Tag Archives: USA

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Remarkable enzyme points the way to reducing nitric acid use in industry

September 21, 2012 – 10:00 pm

Remarkable enzyme points the way to reducing nitric acid use in industry - An enzyme in the bacterium that causes potato scab could help create new, environmentally-benign biocatalysts with the potential to cut use of the highly corrosive chemical nitric acid. Chemists at the University of Warwick in the UK, in collaboration with researchers at Cornell University in the USA, have reported in the journal Nature Chemical Biology the discovery of an enzyme in the bacterium Streptomyces scabies that catalyses an aromatic nitration reaction.(10.1038/nchembio.1048)

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Slinn Pickings

Ethylene to para-Xylene

September 16, 2012 – 9:01 pm

Ethylene to para-Xylene - As the price of oil goes up and supplies dwindle, alternative feedstocks become increasingly important for servicing the chemical industry. Ethylene, commonly released from oil industrially, can also be generated from biomass via bioethanol. A team at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA, have demonstrated that ethylene can act as a useful feedstock in the preparation of an important commodity chemical, p-xylene.(10.1021/ja307612b)

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Silky solution to storing vaccines and drugs

July 12, 2012 – 10:00 pm

Silky solution to storing vaccines and drugs - Storing delicate vaccines and antibiotics in freeze-dried silk could eliminate the need for refrigerated storage, reducing transport costs and waste, say US researchers. The biggest advantage could be in developing countries, which lack the finances and infrastructure to maintain a ‘cold chain’ when distributing medicines, but are often the places where they are most needed. Reference: J Zhang et al, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 2012, (10.173/pnas.1206210109)

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