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Transient sedimentation of proteins inside a solid-state NMR rotor under fast magic-angle spinning offers a promising solution to the challenge of determining the structures of high-molecular-weight proteins with atomic resolution. This opens new opportunities for structural analysis of large macromolecules and macromolecular assemblies.
Glucose meters allow rapid and quantitative measurement of blood sugar levels for diabetes sufferers worldwide. Now a new method allows this proven technology to be used to quantify a much wider range of analytes.
Growing good-quality single crystals of proteins for high-resolution X-ray diffraction relies on the use of a diverse range of materials as nucleating agents. Smart hydrogels, in the form of molecularly imprinted polymers, may provide a general solution.
Stereochemistry represents a common thread uniting chemists from a range of sub-disciplines at the Bürgenstock conference, an annual scientific meeting rich in tradition and characterized by intensive, interdisciplinary discussion.
Characterizing electrochemical behaviour on the nanometre scale is fundamental to gaining complete insight into the working mechanisms of fuel cells. The application of a new scanning probe microscopy technique can now relate local surface structure to electrochemical activity at a resolution below 10 nm.
A joint X-ray/neutron diffraction study has enabled the direct observation of a hydronium ion coordinated by three amino-acid residues of an enzyme. This sighting will affect our views on how enzymes transport and use protons.
Dynamic communication between atoms within folded proteins is potentially important for function, but its measurement has been a challenge. Now, a combined NMR and modelling study provides insights on the presence and strengths of such correlations.
Achiral molecules have now been assembled into a homochiral porous network at a solid–liquid interface. This has implications for practical processes such as separations, but also for understanding how homochirality — crucial in biological systems — arose from achiral or racemic species.
Methanol — an important potential fuel and synthetic building block — can be produced via the hydrogenation of carbonates and carbamates using a pincer ruthenium(II) catalyst.
The synthesis and biological investigation of a family of natural products and unnatural analogues illustrates the importance of considering both form and function in the planning of any synthesis.
DNA origami tiles with complementary shapes have been designed and assembled into large nanostructures through the geometrically controlled stacking of their helices.
Carborane substituents — rather than alkyl or aryl groups — have now been used to tune ligand properties. Attaching a carborane cluster to a ligand through either a carbon or a boron atom markedly changes its coordination behaviour without altering its steric profile.
The collision of an atom and a diatomic molecule may sound like a simple process but it has long been studied to understand the inherent intricacies of collisional energy transfer. Now, experiments carried out in unprecedented detail on the scattering of NO by Ar have revealed further complexity: parity-dependent quantum interference effects.
The discoveries of ruthenium– and iron–nitrido complexes that can be transformed to release ammonia could be important steps towards realizing the catalytic reduction of nitrogen under mild reaction conditions.
A catalyst has been developed that enables poly(propylene carbonate) chains to be made in which the configuration of the repeat units changes gradually from exclusively S at one end of the chain to exclusively R at the other. The improved physical properties of this 'stereogradient' polymer may help its adoption as an environmentally friendly material.
The mechanism of NO and O2 production through the photolysis of the nitrate radical has long proved elusive. Now, theoretical studies help to explain previous experiments, suggesting that two distinct pathways are responsible that both involve 'roaming dynamics' on the 'dark' excited electronic state.
The search for efficient oxygen reduction catalysts made from perovskite oxides rather than expensive precious metals is hindered by the sheer range of these oxides — where should the search begin? Developing design rules that can identify the best candidates is the first step towards a more targeted strategy.
Do unusual geometries always come from the force exerted by a protein, a solid-state lattice or bulky ligands? In a new iron(II) complex, simple ligands stabilize a square-planar high-spin complex through finesse rather than force.
Observing the diffusion of guest molecules in large single crystals of a metal-organic framework reveals surprising insights into the blockage of the channels at the material's surface and the role of defects within its bulk.
A microfluidic device design that allows a nanolitre droplet to be trapped and sequentially diluted without the need for any moving parts opens up new possibilities in high-throughput screening.