The earliest stage of drug discovery is governed by a simple constraint: there are far more possible drug-like molecules than any pharmaceutical laboratory could ever test. A new deep learning system, reported in the International Journal of Reasoning-based Intelligent Systems, offers a way to speed up research and could unblock industry bottlenecks.
Bones broken in a skiing accident usually heal on their own. But if the break is too severe or a bone tumor needs to be removed, surgeons insert an implant that enables the bone to grow back together. Implants often consist of pieces of the patient's own bone, known as autografts, or metal or ceramic parts. A key drawback of many of today's implants is that they require a second surgery to harvest the tissue for the autografts. Additionally, metal implants tend to be too rigid and may loosen over time, compromising stability.
In a study published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition, researchers from National Taiwan University report that a seemingly solid, nonporous organic crystal can undergo dramatic structural and mechanical transformations when gently heated.
No "sticky ends"? No problem. A new study by NYU chemists finds that DNA tiles can assemble into 3D structures without the sticky cohesion of hydrogen bonding. This finding, published in Nature Communications, turns a fundamental paradigm in the field of DNA self-assembly on its head.
How do you keep a copper catalyst from losing its oomph? Just add a dusting of platinum, says a new study published in Nature Materials. A team of researchers, including scientists at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, investigated a class of metal nanoparticles used as catalysts in major industrial processes. They found that adding a trace amount of platinum to copper nanoparticles greatly reduced an effect known as "sintering," which causes these catalysts to degrade over time.
A Florida State University chemist has developed a method to rapidly assemble significantly complex natural molecules with potential for biomedical applications, opening the door for novel drug therapies based on the molecule's structure. James Frederich, the Warner Herz Associate Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and his team are the first to fully synthesize fusicoccadiene, a precursor to an emerging treatment in cancer chemotherapy. Their work is published in the Journal Of The American Chemical Society.
Chemists from St. Petersburg University has developed a new family of luminescent iridium complexes that, for the first time, realize a unique mechanism of photoactivated proton transfer. In the future, this discovery will potentially allow for the creation of a fundamentally new class of "smart" antitumor drugs that can be activated directly inside tumor cells and tracked in real time by the change in the color of their glow.
Researchers at the University of Bath have developed a new technology that uses bacteria to build, chemically stabilize, and test millions of potential drug molecules inside living cells, making it much quicker and easier to discover new treatments for difficult-to-treat cancers.
A new catalyst strategy developed at Institute of Science Tokyo uses BaSi2 as a support for nickel and cobalt to decompose ammonia at lower temperatures. By forming unique ternary transition metal–nitrogen–barium intermediates that facilitate nitrogen coupling, the system lowers the energy barrier for ammonia decomposition. This enables nickel- and cobalt-based catalysts to achieve high hydrogen-production activity at reduced temperatures, matching the performance of ruthenium while relying on Earth-abundant metals for cleaner hydrogen generation.
Scientists at the EU4MOFs research network have taken the initiative to standardize the reporting of synthetic procedures and material properties of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs). To this aim, they have developed the concept of a "Material Preparation Information File (MPIF)," which has been introduced in a recent paper in Advanced Materials.
Diastereomers are structurally identical molecules that are not mirror images of each other. Diastereomers can have different biological activities, potencies or toxicities, which means they can influence biological systems, be separated from one another and more. To fully unlock their potential in organic chemistry, it is important to create the necessary diastereomer, but their creation is a key problem in organic synthesis.
A team at ETH Zurich developed a new peptide-based organocatalyst that handles macrocycle formation from start to finish. Macrocyclic compounds are ubiquitous both in nature and in the chemical industrial setup. They are ring-shaped molecules with 12 or more atoms and are key components of many natural products and pharmaceuticals. Their unique structures let them lock onto specific proteins with impressive precision, making them exciting candidates for new therapies. Some even come with fun names—like robotnikinin, a macrocycle that inhibits the Sonic Hedgehog (Shh) protein. However, synthesizing them hasn't been as fun as their names—until now.
Photocatalysis promises an efficient conversion of abundant solar energy into usable chemical energy. Polyheptazine imides have some key structural and functional twists that make them especially interesting for photocatalysis. So far, there is only limited knowledge about how structural changes affect the electronic and optical properties of the many material candidates in this class. A team led by researchers from the Center for Advanced Systems Understanding (CASUS) at HZDR has now presented a reliable and reproducible theoretical method to solve this challenge that was confirmed by measurements done on genuine candidate materials.
Initial tests with a natural dye produced by the Amazonian fungus Talaromyces amestolkiae show that eco-friendly cosmetics, such as face creams, gel sticks, and shampoos, can be developed with antioxidant and antibacterial properties. This finding is significant because microbial dyes, which are still underexplored in cosmetic research, can serve as a sustainable alternative to synthetic dyes.
Catalysts are essential to modern industry, accelerating reactions used to produce everything from fertilizers and fuels to medicines and hydrogen energy. But until now, scientists could not directly observe how reactions unfold across real catalyst surfaces.
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