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Category: chemistry – Page 5

Lieutenant Colonel Erin Maurer — Surviving The Unthinkable: NATO’s Frontline CBRN Defense

Surviving the unthinkable: nato’s frontline CBRN defense — lieutenant colonel erin maurer, CBRN defense lead, J3 force protection directorate, allied joint force command brunssum, NATO.

Lieutenant Colonel Erin Maurer is the CBRN Defense Lead, J3 Force Protection Directorate, at NATO Joint Force Command Brunssum, The Netherlands (https://jfcbs.nato.int/), a position she has held since July 2024.

LTC Maurer enlisted in the United States Army Reserves in 2004, and upon graduating from Penn State University in 2008, commissioned as a Second Lieutenant through the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC), branched Chemical Corps. Her assignments have included:

Brigade chemical officer, company executive officer, and forward operating base operations officer, for 4th infantry brigade combat team, 3rd infantry division, fort stewart, georgia;

Headquarters Company Commander, Support Battalion, 1st Special Warfare Training Group (Airborne);

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Novel nanomaterial uses oxidative stress to kill cancer cells

Scientists at Oregon State University have developed a new nanomaterial that triggers a pair of chemical reactions inside cancer cells, killing the cells via oxidative stress while leaving healthy tissues alone. The study led by Oleh and Olena Taratula and Chao Wang of the OSU College of Pharmacy appears in Advanced Functional Materials.

The findings advance the field of chemodynamic therapy (CDT), an emerging treatment approach based on the distinctive biochemical environment found in cancer cells. Compared to healthy tissues, malignant tumors are more acidic and have elevated concentrations of hydrogen peroxide, the scientists explain.

Conventional CDT works by using the tumor microenvironment to trigger the chemical production of hydroxyl radicals—molecules, made up of oxygen and hydrogen—with an unpaired electron. These reactive oxygen species are able to damage cells through oxidation by stealing electrons from molecules like lipids, proteins, and DNA.

‘Goldilocks size’ rhodium clusters advance reusable heterogeneous catalysts for hydroformylation

Recent research has demonstrated that a rhodium (Rh) cluster of an optimal, intermediate size—neither too small nor too large—exhibits the highest catalytic activity in hydroformylation reactions. Similar to the concept of finding the “just right” balance, the study identifies this so-called “Goldilocks size” as crucial for maximizing catalyst efficiency. The study is published in the journal ACS Catalysis and was featured as the cover story.

Led by Professor Kwangjin An from the School of Energy and Chemical Engineering at UNIST, in collaboration with Professor Jeong Woo Han from Seoul National University, the research demonstrates that when Rh exists as a cluster —comprising about 10 atoms—it outperforms both single-atom and nanoparticle forms in reaction speed and activity.

Hydroformylation is a vital industrial process used for producing raw materials for plastics, detergents, and other chemicals. Currently, many Rh catalysts are homogeneous—dissolved in liquids—which complicates separation and recycling. This challenge has driven efforts to develop solid, heterogeneous Rh catalysts that are easier to recover and reuse.

Synthetic ‘muscle’ with microfluidic blood vessels shows promise for soft robotics

Researchers are continuing to make progress on developing a new synthetic material that behaves like biological muscle, an advancement that could provide a path to soft robotics, prosthetic devices and advanced human-machine interfaces. Their research, recently published in Advanced Functional Materials, demonstrates a hydrogel-based actuator system that combines movement, control and fuel delivery in a single integrated platform.

Biological muscle is one of nature’s marvels, said Stephen Morin, associate professor of chemistry at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. It can generate impressive force, move quickly and adapt to many different tasks. It is also remarkable in its flexibility in terms of energy use and can draw on sugars, fats and other chemical stores, converting them into usable energy exactly when and where they are needed to make muscles move.

A synthetic version of muscle is one of the Holy Grails of material science.

Raman sensors with push-pull alkyne tags amplify weak signals to track cell chemistry

Seeing chemistry unfold inside living cells is one of the biggest challenges of modern bioimaging. Raman microscopy offers a powerful way to meet this challenge by reading the unique vibrational signatures of molecules. However, cells are extraordinarily complex environments filled with thousands of biomolecules.

To make specific molecules stand out, researchers often attach small chemical probes, such as alkyne tags, that produce signals in a so-called cell-silent spectral window where native cellular components do not scatter light. This allows Raman microscopes to selectively detect the tagged molecules against an otherwise crowded molecular background. Despite this advantage, the widespread adoption of Raman microscopy in biology has been limited by one fundamental problem: Raman signals are extremely weak.

A new route to synthesize multiple functionalized carbon nanohoops

The field of nanomaterials is witnessing a transformative shift at the intersection of organic chemistry and molecular engineering. Among the most promising molecular structures are carbon nanohoops, of which [n]cycloparaphenylenes ([n]CPPs) are a representative example.

These ring-shaped structures represent the smallest possible slices of carbon nanotubes, which themselves are a widely renowned material of the 21st century.

Given that their structures can, in principle, be precisely tuned at the atomic level, nanohoops hold great potential as molecular components for next-generation optoelectronic devices, including high-resolution displays, photonic circuits, and responsive sensing materials.

When scientists build nanoscale architecture to solve textile and pharmaceutical industry challenges

Scientists from the CSIR-Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSMCRI), Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar, the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, and the S N Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences have collaborated to develop a new class of highly precise filtration membranes.

Ultra-precise “POMbranes” sieve out larger molecules (red) while allowing only 1-nanometer-sized species (green) to pass through its pores, enabling sharp molecular sorting. (Image: Central Salt and Marine Chemical Research Institute)

Imperfect Turing patterns: Diffusiophoretic assembly of hard spheres via reaction-diffusion instabilities

Natural patterns are rarely perfect. We couple classical Turing patterns in chemical gradients to cell motion via diffusiophoresis, showing that this interplay naturally yields textured and multiscale patterns. The patterns are dependent on parameters such as cell size distribution, Péclet number, volume fraction, and cell-cell interactions. These insights bridge idealized theory with real systems and point to routes for programmable materials, surfaces, and soft robotics.

Watching atoms roam before they decay

Together with an international team, researchers from the Molecular Physics Department at the Fritz Haber Institute have revealed how atoms rearrange themselves before releasing low-energy electrons in a decay process initiated by X-ray irradiation. For the first time, they have gained detailed insights into the timing of the process—shedding light on related radiation damage mechanisms. Their research is published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

High-energy radiation, for example in the X-ray range, can cause damage to our cells. This is because energetic radiation can excite atoms and molecules, which then often decay—meaning that biomolecules are destroyed and larger biological units can lose their function. There is a wide variety of such decay processes, and studying them is of great interest in order to better understand and avert radiation damage.

In the study, researchers from the Molecular Physics Department, together with international partners, investigated a radiation-induced decay process that plays a key role in radiation chemistry and biological damage processes: electron-transfer-mediated decay (ETMD). In this process, one atom is excited by irradiation. Afterward, this atom relaxes by stealing an electron from a neighbor, while the released energy ionizes yet another nearby atom.

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