Issue 7 Chemical Technology 2005

A magazine highlighting the latest applications and technological aspects of research across the chemical sciences.

Issue 7

Acoustic heartbeats

German researchers from the Max-Planck Institute are probing the acoustic properties of living heart cells using a new fast mode of impedance analysis for quartz crystal microbalance. They show that real-time measurements of the shift in resonance frequency and energy dissipation due to changes in mass and viscoelastic properties can give information about the state of the cell adhesion. The beat rate of the cardiac cells increased with addition of the heart stimulating drug isoproterenol.

Cracking the pathogenicity code

We are closer to an explanation of the differences in pathogenicity of bacterial strains of H. influenzae, thanks to a combined capillary electrophoretic and mass spectrometric technique used by Jianjun Li at the National Research Council in Canada and colleagues in the UK and Sweden. The method has exceptional analytical potential to discriminate between isomers of the various carbohydrate building blocks forming the outer coat of H. influenzae strains, which could ultimately bring about the development of more effective targeting antibodies.

How white blood blood cells move

Understanding how white blood cells migrate towards high concentrations of signalling chemicals, or chemokines, is important in immunology. Mixing together flows of different concentrations of chemokine in a microchannel is a fast, flexible method for controlling concentration gradients. Researchers at Vanderbilt University, US, have improved this method by quantifying how the rate of flow affects not only the gradient, but the migrating cells themselves, leading to more accurate measurements of the small forces they exert.

Molecular jigsaw puzzles

Catalysts that can adapt to any situation may soon be on their way according to Joost Reek and co-workers at the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. By applying the principles of supramolecular chemistry to the field of transition metal catalysis, several new strategies for the synthesis of novel catalysts have emerged. These include temporary binding of catalysts to a 'host' support and the formation of new ligands from smaller building blocks. The dynamic nature of the bonding in these systems is central to their potential success, making catalysts that respond to both internal and external stimuli a feasible target.

Essential Elements

New fresh look for RSC website

The new RSC website has just been launched - bringing you the latest news and developments about the society and its products, as well as the very best in chemical science resear...

And finally......

Researchers led by Ian Paterson at the University of Cambridge, UK, have successfully synthesised a biologically active compound found in a natural marine sponge.