Scientifically Proven

This is a science blog - hopefully it'll cover a wide array of scientific fields. I'm a Scottish medicinal chemist in medical school ^_^ So yeah, it's a work in progress =) Please don't dislike me.

[mindblowingscience]

New Class of Antibiotic Found That Kills Deadly Drug-Resistant Superbug

Researchers have identified an entirely new class of antibiotic that can kill bacteria that are resistant to most current drugs.

Researchers have identified an entirely new class of antibiotic that can kill bacteria that are resistant to most current drugs. Zosurabalpin is highly effective against the bacterium carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (Crab), which is classified as a "priority 1" pathogen by the World Health Organization due to its growing presence in hospitals.

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[atomicstarburstlabware]

Nobel prize in chemistry awarded to Benjamin List and David W.C. MacMillan for the development of asymmetric organocatalysts, which could be used for the direct synthesis of a single enantiomer in the manufacture of chiral molecules instead of an overpriced (and currently never-even-considered-unless-absolutely-necessary) enzymatic catalysis.

Most importantly, they could finally represent a brilliant shortcut to the more routinary chiral resolution of a racemic mixture (the diastereomeration-salt separation process), which despite being cheaper than its enzymatic counterpart, is still notoriously longer, less efficient and hence, way less eco friendly.

[thephysicsgraduate]

[compoundchem]

Day 1 of this year’s #ChemAdvent features pinene and bornyl acetate, two of the compounds that make Christmas trees smell so good!

Download the full advent calendar at bit.ly/chemadvent2020 https://ift.tt/2JrCxZd

[labphoto]

Preparation of several Grignard reagents used for a specific reaction. 

Grignard reagents form via the reaction of an alkyl or aryl halide with magnesium metal. The reaction is conducted by adding the organic halide to a suspension of magnesium in an etherial solvent, which provides ligands required to stabilize the organomagnesium compound. On the above picture the Grignard reagents were prepared under nitrogen gas atmosphere and both the solvent and the halide was added to the magnesium with a syringe to prevent the contact with air and moisture.

Something interesting: François Auguste Victor Grignard (May 6, 1871 - December 13, 1935) discovered in 1900, that organic halides react with metallic magnesium forming a highly reactive compound what even reacts with carbon dioxide from air forming carboxylic acids. The reaction between the halide (RX) and magnesium (Mg) gives the Gringard reagent (RMgX) what is an organometallic compound, still widely used by chemists in a lot reactions. Victor Grignard was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1912 for his work.

[idoscience]

The Wittig reaction  This reaction is essentially the conversion of a carbonyl group (C=O) into an alkene (C=C). It’s arguably the most famous olefination reaction and relatively commonplace. It’s major downfall tends to be it’s poor atom economy: when you make tons of product, you have tons of waste. I personally don’t like the hassle of separating my desired product from the Ph3PO.  The curly arrow mechanism above shows the attacks of electron pairs over the course of synthesis. -Triphenylphosphine(Ph3P) has a lone pair on the phosphorus atom which attacks the electron-poor carbon of my alkyl halide. Iodine is a relatively decent leaving group.

- ButylLithium(BuLi) is a strong base needed to extract a proton and make our new phosphorus ylide. The negative pole of this unstable ylide is then able to initiate back-side attack on the aldehyde (alkanal) and regain stability.

- The species formed here immediately forms a 4-membered puckered ring transition state. The instability within this species means it is non-isolable and it rapidly collapses to form the kinetic product - a Z-alkene. Triphenylphosphine oxide is our major by-product. These results generally hold true for all unstable ylides (within reason). Unstable ylides are ones that can’t move over different transitions (eg. alkyl or H). The second picture shows the puckering within the ring. If puckering had occurred in the reverse of this image then the phenyl group on the aldehyde would have sterically clashed with the phenyl groups of the -PPh3 side. The sterics at play here also demand that the majority of product be the Z-olefin I’m sorry about the poor graphics. Like all organic chemists, I fear technology :P Give me some shiny glasswear and a bench Hahah

[idoscience]

The Swern Oxidation

This approach to oxidation allows primary alcohols to be turned into pretty little aldehydes (alkanals) ^_^ I could lie and say that it’s a great reaction to do, but I’d rather save you the disappointment. It smells. The sulfur compounds reek and resultantly cling to you >.< All the textbooks claim that it’s a rotting egg smell. It’s so much more than that *shudders*  That said, it is quite a cheap and simple means of carrying out a pesky oxidation step :)  We use a mild base to deprotonate the methyl group because strong bases would more likely attack the sulfur and force the alkoxide to act as a leaving group. This means you’re no further forward with your oxidation and smell terrible.  In summation, a fantastically yielding reaction and quick/effective - but if you can get a clueless little newbie to do it then you should! :P

[idoscience]

Dess-Martin Oxidation

There’s always some reactions that scientists wish they’d had the chance to do - this is one of mine. How freakin’ awesome is that oxidising species!? How often do people get the chance to party with a hypervalent periodinane!? Exactly.  As a sexy alternative to the Swern oxidation, this reaction also converts primary alcohols into aldehydes (alkanals) or secondary alcohols into ketones (alkanones). This approach however, means no bad smells AND a room temperature reaction :)  That beautiful iodine complex encourages just a mild oxidation. This means no over-oxidising to make some unwanted carboxylic (alkanoic) acid. It’s also easily separated from your product mixture too -everybody wins ^_^ NB. The -Ac is just an acetyl group

[mindblowingscience]

Scottish Power shifts to 100% wind generation after £700m Drax sale

Big six energy firm drops fossil fuels for generation and say cheap green energy is the future

Scottish Power has ditched fossil fuels for electricity generation and switched to 100% wind power, by selling off its last remaining gas power stations to Drax for more than £700m.

Iberdrola, Scottish Power’s Spanish parent company, said the move was part of its strategy to tackle climate change and would free it up to invest in renewables and power grids in the UK.

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[hood32]

Selene Dione

[ladychemistab-blog]

Labmate took this awesome video with even some slow mo, ENJOY :) 

[hood32]

Adam’s reactions look the COOLEST

[hood32]

Throwback Sunday to more Very E.f.f.i.c.i.e.n.t. Stirring

[pheministphysicists]

First woman Physics Nobel winner in 55 years

The 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded to a woman for only the third time since the award began.

Donna Strickland, from Canada, is only the third woman winner of the award, along with Marie Curie, who won in 1903, and Maria Goeppert-Mayer, who was awarded the prize in 1963.

Dr Strickland shares this year’s prize with Arthur Ashkin, from the US, and Gerard Mourou, from France.

It recognises their discoveries in the field of laser physics.

[Read More]

[cenchempics]

WE BELONG TOGETHER Chemists can weld metals without a blowtorch. As seen in this movie made using a transmission electron microscope, two 9-nm-wide gold nanowires fuse together when they touch at room temperature in vacuum. The process is called cold welding. Because the wires are made from the same metal and have the same crystal structure, the atoms on the surface of one wire can’t differentiate between the gold atoms they’re connected to in their wire and those from the other. So atoms on both surfaces link up into a single piece of gold. This doesn’t just happen when any two pieces of metal touch because oxygen in the air reacts with metal surfaces to create a very thin layer of metal oxide, which interferes with this process. But inside the vacuum of the microscope, these high-purity nanowires come together seamlessly.

Credit: Nat. Nanotechnol. 2010, DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2010.4

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Related C&EN Content

Nanostrings Of Palladium And Gold

Nanostructures Form Like Polymers

[pheministphysicists]

First woman Physics Nobel winner in 55 years

The 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded to a woman for only the third time since the award began.

[freshbrewedlife]

[beeth0ven]

illiterate dairy maid in 1750, hundreds of years before germ theory was even thought of: because of my exposure to cowpox, im immune to smallpox. if we expose people to cowpox, they won’t die of smallpox

upper middle class college educated mother with internet living in the year of our lord 2018: vaccines are the devils handiwork and a conspiracy i’d rather my child die of polio than be the autism

[thought-cafe]

Some GIFs for you! From one of our favourite episodes of Crash Course Anatomy & Physiology so far: Joints!  https://youtu.be/DLxYDoN634c