NNNS chemistry blog

CRD in trouble

This blog is still very much committed to the CRD (Chemical Reaction Database) project under construction, see for example the previous entry here but the project has run into trouble over legal issues so it seems. A Nature article by Richard van Noorden gives a summary of the ongoing negotiations (

Graphene, the bottom up way

Graphene can famously be produced from simple graphite and sticky tape stripping of layer after layer but that does not mean new production methods are continuously investigated. Take for example recent work from Lang Jiang et al. in JACS (DOI). They opted for a bottom-up approach starting from hex

C2 debate erupts in Angewandte

Some time ago Shaik, Rzepa and Hoffmann (SR and H) conducted a so-called trialogue on the topic of diatomic carbon titled "One Molecule, Two Atoms, Three Views, Four Bonds?" (DOI). In it they expressed their fascination with C2 as a quadruple bonded molecule that goes against the mainstream double b

Novel use for sulfur

Remember acid rain? Chemists found a way to clean up the mess with the invention of hydrodesulfurization but now we are stuck with tons of elemental sulfur we do not know what to do with. The planet needs only that much sulfuric acid. Nice to know Woo Jin Chung and 17 of his best friends propose a w

Web-based flow chemistry experiment

Here is a novel idea. Researchers from the Free University Amsterdam are running a website that allows students to remotely conduct an organic synthesis experiment (DOI). The experiment is based on flow chemistry in a microreactor. The reaction itself is an azo coupling of sulfanilic acid with dimet

Moon formed by nuclear explosion

My favorite Dutch newspaper (NRC) writes about it and the scientists are Dutch so it has to be true. In the most recent edition of the journal Chemical Geology (we temporarily lift the Elsevier ban) Wim van Westrenen et al. explain that our moon was formed not by collision of Earth with an extraterr

The tetracycline challenge

In what must be the single most important organic chemistry journal, each issue of Organic Process Research and Development features brave organic chemists doing brave organic chemistry on kilogram scale with chemicals that really matter. Take the guys from Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals who report on

Nanotube meets Microwave oven

The combination of nanotubes and microwaves is irresistible. Scientists have been analysing, functionalising and destroying nanotubes inside a microwave for a long time. Actually synthesising them using microwaves has attracted less attention. In 2011 a US collective with first author Liu ( DOI) int

Alkanes reinvented

The gradual replacement of fossil fuels by biofuels requires the reinvention of many chemicals that now also rely on fossil fuel feedstock. Sutton et al. point out that the conversion of highly functionalised biomaterials to typically non-functionalized hydrocarbons requires special chemistry. They

Amidation via borate esters

Lanigan et al. report a new reagent for coupling an amine with a carboxylic acid to form an amide (DOI). The reagent is the borate ester of trifluoroethanol B(OCH₂CF₃)₃ for which they offer a new recipe starting from boron trioxide. The yield of the reaction with bo

Acrylonitrile spill hits Belgian town

An ongoing chemical disaster in Belgium is getting people worried. Each day a train loaded with acrylonitrile makes a journey from the Dutch port of Rotterdam to the Belgian city of Ghent and its port. On May 4 one of those trains derailed (cause: overspeeding) just outside the Belgian town of Wette

Exploring chemical space

An intriguing map as published by Virshup et al. in JACS (DOI). But what is it? The Virshup article describes an algorithm for generating a universal library of small molecules optimised for diversity. Apparently a lot of chemical space is left unexplored. This blog made an honest attempt at fleshin

A boy and his molecule

The new movie produced by IBM research should of course not be called "A boy and his atom" but "a boy and his molecule" because the movie was created by moving around molecules of carbon monoxide and not discrete atoms. Some complaints were logged on the youtube comments section and twitter.
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The undecabromide ion

In the zoo that is chemical space some strange creatures can be found wandering around. Take for example the undecabromide ion (Br₁₁^-) as very recently reported by Haller et al. (DOI) It is a member of a group of polyhalogen ions that already contains obscure species such as li

Stereochemistry assignment can be a challenge

Mefloquine (Lariam) is an antimalarial drug and commercially available as the racemate. The (-) enantiomer is believed to be responsible for some undesirable neuropsychiatric symptoms so an improved product would only involve the (+) enantiomer. In a surprising report Muller et al. (DOI) state that

Zinc dihydride - NHC marriage

In the category of binary compounds of hydrogen a large group of metals is conspicuously absent or are unwilling partners. Zinc dihydride is one of them: dimeric in nature and very prone to decomposition. Luckily Rit et al. have recently demonstrated a novel way to tame the compound: with an N-heter

Introducing the fluoronium ion

Struble et al. have presented their evidence for the existence of an organo fluoronium ion. (DOI) Onium compounds containing the other halogens are known and some can even be isolated. The high electronegativity on fluorine makes synthesis or even detection a challenge. The experimental setup i

Cyclobutadiene X-ray structure debate continues

Opposition to the cyclobutadiene X-ray structure claimed by Yves-Marie Legrand in 2010 (DOI) continues. According to Legrand 1,3-dimethylcyclobutadiene formed by photolysis of a pyrone is stable when confined to a calixarene cavity and when analyzed at 175K displays two geometries, one square-planar

The 3 degrees of 3D printing

In a recent Nature Chemistry Michelle Francl is making a case for the good old molecular models. Increasingly in disuse with the steady progress of computer technology, Franck argues that they remain a powerful conceptual tool and we are reminded that Crick in his discovery of DNA relied heavily on

Pd catalysed ketones from alkenes

Publication : Morandi / Wickens / Grubbs DOI Substrate : internal alkene Product: ketone Active catalyst: Pd(MeCN)₄(BF₄)₂ Oxidizing agent: Benzoquinone, can be replaced by oxygen balloon Observations: DMA cosolvent suppresses isomerization, in 4-octene the cis i