Organic chemistry News and Research

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Hydrocarbon bonds may help synthesize large range of novel organic molecules

The most common chemical bond in the living world -- that between carbon and hydrogen -- has long resisted attempts by chemists to crack it open, thwarting efforts to add new bells and whistles to old carbon-based molecules.

22 May 2020

Single-cell RNA-seq addresses key question in islet cell biology and diabetes research

The pancreas is an abdominal organ that produces digestive enzymes as well as hormones that regulate blood sugar levels. This hormone-producing function is localized to the islets of Langerhans, which constitute clusters of different endocrine cell types.

12 May 2020

UCLA chemists develop key chemical necessary for creating marijuana breathalyzer

UCLA chemists have reported the key chemical discovery necessary for the creation of a small, electronic marijuana breathalyzer. The research is published in Organic Letters, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Chemical Society.

6 May 2020

Inventor of hepatitis C cure wins prestigious award from University of Edinburgh

A medicinal chemist who found a cure for the viral disease hepatitis C has received a prestigious award from the University of Edinburgh.

3 May 2020

A new platform to create drugs for people with hard-to-treat cancers

A new round of support will help a Purdue University-affiliated startup further develop a platform designed to create drugs for people with hard-to-treat cancers.

29 Apr 2020

Novel 4D printing technology may accelerate development of new therapeutics

Researchers at the Advanced Science Research Center at The Graduate Center, CUNY (CUNY ASRC) and Northwestern University have created a 4D printer capable of constructing patterned surfaces that recreate the complexity of cell surfaces.

6 Mar 2020

New technique helps study peptide-receptor interactions on the cell surface

In the past, biologically-active peptides - small proteins like neurotoxins and hormones that act on cell receptors to alter physiology - were purified from native sources like venoms and then panels of variants were produced in bacteria, or synthesized, to study the structural basis for receptor interaction.

5 Mar 2020

Researchers elucidate structure and function of enzyme that builds complex sugar trees

Researchers have used cryo-electron microscopy to elucidate for the first time the structure and function of a very small enzyme embedded in cell membranes.

27 Feb 2020

New approach for organic synthesis may apply to drug discovery

After helping develop a new approach for organic synthesis -- carbon-hydrogen functionalization -- scientists at Emory University are now showing how this approach may apply to drug discovery

12 Feb 2020

Natural product from a fungus could shed light on cellular interactions prominent in cancer

A fungus that attacks almond and peach trees may be key to identifying new drug targets for cancer therapy.

12 Feb 2020

First artificial enzyme with non-biological catalytic sites created

A new study published in the journal Nature Catalysis on February 10, 2020, reports the creation of a new artificial enzyme from two components, both non-biological in origin. This event marks the first such successful biological catalyst to contain a non-biological active site. The study shows that this type of synergistic combination of an amino acid not found in nature with a copper-based catalyst is capable of powerful catalytic action, unlike most other artificial enzymes.

10 Feb 2020

Scientists discover a new way to combine coding languages into single "bilingual" molecule

The nucleic acids of DNA encode genetic information, while the amino acids of proteins contain the code to turn that information into structures and functions. Together, they provide the two fundamental codes underlying all of life.

10 Jan 2020

Scientists find way to combine two main coding languages into single 'bilingual' molecule

9 Jan 2020

New medicine can revolutionize treatment of inflammatory diseases and cancer

A medicine is being developed at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) which controls the concentration of oxygen radicals in immune cells, and could revolutionise treatment of inflammatory diseases or even cancer.

7 Jan 2020

Scientists modify approved cancer drug to develop new antibiotic

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are increasingly the source of deadly infections. A team of scientists from the Technical University of Munich and the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research in Braunschweig have now modified an approved cancer drug to develop an active agent against multidrug-resistant pathogens.

16 Dec 2019

New method to improve skeleton of common chemicals

Every chemical, from the simplest to the most complex, have a structural skeleton of atoms. The atoms can be added or removed to transform the chemical into different types, for use in different applications. For many pharmaceutical and agricultural chemicals, the skeleton consists of a multi-membered carbon ring called a carbocycle.

5 Dec 2019

Study on sea sponge opens up possibilities to create new antitumor drugs

Chemists from Far Eastern Federal University's School of Natural Sciences developed a new method to synthesize biologically active derivatives of fascaplysin -- cytotoxic pigment of a sea sponge. For the first time, they got a sufficient amount of 3-bromofascaplysin and 3,10-dibromofascaplysin, which were known before but were not available for study.

14 Nov 2019