There's a new buckyball on the scene!

In 1985, buckminsterfullerene (a spherical molecule formed of 60 carbon atoms) was discovered by a small team led by Kroto, Curl and Smalley, who later won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Buckminsterfullerene belongs to a group of molecules called fullerenes which have shown potential as a hydrogen storage at high densities due to their closed, cage-like structures. Much research has since gone into this class of molecules, and now a cousin of the buckyball has come to light.

Boron is next to carbon in the periodic table and is well-known for it's cluster formation (boranes). Lai-Sheng Wang at the Brown University has successfully made a molecule, nicknamed "borospherene", with 40 boron atoms by vaporising a chunk or boron with a laser then freezing it with helium. Scientists are now hunting for further boron analogues of carbon structures such as graphene.

Xenon's potential to erase bad memories

I find xenon such an interesting element. Before I came to university, I believed it was the most mundane of all the periodic table, barely any reactivity, colourless, nothing special really... However, since my studies have begun I have learnt that xenon has more to offer.

Through history, it has surprised chemists with it's sometimes, literally, explosive reactivity as it forms unstable fluoride compounds. Still, xenon alone can't do much, right?

Wrong. Recent studies have shown that when inhaled, xenon gas has the potential to erase fearful memories in mice. Although in early stages of trial, this is an amazing breakthrough and could be the start of finding a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder. Trials on healthy humans will hopefully be carried out within a year and, if successful, will then move onto patients with post-traumatic stress disorder.

DIY water purification

US research has found that the popular herb, coriander, has a high affinity to heavy metals. In simple terms, coriander can bind to metals such as nickel and lead which are highly toxic, making water safer to drink.

Although this method could not be used on a large scale, this knowledge could help those, in parts of the world where coriander is readily available, to drink safer water. The research was carried out at Ivy Tech Community College and has shown that up to 20mg/g of nickel can be removed from solution in 45 minutes and 145mg/g of lead in just 15!

Although the exact mechanism of how this process works is not understood, this discovery means that some form of 'teabag' could be produced on a large scale, helping even more people worldwide. I am definitely going to keep my eye on this story and keep you updated!

Memory foam on the nano scale!

As I have written in previous posts, the nano scale provides us with many different physical characteristics. Although hard to get your head round, taking particles 10000000000 times smaller than a metre can drastically change what we would thing are usual. For example, gold nanoparticles appear red or purple due to the difference in light wavelength that they interact with.

Well now theres a shape memory polymer! Research carried out in China has developed a polymer that can become tangled but returns to its original shape when put into water. This polymer has combined the advantages of the macro and nano scale. It is made from chitosan (a linear polysaccharide) and picks up surrounding nanoparticles in solution through electrostatic bonds after it has been shaped by a mould and ice has pushed the chitosan chains into a fixed structure.

This discovery can be used with a wide range of nanoparticles, giving many functions. If you then immerse the polymer in water it remains to its original shape - amazing!

Agostic isomerism - myth or reality?

We've all seen the colourful solids that organometallics can produce but what about two-tone crystals?!

A breakthrough in organometallic chemistry has shown that agostic isomers do, indeed, exist! An agostic interaction is one of a coordinatively unsaturated transition metal (a 16-electron complex, rather than the 18-electron norm) and a carbon-hydrogen bond. This is possible since the two electrons from the hydrogen atom enter the empty d-orbital of the transition metal.

As you may know, organometallics is a particularly useful area of chemistry when it comes to catalysis. This was how they were discovered. Scientists in the US carried out a catalytic run and recorded possible evidence of a 16-electron complex. We know these would be unstable and therefore extremely difficult to isolate. However, the agostic interactions stable this intermediate and the scientists were able to isolate the species as a crystal since interconversion between the isomers happened much slower than it would in solution.

Interesting stuff, and a real breakthrough!

Thalidomide's comeback!

Back in the 1950s, thalidomide was introduced as a sleeping pill and was also well known for relieving symptoms of morning sickness in pregnant women. Thalidomide was taken off the shelves in 1962 when it was tragically discovered that thalidomide caused birth defects.

However, thalidomide is now back on the scene with a team mate - turmeric (the spice!). It has been discovered that this team can help fight multiple myeloma which is the second most common type of blood cancer.

Thalidomide works by disturbing tumour cells in the bone marrow however the drug disintegrates when in the body. Curcumin, the pigment that gives turmeric it's yellow colour, has also been found to be active against cancer but has poor water solubility. Combining these together to make a hybrid compound has improved water solubility, does not disintegrate in the body and is even more active against myeloma. Win win!

The secret of mercury's liquidity

Mercury's most famous property is that it is the only metal that is a liquid under standard conditions. Why is this?

An exceptionally low boiling and melting point for a heavy d-block element has always been explained by relativity but no hard evidence has been found to back this theory up. Until now!

Quantum mechanics were used by a team in New Zealand to calculate the heat capacity of mercury with and without considering relativity. The result of these calculations showed that when considering relativity, the melting point matched almost exactly on the experimental value of -39 degrees Celsius.

Now you may ask, what exactly is relativity?

The theory of relativity, by Albert Einstein, considers that in atoms, the velocity of the innermost electron is related to the nuclear charge. As nuclear charge increases, the atoms must move faster in order to prevent the innermost electrons from 'falling' into it. Going down the periodic table, this theory is shown as the electrons within the 1s orbital move faster and faster meaning that the element becomes heavier and the atomic radius decreases. This effect can stabilise orbitals or destabilise them (again by the theory of relativity).

In the case of mercury, bonds are not formed between surrounding atoms, the outer electrons stay within their orbital and do not become associated with other mercury atoms, forming weaker van der Waals bonds and therefore giving mercury a lower melting point than we would expect.