News March 2006

Conduction mechanism confirmed
31 March 2006
UK researchers claim to have resolved the debate over how fuel cell materials conduct ions.

Nanoparticle drug delivery
31 March 2006
Biodegradable polymers being developed in Atlanta, US, offer numerous advantages over current drug delivery systems, say researchers.

Gene therapists swarm round honeycomb lipid
30 March 2006
US researchers have synthesised a lipid molecule they say shows real promise in gene therapy.

Knowledge transfer partnership awards
30 March 2006
Analytical chemists, counterfeit checkers, and a pharmaceutical scientist form an award-winning partnership.

Funding council powerless to intervene in department closures
29 March 2006
Investigations into chemistry cuts at Sussex University have highlighted weaknesses in Hefce's strategic powers, say politicians.

Digital immigrants seek asylum
29 March 2006
The ACS division of chemical information has come a step closer to joining the digital nation by preparing a podcast of one of its sessions at its national meeting in Atlanta

Buckyballs enter the fast lane
29 March 2006
A team of US chemists has developed a practical use for buckyballs: as wheels on a nanoscale car

Modelling magnetic behaviour
29 March 2006
Simulating the magnetic behaviour of an unusual molecular magnet may lead to better design of single molecule magnets.

Clean energy in a crystalline form
28 March 2006
Lithium batteries could have electrolytes made from a combination of the polymeric equivalents of crown ethers and ionic compounds.

Explosives go unleaded
28 March 2006
Explosives could become safer following the synthesis of lead-free environmentally-friendly primary explosives, by US researchers

Nature's sunscreen
28 March 2006
Aquatic bacteria are a potential source of natural UVA protective sunscreens, say researchers in Israel.

Blast in French university kills professor
28 March 2006
An explosion in a French university chemistry department has killed one person and seriously injured another.

Church music silenced by EU's waste directive
27 March 2006
Church organs have come under threat from EU directives aimed at reducing the amount of lead that reaches landfill sites

Archaeological chemists settle trophy-head debate
27 March 2006
Strontium isotope analysis and modern day guinea pigs point to violent past for ancient disfigured skulls discovered in Peru

Nanoscale transport offers controlled drug delivery
27 March 2006
European researchers have used carbon nanotubes to deliver an anticancer drug to human cancer cells.

Organic chemists develop molecular calculator
24 March 2006
Israeli organic chemists have created a calculator the size of a single molecule.

Longer-lasting bubbles for ultrasound imaging
24 March 2006
Scientists in France have discovered a way of making longer-lasting bubbles for use in ultrasound imaging.

Australian chemistry dept under threat
23 March 2006
The school of chemistry at the University of New South Wales, Australia, is facing cost-saving job losses.

Boost for chemical innovation
23 March 2006
A boost in innovative performance across the UK was promised at yesterday's launch of the Chemistry Innovation Knowledge Transfer Network.

Vitamin's role in enzyme activity
23 March 2006
Researchers are on track to understanding how a vitamin B12 derivative is activated in living organisms.

Wonky chocolate
23 March 2006
An alternative way of shaping chocolate - everyone's favourite food - has been discovered.

Going with the flow
22 March 2006
European researchers say they can overcome the problems of modelling flow in fluids like mayonnaise, engine oil and snow.

Good news for the chemical industry
22 March 2006
Training programme launched to persuade journos to drop the 'dirty and dangerous' tag often linked to chemicals stories.

Innovative short list announced
21 March 2006
The shortlist for this year's RSC Innovation Awards has been announced, reflecting the breadth of innovation in the chemical sciences.

Cellular imaging
21 March 2006
Fluorescent imaging methods have transformed understanding of biological processes within living cells.

Art restoration the nanoway
21 March 2006
Piero Baglioni and Rodorico Giorgi at the University of Florence, Italy, suggest that using nanoparticles is a simple and successful way to restore works of art.

Symmetry adaptation in coordination polymers
21 March 2006
Chemists in the UK have developed coordination polymers that adapt their symmetry to respond to hydrogen bonding.

Europe's energy strategy
21 March 2006
Car manufacturers and fuel suppliers must cooperate to achieve Europe's environmental aims, as set out in a European Commission energy strategy.

Polymer matches silicon in semi-conductor stakes
20 March 2006
Semi-conducting polymer conducts electricity similarly to conventional silicon-based semi-conductors.

Appreciating wrinkles
20 March 2006
Understanding how surfaces wrinkle could help explain the properties of new materials, say scientists in the US and the Netherlands.

A binding agreement
17 March 2006
DNA-binding ligands could be useful in the detection of small genetic variations.

Logic gate operations performed by enzymes
17 March 2006
Enzymes can mimic a computational process involving a system of logic gates, say scientists in Israel.

Plant virus fixed with antennae
16 March 2006
Researchers in the UK have coupled a virus with redox-active molecules, creating particles they say could be useful in nanoelectronics.

Quantum dots detect DNA
16 March 2006
Two colour quantum dots can rapidly detect DNA with a high sensitivity, according to US chemists.

Smoking ban leads to healthier bar staff
16 March 2006
A Norwegian study has found a reduction in airborne pollutants and nicotine exposure following a smoking ban in public places.

Update: Thriving chemistry department faces closure
15 March 2006
An emergency evidence session of the Science and Technology select committee is being considered.

Europe addresses mercury risk
15 March 2006
In an EU drive to reduce mercury-related damage to health and the environment, a major source of the problem might be part of the remedy.

Previous research can be a bad influence on molecular biologists
14 March 2006
Molecular biologists could be reporting false experimental data because they are being overly influenced by previous findings.

Flow chemistry: a more sustainable way
14 March 2006
Organic chemists look towards labour-saving methods for synthesising molecules in the lab by using flow methods.

From DNA to drug discovery
14 March 2006
Reverse chemical genetics offers hope as a rapid method to target disease.

Thriving chemistry department faces closure
13 March 2006
Sussex University, UK, has announced the closure of its chemistry department following weeks of speculation.

New way to produce heavy rare earth metals
13 March 2006
Chemists in China have demonstrated an electrochemical method to produce heavy rare earth metals from their oxides.

Dual organometallics enhance zinc reactivity
10 March 2006
Zinc loses its shyness at the organometallic party when accompanied by sodium or lithium

Structure is key to superior hydrogen storage
10 March 2006
Researchers in the UK have revealed the structure of a compound they say could have a major impact on hydrogen storage.

UV light shed on the future of skincare
10 March 2006
Understanding how the wavelength of UV light affects the chemistry of skin ageing.

Green light from polymers
10 March 2006
Electroluminescent polymers that could display a full spectrum of colour have been developed using a dopant/host strategy.

Covalent bonds crack under the strain
09 March 2006
Chemists must consider engineering principles when designing molecules after news that tough carbon-carbon bonds break easily under mechanical strain.

Unexpected photochemistry unearthed
09 March 2006
Soil uses sunlight to produce chemicals that can break down pollutants in the lowest layers of the atmosphere.

Solvent-free methods to make crystals
09 March 2006
Researchers in Italy say that mechanochemical reactions could be used to overcome the problem of obtaining crystals of reaction products for characterisation.

Update: Archives for Africa and beyond
08 March 2006
The RSC has provided developing countries with free access to its journal archives, but its involvement shouldn't stop there.

New route to C-glycoside creation overcomes earlier drawbacks
08 March 2006
One-pot process for creating C-glycosides could help prepare robust analogues of naturally occurring carbohydrates.

Zinc recognises bacterial cells
08 March 2006
Simple zinc compounds can be used to recognise pathogenic bacteria, US researchers claim.

Stepping stone to total synthesis
08 March 2006
Researchers in the UK have made progress towards the synthesis of tagetitoxin, a naturally occurring compound that inhibits RNA polymerase.

Brownian motion slips into reverse
07 March 2006
An electrical device for suppressing Brownian motion traps proteins, viruses and semiconductor nanocrystals.

Zeolites smoke out carcinogens
07 March 2006
Chinese chemists have developed new types of zeolite that can selectively filter out carcinogens from the environment.

Good catalysts require careful design
07 March 2006
Designing a good catalyst is a delicate balance between steric and electronic properties, say researchers in Japan

Nanoprobes light up cellular demolition
06 March 2006
Fluorescent nanoprobes detect programmed cell death.

Leap of faith pays off for MR research
06 March 2006
A £5 million research facility dedicated to studying clinical molecular resonance today opens in Newcastle, UK.

Biopolymer for increased milk production
06 March 2006
A complex polysaccharide reduces disease incidence in dairy herds and could help prevent antibiotic resistance.

Capsules for catalysis
06 March 2006
Researchers in the Netherlands have made a supramolecular capsule that they say has the makings of a nano-sized reaction chamber.

New materials for gene transport
06 March 2006
Development of synthetic DNA carriers could lead to advances in gene therapy.

Thin films cooled by an electric field
03 March 2006
A material cooled by an electric field could replace greenhouse gases as a refrigerant in household fridges

Museum trustees look for a catalyst
03 March 2006
A struggling chemical-industry museum in Manchester, UK, is undergoing a revamp in an attempt to attract more young visitors.

Accessing higher-energy dissociation channels
03 March 2006
Improvement of a powerful spectroscopic technique will open up opportunities to study the structure of proteins and nucleic acids, according to researchers in Canada.

Dendrimer technology gives long-lasting image
03 March 2006
Sugar derivatives of gadolinium point to new possibilities in MRI contrast agent research.

Chemists crack cocaine detection
02 March 2006
Researchers, including two high school students and a Nobel laureate, have created a sensitive, simple, cocaine sensor.
![[3]ferrocenophanone](/images/b515043d-67_tcm18-48558.jpg)
One step closer to designer catalysts
02 March 2006
European researchers have developed a choice of routes to [3]ferrocenophanones, important building blocks for ligands used in asymmetric catalysis.

Archives for Africa and beyond
01 March 2006
The RSC is to provide free access to its journals back-catalogue in over 50 developing countries, the first learned society to make such a gesture.


