Researchers at the University of Granada have revealed that the Nutri-Score labeling system, commonly used in Europe to assess food quality, is unable to adequately reflect the nutritional and metabolic complexity of soluble cocoa sold in Spain. The study, which integrates non-targeted metabolomics techniques applied to the evaluation of nutritional labeling systems, analyzed 54 products from 19 different brands with Nutri-Score ratings between A and D.

A team of scientists from the University of Manchester and Oxford have synthesized stable nitrogen chain radical anions under ambient conditions. These molecules, which are normally too reactive to isolate and study under ambient conditions, are described in a new study, published in Nature Chemistry.

Every year, over 100 billion nitrile rubber gloves are produced. They are made from synthetic polymers—a material chemically related to plastic and derived from crude oil. The vast majority is used in the health care sector, and most are discarded after single use. This creates a massive amount of material waste globally. However, Simon Kildahl, a postdoc at the Department of Chemistry at Aarhus University, has moved a step closer to a way of recycling these gloves. In a new study published in t…

A research team from The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has developed GrainBot, an AI-enabled toolkit that automatically extracts and quantifies multiple microstructural features from microscopy images. Designed to meet the growing need for data-driven and autonomous research workflows in materials science, the tool provides a systematic method for converting complex image information into quantitative data, thereby accelerating the discovery and development of next-gener…

You pull on your rain jacket, step out into the storm, and within half an hour your undershirt is soaked. The jacket you purchased as "waterproof" seems to have stopped working, and all the marketing claims feel a bit suspect. In reality, the jacket probably hasn't failed overnight: a mix of how it's built, the exact level of water protection it offers, and years of sweat, skin oil and dirt have all played a part.

A study published in the Chemical Engineering Journal proposes a new approach to environmental remediation of pharmaceutical pollutants in water flows. This approach is based on a phenomenon known as "sparks," which refers to the sparks that appear on the surface of a metal when it is subjected to plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO).

An international team of scientists led by the University of Bath has developed a new catalyst—a substance that speeds up chemical reactions—that uses sunlight to break down so-called "forever chemicals" prevalent in the environment and known to accumulate in the human body with unknown long-term health effects.

Thanks to modern therapies, a cancer diagnosis is no longer an automatic death sentence. But many patients still suffer from unwanted side effects and limited efficacy. In a recent Bioconjugate Chemistry publication, William & Mary researchers have designed an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) with the potential to improve the potency and decrease the cost of currently approved cancer drugs.

Minor changes in moisture level can promote lipid molecules to reorganize themselves in biomaterial or biomembranes. This can affect how the skin, lungs and tear film protect us from dehydration. This new discovery from Lund University in Sweden could be the inspiration for smart materials and new drug delivery techniques.

Scientists have developed a new way to help understand what happens in the body when people consume a plant product and the many chemicals it contains. The Journal of Natural Products published the method to quickly analyze the effects of a natural product, developed at Emory University.

Tiny changes at the atomic scale can determine the future of clean energy. In a new study, Tohoku University researchers have revealed how the precise coordination environment surrounding a single cobalt atom dramatically influences its catalytic behavior in the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR)—a key process in fuel cells and sustainable hydrogen peroxide production.

From the 1950s to 1970s, discovery of enzymes began by identifying new chemical reactions within cell-free extracts, but their molecular identification among (function unknown) hypothetical genes (proteins) is difficult. Sugar acids are compounds formed by the oxidation of aldose monosaccharides. Metabolic genes for C4 and C5/C6 sugar acids are separately located on bacterial genomes. However, researchers discovered that in several bacteria, including the marine bacterium Paracoccus litorisedimi…

Contamination of ground, surface and drinking water by perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) affects millions of people worldwide. A promising new method developed by Flinders University scientists paves the way to help remove the most difficult-to-capture variants of these persistent pollutants from water.

Many therapeutic molecules used in cancer treatments are highly toxic, often harming healthy tissues and causing significant side effects. This creates a critical need for strategies that localize their toxic activity to tumors. What if cancer drugs could stay dormant until they reach cancer cells? A new study by Syracuse University researchers demonstrates a promising chemistry-based strategy that could do just that.

A study published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society reports that artificial intelligence can enhance protein stability in an unexpected way—by engineering the water around a protein, not just the protein itself. Researchers led by Dr. Kuen-Phon Wu, at Institute of Biological Chemistry, Academia Sinica and Institute of Biochemical Sciences, National Taiwan University, found that AI-designed ubiquitin-fold proteins can achieve exceptional resilience by creating a protective, "mesostr…

Bio-based polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are considered one of the most promising sustainable alternatives to fossil-derived plastics. Poly[(D-lactate)-co-(R)-3-hydroxybutyrate] (LAHB) is an environmentally biodegradable microbial copolyester, and its lactate (LA) content significantly influences its properties. A new study shows how reinforcing the gene expression of the LA-polymerizing enzyme in a recombinant strain of Cupriavidus necator improves the LA fraction. The LA-enriched LAHB maintained…

Photocatalysts facilitate chemical reactions by absorbing light. Metal-based photocatalysts are widely used in organic synthesis due to their durability and the ability to tune their function by modifying the ligands attached to the central metal atom. Most metals used in photocatalysts, such as ruthenium and iridium, are rare and expensive. Researchers at Nagoya University, Japan, previously developed an iron-based alternative, but it required large amounts of costly chiral ligands, which act a…

Deep in our cells, a wide range of processes are occurring constantly. These cellular processes rely on enzymes to act as catalysts and set off a series of molecular interactions. There are still many processes within the body that are not fully understood. Discovering exactly how these cellular pathways work can help researchers better understand how some diseases proliferate and develop new treatments that target part of these processes.

An Oregon State University scientist and a team of undergraduate students have uncovered real-time insights into a chemical process linked with Alzheimer's disease, paving the way toward better drug designs. The researchers used a molecule measuring technique to observe in a laboratory setting how certain metals can promote the protein clumping that leads to the blocked neural pathways associated with Alzheimer's. Led by Marilyn Rampersad Mackiewicz, associate professor of chemistry in the OSU C…

NYU scientists are using light to precisely control how tiny particles organize themselves into crystals. Their research, published in Chem, provides a simple and reversible method for forming crystals that can be used to develop a new generation of adaptable materials.

A discovery by UCLA organic chemists may one day put catalytic converter thieves out of business. In new research, they've used abundant, inexpensive phosphorus as a catalyst in chemical reactions that usually require precious metals like platinum, one of the metals targeted in theft of the automotive components that convert chemicals in vehicle exhaust into less harmful forms.

Living cells are sustained by countless chemical reactions that must be carefully regulated to maintain internal order and function. Enzymes play a central role in this process, accelerating reactions that would otherwise proceed too slowly to support life.

A research team at King's College London has isolated a new form of aluminum—a highly abundant metal, that could provide a far cheaper and more sustainable alternative to commonly used rare earth metals. Dr. Clare Bakewell, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Chemistry, and her lab developed highly reactive aluminum molecules able to break apart tough chemical bonds. Published in Nature Communications, their work has also unlocked molecular structures that have never been observed before, which…

Researchers at the University of Waterloo have discovered a way to turn plastic waste into acetic acid, the main ingredient of vinegar, using sunlight. The breakthrough offers a promising new approach to reducing plastic pollution through photocatalysis, while simultaneously creating a useful, value-added chemical product through a process inspired by nature.

A technology has been developed that uses robots rather than humans to evaluate the performance of newly developed catalysts. By operating 45 times faster than manual work while also improving precision, it is expected to significantly shorten catalyst development timelines. A research team led by Dr. Ji Chan Park of the Clean Fuel Research Laboratory at the Korea Institute of Energy Research has developed a system that fully automates complex and repetitive catalyst performance evaluation exper…

Whether in our bodies or in fuel cells, phosphoric acid plays an important role in many chemical processes because it is exceptionally good at transporting charges. Researchers from the Department of Molecular Physics at the Fritz Haber Institute gained new molecular insights into this remarkable property of the small molecule. Their results are published in The Journal of Physical Chemistry A.

The deep, murky pigment known as Prussian blue put the "blue" in traditional blueprints, colored Hokusai's "Great Wave off Kanagawa" and today is used for industrial purposes, from laundry to battery components to poison control. Now, research from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (UChicago PME) has found new uses for the important and inexpensive chemical and new understanding of the mechanisms that make Prussian blue analogs (PBAs) unique.

UNSW engineers have tackled a longstanding problem at the heart of global agriculture: how to make urea for fertilizer without the intensity of emissions associated with fossil-fuel-powered factories. The solution is outlined in a study published in Nature Communications.

The humble breadcrumb could hold the key to cutting out fossil fuels from one of the chemical industry's most widely used reactions, according to a new study. Scientists have found a one-pot microbial formula that uses waste bread to replace fossil fuel-derived hydrogen in hydrogenation—a chemical reaction used extensively to manufacture foods, pharmaceuticals, plastics and other everyday products.

Central goals of the circular economy include closing material cycles, reducing waste, and permanently keeping raw materials in the economic system. Achieving this requires innovative technologies that open up new avenues for recycling. Gas fermentation is a promising technology; however, some aspects are still in the research phase. The biotechnological process uses exhaust gases such as carbon dioxide as feedstocks to produce valuable products and enable a new approach to industrial emissions.