Spectroscopy news 47

David Bradley Science Writer writes the monthly news column for three sections of the SpectroscopyNOW.com site - Spectral Lines, Resonants and X-factors.

Spectral Lines - spectroscopy news by David Bradley<p>

The latest issue of Spectral Lines is now online

The Mass Spectrometer's Guide to the Galaxy (well, Mars)
Like spotting the telltale signs of a campsite in a back-country woodland, a new chemical guidebook and spectral imaging system will allow a future Martian rover to spot the signs of microbial life on the red planet. Scientists are currently writing the chemical guidebook based on mass spectrometric data that will carry profiles of rocks and other materials, and data based on regions of the earth thought to resemble Mars. The rover thus armed will be able to compare and contrast its own readings and images against entries in the guidebook.



Shedding a little light on singlet oxygen
Zeolites are crucial catalysts for a wide range of industrial reactions, but chemists still do not fully understand their inner workings. Now, a study using time-resolved near-IR phosphorescence spectroscopy has revealed new details of how zeolites used in hydrocarbon oxidation function.

 

Baby, look at you now!
In 2001, US physicists predicted that solitary waves, bundles of energy that travel without dispersing, could break into smaller, "baby", or secondary, solitary waves. At the time, experts suggested that the research was "great work" but could never be confirmed experimentally. Now, the team has proved the "critics" wrong.

  Bridging solutions
Dinuclear copper(II) complexes with nitrogen-containing ligands are being hotly pursued by chemists as models for numerous copper-containing proteins, such as the tyrosine and catechol oxidases. Observing the behaviour of these complexes is helping researchers understand the nature of the active site in such proteins and pointing to ways to mimic enzyme activity using novel catalysts. The magnetic properties of these complexes are also offering insights into the relationship between structural features in organometallic compounds and the strength of magnetic exchange interactions between metal ions.

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