X-ray Spectrometry / Ezine
Taxing enzyme: Crystallography reveals biomolecular link
Date: Jan 5, 2011
Author: David Bradley
The crystal structure of taxadiene synthase, an enzyme key to terpene biosynthesis in many living organisms, confirms a theoretically predicted link between two enzyme classes in the evolution of compounds such as the natural product anticancer drug Taxol.
Read More
X-ray future: low noise and colour
Date: Dec 15, 2010
Author: David Bradley
X-rays are incredibly useful in diagnostic imaging but also come at a price because they are ionising and so have potential to damage tissues. In work that combines informatics, quantum mechanics, and X-rays, researchers have found a way to cut the noise and so obtain far better X-ray images without increasing radiation dose.
Read More
Journal Highlight: Characterization of foliar manganese (Mn) in Mn (hyper)accumulators using X-ray absorption spectroscopy
Date: Dec 6, 2010
Author:
This investigation employed synchrotron X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) in a comparative study of Mn (hyper)accumulators, to elucidate in situ the chemical form(s) of foliar Mn in seven woody species from Australia, New Caledonia and Japan.
Read More
Gas storage: X-ray structure shows improved hydrogen storage material
Date: Dec 1, 2010
Author: David Bradley
Solid materials rich in hydrogen, such as ammonia borane could solve the gas storage problem for vehicle fuel cells. Now, a crystal structure of an alternative material, DADB, offers new hope of a stable material that works at lower temperature (85 rather than 110 Celsius).
Read More
Protein microspheres: amorphously yours with SAXS
Date: Nov 15, 2010
Author: David Bradley
A simple, inexpensive, and gentle process can be used to make pure protein microspheres of uniform size for therapeutic use. Microspheres of insulin for instance, shown to be amorphous by X-ray scattering (SAXS), could have advantages over other experimental delivery modes, the study's authors suggest.
Read More
Fertility testing: profiling with NMR
Date: Nov 15, 2010
Author: David Bradley
Traditional clinical tests on seminal fluid for infertility and sub-fertility prediction do not provide insights into underlying problems. Metabolic NMR tests could offer a less time-consuming and less labour-intensive alternative.
Read More
X-ray specular scattering from statistically rough surfaces: a novel theoretical approach based on the Green function formalism
Date: Nov 8, 2010
Author:
The Green function formalism was applied to the problem of grazing-incidence small-angle X-ray scattering from statistically rough surfaces, using Kirchhoff's integral equation to describe the X-ray wavefield propagation through a single rough surface separating vacuum and medium.
Read More
Tabletop synchrotron: high-energy, coherent X-rays
Date: Nov 1, 2010
Author: David Bradley
Details of a tabletop synchrotron device has been revealed by an international team of scientists in the journal Nature Physics. The new device could revolutionise X-ray work and preclude the need for large-scale synchrotrons in many structural studies without compromising resolution or atomic detail.
Read More
Composite analysis: X-ray technique reveals versatility in materials
Date: Oct 15, 2010
Author: David Bradley
A research team in France, writing in the journal Angewandte Chemie, has introduced a novel, highly versatile approach to the large-scale synthesis of a new family of bioorganic-inorganic nanocomposites. Their approach used X-ray diffraction and spectroscopy to monitor the previously unattainable degree of control over the composition and structure of the materials.
Read More
XRF analysis without sampling of Etruscan depurata pottery for provenance classification
Date: Oct 11, 2010
Author:
The utility of spot XRF analysis of integral cermaic objects for classifying row clay provenance, even if the ceramics are not intrinsically homogeneous material, was evaluated using Etruscan fine ware.
Read More
