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Category: chemistry – Page 13

High-pressure electrolysis sustainably converts captured CO₂ into industrial-grade ethylene

Researchers at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology have unveiled a breakthrough system that could change the way we think about carbon emissions. Published in Nature Catalysis the researchers outline a system for converting captured carbon dioxide (CO₂) into industrial-grade ethylene, a commodity chemical essential to plastics, textiles, and construction. The work shows a direct path to transforming greenhouse gas emissions into valuable chemical products.

In addition to the environmental benefits, lead researcher Assistant Professor Xu Lu said key efficiencies in the system create an opportunity to turn the otherwise costly process of capturing CO2 into a profit.

“We designed and tested the system under realistic industrial conditions using captured, high-pressure CO₂,” he said. “Our results show captured carbon can be valorized into a valuable product with real economic potential.”

A low-cost catalytic cycle could advance the separation, storage and transportation of hydrogen

Hydrogen (H2) is an Earth-abundant molecule that is widely used in industrial settings and could soon contribute to the clean generation and storage of electricity. Most notably, it can be used to generate electricity in fuel cells, which could in turn power heavy-duty vehicles or serve as back-up energy systems.

Despite its potential for various real-world applications, is often expensive to produce, store and safely transport to desired locations. Moreover, before it can be used, it typically needs to be purified, as hydrogen produced industrially is typically mixed with other gases, such as (CO), (CO₂), nitrogen (N₂) and light hydrocarbons.

Researchers at Fudan University and other institutes in China recently devised a new strategy to separate hydrogen from impurities at low temperatures, while also enabling its safe storage and transportation. Their proposed method, outlined in a paper published in Nature Energy, relies on a reversible chemical reaction between two that act as hydrogen carriers, enabling the reversible absorption and release of hydrogen.

‘Molecular dam’ stops energy leaks in nanocrystals to boost efficiency of light-driven reactions

A team of scientists has found a way to slow energy leaks that have impeded the use of tiny nanocrystals in light-driven chemical and energy applications.

As described in an article published in the journal Chem, the team has used a molecule that strongly binds to the nanocrystal’s surface, essentially acting like a dam to hold back the energy stored in the charge-separated state formed after light absorption. This technique extends the lifetime of the charge separation to the longest recorded for these materials, providing a pathway to improved efficiencies and more opportunities to put this energy to work in chemical reactions.

The researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder, the University of California Irvine, and Fort Lewis College were led by RASEI Fellow Gordana Dukovic.

Proto-sub-Neptune detected with metal-poor atmosphere and a hot interior

Astronomers have characterized the atmosphere of a young (20 Myr old) transiting exoplanet and found it to be unusually clear and puffy. By analyzing the planet’s atmospheric features, they were able to precisely measure the planet’s mass surpassing traditional dynamical techniques like radial velocity, which poorly perform with such active young stars. They found that V1298 Tau b is a proto-sub-Neptune, still hot and inflated from its recent formation.

The team, led by Saugata Barat (MIT, MA, US) and his Ph.D. supervisor Jean-Michel Désert (UvA, Netherlands) used the James Webb Space Telescope to study the very young planet, and their results are accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal and currently available on the preprint server arXiv.

V1298 Tau b is just 10 to 30 million years old and has an unusually clear and puffy atmosphere. The astronomers detected strong absorption signals from molecules like , methane, , , and even hints of complex photochemical processes, such as tentative detections of sulfur dioxide (SO₂) and carbonyl sulfide (OCS).

Team discovers electrochemical method for highly selective single-carbon insertion in aromatic rings

A research team has discovered an electrochemical method that allows highly selective para-position single-carbon insertion into polysubstituted pyrroles. Their approach has important applications in synthetic organic chemistry, especially in the field of pharmaceuticals.

Their work is published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society on July 14.

“We set out to address the longstanding challenge of achieving single-carbon insertion into aromatic rings with precise positional control,” said Mahito Atobe, Professor, Faculty of Engineering, YOKOHAMA National University. Transformations that modify aromatic rings are central to pharmaceutical and materials synthesis. However, inserting a single carbon atom into a specific position—especially the para-position—has remained extremely rare. Para position describes the location of substituents, those atoms that replace a hydrogen atom on a molecule. In the single carbon insertion approach, researchers add a single carbon atom into a molecule’s carbon framework. This lengthens a carbon chain or expands a ring by one carbon unit.

Method has organic chemistry applications, especially in pharmaceuticals.

Development of revolutionizing photo-induced microscopy and its use around the globe celebrated in new publication

Photo-induced force microscopy began as a concept in the mind of Kumar Wickramasinghe when he was employed by IBM in the early years of the new millennium. After he came to the University of California, Irvine in 2006, the concept evolved into an invention that would revolutionize research by enabling scientists to study the fundamental characteristics of matter at nanoscale resolution.

Since the earliest experimental uses of PiFM around 2010, the device, which reveals the chemical composition and spatial organization of materials at the , has become a tool of choice for researchers in fields as diverse as biology, geology, materials science and even advanced electronics manufacturing.

“This is the story of a technology that was inspired by work at IBM, was invented and developed at UC Irvine, then got spun off, and now we have instruments on all continents across the world except for Antarctica,” says Wickramasinghe, Henry Samueli Endowed Chair and Distinguished Professor emeritus of electrical engineering and computer science who now holds the title of UC Irvine Distinguished Research Professor. “Almost anywhere serious research is happening, there are people out there who are using PiFM to discover new things.”

Successful synthesis of neutral N₆ opens door for future energy storage

Nitrogen finally joins the elite tier of elements like carbon that can form neutral allotropes—different structural forms of a single chemical element. Researchers from Justus Liebig University, Giessen, Germany, have synthesized neutral hexanitrogen (N6)—the first neutral allotrope of nitrogen since the discovery of naturally occurring dinitrogen (N2) in the 18th century that is cryogenically stable and can be prepared at room temperature.

This new study, published in Nature, synthesized hexanitrogen (N6) via gas-phase reaction, with the main ingredients being chlorine (Cl2) or bromine (Br2) and an extremely reactive and explosive solid silver azide (AgN3), under reduced pressure.

The researchers spread AgN3 on the , and a gaseous halogen (Cl2 or Br2) was passed through the solid under reduced pressure at room temperature. The reaction triggered by the process produced N6 alongside byproducts chloronitrene (ClN) and hydrazoic acid (HN3).

Successful experiments reprogram rogue T cells for targeted autoimmune disease therapy

Two teams of researchers have developed a cell reprogramming technology that converts rogue disease-causing T cells from our immune system into protective Treg cells. These cells help ensure that the immune system doesn’t attack the body’s own tissues. The breakthroughs could usher in more personalized and targeted cell therapies for a host of autoimmune diseases.

In the first paper, published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, scientists developed a targeted cell therapy against pemphigus vulgaris (PV). This severe autoimmune skin disease causes blisters and sores.

They took the cells that were causing the disease (Dsg3-specific pathogenic T cells) from mouse models and and converted them into harmless Treg cells. They used specialized chemical tools to switch on a gene called Foxp3, which controls a cell’s ability to help the , and cut off a specific activation signal to prevent the cells from turning back into attackers.

Hydrogen atom

A hydrogen atom is an atom of the chemical element hydrogen. The electrically neutral hydrogen atom contains a single positively charged proton in the nucleus, and a single negatively charged electron bound to the nucleus by the Coulomb force. Atomic hydrogen constitutes about 75% of the baryonic mass of the universe. [ 1 ]

In everyday life on Earth, isolated hydrogen atoms (called “atomic hydrogen”) are extremely rare. Instead, a hydrogen atom tends to combine with other atoms in compounds, or with another hydrogen atom to form ordinary (diatomic) hydrogen gas, H2. “Atomic hydrogen” and “hydrogen atom” in ordinary English use have overlapping, yet distinct, meanings. For example, a water molecule contains two hydrogen atoms, but does not contain atomic hydrogen (which would refer to isolated hydrogen atoms).

Atomic spectroscopy shows that there is a discrete infinite set of states in which a hydrogen (or any) atom can exist, contrary to the predictions of classical physics. Attempts to develop a theoretical understanding of the states of the hydrogen atom have been important to the history of quantum mechanics, since all other atoms can be roughly understood by knowing in detail about this simplest atomic structure.

Geochemical research could help identify microbial activity in Earth’s rock record and perhaps in Martian sediments

Because oxygen-bearing sulfate minerals trap and preserve signals from Earth’s atmosphere, scientists closely study how they form. Sulfates are stable over billions of years, so their oxygen isotopes are seen as a time capsule, reflecting atmospheric conditions while they were evolving on early Earth—and possibly on its planetary neighbor Mars.

A new study led by a University of Utah geochemist examines how forms when pyrite, commonly known as “fool’s gold,” is oxidized in environments teeming with microbes versus those without them. The researchers focused on Spain’s Rio Tinto, a contaminated river passing through a region where iron and copper were mined for thousands of years.

The paper titled, “Triple-oxygen isotopic evidence of prolonged direct bioleaching of pyrite with O2,” appears in Earth and Planetary Science Letters.

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