Carbene chemistry built into microbe’s metabolism in first for biosynthesis

A reaction common to synthetic organic chemistry has been fully integrated into a microbe, expanding the scope of organic products that could be biosynthesised. The proof-of-concept work, which incorporated carbene-transfer reactions into the metabolism of a strain of Streptomyces bacterium, demonstrates the possibility of a scalable microbial platform for biosynthesising natural and new-to-nature products. Biosynthesis […]

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Molecular twist enhances stability of biphenyls

Perphenyl arenes are not as unstable as we think, according to a study by researchers in the US and Portugal.1 It found that intramolecular dispersion forces in decaphenylbiphenyl and 2,2′,4,4′,6,6′-hexaphenylbiphenyl compensate for the steric repulsion in these crowded molecules. Decaphenylbiphenyl was first synthesised in 19652 and later characterised by diffraction studies in 1998.3 The solid-state […]

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New results vindicate suspect 63-year-old claim on synthesis of first catenane

Over six decades after Edel Wasserman from Bell Telephone Laboratories claimed to have made the first mechanically interlocked hydrocarbon rings – without direct evidence – UK chemists have supported his findings.1 For six years David Leigh’s team at the University of Manchester sought to show that Wasserman’s 1960 letter to the Journal of the American […]

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Counting the people

There is a widespread misconception amongst people, who are not particularly good at mathematics that mathematicians can do mathematics, by which I mean that a mathematicians can do the whole range of subdisciplines that are collected together under the term mathematics. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is claimed that there is a […]

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Microbial degradation offers way to tackle chlorinated PFAS in wastewater

Chlorinated per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been degraded using microbes, offering a new way to tackle these persistent pollutants that have been dubbed ‘forever chemicals’ by the media. A University of California, Riverside team in the US reports that a specific class of PFAS, chlorinated polyfluorocarboxylic acids, can be broken down by the action […]

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EU research commissioner resigns to head up new Bulgarian government

The EU’s research commissioner, Mariya Gabriel, has submitted her resignation and is leaving to help Bulgaria form a new coalition government. The European Commission announced her departure on 15 March, just days after she was selected by her party’s leader, Boyko Borisov, to be Bulgaria’s next prime minister and charged with establishing a government. Gabriel […]

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Ladder-like polymer that could halt electrical overheating divides opinion

A new type of dual-backbone ‘ladderphane’ polymer that combines extremely high thermal conductivity with very low electrical conductivity has been reported by researchers in China and the US.1 The team believe their polymer could help to prevent overheating in the growing number of high-power applications such as vehicles and aerospace systems that use electricity as […]

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Saturn’s rings found to be a youthful, recent addition to the planet

A Nasa spacecraft has discovered that Saturn’s rings formed within the last few hundred million years – lending weight to the idea that they coalesced much more recently than some scientists thought. This supports an ongoing debate about their age, suggesting they are not as ancient as the planet itself – which is around 4.5 […]

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Dedicated committee needed to tackle research reproducibility problems in the UK

A report released by the science, innovation and technology committee of the UK House of Commons is recommending that a subcommittee dedicated to tackling issues related to the reproducibility of research should be created. In 2018, the committee, which consists of 11 MPs, previously recommended that a body be created to address research integrity issues […]

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Chemical weapons watchdog opens new lab as end nears for deadly munitions

The new chemical technology lab of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) officially opened its doors on 12 May. The launch of the ChemTech Centre coincides with a historic milestone for the organisation that may now be just weeks away: the elimination of all declared stockpiles of chemical weapons in the world. […]

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