractive.

"This form of nickel is highly desirable partly because it may open up new avenues of reactivity that have remained elusive with traditional sources of nickel," said Sagnik Chakrabarti, co-author and former graduate student in the Mirica group who worked on the project with graduate students Jubyeong Chae and Katy A. Knecht.

Isocyanides unlock nickel reactivity

Mirica said previous approaches by chemists have used specialized ligands that limit the generality of Ni(I) in a reaction the way one would use Ni(II) or Ni(0) sources. By tapping into the unique properties of organic compounds called isocyanides, the Mirica group has developed a simple system that gets the chemistry to work.

In their study, they demonstrated how the commercially available isocyanides function as simple supporting ligands, which connect to the nickel atom and form stable, powerful catalysts that can be used to snap molecular pieces together with exceptional speed and precision, opening an untapped chemical space for reaction discovery.

Their Ni(I) complexes are readily available, shelf-stable, easily prepared, and easily handled catalysts that are efficient for a wide variety of chemical reactions. This is unique because most Ni(I) complexes tend to be rather unstable, which has limited their use in catalytic settings.

Performance across key cross-couplings

"We were able to put Ni(I), 'nickel one,' in a bottle so people can use it on a wider scale for various synthetic applications," Mirica said.

In the study, the researchers demonstrate that these new catalysts work in several of the most important reactions used to make pharmaceuticals, electronics, advanced materials, and more. They report the synthesis, characterization, and catalytic activity of two classes of Ni(I) isocyanide complexes: coordinatively saturated homoleptic compounds and coordinatively unsaturated Ni(I)-halide compounds. One is slightly more reactive than the other.

Their complexes exhibit rapid ligand substitution and demonstrate exceptional performance in Kumada, Suzuki–Miyaura, and Buchwald Hartwig cross-coupling reactions, according to the study, and notably, they exhibit chemo-selectivity, displaying their versatility.

Hints of new reaction pathways

According to Mirica and Chakrabarti, this new class of catalysts could be a game changer in nickel catalysis. Chakrabarti said there could be new reactions that could be discovered by directly introducing Ni(I) into reactions.

"And in fact, in the paper, we do talk about a new class of reactions that we developed and that has not been achieved with Ni catalysts before," he said. "It's just a snippet of reactivity, not like a full vignette in itself, but it still shows that by synthesizing something that's different from what's out there, we can maybe coax unique reactivity."

The research team also found that a tiny amount goes a long way.

Broad applicability and future directions

"The interesting thing that we found is that we can use very, very tiny amounts of the nickel catalyst, which is unusual in Ni catalysis, which typically needs higher amounts of the catalyst," Mirica said.

The study also highlights the structural diversity of isocyanides and their potential as spectator ligands for reaction discovery. Their study showed that this chemistry is not limited to just the one class of isocyanide they used, the tert-butyl isocyanide, but it's broadly applicable to other classes of isocyanides as well.

"So, the generality in using a bunch of different isocyanides bodes well for the future development of this chemistry," Chakrabarti said.

Future work in the Mirica group will explore the fundamental structure and bonding of these unusually stable compounds, their new reactivity, and the differences in reactivity between alkyl and aryl isocyanide-supported complexes, which according to their study exhibit divergent catalytic behavior.

#AnalyticalChemistry, #ScienceOfSolutions, #ChemicalAnalysis, #Spectroscopy, #Chromatography, #LabScience, #PrecisionMatters, #ScienceInEveryDrop, #ChemistryMatters, #InnovationThroughAnalysis

For More Details

🌎Visit Our Website : analyticalchemistry.org

✉️Contact Us: mail@analyticalchemistry.org

Get Connected Here:
=====================
Youtube : www.youtube.com/channel/UCS6A6Sa-eyg5RiG0kkQ5VaA
Twitter : x.com/ChemistryAwards
Facebook : www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61566931868357
Pinterest : in.pinterest.com/analyticalchemistry25
Blog : analyticalchemistryawards.blogspot.com