Stopping stickiness

The problem of molecules sticking to the inside of microfluidic channels is being tackled by researchers in the US. Non-specific adsorption of analytes causes significant problems in microfluidic devices, and can make analysis impossible. Now, Matthew Munson and co-workers at the University of Washington, Seattle, have shown that sheath flow, a type of flow configuration that results in one fluid completely surrounding another, can prevent the analytes sticking. The technique is particularly promising for miniaturised analysis of biological molecules.

Matthew S. Munson et al Lab Chip, 2004
DOI:10.1039/b407765b

Pocket-sized peptides

Drug discovery scientists at Cyclacel Ltd in Dundee, UK, have designed short, constrained peptide molecules that inhibit a key enzyme involved in cell multiplication, inducing cancer cells to commit suicide. Targeting this enzyme has enormous potential for specific, less toxic chemotherapeutic agents. The researchers have employed a wealth of structural information to explain why the conformational rigidity of their cyclic peptides makes them so potent. They have also optimised novel solid phase synthetic route chemistry that neatly integrates a cyclisation and a resin cleavage step.

Martin J. I. Andrews et al Org. Biomol. Chem., 2004
DOI:10.1039/b409157d

Behind liver transplantation

Alterations occurring in the liver modify the physio-chemical state of fluorophores that are engaged in the metabolic processes, affecting the liver tissue's autofluorescence. Anna Croce and her team from the University of Pavia, Italy, have conducted a spectrofluorometric study on liver extracts in conditions that mimic phases of organ transplant. The team have characterised the nature of the fluorophores and their dependence on experimental conditions. This work could lead to the development of a real-time diagnostic technique for monitoring liver functional-metabolic conditions.

Anna Cleta Croce et al Photochem. Photobiol. Sci., 2004
DOI:10.1039/b407358d

Ionic liquid energies

One of the advantages of ionic liquids, their negligibly low vapour pressures, also means that it is impossible to directly measure their internal energies of vaporisation experimentally. It is however possible to estimate these energies if the Hildebrand solubility parameter is known. Andrew McLean and colleagues at the University of Paisley, UK, are the first to successfully estimate this parameter for several ionic liquids, enabling researchers to predict which parameters most influence reactions in ionic liquids.

Konrad Swiderski et al Chem. Commun., 2004
DOI:10.1039/b408334b