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| Lanthanum chloride catalyzes hydrogen–chlorine exchange between chlorinated hydrocarbons |
| Because of its toxicity and the dangers involved in handling it, tetrachloromethane (carbon tetrachloride, CCl4) can no longer be used or produced in many countries. However, the processes used in the production of other chlorinated hydrocarbons, such as chloroform (trichloromethane, CHCl3), also produce CCl4 as a byproduct. What is the best way to get rid of this unwanted substance? A team headed by Bert M. Weckhuysen at the University of Utrecht (Netherlands) has now found an interesting new approach that may lead to effective recycling. As the researchers report in the journal Angewandte Chemie, a lanthanum chloride catalyst induces CCl4 and its reaction partner dichloromethane (CH2Cl2) to exchange one chlorine atom for a hydrogen atom, forming nearly 100 % of the desired CHCl3. |
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| Super atoms turn the periodic table upside down |
| Researchers at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) in The Netherlands have developed a technique for generating atom clusters made from silver and other metals. Surprisingly enough, these so-called super atoms (clusters of 13 silver atoms, for example) behave in the same way as individual atoms and have opened up a whole new branch of chemistry. A full account can be read in the new edition of TU Delft magazine Delft Outlook. |
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| Metal Foam Has a Good Memory |
| In the world of commercial materials, lighter and cheaper is usually better, especially when those attributes are coupled with superior strength and special properties, such as a material's ability to remember its original shape after it's been deformed by a physical or magnetic force. |
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| OIL DROP ROLLS ROUND AND ROUND |
| A droplet of oil has been made to continuously orbit a glass petri dish by Japanese researchers who say their experiment will inspire work on molecular motors. |
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| AIR-FRESHENERS CAUSE A STINK |
| A potentially harmful smog can form inside homes through reactions between air-fresheners and ozone, say researchers at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The reactions generate formaldehyde, classed as a probable carcinogen, and related compounds that many experts believe are responsible for respiratory problems. |
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| CRAZY CARBON NANOFOAM LOVES MAGNETS |
| Tiny particles of carbon that look like sooty foam and attract magnets have been made by Australian scientists. |
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| BIZARRE ATTRACTIVE FORCE FOUND IN MAYONNAISE |
| Scientists at Rice University have discovered that a little-understood tensile force, which was previously thought to be an oddity found only in the types of plastics used to make bulletproof vests, occurs in everyday emulsions like mayonnaise and salad dressing. |
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| MYSTERIES OF BOG BUTTER UNCOVERED |
| Chemical detectives have traced deposits of fat in Scottish peat bogs to foodstuffs buried by people hundreds of years ago. The 'bog butter' is the remains of both dairy products and meat encased in the peat, say Richard Evershed of the University of Bristol and colleagues. |
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| LARGE DIAMONDS MADE FROM GAS ARE THE HARDEST YET |
| Washington, D.C. Producing a material that is harder than natural diamond has been a goal of materials science for decades. Now a group* headed by scientists at the Carnegie Institution's Geophysical Laboratory in Washington, D.C., has produced gem-sized diamonds that are harder than any other crystals. Further, the researchers grew these diamonds directly from a gas mixture at a rate that is up to 100 times faster than other methods used to date. |
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| QUESTION ABOUT FUNDAMENTAL CHEMISTRY OF WATER ANSWERED |
| Water is simple, right? It is a simple, stable molecule - two hydrogen atoms strongly bonded to an oxygen atom. It is common in the universe, existing at a wide range of temperatures. As a liquid, it has interesting properties that allow it to dissolve many substances. It is basic to life, and it makes up most of your body. |
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| GOAL OF OCEAN 'IRON FERTILIZATION' SAID STILL UNPROVED |
| After a decade of small-scale testing, researchers are still uncertain whether seeding ocean waters with tanker loads of iron particles could alleviate global warming, said a Duke University scientist involved in the studies. |
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| CHEMISTRY PUTS NEW SPARKLE IN DIAMONDS |
| Diamonds are getting bigger, more colorful and cheaper, thanks to chemistry. A favorite gem at Valentine's Day is getting a makeover with synthetic diamond making processes, according to the Feb. 2 issue of Chemical & Engineering News, the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society. |
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| SMOG-GOBBLING PAINT CLEANS CITY AIR |
| European scientists have devised a paint that soaks up nitrogen oxide gases emitted by vehicle exhausts, a pollution source that can cause smog and respiratory problems. |
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| SCIENTISTS FIND OZONE-DESTROYING MOLECULE |
| For years, scientists theorized that a molecule called ClOOCl in the stratosphere played a key role in destroying ozone. Now, using measurements from a NASA aircraft laboratory flying over the Arctic, Harvard scientist Rick Stimpfle and colleagues observed the molecule for the first time. They report their discovery in the Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, published by the American Geophysical Union. |
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| DA VINCI INVENTED PLASTICS TOO |
| Leonardo da Vinci not only anticipated the aeroplane, the life jacket, the intercom and the robot, he created the first natural plastic, according to an Italian scholar. |
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| MEDIEVAL WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION |
| Medieval recipes for gunpowder produce nearly the same firepower as today's manufactured equivalent, according to recent weapons tests, providing clues as to how the British fleet became one of the largest fighting forces in the world. |
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| ELEMENT 110 IS NAMED DARMSTADTIUM |
| At the 42nd General Assembly in Ottawa, Canada, the IUPAC Council officially approved the name for element of atomic number 110, to be known as darmstadtium, with symbol Ds. |
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| SUNLIGHT CONVERTS COMMON ANTI-BACTERIAL AGENT TO DIOXIN |
| Sunlight can convert triclosan, a common disinfectant used in anti-bacterial soaps, into a form of dioxin, and this process may produce some of the dioxin found in the environment, according to research at the University of Minnesota. The researchers said that although the dioxin was a relatively benign form, treating wastewater with chlorine could possibly lead to the production of a much more toxic species of dioxin. The study is in press in the Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology A: Chemistry. |
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| AMES LABORATORY/IPRT RESEARCHERS HOPE TO ‘SUNPROOF’ SOLAR CELLS. COMPUTER SIMULATIONS PROVIDE INSIGHT ON LIGHT DEGRADATION EFFECT IN SOLAR CELLS. |
| Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory and Iowa State University's Microelectronics Research Center may have solved a mystery that has plagued the research community for more than 20 years: Why do solar cells degrade in sunlight? Finding the answer to that question is essential to the advancement of solar cell research and the ability to produce lower-cost electricity from sunlight. |
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| LEAF SECRET INSPIRES SELF-CLEANING PAINT |
| A self-cleaning paint inspired by lotus leaves is being developed by Australian researchers.
A paint compound, which is currently being tested by its developers at the Centre for Advanced Materials Technology at the University of Sydney is designed to prevent dirt from sticking to its surface. |
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| UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO STUDY CHARTS NEW REALM OF PHYSICS |
| By constructing artificial materials that break long-standing rules of nature, a University of Toronto researcher has developed a flat lens that could significantly enhance the resolution of imaged objects. This, in turn, could lead to smaller and more effective antennas and devices for cell phones, increased space for data storage on CD-ROMs and more complex electronic circuits. |
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| OZONE MAY PROVIDE ENVIRONMENTALLY SAFE PROTECTION FOR GRAINS |
| Taking a clue from air purification systems used in surgical suites, Purdue University researchers have discovered that ozone can eliminate insects in grain storage facilities without harming food quality or the environment. |
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| NEW LIGHT-WEIGHT ENGINE BLOCK |
| Australian researchers have developed a new magnesium alloy they say is a "frontrunner" in the race to make a new generation light-weight engine block. |
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| NEW SOLAR THERMAL PROJECT - WHAT A GAS! |
| Australian scientists have combined solar energy and natural gas in a novel process capable of producing large-scale energy to power the country's future industrial and domestic needs. |
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| SUPERCONDUCTING LITHIUM |
| Discovery of superconductivity in lithium / Critical temperature much lower than theoretically expected.
Superconductivity in lithium was discovered by scientists in a collaboration of the Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, DC, USA with the High Pressure Group at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz, as reported in Science (October 17th). Superconductivity at a critical temperature (Tc) of 9 K was found in lithium pressurized up to 230.000 atmospheres (23 GPa) with Tc increasing to 16 K at 80 GPa. This temperature is one of the highest for elements, but much lower than those theoretically predicted, indicating that more sophisticated theoretical treatments similar to those proposed for metallic hydrogen may be required. |
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| RESEARCH REVEALS HOW AN ACID DISSOLVES, MOLECULE BY MOLECULE |
| The most precise description ever obtained by experiment of exactly how an acid compound dissolves, molecule by molecule, will be published in the 4 October 2002 issue of the journal Science. In addition to shedding new light on this basic property of matter, the research is expected to have broad impacts across the fields of chemistry, biology, and physics. The research team is led by A. Welford Castleman Jr., the Evan Pugh Professor of Chemistry and Physics and the Eberly Family Distinguished Chair in Science at Penn State. |
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| MIT MODEL PREDICTS BIRTHPLACE OF DEFECT IN A MATERIAL |
| Defects such as cracks in a material are responsible for everything from malfunctioning microchips to earthquakes. Now MIT engineers have developed a model to predict a defect's birthplace, its initial features and how it begins to advance through the material. |
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| SYNTHETIC MOLECULAR SIEVE BINDS WATER BETTER THAN ZEOLITES |
| Zeolites are an extremely important class of inorganic materials that can separate gases or liquids on the basis of molecular size and shape. The backbone of a billion-dollar-a-year industry, these molecular sieves are used in numerous applications, from the production of biodegradable detergents, to the removal of moisture from natural gas pipelines, to the catalytic cracking of heavy petroleum distillates into gasoline. |
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| RESEARCHERS CREATE RARE, LARGE SYMMETRICAL CRYSTALS |
| Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., have created large symmetrical crystals that rarely occur in nature. These crystals could be harder than conventional engineering materials. The accidental discovery was made during attempts to make superconducting nanostructures with a simple technique used to create carbon nanotubes. |
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| NEW LIGHTWEIGHT MATERIALS MAY YIELD SAFER BUILDINGS, LONGER-LASTING TIRES |
| Researchers say they have developed the world's strongest, lightest solids. Called aerogels, the sturdy materials are a high-tech amalgam of highly porous glass and plastic that is as light as air. |
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| WISCONSIN TEAM ENGINEERS HYDROGEN FROM BIOMASS |
| In the search for a nonpolluting energy source, hydrogen is often cited as a potential source of unlimited clean power. But hydrogen is only as clean as the process used to make it. Currently, most hydrogen is made from fossil fuels like natural gas using multi-step and high-temperature processes. |
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| HEAT SENSITIVE MATERIALS CHANGE COLOR WHEN HOT |
| Imagine a fire door that changes color when hot, football jerseys that can tell when a player is overheating, road signs that change color indicating icy road conditions, and food packaging stamps that disappear when products have been kept at room temperature for too long. At the University of Rhode Island, chemists Brett Lucht and Bill Euler and chemical engineer Otto Gregory are working to make these products a reality. |
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| ULTRAFAST LASER SPECTROSCOPY TRACKS ENERGY FLOW THROUGH MOLECULES |
| Using an ultrafast laser spectroscopy technique, scientists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have tracked – and timed – the flow of vibrational energy through certain molecules in their liquid state. |
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| UNUSUAL CERAMICS COULD EXPAND POSSIBILITIES FOR SUPERCONDUCTORS |
| Ceramic materials with "split personalities" could lead to new high-temperature superconductors, according to physicists at Ohio State University and their colleagues. |
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| AUSSIE BIO-CEMENT TO SAVE DUTCH DYKES |
| An Australian researcher is using bacteria to develop a biological cement that may help patch up failing Dutch dykes, essential in protecting the land from rising sea levels.
Vicky Whiffin of Murdoch University has been experimenting with bacteria which convert sand into sandstone, as part of her PhD research. |
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| AMES LABORATORY RESEARCHERS DISCOVER SOLVENT-FREE ORGANIC CHEMISTRY. PROCESS USES MECHANICAL ENERGY TO CARRY OUT REACTIONS IN SOLID STATE. |
| When chemists want to combine two or more organic materials, ordinarily they use a solvent to carry out a reaction that results in the desired compound. Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory have found a way to combine organic materials in solid state without the use of solvents. This revolutionary solvent-free process means that environmentally harmful solvents, such as benzene, dichloromethane and others, could be removed from many of the chemical processes used to produce millions of consumer and industrial products. |
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| CHEMISTS DISCOVER MOLECULE CONSIDERED TOO UNSTABLE TO EXIST |
| Organic chemistry textbooks will need to be revised to recognize a chemical species that chemists have discovered at Northwestern University. The species - pentamethylcyclopentadienyl cation - was thought not to exist for long because theory said it was unstable. |
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| ENGINEERS MAKE STRONG, ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY PLASTIC FOAMS |
| Ohio State University engineers have found a way to make dense plastic foam that may replace solid plastic in the future.
The engineers have also developed innovative manufacturing techniques to eliminate the use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in foam production. |
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| HYDROGEN REACTION EXPERIMENT REAPS A SURPRISE |
| Scientists got a surprise recently when a team of physical chemists at Stanford University studied a common hydrogen reaction. The experiment and an associated new theory revealed behaviors completely opposed to what had previously been expected. |
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| WHY STEEL ISN'T SO STAINLESS |
| Stainless steel isn't always quite as rust-free as it could be - and now a team of British scientists have worked out why. |
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| COMPOSTING PLASTIC |
| An Australian development means there will be one less thing to feel guilty about when you indulge in biscuits or chocolate - you will be able to put the packaging in the compost. |
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| CHEMICAL INDUSTRY HELPED BY SMALL INVISIBLE TUBE |
| Chemists at Utrecht University have developed a catalyst for fine chemistry. Tiny tubes of graphite are the carrier for this catalyst. PhD student Tijmen Ros successfully tested the catalyst with a standard reaction. Fellow researchers are now making the catalyst suitable for the production of cinnamon alcohol, an aromatic substance and flavouring. |
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| SENSOR, MOLECULAR DEVICE DEVELOPMENT FOCUS OF NSF FUNDED RESEARCH |
| Two Virginia Tech research projects -- to develop new sensors for detecting pathogens and DNA, and to improve molecular devices in electronic applications -- received Nanoscale Exploratory Research (NER) grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF). |
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| UW RESEARCH BOOSTS UNDERSTANDING OF HOW HYDROGEN TRANSFER WORKS |
| During the last 40 years, chemists have developed an understanding of how an electron transfers from one group to another to create new compounds. Now a team of University of Washington chemists has found that the same ideas apply to transferring a hydrogen atom – an electron and a proton together. That understanding could prove important to scientists trying to devise new classes of chemical reactions. |
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| ENGINEERS DEVELOP NEW CHEMICAL SENSOR BASED ON EXPERIMENTAL PHYSICS BREAKTHROUGH |
| For the first time, scientists have found evidence of a long-suspected phenomenon; tiny electrical currents produced when molecules interact with metal surfaces. The discovery may usher in a new generation of chemical detectors, and reveals details about catalytic processes used to produce more than half of the chemicals manufactured worldwide. |
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| UMASS POLYMER SCIENTISTS CHALLENGE OLD THEORY; OFFER GREATER PRECISION IN CREATING NEW MATERIALS |
| A team of University of Massachusetts polymer scientists has challenged a longstanding theory regarding how plastics harden, perhaps offering scientists finer control over the flexibility or rigidity of specially produced plastics. The findings, by Professor Murugappan Muthukumar and former graduate student Paul Welch, were published recently in the journal Physical Review Letters. The work was funded by the National Science Foundation. |
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| IN A SHOW OF ENTROPY'S BENEFITS, SCIENTISTS FIND 'FUZZY' MOLECULES CAN ASSEMBLE PRECISELY INTO DISTINCT LATTICES |
| Physicists at the University of Pennsylvania have determined that adding a "fuzz" of chemical chains to colloidal molecules can lead them to form a predictable array of lattices. The entropy-driven phenomenon represents a way in which the power of entropy might be harnessed by scientists for constructive purposes. |
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| FROM SILKWORM SILK, CORNELL RESEARCHERS PRODUCED HYBRID MATERIALS THAT ONE DAY COULD HEAL WOUNDS AND MAKE BULLETPROOF VESTS |
| Imagine a material that could expand by three to six times in size while remaining strong and stiff, and also could be biodegradable and biocompatible. Such a material would be invaluable as a wound-healing bandage or possibly a drug-delivery mechanism. |
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| COMPUTERS CLOSER TO THE SPEED OF LIGHT |
| Australian scientists have used their expertise in solar cells to develop a more efficient silicon light-emitting diode, providing a new platform for faster computing and data transfer.
The development, reported in 23 August 2001 Nature by Martin A. Green and colleagues at the University of New South Wales, will mean microelectronics can take better advantage of the speed of optical data transfer. |
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| STRONTIUM TITANATE - A DEFORMABLE CERAMIC |
| Materials scientists at the Max-Planck-Institut fur Metallforschung, Stuttgart have achieved significant plastic deformation in strontium titanate (SrTiO3), an oxide ceramic material hitherto believed to be extremely fragile and brittle at room temperature. These results will change some of the concepts with which ceramic materials are treated as engineering materials today. |
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| A NEW CLASS OF CHEMICAL TRANSDUCERS BASED ON LIGHT-EMITTING DIODES HAS BEEN DEVELOPED |
| Scientists from Wisconsine-Madison University have once again proved that light-emitting diodes used in thousands of electronic home appliances are a universal material which has various fields of application. The same technology of application of small lighting lamps, reminding people of the state of an appliance (on/off) and which is also used in traffic lights, now can be used a chemical transducer. In the research published on January 25, scientists illustrate the way chemical substances could change a surface structure of light-emitting diode materials, forcing to bring in fluctuations in the light intensity. This mechanism can be applied for simple, but highly sensitive systems which warn of the existence of certain chemical compositions in the air or water. |
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| RNA CATALYSIS AND THE REPLICATION OF CHROMOSOME TELOMERES |
| RNA was long thought to function solely as a genetic messenger, as a component of the ribosome, and as a carrier of amino acids. Now, largely because of research done at the University of Colorado, it is just as common to think of RNA participating directly in cellular catalysis. RNA can engage in intramolecular catalysis including self-splicing and in some cases can act as an enzyme. |
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Chemistry
