Chemistry news and discussions

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Study shows magnetic fields boosts electrocatalysis for sustainable fuel production
https://techxplore.com/news/2024-04-mag ... nable.html
by Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne

In an era where the quest for sustainable energy sources has become paramount, researchers are tirelessly exploring innovative avenues to enhance fuel production processes. One of the most important tools in converting chemical energy into electrical energy and vice versa is electrocatalysis, which is already used in various green-energy technologies.

Electrocatalysis speeds up electrochemical reactions through the use of catalysts—substances that increase reaction rates without being consumed themselves. Electrocatalysis is fundamental in devices like fuel cells and electrolyzers, where it enables the efficient transformation of fuels such as hydrogen and oxygen into electricity, or water into hydrogen and oxygen, respectively, facilitating a cycle of clean energy.

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A new method for storing and processing hydrogen chloride
https://phys.org/news/2024-04-method-hy ... oride.html
by Japhet Johnstone, Free University of Berlin

A research team at Freie Universität Berlin has successfully developed a method for storing and electrolyzing gaseous hydrogen chloride in the form of an ionic liquid. The method allows the hydrogen chloride created as a by-product in traditional chlorination processes to be recovered and recycled in a safer manner.

This development also represents an important contribution toward making the chemical industry more sustainable and offering alternative energy solutions. The results of the study were recently published in the journal Science Advances under the title "Bichloride-Based Ionic Liquids for the Merged Storage, Processing, and Electrolysis of Hydrogen Chloride."

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A simple, inexpensive way to make carbon atoms bind together
https://phys.org/news/2024-04-simple-in ... atoms.html
by The Scripps Research Institute

The active ingredient in many drugs is what's known as a small molecule: bigger than water, much smaller than an antibody and mainly made of carbon. It's tough, however, to make these molecules if they require a quaternary carbon—a carbon atom bonded to four other carbon atoms. But now, Scripps Research scientists have uncovered a potential cost-effective way to produce these tricky motifs.

In the new findings, which were published in Science on April 5, 2024, Scripps Research chemists show that it's possible to convert feedstock chemicals into quaternary carbons using a single, inexpensive iron catalyst. This method could benefit drug developers by making molecules cheaper and easier to produce at small and large scales.

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New statistical-modeling workflow may help advance drug discovery and synthetic chemistry
https://phys.org/news/2024-04-statistic ... overy.html
by Theresa Duque, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

A new automated workflow developed by scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has the potential to allow researchers to analyze the products of their reaction experiments in real time, a key capability needed for future automated chemical processes.

The developed workflow—which applies statistical analysis to process data from nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy—could help speed the discovery of new pharmaceutical drugs, and accelerate the development of new chemical reactions.

The Berkeley Lab scientists who developed the groundbreaking technique say that the workflow can quickly identify the molecular structure of products formed by chemical reactions that have never been studied before. They recently reported their findings in the Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling.

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New colorful plastic films for versatile sensors and electronic displays
https://phys.org/news/2024-04-plastic-v ... plays.html
by Osaka University

Innovative electronics is one of the many applications of modern plastics. Some recent research efforts have used plastic to improve the color realism of display technologies.

Now, in a study recently published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition, researchers from Osaka University and collaborating partners have developed a borane molecule that exhibits unusual light emission upon binding to fluoride. Incorporating their molecule into common plastic is straightforward, resulting in versatile materials for electronic display and chemical sensing applications.

A class of molecules known as triarylboranes (TABs) has photochemical properties that are useful in optics. For example, upon binding to an anion such as fluoride, disruption of the TAB electronic structure often does two things to the light emission: shortens the wavelength (blue-shift) and reduces the intensity (turn-off response).

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Harnessing solar energy for high-efficiency NH₃ production
https://techxplore.com/news/2024-04-har ... iency.html
by JooHyeon Heo, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology

A technology that harnesses solar energy to produce high-efficiency ammonia (NH3) has been unveiled by a research team affiliated with UNIST.

Led by Professor Sung-Yeon Jang and Professor Ji-Wook Jang from the School of Energy and Chemical Engineering at UNIST, in collaboration with Professor Thomas F. Jaramillo from Stanford University, the team has developed an eco-friendly perovskite-based photoelectrode system for NH3 production that has surpassed the commercialization standard of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) by an impressive 1.7 times, setting a new world record in ammonia production efficiency.

The work is published in the journal Nature Catalysis.

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AI designs active pharmaceutical ingredients quickly and easily based on protein structures
https://phys.org/news/2024-04-ai-pharma ... asily.html
by Fabio Bergamin, ETH Zurich

A new computer process developed by chemists at ETH Zurich makes it possible to generate active pharmaceutical ingredients quickly and easily based on a protein's three-dimensional surface. The new process, detailed in Nature Communications, could revolutionize drug research.

"It's a real breakthrough for drug discovery," says Gisbert Schneider, Professor at ETH Zurich's Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences. Together with his former doctoral student Kenneth Atz, he has developed an algorithm that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to design new active pharmaceutical ingredients.

For any protein with a known three-dimensional shape, the algorithm generates the blueprints for potential drug molecules that increase or inhibit the activity of the protein. Chemists can then synthesize and test these molecules in the laboratory.

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Scientists discover method to prevent coalescence in immiscible liquids
https://phys.org/news/2024-04-scientist ... quids.html
by Bob Yirka , Phys.org

A team of chemical engineers from Université PSL, CNRS, Harvard University and chemical company Calyxia, has discovered a way to prevent or delay coalescence in some immiscible liquids.

In their paper published in the journal Science, the group describes how experiments they conducted led to the discovery of a way to get some fluids such as water and oil, to remain as an emulsion for long periods of time without the use of surfactants.

It is widely known that when two immiscible liquids, such as water and oil are mixed, they do not remain so for very long—they slowly separate into two layers. This is because they never really mix to begin with; instead, they coexist as droplets that coalesce when they come into contact with one another.

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