NMR Knowledge Base / Ezine
Fast switch: RNA vs NMR
Date: Oct 15, 2012
Author: David Bradley
Researchers have used NMR spectroscopy to tease out details of the smallest and fastest-known molecular switches composed of ribonucleic acid, RNA. These structures exist only fleetingly and yet look set to be become important targets for the development of new antiviral and antibiotic drugs.
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Nobel chemistry: pharma directions
Date: Oct 10, 2012
Author: David Bradley
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry jointly to Robert Lefkowitz of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Duke University Medical Center and Brian Kobilka Stanford of the University School of Medicine, Stanford "for studies of G-protein–coupled receptors".
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Journal Highlight: 1H-Nuclear magnetic resonance-based metabonomic analysis of brain in rhesus monkeys with morphine treatment and withdrawal intervention
Date: Oct 1, 2012
Author: spectroscopyNOW
Metabolic changes in brain hippocampus and prefrontal cortex of rhesus monkeys were measured by 1H-NMR, coupled with partial least squares and orthogonal signal correction analysis, to study morphine dependence and withdrawal therapy in a model highly related to humans.
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Playing protein tag: Repeatable NMR
Date: Oct 1, 2012
Author: David Bradley
Chemists at the University of California San Diego have developed a method that allows them, for the first time, to attach chemical probes on to proteins and remove them again in a straightforward and repeatable cycle. The method will facilitate NMR spectroscopy for metabolic and other research studies.
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MOFs: NMR reveals inner secrets
Date: Sep 15, 2012
Author: David Bradley
A large international research team from Canada and China has shown for the first time that zinc-67 solid-state NMR spectroscopy could be as useful in analysing the zinc atom centres in a new type of synthetic porous materials known as metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) as its aluminium-based counterpart, aluminium-27 NMR is in studying the more widely known natural porous zeolite minerals.
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Journal Highlight: Applications of NMR metabolomics to the study of foodstuffs: Truffle, kiwifruit, lettuce, and sea bass
Date: Sep 3, 2012
Author: spectroscopyNOW
The use of NMR to study the metabolomes of foodstuffs of different origin (truffle, kiwifruit, lettuce, sea bass) with different metabolite compositions, processing, and storage procedures, is reviewed.
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Move like caged hydrogen: Buckyball traps
Date: Sep 1, 2012
Author: David Bradley
Cryogenic NMR spectroscopy and other techniques has been used to investigate how small molecules, including water, are trapped by the all-carbon cages known as fullerenes. The work might open up the possibility of using such caged systems as alternative contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging.
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Supercritical carbon dioxide: Forming formic acid
Date: Aug 15, 2012
Author: David Bradley
Carbon dioxide can be both starting material for the production of formic acid through hydrogenation and also the solvent for the reaction if held in the supercritical; the usual complexities of extraction of product from solvent essentially removed as the solvent can be evaporated by simply releasing the pressure from the system and trapping the carbon dioxide gas released. NMR spectroscopy allows the German inventors of the process to keep track of reactants and products.
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Journal Highlight: Comparison of the metabolic profiling of hepatitis B virus-infected cirrhosis and alcoholic cirrhosis patients by using 1H NMR-based metabonomics
Date: Aug 6, 2012
Author: spectroscopyNOW
Proton NMR was used to reveal the serum metabolic characteristics of hepatitis B virus-infected cirrhosis and alcoholic cirrhosis patients and to find the specific serum biomarkers associated with the diseases.
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Stellar effort: New chemical bond revealed
Date: Aug 1, 2012
Author: David Bradley
Quantum mechanics calculations suggest that the intense magnetic field around a type of fast-spinning, high-density star known as a white dwarf might be strong enough to distil a new type of chemistry.
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