A simpler way to make some medicines

Organic chemists have figured out how to synthesize the most common molecule arrangement in medicine, a scientific discovery that could change the way a number of drugs — including one most commonly used to treat ovarian cancer — are produced. Their discovery, published today in the journal Chem, gives drug makers a crucial building block for creating medicines that, so far, are made with complex processes that result in a lot of waste.

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Efficient synthesis of ginkgo compound could lead to new drugs, 'green' insecticides

Chemists have invented an efficient method for making a synthetic version of the plant compound bilobalide, which is naturally produced by gingko trees. It's a significant feat because bilobalide — and closely related compounds — hold potential commercial value as medicines and 'green' insecticides.

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Creating and trapping trions at room temperature

A team chemically engineered carbon nanotubes to synthesize and trap trions at room temperature. Trions are quasi particles that can potentially carry more information than electrons in applications from bioimaging to chemical sensing and quantum computing. The research makes it possible to manipulate trions and study their fundamental properties in ways that have never been possible before.

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Metal to metal oxide progression

A catalyst's utility is influenced by its surface charge and how that charge is transferred. Until recently, studying charge transfer has relied on complex imaging techniques that are both expensive and time-consuming. Scientists now report an approach for studying charge transfer that does not rely on complicated equipment — simplifying the real-time observation of catalysis.

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Chemists create self-assembling material with suite of new properties

Chemists have created a new material that self-assembles into 2D networks in a predictable and reproducible manner. They have successfully synthesized a complex material by design — paving the way for its suite of new properties to be applied in many fields.

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Empty spaces, how do they make a protein unstable?

Partial unfolding of proteins can be a major challenge in the industry, as it may affect the stability of products. So how does an empty space or cavity in its hydrophobic core destabilize a protein? And would such a cavity, in fact, be empty? These are some of the questions that researchers answer in a new study.

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