These are my links for July 30th from 18:21 to 18:27:
- Space balls redux – I've reported on this briefly elsewhere, but here are more details of the research involving infrared spectroscopic data from the planetary nebula Tc 1 in the southern constellation Ara that revealed convincing evidence that the fullerenes, C60 and C70, are present in large quantities in cosmic dust.
- Crystallography squared organically – Cyclobutadiene, the smallest cyclic hydrocarbon having alternating double bonds has finally succumbed to X-ray crystallography at least in terms of the determination of an immobilized derivative of the compound.
- Aqueous asymmetric acid – Despite nature's abundance of reactions that work in water, chemists have generally had to work with noxious organic solvents. Until now. The first example of asymmetric catalysis with a Brønsted acid in aqueous solution has been reported by German chemists.
- MRI monitors anticancer nanotubes – Magnetic resonance imaging can now be used to monitor carbon nanotubes aimed at destroying tumour cells by near-infra-red laser induced heating, according to US researchers.
- Smooth support for SERS – The judicious use of SERS-active nanoparticles directly or indirectly can surmount the inherent obstacle in the way of the more widespread adoption of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) studies. Proof of principle in the current work involves activating an organic monolayer by attaching silver nanoparticles.
- Nasal spray for diabetes – Could a novel drug delivery agent based on nanotechnology lead to an insulin nasal spray for diabetes sufferers?