Chemistry news and discussions

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Most Materials Seem to Obey a 'Rule of Four' And Scientists Are Utterly Stumped

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technolo ... r-AA1ntU6n

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Research team develops AI to perform chemical synthesis

https://phys.org/news/2024-05-team-ai-c ... hesis.html

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Chemists succeed in synthesizing a molecule first predicted 20 years ago
https://phys.org/news/2024-05-chemists- ... years.html
by Saarland University

The first and the best-known metallocene is "ferrocene," which contains a single iron atom. Today, sandwich complexes can be found in many inorganic chemistry textbooks, and the bonding and electronic structure of metallocenes is taught in undergraduate chemistry lecture courses. Sandwich molecules also play an important role in industry, where they are used as catalysts and in the synthesis of special metallopolymers.

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Data-driven model rapidly predicts dehydrogenation barriers in solid-state materials
https://phys.org/news/2024-05-driven-ra ... solid.html
by Tohoku University

Researchers have developed a data-driven model to predict the dehydrogenation barriers of magnesium hydride (MgH2), a promising material for solid-state hydrogen storage. This advancement holds significant potential for enhancing hydrogen storage technologies, a crucial component in the transition to sustainable energy solutions.

Hydrogen, recognized for its versatility and clean energy potential, can be produced from various renewable sources. Solid-state hydrogen storage materials, particularly MgH2, are considered prime candidates for efficient hydrogen storage due to their high storage capacity and resource abundance.

However, despite extensive research over the past five decades, the material properties of MgH2 have yet to meet the performance targets set by the US Department of Energy (US-DOE).

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Research team achieves rapid and reliable room-temperature phosphorescence chiral recognition

by Wu Yuyanu, University of Science and Technology of China
https://phys.org/news/2024-05-team-rapi ... ature.html

A research team led by Prof Zhang Guoqing from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) have presented a novel molecular-solid sensor that enables rapid chiral recognition of natural amino acids through room-temperature phosphorescence (RTP), overcoming the limitations of structural complementarity and generality in traditional luminescence-based methods. Their findings are published in Nature Communications.

Guest-host-doped RTP systems have made significant advancements in applications of various fields, including next-generation optoelectronics, high-contrast bioimaging, and chiral recognition. With increasing attention on the design of RTP systems with chiral moieties, understanding the relationship between structure and property has become crucial.

Leveraging the essential role of chirality in natural evolution, exploring richer spectral methods to understand the correlation between molecular chirality, excited states, and electron spin will elucidate fundamental principles and drive innovative technological transformations.

In their earlier work published in 2023, Prof. Zhang's team first discovered and named the chiral-selective phosphorescence enhancement (CPE) phenomenon, revealing the chirality-dependency of energy transfer between molecules.

In this study, they proposed a more universal sensing scheme allowing for rapid chiral recognition of RTP. They discovered that amino acids react with highly reactive 2-naphthoyl chloride under mild conditions, forming chiral energy acceptors. This process sensitizes the generation of RTP in a triplet energy donor medium. At the same time, L-phenylalanine derivative serves as universal triplet energy donors, providing advantages in mass production and purification.

The team initially confirmed the feasibility of modular design in CPE systems. Experimental results showed that, under different doping ratios, the fluorescence enhancement factors were relatively low, ranging from 1.6 to 3.2. However, under the same conditions, the enhancement factors of RTP spectra significantly increased.